Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Cheryl Woodard used to take her daughter and her friends out to eat at an IHOP restaurant in Laurel, Maryland, after her dance class. But now they hardly go there anymore because it closes too early.
“It’s a bit frustrating, because it’s not as comfortable as before”said Woodard, 54, who is also doing most of her shopping online these days, rather than in person, because brick-and-mortar stores have reduced hours of operation.
Before the pandemic, consumers in the United States were used to instant gratification: packages and groceries delivered to their homes in less than an hour, stores that stayed open 24 hours a day to serve their every need.
But more than two and a half years later, in a world yearning to return to normal, many workers are fed up and don’t want to go back to business as usual. They demand better hours, and sometimes even quit.
As a result, many businesses still have not been able to resume the same hours of operation or the same services at a time when they continue to deal with labor shortages. Others have made changes in the name of efficiency. For example, Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer and private employer, announced in the summer that it does not plan to return its supercenters to 24-hour operation as before the pandemic.
IHOP says the vast majority of its locations are back to their pre-pandemic hours and some have even extended it. But others, like the one in Laurel that Woodward used to frequent, have scaled back.
The changes are creating a mismatch between customers, who want to shop and dine like they used to before the pandemic, and exhausted employees who no longer want to work those long hours, a tug-of-war that is becoming all too noticeable in the busy holiday season. Christmas shopping.
“No one wins,” said Sadie Cherney, a franchise owner with three Clothes Mentor resale boutiques in South Carolina. “It’s very demoralizing to see you come up short on both sides.”
Across all industries, the average workweek hours per worker was 34.4 hours in November, the same as February 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But in the case of retail trade, it fell by 1.6%, to 30.2 hours per week during the same period. Work hours at restaurants decreased similarly in October, according to the most recent data.
For its part, the most recent monthly survey of the National Restaurant Association, carried out among 4,200 restaurant operators in the first days of August, found that 60% of restaurants reduced hours of operation on the days they were open, while that 38% closed on the days they would normally have been open before the pandemic. Additionally, a report published by food and beverage research firm Dataessential showed that the average American restaurant in October was open about six fewer hours per week than it was in 2019, a 7.5% decrease.
Cherney said her stores returned to their pre-pandemic hours last year, but as labor shortages worsen and labor costs rise, she has struggled to maintain those same hours this year.
His Columbia store opens an hour later, but he had to offer his workers raises. At his two other stores in Greenville and Spartanburg, hours for personal shopping appointments during the week have been reduced, and he no longer accepts second-hand clothes from shoppers on Sundays.
Cherney noted that customers often complain about long waits to process their second-hand deals, and his staff is overwhelmed because they work 20% more than they would like. The bottom line: Liquidity and profitability have suffered.
Mani Bhushan, owner of Taco Ocho, a taco restaurant with four locations in the Dallas area, continues to struggle to hire cooks at his McKinney location, which opened in July 2021. He says many workers cannot afford to live in this luxury suburb and have to commute from other places. Several times a week he has had to close the store early, something he has never had to do in his 40 years in business.
Even when Bhushan is able to maintain its normal hours of operation, it still has to suspend online ordering early in the day and the service is not up to par with its other locations. “I’m a perfectionist,” he said. “I am not happy. But I can’t fix it now.”
Staff shortages will likely remain severe next year, even as several tech companies have downsized or frozen hiring.
The economy added 263,000 jobs and the unemployment rate stood at 3.7% in November, still near its lowest level in 53 years, according to the Labor Department. And although job offers in the United States fell in October compared to September, the number increased 3% in the retail sector.
For mall operator Taubman Centers, which operates or leases 24 upscale malls in the United States and Asia, many stores are opening later than its centers to save on staff costs, said Bill Taubman, president and chief operating officer. . He said this causes frustration among customers who go to the mall with the idea that the store where they want to shop will be open.
Vicky Thai, a 27-year-old studying to be a medical assistant in West Hartford, Connecticut, says she is often frustrated by the waits at restaurants and stores. She recalled a recent experience in a restaurant, in which it took her a long time just to get water; she at a local clothing store she spent 30 minutes in line to buy an item due to understaffing.
But for every frustrated customer, there is a frustrated worker. Artavia Milliam, 39, lives in Brooklyn, New York, and works as a window manager for H&M in Times Square. She says that she spends more time helping sales than upgrading the mannequins due to staff shortages.
“It can get overwhelming,” he said. “Every day I meet someone rude.”