2021 - Retailer woe & retail sector chat

[p4cks]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

Why work in catering and hospitality?

I doubt the hours are 39hrs a week and you get any weekends off?

Indeed. Hotels for example can have you working split shifts, say 6am-11am then have you back for the dinner service. fk that!

[snuffy]

menousername said:

anonymoususer said:

Cruel. But I remember when Comet went under and you could buy anything.

Not sure if it was a joke but when Debs first hit trouble and started selling out and closing down entire floors a member of staff said we could buy the mannequins. Not sure what it was about my appearance that made her think I would be in the market for a mannequin!

We used to go to the café in Index in Chester (cracking breakfast) and when they were closing down, all the tables and chairs in the café had little white stickers on them with hand written prices on them.

So I assumed you could buy one if you so wished ? Unless it was for a company to buy them, but then we'd expect a single price for the lot.

[hyphen]

p4cks said:

Hugo Stiglitz said:

Why work in catering and hospitality?

I doubt the hours are 39hrs a week and you get any weekends off?

Indeed. Hotels for example can have you working split shifts, say 6am-11am then have you back for the dinner service. fk that!

Many other careers are shift patterns. Manufacturing, front line police/fire/nhs. Bills to pay/like the job/convenient commute and so on are factors that will be weighed against the negatives.

[snuffy]

hyphen said:

Many other careers are shift patterns. Manufacturing, front line police/fire/nhs. Bills to pay/like the job/convenient commute and so on are factors that will be weighed against the negatives.

Yes, but not split shifts.

[anonymous-user]

snuffy said:

hyphen said:

Many other careers are shift patterns. Manufacturing, front line police/fire/nhs. Bills to pay/like the job/convenient commute and so on are factors that will be weighed against the negatives.

Yes, but not split shifts.

It's a choice you make though surely

I've not had any periods of unemployment in 20 years, certainly in the early days I did all sorts, anything to get some money coming in that mean I didn't have to go onto benefits

[Hugo Stiglitz]

hyphen said:

Many other careers are shift patterns. Manufacturing, front line police/fire/nhs. Bills to pay/like the job/convenient commute and so on are factors that will be weighed against the negatives.

I start night shifts tonight.

In no shape or form would I work in catering & hospitality.

Would it be fair to say that the young and people from overseas do it as they see if as a springboard, they are full of hope so don't see it as a lifetime career when they start?

Would you be happy keeping someone on in their early 50s who struggled to walk round tables daily on their feet even though they'd been in the job for 30yrs+?


After school I had a couple of test shifts in a decent very busy gastro pub. Every shift I observed everyone working hard. No slack, to the max. For peanuts. They told me I wasn't up to the mark but to be honest I was glad. I don't think I'd have been able to cope.

Why do that for average pay?

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz on Friday 7th May 08:49

[Colonel Cupcake]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

But they ARE making a choice. Hospitality is chock full of split shifts, low pay, zero-hour contracts and unsocial hours. Other sectors are not finding it difficult to recruit.

[loafer123]

Hospitality needs to pay better, but it can be a lot of fun...varied, working as a team, great camaraderie, walk away at the end of a shift with no calls etc.

[anonymous-user]

loafer123 said:

Hospitality needs to pay better.

Would people accept paying more?

[Thankyou4calling]

Can’t get staff?

Here’s the reason why

And if you say you pay well - you need to pay more

https://youtu.be/YcXMhwF4EtQ

[egor110]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

I start night shifts tonight.

In no shape or form would I work in catering & hospitality.

Would it be fair to say that the young and people from overseas do it as they see if as a springboard, they are full of hope so don't see it as a lifetime career when they start?

Would you be happy keeping someone on in their early 50s who struggled to walk round tables daily on their feet even though they'd been in the job for 30yrs+?


After school I had a couple of test shifts in a decent very busy gastro pub. Every shift I observed everyone working hard. No slack, to the max. For peanuts. They told me I wasn't up to the mark but to be honest I was glad. I don't think I'd have been able to cope.

Why do that for average pay?

