Plague: Shop Rite on Main Street "hides" red hand baskets.

from: Ken
to: ShopRiteCustomerCare@wakefern.com
date: Apr 19, 2020, 8:37 AM
subject: Re: Ref # 1234567 - Reply from ShopRite

Judy B.,

Here's the latest. I arrived at 7:15 AM today for old folks hour. However, the entrance I used last week was closed. I knocked and was directed to the entrance that was closed last week.

I looked for the red hand baskets that were usually just outside this entrance but there were none. I entered and no shoppers were using them. I searched and finally asked and was directed to the entrance. Nope, I hadn't overlooked them. I don't know why but I walked down the hall opposite from the one I used to get to the entrance. There was a long line of non old folks waiting to get in. About half way down towards the elevators there were red hand baskets ... behind the people waiting. I had to violate social distancing to get past non old folks waiting to get in to get a red hand basket.

What the heck? That store always, ALWAYS, has at least one stupid thing like that. ALWAYS. Who decided to put the red hand baskets down the hall behind the non old folks waiting to get in? How much common sense would it take to make a better decision?

There were other problems, of course, but that wasted the most of my time today at Shop Rite in White Plains, NY.

____________________________

Plague: ShopRite on Main Street ignores health suggestions about coronavirus COVID-19.

It's not like ShopRite was not aware of the plague (coronavirus COVID-19). ShopRite recently established a policy of no returns ... to protect everyone. Like other stores, it set early shopping only for customers older than 60 but it doesn't enforce, not even letting oldies cut to the head of the checkout lines during that time.

ShopRite on Main Street worst run store in Westchester County, NY. Saturday, March 21, 2020

Sent 3/21/20 to ShopRite Customer Care Team:

ShopRite
13 City Place
White Plains, NY, 10601
Phone Number: (914) 539-4500

Worst run store in Westchester County, NY. Two fundamental suggestions that pretty much every other store has had for decades:

1. Express checkout. You have self checkout but no limit on items as in "ten or fewer".
2. Credit card only combined with number one above.

Your self checkout is ALWAYS a crowded mess with people with shopping carts loaded and then weighing and finally paying with cash. Of course, you have the worst point of sales contraptions, too.

I'll post this on my blog.

ShopRite downtown up to its old tricks. Tuesday, October 15, 2019
______________________

Plague: simple practical suggestion to local officials about long checkout lines at food store. Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Obviously, this ShopRite has not done anything to improve and it's especially bad considering the dumb and lazy policy of not expediting checkout exacerbates spread of the current plague through unnecessary and easily preventable social contact.

Local elected officials are copied in case they want to exert some practical influence.
______________________

I'm older than 60. I went into ShopRite on Main Street in White Plains, NY this morning about 7:00 AM when only old people are supposed to shop. At checkout I went to the self checkout area.

Two of the four point of sale contraptions were not working. This is not unusual. Three people were ahead of me, only one over 60. One younger customer left while checking out to get another item. The two store employees there didn't notice because they were trying to fix a broken contraption but to no avail.

All three people had problems with their contraptions that required interrupting the two fixing employees. When I finally started the process I had to get assistance three times, all because the contraptions suck and should have upgraded long ago.

Also slowing things as usual was that ShopRite on Main Street, despite multiple suggestions and against common business practices in its industry, still has not implemented two very simple things:
1. "ten or fewer" items to be checked out.
2. Credit card only.

I'll send the link for this post to ShopRiteCustomerCare@wakefern.com

But I won't bother with city and county elected people, who have no interest in this either, probably because none of them shop there. It's downtown. But note that ShopRite is owned by something called Wakefern:

https://www2.wakefern.com/

CONTACT
5000 Riverside Dr.
Keasbey, NJ 08832
(908) 527-3300
____________

No email or anything.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakefern_Food_Corporation

Type	Retailers' cooperative. Private
Founded	1946 (74 years ago) in Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Headquarters	Keasbey, New Jersey ,  U.S.
Key people	Joseph S. Colalillo (Chairman & CEO) Joseph Sheridan (President & COO) Douglas Wille (CFO)
Services	computer services insurance advertising marketing merchandising procurement
Revenue	US$16.6 billion (FY2019)[1]
Members	51[2]
Number of employees	70,000+
Divisions	ShopRite Price Rite Marketplace The Fresh Grocer Dearborn Market Gourmet Garage
Website	www2.wakefern.com

____________________

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-colalillo-24575214/

Joe Colalillo
president at shop rite

Experience
Company NameWakefern Food Corp.
Dates Employed 1983 – Present
Employment Duration 37 yrs

