Move all the way to the front please

There is a reason why it’s best to “block and face” and have your shelves fully stocked. And it’s personal.

I ventured out the other day to work. Did payroll, filed a few things, printed some reports. It was a confidence booster for my morale and a test of my stamina. It went pretty well. So while I was out, a trip to the grocery store to finish up the morning seemed like a piece of cake.

But I forgot. Grocery stores are usually pretty big. Lots of walking. And since someone else does a bulk of the shopping for the family, my body didn’t have enough time to tell my brain “Warning! Warning! Danger Will Robinson!” But it was too late.

A lot of backtracking, stooping and lifting. And one of the items that was on the list was where? Yep. The bottom shelf. And how was it aligned? Yep . . . all the way to the back of the shelf.

So, kneeling as if to pray, I got down, then prayed I could get back up. Reaching back I needed 4 bags. I got 3. DOH! Reached further back and got the fourth bag. Piece of cake right? Oh yeah. I still had to get up . . .

Needless to say, I paid for my stuff (had to ask for help getting it to the car) and made it home. As my sister would say, “bless his heart”.

The moral of the story? I’ll get stronger and those things on the back of the bottom shelf won’t be so difficult to reach. But what about that customer who can’t bend over and will never be able to reach the back of the shelf?

Something so little as displaying your products in a neat and orderly fashion on the front of the shelf can mean the difference to one customer. Or all of them.