Petco buying Dr. Foster and Smith.

[N1Husker]

You lost me here... Have you ever actually been in a Petco? From the several stores I've stopped in, they're little more than a disgrace to the marine aquarium industry... Sorry, but little chance DFS is getting my money ever again due to this association.

Ike, I think it depends on the individual store. Here in Tacoma, Wa, they have a store on 6th street that has their guy who takes care of aquatics and he has two tanks at home and is quite knowledgeable. The tanks are all kept clean and well stocked and I have bought several fish from here and they are healthy and happy.

 

[Shep]

Ike, I think it depends on the individual store. Here in Tacoma, Wa, they have a store on 6th street that has their guy who takes care of aquatics and he has two tanks at home and is quite knowledgeable. The tanks are all kept clean and well stocked and I have bought several fish from here and they are healthy and happy.

Thats kind of the problem with PetCo, there is no standard of care. I know that they have rules and SOP but some of them are awful while others are great stores. If they could bring all of their stores up to that level I would have no problem shopping there and I know that its because a lot of times they hire kids who don't care at all but they need to do something.

 

[Makena95GT]

Thats kind of the problem with PetCo, there is no standard of care. I know that they have rules and SOP but some of them are awful while others are great stores. If they could bring all of their stores up to that level I would have no problem shopping there and I know that its because a lot of times they hire kids who don't care at all but they need to do something.

Please.. do tell how they will be able to do that. Id love to be enlightened. People get jobs there just to have money. You cant force someone to care. And there arent many people lining up for the job, so they cant afford to fire every single person who isnt up to snuff.

I dont see anyone complaining about the abundance of LFS that take terrible care of their animals >.>

 

[Shep]

Please.. do tell how they will be able to do that. Id love to be enlightened. People get jobs there just to have money. You cant force someone to care. And there arent many people lining up for the job, so they cant afford to fire every single person who isnt up to snuff.

I dont see anyone complaining about the abundance of LFS that take terrible care of their animals >.>

They could do it by getting people with experience or have training so they actaully know how to care for these tanks. There a lots of people who would take that job becuase in case you did not know, the economy kind of sucks and lots of people need jobs. If they are not going to do the job right, then get rid of them, it just costs money as they kill fish. As for LFS that suck, people complain about that all the time, where I live there is one thats called Rick's Fish and PEt and its just the worst place around.

 

[Makena95GT]

They could do it by getting people with experience or have training so they actaully know how to care for these tanks. There a lots of people who would take that job becuase in case you did not know, the economy kind of sucks and lots of people need jobs. If they are not going to do the job right, then get rid of them, it just costs money as they kill fish. As for LFS that suck, people complain about that all the time, where I live there is one thats called Rick's Fish and PEt and its just the worst place around.

Then send all those tons of people my way because I have literally nobody but myself in my Pet Care department and we've been looking for ages.

So now, unless you've worked in one of these stores you honestly wouldnt know anything about the policies etc etc.

Everyones gets training. Everyone. Now do people actually follow every rule? Nope. People want to cut corners. Okay, so we take your route and fire them. Ok. Now we only have one person trained in that department and we need coverage. Who will cover that persons lunch? They cant open and close every day. You'll need more people. And those people you claim are lining up just arent there. The people "desperate" for jobs just want the money. Their heart isnt there.

You also have to think about what being in pet care does to people. Dealing with some really reeeaalallllly crazy customers on a daily basis breaks down a lot of people and they cant handle it. It takes a special breed of person to work pet care in a retail pet store.

 

[Makena95GT]

And honestly if you know the wholesale cost of the fish.. it doesn't hit the store very hard if something goes belly up :/ same for everything else in the store. If it did.. stores would be losing money and getting shut down all over

 

[Shep]

Then send all those tons of people my way because I have literally nobody but myself in my Pet Care department and we've been looking for ages.

So now, unless you've worked in one of these stores you honestly wouldnt know anything about the policies etc etc.

Everyones gets training. Everyone. Now do people actually follow every rule? Nope. People want to cut corners. Okay, so we take your route and fire them. Ok. Now we only have one person trained in that department and we need coverage. Who will cover that persons lunch? They cant open and close every day. You'll need more people. And those people you claim are lining up just arent there. The people "desperate" for jobs just want the money. Their heart isnt there.

You also have to think about what being in pet care does to people. Dealing with some really reeeaalallllly crazy customers on a daily basis breaks down a lot of people and they cant handle it. It takes a special breed of person to work pet care in a retail pet store.

I worked at PetSmart for a number of years in college so I know how the pet care area works and I know that some people don't care and some do. You get rid of the people who don't care because they end up costing more money and no one likes working with them. You don't have to love your job you just have to have a good work ethic.

 

[Makena95GT]

I worked at PetSmart for a number of years in college so I know how the pet care area works and I know that some people don't care and some do. You get rid of the people who don't care because they end up costing more money and no one likes working with them. You don't have to love your job you just have to have a good work ethic.

Once again the point is that if you get rid of everyone.. you have no one. And its been almost a year now and we still havent found anyone wanting a Pet Care position. So as previously mentioned.. nobody is banging down the door for a job making $9/hr cleaning up after animals and dealing with customers. Nobody.