Also Viewed

• 

  Cheryl Brady 3rd degree connection 3rd

  Chief Executive Officer
• 

  Cheryl Williams out of network 3rd+

  CIO at Wakefern Food Corp.
• 

  Pat Finn out of network 3rd+

  Operations Manager at Wakefern Food Corp.
• 

  Chris Lane 3rd degree connection 3rd

  EVP at Wakefern Food Corp.
• 

  Natalie Menza 3rd degree connection 3rd

  Director of Health and Wellness at Wakefern Food Corp
• 

  richard tully out of network 3rd+

  president at kearny shop rite
• 

  George Horan out of network 3rd+

  POS Project Manager at Wakefern Food Corporation
• 

  Chuck Guffy 3rd degree connection 3rd

  Production Planner at Wakefern Food Corp.

_________________________________

Plague: use Hudson Link buses as mobile hospitals.

As mentioned many times here the New York State government boondoggle started in the fall of 2018 has been and continues to be a FAILURE because the Hudson Link buses still usually run through the downtown streets of White Plains with zero passengers. How can the Hudson Link buses be considered essential when non-essential activities are shut down? At least the many regional and corporate buses are taking a break.

The Hudson Link buses are new and BIG, so ...

Use Hudson Link buses as mobile hospitals to combat the plague: coronavirus (COVID-19).

New York City and New York State have the worst record on this plague of any of the 50 states. Some different stuff needs to be tried other than Governor Andrew Cuomo doing his daily imitation of Johnny Fontane: "What can I do? What can I do?" We know the rhetorical answer. Doom and gloom non-stop will seem popular for only so long without some tiny hint of optimism and positive goals.

Maybe Westchester County Executive Latimer and/or White Plains Mayor Roach will bring this to the attention of someone who can act. Maybe. But they've ignored the many posts about the Hudson Link bus fiasco despite having the posts emailed to them as will happen with this one.

ce@westchestergov.com
troach@whiteplainsny.gov

Also sent to Gov. Andrew Cuomo:
https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form?contact_submitted=true

Mayor Tom Roach: "bring an east-west bus rapid transit system to Westchester County" Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Hudson Link: more empty huge buses downtown for no good reason. Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Zero passengers on Hudson Link buses wasting federal TIGER grant money. Friday, December 14, 2018

Transdev North America, the company driving EMPTY Hudson Link buses through downtown White Plains. Friday, December 14, 2018

Huge buses with few passengers increase pollution, congestion. Saturday, December 22, 2018

Waste, fraud & abuse reported to federal DOT. Thursday, December 27, 2018

Ghost buses. No, not busters, buses. Saturday, January 12, 2019

Hudson Link bus has a passenger! Saturday, February 2, 2019

Hudson Link buses now drive on Main, Hamilton and Martine, almost always empty. Thursday, February 28, 2019

Bus mania is to get train station money as hub for east-west Lower Hudson Transit Link? Tuesday, April 16, 2019

lohud blasts Hudson Link bus system. Email sent to Common Council. Saturday, May 4, 2019

Hudson Link buses still 99% empty. Monday, February 17, 2020

Pandemic does NOT need all those HUGE buses with few, if any, passengers. Saturday, March 21, 2020

Plague: eliminate county benches used by homeless and worse at White Plains train station.

Maybe have Westchester County police pass through occasionally, if only to suggest to out of school teenagers to stop making out, you know, because of that plague thing.

Email to Westchester County Executive and Mayor of White Plains:

from: Ken
to: George Latimer <ce@westchestergov.com>
cc: "Thomas M. Roach" <roachformayor@gmail.com>, troach@whiteplainsny.gov
date: Mar 27, 2020, 5:30 PM
subject: Bench for homeless and worse.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZRnLUHFTM4zNTLev7

Eliminate this and the adjacent bench on the west side of the White Plains train station. They've been an obvious problem for years, never more than now with the plague.

The people who spend inordinate amounts of time there creep out regular citizens who need to constantly pass close to them to get by.

This is an easy one. Try it. You've got plenty of time to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
________________

Those wretched people living on the county benches on the pathway are not keeping proper social distance, not even from each other. Somebody should give a damn.

Plague: simple practical suggestion to local officials about long checkout lines at food store.

from: Kenneth Matinale
to: ShopRiteCustomerCare@wakefern.com
cc: commoncouncil@whiteplainsny.gov,
George Latimer , letters@lohud.com, digital@lohud.com
date: Mar 25, 2020, 8:18 AM
subject: Re: Ref # 2423968 - Reply from ShopRite
from: ShopRiteCustomerCare@wakefern.com
to: ken
date: Feb 4, 2019, 10:10 AM
subject: Ref # 2423968 - Reply from ShopRite

Dear Mr. Matinale,

Thank you for emailing, we appreciate the opportunity to respond. The feedback you have provided is very important because it helps us focus on areas that need improvement.

