Re: Going Undercover to Size Up Service

The Financial Post, Friday, September 23, 1994. J. Ian Hamilton

Re: The article, Going Undercover to Size Up Service (Set. 21), by Randall Scotland.

It seems to me that David Lipton of Sensors Quality Management Inc. of Toronto has the wrong (Canadian) spin of the ball when he describes this scenario: “Say a hotel wanted to compare its phone reservation system with the competition. If an audit shows that operators are answering calls within three rings, while a rival takes five or more, management could justify reallocating some reservation staff. The service level would remain competitive and other departments would benefit from extra employees.”

To whit . . . if we have better service than our competition, cut service back to parity.

If this mentality prevails, WalMart deserves to win.

J. Ian Hamilton,
Toronto