Do you complain when a sale item is out of stock?

This week, RCSS had a special on pork shoulder on sale for $1.28 a pound. I went to my local store Sunday around 1 pm to get some. I looked around the meat counters and bunkers, still not finding any, I approached an employee, who was either the meat manager or assistant manager and asked if they had any more.

He replies.." We sold out Friday by 10 am, Saturday by 9.30, and today we made it till noon (Sunday Jan 10th). he said I don't expect to get anymore this week."

I question how a company Like Loblaws can advertise this great price without having enough stock on hand or at least coming to the various stores during the week the special is one.

This isn't the first time this has happened to me at this particular store, a few weeks ago they offered Gatoraide on sale at .98 per 1 liter. I went into the store, and count not find any. I found a grocery clerk and asked if they had any. He was able to find some in the back room, Kinda hard sell it when its back in the stock room.


I posted a comment on RCSS facebook page, basically saying the same as I have above. Their response screams what they think of the customers...

They deleted my question/ comment.


Im lucky enough work in a city where a Zehr's store is. They also were offering the same special as RCSS but at a little higher price. I get talking to the meat manager as he is walking over to show me what they had in the meat bunker, I said that the city I live in, RCSS are sold out. I said it blows me away that they can't get anymore pork for the sale. I said I had commented on FB about it..

He says you did what..?

He then goes on to tell me that I could have costed the meat manager his job and that I should have had not made a comment.

The zehrs meat manager tells me that they can be written up for these complaints and after 2 write ups, they usually get fired. He says I should have considered that the meat manager at the RCSS could have a wife and family to support, and I may have cost him his job.

My reply " then the store/company should ensure that they offer enough stock to supply customer demand so early in the week, if I had shown up on the last day of the sale, and they were out, then that's my mistake.. not his or the stores."

This guy was so put out that I made the comment.. He goes on again about me making the comment, and instead of really helping me, like I thought he was going to do..

He says" Here's your pork, slapping a pork shoulder and walks away."


So my question is two fold, would you have complained that the RCSS ran out of meat in the first place, and secondly would you still complain if you knew ahead of time that someone could lose a job over your complaint?

I would ask, as you did at the beginning - but I think you got a good explanation. I would understand that explanation, had it been given to me - and I've been in that situation with stores several times.

If I go to a store and they don't have something in stock, and it's a very good price, I just get a raincheck and hopefully pick the items up the next week or two if I'm back in that store.

I wouldn't leave a public comment anywhere regardless of any beef I had with a store. I would send an email to the manager, or the store - or private message on FB if that's the only way you can contact them.

Plus, if you are seeing a pattern with which you are unhappy in regard to that particular store, just vote with your feet and don't shop there any longer.

I don't believe for 1 minute that the company will sack the meat manager. It's really out of his control that the products sold out so fast. As for sold out of sale product, it happened at EVERY stores. None of the store gurantee it, usually stated while quantity last. If I'd complain each and everytime I'd be a millionaire by now. Good thing is RCSS offer rain check.

No I don't think I would have complained either. If a store is having a really great sale I expect it to be sold out fairly quickly. If I can I will get a raincheck or price match elsewhere. Not really the stores fault it would be hard to predict exactly the amount needed to last through the entire sale.

the superstore by my home is very bad whenever there's a good sale on ANYTHING. Sometimes i seriously think they only put out a handful of the sale items on the first day only. And no i found complaining to the store did not do anything.

Particularly with a commodity like meat there's not a lot that can be done about it. I find my superstore never runs out of anything and it is insanely busy. Maybe less busy stores don't order as much? As mentioned you can get a raincheck. There are also such a thing as customers who like to come in and complain instead of shopping elsewhere lol, so sometimes they just can't win no matter what they do!

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A lot of Loblaws-owned stores I've been to (especially RCSS) are sold out of the meat special by Saturday afternoon. Much easier to get a raincheck than to complain on Facebook, and I think nobody needs to know my personal business on a public website if it can be fixed at store level.

I don't believe the firing thing. Training alone would take way more time and money than dealing with two write ups from Facebook. (Especially because a lot of complaints on Facebook are about the most minute problems).

