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Average at Animates


JK

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IMO it all comes down to the individuals, and the management that shapes them (with varying management styles, of course).

i work at an animates, and though i give the best advice and service that i can, i'm not about to get all rightous and defensive of animates in general. I have been in to others "undercover" (lol), and have received both good and shocking service (while the staff were all standing behind the counter doing sweet f all). In theory, animates wants all customers to be greeted within 30 seconds and approached as soon as possible. But if your staff don't care, they're not going to do it unless someone's watching them. Then again sometimes if the store is busy people are forced to wait for service.

At my store, we have had some staff that got the job because they have retail experience and have a basic knowledge, having pets at home, but then they get into the job and can't perform simple tasks that really, you should be able to sort out with use of simple logic.

It comes down to people, some are just there for the money, and others (in my experience, and whom can still be found) are passionate, know their stuff, and would rather tell you how to DIY something in order to get a better result and save money, then sell you an overpriced piece of equipment (though can certainly give you that option as well :lol: ).

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What do you expect of a company where 2 out of the 3 directors are in Australia!

It is listed as being owned by "Probatus Investments limited" which is then slit evenly into 4 main shareholders 25/100 a peice (all in NZ funnily enough).

Previously owned by "R & H Janson LTD."

The austrailian directors cannot be traced fr4om within NZ.

O. And,before anyone gets shirty about information here, it is freely available to anyone in the world on the businesses register, It is merely a relay of such information. In fact, there is alot more information that I have not posted. Just covering my glutes...

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Very interesting thread.

It should be remembered that there is a HUGE amount that pet shop staff need to know.

Fish (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

Birds (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

Cats (all breeds: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

Dogs (all breeds: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

Rodents (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

Turtles, Reptiles, Other (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

plus:

Sales

Customer service

You get the idea. I do not envy petshop staff!

So really it is so surprise that people may not know everything. I think there would be few people here that could answer every fishy question with confidence and accuracy, let alone do that for every common pet type.

But that said, every single shop has this issue, and having instore specialists (fishos and petos!) and a comprehensive manual makes an enormous amount of sense.

Managers that are experienced only in managing is a perfectly sensible approach. However they must be aware that their subordinates might know a lot more than they do about animal welfare and should listen to them (and not just bleat about time/cost).

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Very interesting thread.

It should be remembered that there is a HUGE amount that pet shop staff need to know.

Fish (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

Birds (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

Cats (all breeds: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

Dogs (all breeds: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

Rodents (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

Turtles, Reptiles, Other (all species: feeding, housing, accessories, diseases, medications, maintenance, behaviour etc)

plus:

Sales

Customer service

You get the idea. I do not envy petshop staff!

So really it is so surprise that people may not know everything. I think there would be few people here that could answer every fishy question with confidence and accuracy, let alone do that for every common pet type.

But that said, every single shop has this issue, and having instore specialists (fishos and petos!) and a comprehensive manual makes an enormous amount of sense.

Managers that are experienced only in managing is a perfectly sensible approach. However they must be aware that their subordinates might know a lot more than they do about animal welfare and should listen to them (and not just bleat about time/cost).

All while being paid minimum wage while probably having managers that say things like, "Why should I give them encouragement? I pay them don't I?"

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With recent experience of being employed by Animates I disagree.

I havent even done my first day, but looking through all the manuals, and speaking to various members of staff, as well as managers and the regional manager, I couldnt have been more impressed at just how well everything is done as well as the culture.

Its true with anything, not everyone knows everything about anything, and personally id welcome a customer with more knowledge so as more can be learned by myself - and vice versa with customers with less knowledge. There is always someone who knows more, and theres always someone who knows less. All in all it goes in the direction of everyone being better educated, which can only be good for the hobby.

As a customer ive never minded whether their knowledge is superior or inferior - if I have questions, I go home and research. Even if my questions are answered id probably go home and research anyway just to get a whole lot of different views and opinions or something.

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it sounds like us animates employees are taking over :o

yeah well despite what a lot of us say about "the institution" and "working for the man", some of us just can't help wanting to spend our working days with tanks and tanks of fish (not to mention the furry component of the job).

Oh, i forgot to point out that a fair few of the jansens fishos are still with animates, and that they do have 'fish guys', all you have to do is ask for one, or get to know who we are. I don't call myself a 'fish guy' because i'm mostly in the rest of the store, but if a customer asks for a fisho and i can help, i do.

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Animates in Lower Hutt are pretty good i always get special treatment their guess because i am their at least twice a week and always spend a fortune lol .

They also order my fighters for me but would much prefer to buy from local breeders and friends on here .

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one thing i was quite impressed by with animate on their aqua fun day was they had a container for nets with some kind of fish safe sanitiser in it , and a rule that the net couldnt go into another tank without first being returned to the sanitiser while i was disapointed to see a nice sump system go unused its good to see every tank is seperate there running hang on back filters very easy to quickly slap a "under quarentine" sign on if something goes wrong. and i do also have to say the 3 stores here in chch have become better with the fish side of things in the last year

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Which one? I'll come visit sometime :o:wink:

Sshhh its a secret!

Morcs, congrats on the job :) You haven't hurt your foot by any chance have you? If yes then I KNOW WHO YOU ARE *scary music* you'll be in my store :D Sounds like you'll be a positive step in their staffing

My foot is fine!

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Yes!! cos if someone walked up to me and my mates and said Hi Gals, I wouldnt be happy :wink:

Oh shoot you're right. Sorry doll.

(Now, with that statement, am i in fact implying that you're an inanimate replica of a young child? Got to watch my mouth....) :wink:

My foot is fine!

Oh, not the person i'm thinking of then, and not my store. Are you sure? (j/ks) :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

Don't know about tetras but platys are about $6.95 at Animates and I pay $4.30 for them elsewhere. And they are not the best looking platys either considering you are paying top dollar. Also I brought a tank scruber there not realising I would be at HFF half an hour later. It was almost $3 cheaper there. Its worth the extra 5 min drive to go to HFF.

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Don't know about tetras but platys are about $6.95 at Animates and I pay $4.30 for them elsewhere. And they are not the best looking platys either considering you are paying top dollar. Also I brought a tank scruber there not realising I would be at HFF half an hour later. It was almost $3 cheaper there. Its worth the extra 5 min drive to go to HFF.

Animates have fish club deals everyweek - some real bargains to be had.

Plus there are multibuys which are on constantly on most fish and plants - eg neons, if you buy 10, the price per fish is reduced by $1.50.

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