As you may know, ShopRite stores are owned and operated by independent companies. Wakefern provides the stores with products and retail support services but the store owner ultimately controls the day-to-day operation. We’ve forwarded your comments to the owner of this location for further follow up with their management team.If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.Sincerely,

Crista P.
Customer Care Representative
_______________________

https://white-plains-ny.blogspot.com/2020/03/shoprite-on-main-street-worst-run-store.html Saturday, March 21, 2020

Obviously, this ShopRite has not done anything to improve and it's especially bad considering the dumb and lazy policy of not expediting checkout exacerbates spread of the current plague through unnecessary and easily preventable social contact.

Local elected officials are copied in case they want to exert some practical influence.

Pandemic does NOT need all those HUGE buses with few, if any, passengers.

Come on. Come on. They serve no purpose, especially the obvious failure, the Hudson Link buses.

Get them off the downtown streets of White Plains, at least until the plague is brought under control.

ShopRite on Main Street worst run store in Westchester County, NY.

Sent 3/21/20 to ShopRite Customer Care Team:

ShopRite
13 City Place
White Plains, NY, 10601
Phone Number: (914) 539-4500

Worst run store in Westchester County, NY. Two fundamental suggestions that pretty much every other store has had for decades:

1. Express checkout. You have self checkout but no limit on items as in "ten or fewer".
2. Credit card only combined with number one above.

Your self checkout is ALWAYS a crowded mess with people with shopping carts loaded and then weighing and finally paying with cash. Of course, you have the worst point of sales contraptions, too.

I'll post this on my blog.

ShopRite downtown up to its old tricks. Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Galleria: put it out of its misery.

Two views:
As the aging Galleria Mall nears its 40th year, can it last in a growing White Plains? https://www.lohud.com/
___________________________

In Las Vegas they demolish useless structures: Galleria, Library. Monday, March 14, 2016

10 LAS VEGAS Hotels That Were IMPLODED: a planning model for White Plains. Thursday, March 17, 2016

Questions for tonight's candidates debate for Common Council. Monday, June 17, 2019

At the library, tonight 7-9 PM. Hey, what else is the library good for? ...

Would you support controlled demolition of the Galleria and its garage for the purpose of creating a central park?
___________________________

My question was not asked. Too bad. White Plains is a one horse town. Always was. Always will be.

Fizzle: perspective on city video Sizzle.

It's nice that residents are proud of their community and that the municipal executive had a promotional video created:

https://vimeo.com/showcase/the-city-of-white-plains

But come on. It is the essence of what's fundamentally wrong with White Plains, which is a tale of two cities:

- downtown residents living in apartments in buildings most of which in 2020 are the functional equivalent of tenements, needing upgrades in electrical and plumbing;

- ruling elite living in houses and dominating the Common Council with membership probably 90 percent of member time on that body for the last half century.

The house residents use downtown for their convenience and amusement with no practical regard for the quality of life there. The only issue in White Plains is making sure that the house residents can drive to downtown and park in ten minutes. To facilitate that White Plains long ago established 4 and 5 lane one way urban speedways that even the mayor criticized, although not recently.

White Plains is pedestrian hostile in the extreme but the Sizzle video would have you believe just the opposite. It did not show a single mega bus, including the virtually always empty boondoggle Hudson Link buses.

The lack of downtown open space was not just overlooked but obfuscated by the mention of parks, plural, when there is only one real park, that between Lake and Main Streets.

I know, this seems needlessly negative, especially if you live in a White Plains house neighborhood and not in a downtown apartment. But apartment residents are not extras in a video and White Plains is not Disney World.

Hudson Link buses still 99% empty.

lohud blasts Hudson Link bus system. Email sent to Common Council. Saturday, May 4, 2019

from: Kenneth Matinale
to: commoncouncil@whiteplainsny.gov
cc: Tom Soyk <tsoyk@whiteplainsny.gov>,
George Latimer <ce@westchestergov.com>,
digital@lohud.com,
letters@lohud.com,
Benjamin Boykin <Boykin@westchesterlegislators.com>
date: Feb 17, 2020, 7:45 PM
subject: White Plains, NY: Hudson Link buses still 99% empty.

White Plains Common Council,
CC: Westchester County Executive, WP Traffic Commissioner, ...

Just go outside and look.