I'll only leave FB to a last resort if the store supervisor was rude, and the head office refuses to answer emails. I've done it only twice in my life that I can remember

So that is what is on sale. Was at rcss late this afternoon and saw a cart piled high with huge pieces of meat at $30 ish each. I assumed it was pork of some kind. I bet he had about 20 of them, maybe more. Not enough rooms in my freezer so didn't check it out. Obviously there wasn't a limit, maybe that would help the out of stock situation.

An old friend of mine was a butcher for 40 years and had this explanation: The butcher sources the meat for the best value for making a profit. Both the butcher and the store add their own mark ups so it's in the best interest of the butcher to find the lowest cost supplier. That being said the store also needs to have the space to both handle and store large volume so only so much is ordered in regardless. Once the supplier runs out they run out as they will supply more than one company.

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Originally Posted by Decaf

I don't believe for 1 minute that the company will sack the meat manager. It's really out of his control that the products sold out so fast. As for sold out of sale product, it happened at EVERY stores. None of the store gurantee it, usually stated while quantity last. If I'd complain each and everytime I'd be a millionaire by now. Good thing is RCSS offer rain check.

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RCSS in Red Deer doesn't offer rainchecks.

The stores near me usually have enough stock.. Unfortunately, many businesses ignore you unless you take it to their facebook page. I don't understand how a company could get away with firing someone for 2 people reporting a shortage on f b which they delete immediately.. Its not ringing true to me.

In this particular case, I don't think I would have taken to social media to complain. I'd have asked for a rain check and been on my merry way and if it is a common occurrence then perhaps email head office. I find i miss out on sales all the time because I work full time so the earliest I can get in on the action is Saturday mornings or if I want it bad enough I'll get my parents to make the trip for me as they're both retired and live 5 minutes away.

This week Metro had the pork shoulder also for $1.49lb instead of $1.29lb and since it's literally down the street from me - that's where I went. I bought 3kg and the butcher cut it up for me and gave me a nice leaner piece with a bone in as I had requested so it worked in my favor in the end. I ended up paying an extra $1.50 for the meat but I saved more than that in gas and hassle.

I know that stores like WM, NF, and RCSS sell out fast so I pick my battles. I don't mind paying a little more per lb to avoid the hassle of missing out or driving around town hunting for the deals.

I would have voiced my opinion too. I cannot see the butcher getting fired after two complaints regarding supply, if he orders it and doesn't receive it, it's out of his control.
The idea about specials is to entice the consumer to shop at that store, and while we are there purchase other products. I have no problems requesting a rain check and I remember last year the Pickering Loblaws didn't get a new supply of pork shoulder for about 3 weeks after the special.
I recently had a beef with No Frills regarding the Pinty's chicken wings deal, twice I was told by two different stores their shipment would be coming in and it didn't. The frustrating part was they don't offer rain checks and every store that price matches were sold out. I don't have Facebook so a friendly call to the busy hotline resulted in very little, the CSR was fielding calls most of the week and all he could do is check store supply through his computer. I replied I'm not driving 30 minutes away and wasting more time and gas. I rarely shop at Food Basics (no price matching is a huge negative), but I sure appreciate their rain check policy when a special is sold out. Have a great week!

No, I would not have complained.
As they say, "Early bird gets the worm!" and it's especially true when there's an awesome deal to be had.
Sorry you didn't get what you wanted the first time around- maybe next time ask for a rain-check?

I'm actually glad to hear they didn't put ALL of their stock out on the first day and had it split up between several!

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Originally Posted by pettyfan4343

So my question is two fold, would you have complained that the RCSS ran out of meat in the first place, and secondly would you still complain if you knew ahead of time that someone could lose a job over your complaint?

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Would I complain if I knew it was going to cost a job? No no no no no no no no no...........

Without getting into details something happened to me and someone DID loose their job over it........

You want to talk about a SICK feeling that you get knowing that the person was fired and you were the cause of it. I STILL FEEL GUILTY TO THIS DAY..... and this happened last year....