I know this won't be a popular view, but I would be willing for the price of fish to go up in exchange for the cost of knowledgable staff. I don't think this is unreasonable, or unfair. I have no problem with paying £1 more for a fish if it meant that pound went straight onto the knowledgable member of staffs wages. Of course, I'm not alking out the good reputable LFS, I'm talking about the major chains that cause so many dull threads in here...
Fella, that would be a good idea, but there are some things i'd like to adress. First off, never offer money to a company in return for a service they should already be providing. The sole purpose of a "major chain" such as petco/petsmart/pet supplies plus, etc. is to "SPECIALIZE" in pets. Therefore, each and every person who is employed by such an establishment should be trained in at least some basic knowledge of animal care, and training should continue throughout employment.
In fact, all of the chains that I am familiar with do have at least basic training programs. So your already paying for the staff to be knowledgable. If the staff does not have knowledge, and they are not a new hire, then they are not doing their job. If the lack of knowledge is due to lack of initiative on part of the management, then they are not doing their job.
The better question would be; can the training at major chain stores be improved, and should the consumer pay higher sales prices for these improvements? The answer is no. It is the duty of any company to find ways to improve without burdening the consumer. It is wrong to know that you are providing substandard service and product, despite the fact that you sell those products and services for a very proffitable fee. Major chain stores all make vast proffits. However, they all want consumers to beleive that if they went any lower on their prices, or provided any more services or improvements they would be practically bankrupt. Don't fall into the trap. All of these companies have enough money to improve their services and lower their prices and still be highly proffitable.
Last year walmart made in upwards of $2.5 billion PROFFIT. That is the money they had left after paying all costs, taxes and any bills whatsoever. So when you hear walmart come out and say they keep costs down by keeping employee wages low, thats a lie. Walmart could give a raise to every single employee at this very moment, and still make billions of dollars in proffit. They keep proffits maximized for greedy execs, by keeping wages low. What kind of truly knowledgable person would want to sell their services for such measley wages? What kind of truly intelligent person would want to work hard gaining such knowledge for a job that provides measley wages and a bad work environment?
Perhaps its different in the UK, I don't know how it works over there, but never, ever offer more money for services you've already paid for. The money you paid for those unprovided services goes straight into the pockets of execs and shareholders.
