Fear Competition?

Many years ago, I worked for a supermarket chain (Wegmans) that monitored the speed of the cashiers, and posted everyone's scores for the last several days right by the timeclock.

People were very eager to see how they had done (they'd even come in a few minutes early to compare scores from the day before). It was a competition with no prize except pride, and people had a lot of fun with it.

I suspect it improved the customer experience significantly. I don't know if they still post the scores, but I do know I still like shopping there long after I've moved on, partly because everyone seems to be working enthusiastically.

Is it more proper to say that the market process sets prices, or discovers them?

Posted by: Speedmaster | Dec 3, 2008 10:38:05 AM

Quite profound.

You've given me some food for thought.

In the navy I worked in jobs that had 4 rotating watch sections to cover the 24 hour day.

Each watch section was competitively rated on objective production.

I learned quickly that the first and second place watch sections liked competition, and the third and fourth place watch sections thought it sucked.

Curious how that works, eh?

However, the overall performance of the station improved dramatically.

I am a devotee of competition. I do think that the benefits can often be explained to the competitors in a much better manner than I saw in the past.