Education and Retail Sales

Catlin Gabel needed rechargeable batteries.  I needed exercise.  So, off I trundled to Office Depot to purchase AA rechargeable batteries using my Star Teacher Card.  At the store, I found the 4 packs of batteries were sold out.....but there was an 8 pack of the same batteries.  I asked a store worker if I could purchase the 8 pack for the price of two four packs.  Office Depot would have MADE MONEY on the sale since the 2 four packs would have cost more than the 8 pack.  To my surprise, Office Depot declined to close the sale.  But, they offered to check if another store had the product I wanted.  I thought, "Silly people, this product is being advertised as "green" for Earth Day, and you want to send me DRIVING through the city in search of batteries!"  I left the store, still on foot, and moseyed on down to Radio Shack.  Here, we had the opposite problem.  4 packs were sold out, but there were two packs.  You can guess what happened next....Yep, Radio Shack didn't want to sell me two 2 packs of batteries for the 4 pack price.  Finally, I completed my 2 mile walk to Batteries Plus where the four pack was more expensive than Office Depot, but not by much AND I was able to purchase rechargeable 9v batteries at the same time!  So I charged $68 and walked on over to Home Depot to pick up plants with Pam.  I enjoyed the walk on a sunny morning, but the next time I need batteries....straight to Batteries Plus!  Those other stores need to work on the customer service end of their business.....The picture....Noa enjoyed the day, too.  And, she is a budding (pun intended) photographer.

Update:  I received the following e-mail from Office Depot Monday morning:

Thank you for contacting Office Depot.   Because the nature of your inquiry requires additional research, we are escalating this to our second level technical support team.   A Technical Support Representative from our second level technical support team will research your inquiry and contact you directly within 24 hours. Thank you for your patience and understanding and I apologize for any inconvenience.