Publix customer relations

There is a reason Albertson sucks...it's their employees. Why would
Publix want them?

Publix responded to my letter, much to my surprise. They sent me it in
the mail. Imagine my surprise to get a letter with the envelope hand
written and a real letter inside.

Here's what Ms. Grove said:

Your fax was forward to me for review and response. Thanks for taking
the time to address your concern.

We realize that Albertsons' decision to sell their stores has been
life-changing for their employees. That's why we immediately made
arrangements to hold interview events when the acquisition was
announced. Within days we had placed posters in every store inviting
Albertsons employees to attend the events. After only two events we
had interviewed everyone who had an interest. We spoke to Albertsons
people throughout the state during the events and we know that many
are good, hard-working people, so we definitely agree with your
opinion of them.

Let me stress that we fully intend to hire Albertsons people. Despite
what you've heard, we have made many job offers and hired many more
than the twelve you're aware of. Since we do not have a store in
Pensacola, we have faced challenges as to how and where to place our
new team members. With the price of gas, some have been unable to
drive to our stores so they've decided to wait until we are closer to
their homes before joining us and that's understandable. Fortunately
we've now opened our Pace and Orange Beach locations and we are also
making offers for our first two stores in Pensacola. I hope that
everyone who is offered a job accepts because I firmly believe that
they would be happy here as we've been on Fortune's Magazine's list of
"100 Best Companies to Work For" in each of the last 11 years.

(see next comment)

Publix bought what was for sale. Good luck not ever spending a dollar
at Publix. At this rate they will be the only supermarket left. They
are trampling the competition for a reason. The people in charge know
what consumers want and play to that.

"Customer relations" or "employee relations"?

It is extremely difficult when locations close, stores are bought,
etc. In my area, one location of a regional supermarket chain closed.
It caused considerable pain for the employees, even though the chain
tried to offer everyone a position at another location. I heard
nothing but complaints about how many hours they were able to get,
what hours they were given, which store they ended up at, etc.

It is typically like a wake in a situation such as this. It sounds
like employees are being considered for employment under the new
management. If you would like to be part of the hiring process,
perhaps you yourself might apply for a position in Human Resources?

I see and understand your points. But the two Publixes in my area are
brand new so there wouldn't be many employees to move up in the
company.

I just think that the promise they put out to the community that they
would take care of the Albertsons' employees they effectively bought
and they've only hired twelve from all four stores. Now there's 400
people who are going to be without job potentially. A lot of people in
my area, myself included, just don't understand why Publix isn't
hiring more of these employees.

I've heard from two Albertsons' in one of my college classes and
basically Publix isn't hiring the long timers at Albertsons' because
they don't want to dish out the extra money to pay these experienced
workers.

I just feel bad for them and it's given Publix a negative view in the
area.