The problem is in the old days the employees respected there employer and there employer took care of there employees. The employees always gave there all and felt appreciated and earned a good profit for there company. The managers ran there own store and took care of it's employees and customers. Customers felt that and always returned because of the confidence in the company and the manager.
Skip 30 years later
The company has stockholders breathing down there neck wanting big profits NOW. The don't care about long term because the can sell there stock at the drop of the hat.
The company upper management puts pressure on lower management to cut cost, make big profits NOW. We need these numbers up ASAP. Then they upper management starts micromanaging the GM's who use to run these profitable stores. Most of these GM's are up in age and just cant go out and get another job and or not quit old enough to retire. Lets not even forget about medical and 401k plans. so they are forced to pass the new rule down.
Where do these cuts come from, customer service and employees. The to must valuable assets that built the company in the first place.
How do you cut.
Employees:
It starts with cutting out bonus or setting goals so high they are not able to achieve them. This was an incentive for production from the employee and was part of his annual income that the employee earned. Then not refilling lost positions and now the employee not only has lost his bonus is now doing twice the work.
Now the manager demands you work more hours and spent less time with your family, why not, the company is your new family and your boss treats you like a stepchild.
The employee is so miserable he loses his drive, becomes bitter and doesn't put much effort in his job or taking care of customers as in years past.
Customers:
The repeat customer who came in and paid more for the product have slowly changed also with all these changes. They know the loyalty is gone so Corporate America has a new type of customer. Now the customers look for a lower price because customer service sure isn't there anymore. If you cant give them that price, they will scan the internet with there phone and find it cheaper down the road. This is causing big problems for Corporate America. Now when you walk into a store it's hard to find an employee who will talk to them nicely and if the customer does decide to comes back, that employee is gone and a new face is there to replace him. Now the customer better do all the research themselves because the new kid selling at the store sure doesn't know what hes doing.
Now the customer is on line doing research and finds out they can order it now, free shipping and a much lower price and sometimes they can even save on the taxes.
Years ago Corporate America squeezed out Mom and Pop stores and now Corporate America is getting squeezed out by the internet. Corporate America did this to themselves and are going to struggle staying alive.
It will be interesting what the next 30 years will be like.