News that Wal-Mart soon will be removing its "people greeters" from the mouth of every store across America was ironic given how hard it was for Sam Walton to get them there in the first place.
According to Tom Coughlin, Wal-Mart's former COO and Vice Chairman of the Board [who defrauded his company and pled guilty in 2007 to six felony counts of wire fraud and filing false tax returns] Walton had to "throw fits" for a year and a half before greeters were accepted.
"Sam just kept pushing and pushing and pushing," Coughlin wrote in Made in America, Walton's 1992 autobiography. "Every week, every meeting, he'd talk about greeters...Gradually he wore everybody down and got his way."
Walton apparently stumbled onto a greeter at a small Wal-Mart in Louisiana in 1980. The greeter, who Couglin called an"older gentleman," explained to Walton that he had a "dual purpose: to make people feel good about coming in, and to make sure people weren't walking back out the entrance with merchandise they hadn't paid for."
The manager of that Louisiana Wal-Mart was trying to reduce shrinkage at the store -- shop-lifting. "He didn't want to intimidate the honest customers by posting a guard at the door, but he wanted to leave a clear message that if you came in and stole, someone was there who would see it."
Apparently Walton was smitten with the double-agent role of the greeter: the 'hello' coming in, the 'cop' going out. "Sam thought that was the greatest idea he'd ever heard of." Coughlin remembers. He claims Mr. Sam was vindicated years later when he walked into a Kmart and was welcomed by a people greeter. Now many major retailers post these comedian cops near the front entrance.
Sam Walton himself did not talk much publicly about the cop side of the greeters. In his book. Walton noted that "some of our people greeters...use their high profile positions to have a little fun." Like the greeter in Huntsville, Arkansas who used to dress up in costumes for local folk holidays like Hawgfest. Walton described the greeter as an example of how his company liked to "thrive on a lot of the traditions of small town America, especially parades with marching bands, cheerleaders, drill teams and floats." And Greeters.
But now the fun is over. Sam Walton's "greatest idea" is dead -- apparently a victim of the recession -- several thousand greeters are coming in from the cold, to circulate around the store, helping customers find cheap Chinese underwear, and other useful functions.
Thus ends the 32 year run of the Greeter. Like most concepts at Wal-Mart, the Greeter was not what it appeared to be on the surface. Most shoppers at Wal-Mart understood that the smiley folks in the vest with "How May I Help You?" on the back were just disguised members of the loss prevention team at Wal-Mart -- a reminder that cheap goods not only attract shoppers, they attract criminals as well.
If, as Tom Coughlin says, Sam Walton wanted to use greeters to send "a warm, friendly message to the good customer," it didn't work. Wal-Mart has been called many things over the years, but "warm and friendly" is not one of them. It's impossible to make a 200,000 square foot superstore with concrete floors "warm and friendly." The Greeter was a contrived, awkward position -- a stand-up comedian at a sliding glass door.
If Wal-Mart wants to convince the public that it is an inviting place to shop, it can begin by treating its own workers better. Every time Wal-Mart "associates" get their pay check, they are reminded what a disappointing experience it is to put on a Wal-Mart vest.
Happier employees would truly brighten up the store like no greeter ever could. No need for marching bands or drill teams. Wal-Mart workers need to be greeted with a bigger paycheck -- enough to keep their family off food stamps and Medicaid.
Knowing that Wal-Mart cares more about the people who do its work, would go a long way towards making people "feel good about coming in."
Coughlin admits that when Sam Walton first tried to push the people greeters idea, "a lot of people thought he'd lost his mind." Looking back, those people were probably right.
Al Norman is the founder of Sprawl-Busters. For almost 20 years, he has been a leading citizen-activist, helping neighborhood groups fight big box sprawl.
Keep up the great work Wal-Mart we support you. Ignore the all the union propaganda and h*ters. You are a great American institution that provides gateway jobs to low marginal value workers and ultimately benefits all the communities in which you are located.
Kai
If they get rid of greeters, Walmart will be no fun. They make us happy when we enter the store.
I say that if the greeters go.....I WILL GO STAND THERE MYSELF AND GREET PEOPLE! NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, EVEN IF I GOT ARRESTED, I WOULD STILLL GO BACK AND GREET PEOPLE!!!!
I KNOW SOME OF THE GREETERS AT MY WAL-MART WHO WOULD DO THE SAME!!!!!!!!
THE PEOPLE THEY MAKE HAPPY IS ENOUGH FOR THEM!
Stuffing merchandise in pockets or handbags is so 20th century. Today the stores hand the stuff right to the thieves.
This is the stupidest remark I ever heard! Doens't any retailer attract criminals not just the ones who carry "cheep goods"
a few examples:
any bank (service retail)
Best Buy
Home Depo
Ralph Lauren
Ambercombie and Fitch
Like I said the stupidest remark I ever heard.
Also amazingly enough, there are an increasing number of retailers that are implimenting a people greeter in one form or another in their stores (aka) loss prevention associates. I have seen them at Best Buy, Albertson's and Smith's just to name a few. Now why would they do that? hum possiably because it works at least to some degree.
Actually I usually felt sorry for them sitting 5 feet inside the door where they were exposed to constant temp flux and extreme weather from outside. If I'm reading this article correctly though, it appears they will still be employed just now it will be inside the store helping customers find things. For that I say great!