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz on Friday 7th May 08:49

Early 50's shouldn't be a problem there are plenty of posties and bin men that age.

[Drawweight]

sherman said:

neutral 3 said:

I walked past a Debenhams that I’ve shopped in for years today. Surprised to see it open, so I went in to take a look @ what was left.
Very very sad wandering around a store that was once so busy but is now a shambles.
Feel very sorry for all of the staff who have lost their jobs.
Most of the shoes and clothes were either small or XXL, but I found a shirt that was marked @ £15 and a jacket that was £75.
Changing rooms were shut and a guy moving stock around said that all of the staff there were sent in by the administrators ( although I’m sure I recognised one Debenhams staff member under her mask ) and that due to Covid and lack of staff, there was no where to try anything on and all purchases were Non refundable !
Went to pay for the shirt and the lady behind the counter said £8, so I shot back to the rail and grabbed the £75 quid jacket and was stunned when they said £22.50 !

Give them a tenner and you could probably have the lightbulbs this week.

I remember when Border Books went under.

We went up to see what books they had but we were a bit slow and there wasn’t much of interest left.

But we came home with 3 of their big full height bookcases for 20 quid apiece after going home to pick up my van.

[Venturist]

Often wondered about this - the jobs need to pay more but where does the money for that come from? It’s presuming the owners are absolutely rolling in it, but it sounds like that’s rarely the case, normally just getting by making an OK living - make it less profitable and fewer of them will bother. To pay staff more you’d have to bump prices up which will cost you customers. Not straightforward!

I do think we have a wider problem in the UK where we’ve gotten used to paying unsustainably low prices for everything. How that gets solved, not sure.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

egor110 said:

Early 50's shouldn't be a problem there are plenty of posties and bin men that age.

They aren't on the same hours nor running round, etc etc etc...

Like I said, I couldn't do it when. I was in my teens. I doubt I could do it even less now.

[Uggers]

Most people can do mental hours or shifts if the money is right.

I personally feel like it's an exercise in sleep deprivation but I know people who do 6 hours on, 6 hours off everyday for months+. But the money (kind of) makes up for it.

[egor110]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

egor110 said:

Early 50's shouldn't be a problem there are plenty of posties and bin men that age.

They aren't on the same hours nor running round, etc etc etc...

Like I said, I couldn't do it when. I was in my teens. I doubt I could do it even less now.

8 hours a day 5-6 days a week .

[monkfish1]

Venturist said:

Often wondered about this - the jobs need to pay more but where does the money for that come from? It’s presuming the owners are absolutely rolling in it, but it sounds like that’s rarely the case, normally just getting by making an OK living - make it less profitable and fewer of them will bother. To pay staff more you’d have to bump prices up which will cost you customers. Not straightforward!

I do think we have a wider problem in the UK where we’ve gotten used to paying unsustainably low prices for everything. How that gets solved, not sure.

You need to charge more. Simples.

Of course, the business may not be able to survive like that. You are right though, we are used to paying low prices for everything. The supply of cheap labour has got smaller, so wages will have to up. Cue inflation...................

[ambuletz]

Took this from the real estate nightmares thread... a glimpse of things to come perhaps?

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/details/58309690/

[vaud]

monkfish1 said:

You need to charge more. Simples.

Of course, the business may not be able to survive like that. You are right though, we are used to paying low prices for everything. The supply of cheap labour has got smaller, so wages will have to up. Cue inflation...................

But if demand also drops then labour supply will go to other areas (hopefully)

I'm not convinced we are going to return to the same prior levels. Lots of companies are allowing homeworking for years ahead, so the volume of traffic to many hospitality places will reduce for years to come.

[loafer123]

RonaldMcDonaldAteMyCat said:

loafer123 said:

Hospitality needs to pay better.

Would people accept paying more?

I think so, yes. It's just marginal pricing theory...some won't and will downgrade to pubs or takeaways where service is a smaller proportion of the bill, whilst those who want service will accept paying a little more for that service.

The alternative is cost savings through automation - perhaps more Nando's service types, less cooked fresh and more foodservice sous vide.