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This shop offer makes me sad

July 23, 2019 12:58AM
"Last week! $50 shop for Caucasian males!" It's a shop at an upscale men's store apparently testing the cashier if they offer store credit for a "mandatory: $80-100 purchase. Not only would this amount be trivial at this store, there are nothing in the e-mail guidelines that would justify the inclusion of race of shopper. I know where I won't be updating my wardrobe in the future.

proudly shopping in the D.
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July 23, 2019 01:35AM
Shops like this usually go out with a variety of demographics listed. It's nothing unusual. It probably means they already assigned the other types. You're right that otherwise there would be no reason to specify.

And yes, $80-$100 is a paaaaain to hit exactly. Especially if there is a sale that forces you to stand there and subtract 40% while adding tax.
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July 23, 2019 01:37AM
Hmm, around the Holidays at least one of the pricier department stores was looking for all flavors of humans. You could get a coin purse for $85. I like that they are taking measures to ensure various demographics are being served.
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July 23, 2019 02:09AM
*flashes back to 'Are You Being Served?'... *

Pronoun, schmonoun. I am a female human.
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July 23, 2019 11:23AM
Many, many clients specify that each location must be shopped by at least one "x" one "r" and one "l" each round of shops. The clients need to know that different looking folks do not get different service. I am glad that they do this.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
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July 23, 2019 12:38PM
@Shop-et-al wrote:

*flashes back to 'Are You Being Served?'... *

Oh I loved!!! that show. I keep hoping it will show up on the British TV channel on Pluto (Roku) Or even Amazon Prime.
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July 23, 2019 01:23PM
This is business. If the loss of yours is the price the company pays for obtaining information they deem important, I doubt that will be of the slightest significance to management.
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July 23, 2019 02:03PM
PBS stations still show "Are You Being Served?".
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July 23, 2019 02:12PM
Yes, we get it at 2 different channels in the DMV region.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Reply
July 23, 2019 02:24PM
@monk-n-nut

If you recall, the NYC flagship of the department store you’re referencing had a big splashy racial discrimination issue regarding a young Black man and a designer belt. So that store may have been testing its staff to ensure that such a thing wasn’t happening anymore.

I did this shop for my own demographic. Got a handbag and came in under the reimbursement—the store line is quite affordable and my location was an outlet.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/23/2019 02:25PM by Jhkdkdgn.
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July 23, 2019 04:07PM
There are scarf's, wallets, belts, an array of items to purchase for 80.00...perhaps a sale will bring a great blouse, I've done it on my own.

Live consciously....
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July 23, 2019 11:48PM
This doesn't bother me. There is obviously a need for a certain demographic, whether they're testing to make sure the associates treat all races/sexes/etc the same or sending someone to a shop where they know what the target demographic is. Amusement Advantage has shops that must be done by an "African American" (their words, not mine) because that's what the demographic of the neighborhood is and someone else would stick out like a sore thumb.

Shopping the South Jersey Shore
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July 24, 2019 12:34AM
Thanks for the replies. I noted in my subject, the shop offer makes me sad, not that I didn't understand it. I know the value of demographic data. Still, honestly, in 14 years of shopping, this is the fist shop offer I ever had that infused race into the title. I've seen gender, age, credit scores and the like, but never a race thing. Maybe those requirements were buried in the guidelines of shops I didn't pursue.

It makes me sad because it reminds me we still see race as a "demographic". I much prefer the male/female, young/old, rich/poor separations for their data.

As to some of the other points that have been made, if this business has been accused of treating people of color unfairly, wouldn't they be looking for shoppers that met that demographic?

I don't know. It does seem strange for a cashier to offer store credit for ta fairly low dollar purchase to a male customer that is choosing to shop at this store. I don't care what your race is.

proudly shopping in the D.
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July 24, 2019 12:44AM
I saw this shop in my area asking for female Caucasians. If it wasn't 1.5 miles away, I might have done it.
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July 24, 2019 12:55AM
I see bank shops asking for Chinese or Spanish speaking individuals. Usually, it's male or female or an age demographic.
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July 24, 2019 02:00AM
I dunno. With the whole sexual revolution thing going on, there are now at least two genders or sexes (depending upon whom you ask!), and there might be increments of degrees of demographics. Between initial transition event and less than twenty five percent transitioned; twentyf ive percent to less than fifty one percent transitioned; fifty one to less than seventy five percent transitioned; seventy five percent to one hundred percent transitioned. Never mind what we old fuddy duddies learned in science classes. We don't count when it comes to future trends. And, I wonder if the future is now, and shoppers are assorted into ever more delineated categories, as if to represent the apparent sorting process of people in the world at large into categories that seem to matter now.

Pronoun, schmonoun. I am a female human.


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2019 02:01AM by Shop-et-al.
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July 24, 2019 03:44AM
@PaulinMI wrote:

As to some of the other points that have been made, if this business has been accused of treating people of color unfairly, wouldn't they be looking for shoppers that met that demographic?

I don't know. It does seem strange for a cashier to offer store credit for ta fairly low dollar purchase to a male customer that is choosing to shop at this store. I don't care what your race is.

I think it is for comparison. If the data shows that staff tend to offer credit to certain people and not to others, it shows discrimination. If staff are simply not suggesting credit, that's another thing. Either way, it shapes how they might coach staff.

It's probably all motivated by the realization that if their staff are profiling based on assumptions about who will qualify for a credit card, the company is losing money. The price point is definitely out of date for what would prompt a credit application. I suppose it is also nice for shoppers who do not want to be out $300 while the refund is processing.
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July 24, 2019 03:45AM
And for every mention of what you can buy within the given price range, I think the point is that nobody is opening a credit card for a belt or socks. It took me a second read to realize that was part of the point.
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July 24, 2019 06:13AM
I did it. Pretty easy. I agree that $80 - $100 is not a lot for that store but that is what the client (a credit card company) wants. Just be sure that your purchase falls into the required range or it will be rejected. If they don't suggest applying for a credit card, then they don't. The client wants to know. There is no reimbursement, so unless you are buying something you want, you will have to make a second trip to return the item. Make sure that you buy something that is not on final clearance if you are going to return it.
@PaulinMI wrote:

"Last week! $50 shop for Caucasian males!" It's a shop at an upscale men's store apparently testing the cashier if they offer store credit for a "mandatory: $80-100 purchase. Not only would this amount be trivial at this store, there are nothing in the e-mail guidelines that would justify the inclusion of race of shopper. I know where I won't be updating my wardrobe in the future.

Shopping South Jersey, Southeast Pennsylvania, and Delaware above the canal since 2008
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July 25, 2019 01:20PM
@PaulinMI wrote:

As to some of the other points that have been made, if this business has been accused of treating people of color unfairly, wouldn't they be looking for shoppers that met that demographic?

You need something to compare it to. They may be treating all races unfairly but if you only test one race, you can't prove that.
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July 25, 2019 02:14PM
Since the vast majority of shoppers are Caucasian, needing to specifically recruit a member of a minority group is probably done to provide exactly that: a comparison. If you do not want to see requests for minority shoppers, then help recruit more minorities into the business so that MSCs/schedulers will not have to send out recruiting messages to find them!

As a real estate agent of 19 years I can testify that racial discrimination is alive and common in all housing markets! And, I, as a Caucasian, have more than once been "assured" by leasing agents that only people who look like me will live in that community. The legal onus is, for good reason, on the seller, landlord or manager, to pass a comparison test. It is long past time that white folks "deal" with this reality. If YOU do not like it, fine, do not do any housing shops at all, in hopes that you will not hear what I have heard from the apartment manager, or sales agents.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Reply
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