Sheer brilliance

Instead of a horrible customer service experience, I actually have a really good one.

I went to Lane Bryant last weekend to buy bras and I ended up trying on a couple of other things. They were having a trouser sale and if you bought three pair, you got $20 off each pair. But one of the pairs didn't fit and they didn't have it in my size.

"Do you want to try them on in brown or gray? If they fit, we'll just have the black ones shipped to you." And they shipped them to me free. Of charge. Free.

Lane Bryant has instituted this new program, LB2ME, and if you want anything they don't have in stock in the store, you pay for it with your purchase and they ship it right to your door for free. Clearly this is a bonus for me, the customer, meaning they will always "have" what I need. I also always get the sale price that's going on at the time. Like the pants deal, I still got the $20 off the pants they had to ship because they were the third pair.

But if you think about it from the company's perspective, this is so genius it's amazing all stores don't do it. The company's benefits:

• They get a guaranteed sale - you pay for it right away, in the moment, so there's no changing your mind on the way to the other store to buy your merchandise.
• The store you are in gets credit for the sale. This is big in retail, since the stores compete against each other in sales for a region. And they really did the work to sell it.
  
• Headquarters can track what items and sizes sell out in each store, which can help them stock appropriately.
  

Plus, they get more business because, who doesn't want to go to that store? Where they appreciate that you came out so they're going to promise their stock or ship it to you direct.

I want to give that store my money.