So theres no choice but to keep some of the cruddy people in some stores. At least until a better candidate comes along.

Then of course you have the people who dont know a lot about a certain area of Pet Care and rather than admitting a lack of knowledge they lie and give out false advice. Then people come back and complain about the whole store -.-

I will gladly tell a customer "Sorry but I dont have any experience with that. But we can look online or browse one of these books to see if your question can be answered"

So what the guys said is true. PetCos mission statement is not a lie. The company isnt bad. Its a matter of individuals ruining it and making everyone else look like a bad egg as well.

 

[luxauterna]

It remains to be seen. It is all speculation for now, and hopefully we will see a positive result. I am normally pretty skeptical, but maybe I'll be wrong this time!

 

[Shep]

It remains to be seen. It is all speculation for now, and hopefully we will see a positive result. I am normally pretty skeptical, but maybe I'll be wrong this time!

Fingers crossed!

 

[Kyuss414]

So what the guys said is true. PetCos mission statement is not a lie. The company isnt bad. Its a matter of individuals ruining it and making everyone else look like a bad egg as well.

I think that's kinda his point. If that's your mission statement, you shouldn't just be accepting of individuals you hire not meeting them. Otherwise what's the point of having a mission statement? At the point it just becomes a PR line and not a mission statement.

 

[YodaHart]

The funny thing is that in all the releases they mention that F&S deals with a wide range of pet products and specify their veterinary specialties. There is no mention of live aquaria or their marine/freshwater livestock business. Hopefully this means they'll just leave it alone, but you never know. I seriously doubt the aquarium areas of Petco stores will change at all. If anything, they hope to use the other areas of F&S to improve their stores (vet pharmacy & more services for dog and cat owners).

 

[Makena95GT]

I think that's kinda his point. If that's your mission statement, you shouldn't just be accepting of individuals you hire not meeting them. Otherwise what's the point of having a mission statement? At the point it just becomes a PR line and not a mission statement.

Because the people who run the show and make the statement dont deal with hiring the part time employees

The ones doing the hiring of cruddy people are store managers that dont give two craps about it. Now if you come visit my PetSmart in Austin you'd see an example of how each chain store should work and what types of people they should be hiring as well as an example of good managers that care.

I lucked out big time. Other stores in my area are really janky but no matter how hard you try to improve things it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort from a lot of people. Im currently fighting the whole San Antonio district for not following policy and procedure for snake feeding

 

[ksanfranfan]

Been reading the articles and threads here over the last couple of days and there are a lot of good and valid points being made for and against the wholesituation. I find myself falling into the category of those that are disappointed with the Petco aquisition but also trying to find a bright side and optimism even after Kevin giving his statement.
Someone made a good point about how the dry goods will be priced if DFS and Petco have 2 different prices on the same products currently being sold. For example I know that DFS sells a 160 gallon bucket of Reef Crystals for $52.99 and it's on sale currently for $47.99. Even on sale at Petco the same item is selling for $69.95 and regular pricing is $79.99 according to the their site. Repeat delivery is still over $4.00 more than DFS at their regular price. None of that includes shipping either.
DFS isn't the only online retailer that I order things from but I often compare and see which one has the better deal and if the Petco pricing becomes the norm, then that will definitely change things for me when it comes to doing business with DFS.

 

[beachsidereefer]

It would be pretty cool if you could order WYSIWYG live stock and it's shipped at no charge to your local Petco for pick up. If the fish shows up sick the local Petco can try to nurse it back to health and you have the option to observe it in QT and decline the purchase if it's health is questionable.

 

[N1Husker]

I have been in some LFS that couldn't hold a candle to my Petco. Some do a great job. I think you have to judge the ones you go into and decide whether you want to shop there or not.

 

[Diesel]

I agree, some Petco stores are not so Marine life friendly.
Looking into the future I think with LA it can be a positive change.
I think we should just hold our horses and in the mean time LA/DD is still ROCKING......... Drs. Foster and Smith Diver's Den® - Holacanthus clarionensis

 

[that Reef Guy]

I am interested to see what happens with this.

 

[jasonandsarah]

There's 6 Pet Co's in my state and only 1 has a reputation for being even half decent in the marine department. Largely due to the fact that a couple reefers run the show. 1 in 6!! [emoji37]
That being said I personally belive every single Pet Co needs a marine aquatics manager. They should be required to have a background in marine tanks and get paid more then 9$ an hour! I also believe that in areas with multiple Pet Co's they should only have saltwater tanks in certain ones. It wouldn't break my heart If they only had a saltwater department in 3 of the 6 Pet Co's if those 3 ended up with better quality because of it. Even 2 of the 6.
As far as LA goes I hope it stays the same and I really hope they don't loose they're arrive alive stay alive guarantee! [emoji3] 30 days on aquacultured corals! Pet Co's poor health of marine livestock and no guarantee at all is probably the number 1 reason I no longer shop there.

 

[Mike in CT]

Ok, not to change the subject, but raise your fin if you purchased fish from the from the online store that Live aquaria derived from!
And what was the name??
The website still works!

I myself had 3 Bangai Cardinals arrive in the mail in the late 90's