NU12#5: What pisses you off at the mall? What do you suggest? - Use of Rewards/Prestige Card for Free Parking

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ed Vargas <ed_vargas08@yahoo.com.ph>
Date: Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 3:53 PM

NU12#5: What pisses you off at the mall? What do you suggest?

By Ed Vargas

I guess everyone goes to the mall. Malling has become part of our daily routine to shop, eat and dine, buy groceries, buy books, do banking, have a haircut and many other things; from the mundane to special occasions like baptism, wedding etc. . As SM's tag line "We've got it all for you", the mall has practically everything we need has become part of our lives. The mall millionaires like the Sys, the Gokongweis and the Ayalas won't be millionaires had it not been for us. Yes, us the customers who faithfully and loyally patronize their malls. What do we get in return? You are charge with parking fee for giving them the opportunity to partake of our hard earned money. Alright, I'll agree that building and maintaining parking spaces (entirely a whole building in some malls) entails a lot money and huge capital but isn't' that part of doing business? Worse is, if you take a closer look at your parking ticket it says. "The management will not be responsible for any loss or damages to your vehicle." What? You park at your own risk and pay for it? I think this a one sided affair. You pay the parking fee so that mall owners can recoup their investments in building the parking infrastructure. That's fine, but having no responsibility for what happens inside and to your car is the height of customer insensitivity. If it's not highway robbery, it's customer disservice at the very least. Even worse is, you've entered the parking only to find it's full and get to pay on your way out just the same or wait for hours till somebody goes out to vacate a slot.

So what do we do as customers? Do a boycott? No, we can do that. As I said, mall has become our way of life, has become part of our urban culture. I am not asking for free parking. Although, we would have love that. But free parking? Only in our dreams! Besides, it's subject to abuse. What I'm asking from the millionaire mall operators is a little consolation for customers who have loyally and faithfully patronized their malls. I suggest the following:

1. A customer with a total minimum of P 2,500.00 purchased at any stores or establishments gets a free parking for 3 hours. The 45 pesos minimum parking fee is just about 1.8% of that amount purchased. If he parked more than 3 hours, then he pays the excess according the existing pay schedule.

2. A customer who purchased less than the minimum amount gets his purchased amount accumulated every time he comes back to make a purchase until he reached  the total minimum amount of P 2,500.00 to be entitled to a free three hour parking.

How do we implement this? This is not difficult to implement as some malls are already issuing loyalty cards to its regular customers. Robinson Galleria Supermarket has the "Value Card" where your accumulate points every time you make a purchase. SM has its own "Prestige card" or "bonus card" and so is the Ayala Malls. They can tuck in the free parking privileges I suggested above to this loyalty cards. The loyalty card then serves as both loyalty card and parking card. Isn't that cool! This will be a win-win situation for both mall operators and regular customers. This will encourage repeat customers and build a strong loyal customer base. Any takers?  4  < Good, papalit ka na kay JG>

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Prof Jorge Saguinsin

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Re: NU12 - Eliza Guades - security checking machine at malls

NU12 – What pisses me off at the mall? What do you suggest?

By Eliza T. Guades

Every time I go to mall, what pisses me is the long queue before entering the mall premises. I am not against the procedure of checking the belongings of the persons entering the mall because that is for security purposes, what pisses me is on how they do it. They employ security guards to check but almost all the time, the guards are not really checking. Instead of the guards, I suggest that they have a machine that can really check and detect something unsuspicious. Guards will be there to attend to unusual incident not primarily checking all who will enter the mall.    3

NU 12 # 2 by - Anna Mae Dela Cruz pet friendly malls/establishments

Anna Mae Dela Cruz 3

S10

What pisses you off at malls

Half-way measures, that's what.  Let's take the example of Eastwood and BGC's dog-friendly policies.  Both establishments began welcoming canine companions in the recent years.  Both allow responsible owners to tow along their pets as long as these register with mall security and submit vaccination records.  As a result, individuals and families frequent these malls more often and stay there longer, whether it's because they can bring the whole family along, have their leisure without worrying about the morose and hungry animal at home, or enjoy the added eye candy.  I don't have the numbers, but I am certain these new policies have brought in more revenue than a bunch of other marketing tactics, especially as there are only two open-air, dog-friendly, park-like establishments in Metro Manila.  There are more social media posts featuring these malls too, thanks to people taking pictures of cute dogs.

This has certainly been a welcome change, but there is still much to be done.  I once brought a dog to the Fort and felt confident she'd be welcome there.  Her presence was tolerated, unfortunately I could not bring her into the restaurants (and there were no outdoor tables at this particular restaurant strip).  So she was chained to fence outside, and though I was thrilled to see the waiters dote on her and give her water (with ice!), I was less than happy to find her miserable and muddied later on.  She barked throughout lunchtime because she's not comfortable having us out of her sight.   Somebody had knocked her water over and she sat in a dirty puddle for an hour.  I still had errands to run but we had to head home because not even the most disciplined dog can hold her bladder for so long.  Apparently places that allow dogs don't think about the fact that they need designated toilets too.  Eastwood is an improvement.  There's a watering hole for dogs, and a special trash bin for poop bags.  One wonders why they don't have a designated lamppost for peeing as everybody knows that excrement comes in two forms.  What makes it worse than Fort, however, is that restaurant choices for people with pets are even more limited, as is the strolling space.

I'm not about to ask for a first-aid animal clinic to be constructed at every commercial area, or to have provisions for aquatic, reptilian, and avian pets too.  I am merely asking for the essentials—a place to eat, drink, poop, and pee.  I'm glad about these pet-friendly policies, but if we must try to be more inclusive, then can we try to be truly inclusive.  Welcoming new species must mean more than simply allowing them entry.  The thought process is good exercise for other things too:  Welcoming new target markets—whether it's a different specie or a different demographic—means more than allowing them entry.  It means reconfiguring what we offer in order to accommodate their needs and preferences, and being determined to provide an experience that will keep them coming back and staying with us longer.  It's called customer orientation.