Big Ten-Four

Target is introducing a new in-store initiative aimed at improving customer interactions and reversing a sales slump.

The “10-4” program, confirmed by Bloomberg News, directs employees to smile, make eye contact, and greet or wave at shoppers within 10 feet. When a customer comes within four feet, staff are encouraged to ask if they need assistance or how their day is going.

Target launches '10-4' program; employees must smile, greet shoppers within 10 feet

I'm curious how this initiative came about. I don't shop that often at Target, but that's mostly because the stores nearest to me are often unkempt and messy; a side-effect of price-sensitive shoppers opening packages to closely examine things or people being in too much of a rush to put things back on shelves. (I contrast this with the Target stores I was in when I visited New York a few years ago, which were clean and neatly kept up.) That, and their selection of a lot of the basics relies heavily on store brands, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but tend to think of store brands as being "value-priced," which often means that they're low-cost, but also of substandard quality.

The "10-4 program" doesn't really speak to any of that. Instead, it feels like asking Target's floor staff to fix a problem where the solution rests with the management of the business. When I go to certain stores, it's kind of the same: I receive a survey asking me how my interaction with this or that individual employee went, but never anything asking me about how my interaction with the business went.

I don't shop at Target because I'm not confident that I can find what I need in good (new in box) condition there, not because the employees aren't talkative enough. And Target, like a number of retailers, has come to rely on self-checkout to save money, which often means having to stand in long lines while 75+% of the checkstands are closed, because they're too cheap to pay people to work them. (Whole Foods leans super hard on this, apparently forgetting that a place that people have nicknamed Whole Paycheck shouldn't feel like an Aldi store.)

For me, the problem with Capitalism in the United States isn't that it's rapacious; it's that it's desperate. Target is trying to serve its shareholders first, and do just enough for customers that said shareholders won't complain that their rightful returns are being spend to fulfill what should be the core function of the business. Shopping at Target, at least the ones here in the Seattle suburbs, sucks because it's a poor experience. Whether that's because Target management thinks that the physical stores should simply be gigantic kiosks for an online business, or they simply aren't making enough money to adequately staff their locations, I'm unsure of. But I know that I don't like going there, and the times when I do remind me of why. Enforcing chattiness via policy isn't going to change that.