Publix: Lessons From its Founder I

Publix is a privately held grocery store business based in Lakeland, Florida.  George W. Jenkins launched Publix in 1930.

I like Publix.  For perspective, that's like a Boston Red Sox baseball fan saying he likes the New York Yankees.  At least it would have been in my past.  You see, I grew up in the large grocery store business.  My dad worked in the business for fifty-one years, forty of those as a store manager.  I worked in the business for ten years and hated every second. 

The definition of customer service in the company that I worked for was, the customer loads up her grocery cart and then pays the cashier...after waiting in line for twenty-five minutes...more during holidays.

The definition of employee relations was, you do what I tell you, I pay you money.  A corrupt union was also involved.  I get a stomach ache even thinking about it today.

There is so much for me to write about from a customer point of view, and I might well in future essays.  Today I write from the perspective of a middle aged dude who appreciates Publix's marketing and communications efforts.  Actually, I could keep quite busy writing about these topics as well. 

From my past, supermarket marketing was a Wednesday newspaper insert and coupon wars.  Yuck!

Publix puts together wonderfully designed and informative communication pieces like the brochure titled Lessons From Our Founders.  It is described as: The Publix Philosophy as Lived by George W. Jenkins.  I love it!

The design of this brochure is clean, appealing and melds right into Mr. George's (as he was affectionately called), philosophy.  It is a fold-out piece that captures seven of Mr. George's life lessons.  On the top of each page is a picture of Mr. George in and around his stores.  Below that is the title of the lesson and an anecdote to illustrate it.  On the rear are more pictures, the title of the lesson and more supportive content.  For example:

Respect the Dignity of the Individual

"If you want people to respect you or your company, you must first show respect for them," believed George Jenkins.  And he practiced it, too.

On the front cover of this brochure is a picture of Mr. George pushing a cart load of groceries, helping a mother and her son to their car.  This visual shouldn't be lost on present day shoppers.  Each customer is always asked if they would like help to their car after their groceries have been bagged.

I'll cover each of Mr. George's life lessons in a following post.

I wrote a story three years ago about the Deli Kid from Publix.

Comments

[Debra Estep]

Hey Davie,

Customer service is not something that is
trained or emphasized to the employees at the large grocery chain of Giant Eagle in
my area of Northern Ohio.

I jumped over to read your 'Deli kid' story.
Obviously personality plays a great deal into customer service and the 'Deli Kid' had a great deal of that. You mentioned a person working beside him that had a
'presentation' that was 'canned and robotic'.

I would MUCH prefer canned and robotic,
to nothing more than a grunt. Because there is a chance that one day, it will click for that person.

I also jumped over to Publix's web site.
AMAZING. They even have a link for hurricane preparedness. !!!

Sounds like they are living up to their motto.

"Where Shopping is a Pleasure"

I think I'll drop their 'Consumer Relations department' a message asking 'When are you coming to Ohio' :))))))

[Hastin]

Hey. What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.
I am from Mali and learning to speak English, give true I wrote the following sentence: "Simply, despite this, he's wrongly mastered mid- engine to passing by the drives, with bands overseeing eventually worse for him."

Regards 8-) Hastin.