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Nicholas Lee
Professor Murray
ENC 1102
19 September 2014
Going the Extra Mile with Customer Service
The focus of this annotated bibliography is the role of Customer Service in the discourse
community of Publix. More specifically, how valued Customer Service is to Publix and what
defines good customer service. I will approach this topic by using both primary and secondary
sources. Primary sources include different discourse from Publix including their Associate
Handbook and a personal interview with one of their managers. Secondary sources include
appropriate and accurate statistics that indicate the effects of Customer Service on a company
and different views on what Customer Service means. This bibliography applies to many people
or companies in the retail/supermarket business, employees looking to improve their company by
incorporating Customer Service, or basically anyone dealing with customers on a daily basis.
In order to refine and find appropriate sources, I used the databases and search engines
OneSearch, CompPile, and Google. I narrowed down the search results by searching Publix
Customer Service and also doing different searches with different key words such as customer
service study or customer relations. All searches contained customer to make sure the
results were relevant. I read through about fifteen different articles before narrowing them down
to four useful ones I can use as secondary sources. The conversation regarding Customer Service
in the retail/supermarket business has always been present, but what is not really discussed is if it
is really beneficial or worth it for the company. Customer Service being worth it to a company
means that the benefits of making sure Customer Service is a priority is more beneficial than

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what it is costing. For example, Publix makes sure it is going the extra mile by having a lot of
associates at the store at one time, but a gap in the conversation would be is it necessary for the
success of Publix?
Associate Applause. Publix. Publix Asset Management, 2014. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.
Associate Applause is a page in the Personal Associate Publix website. It contains
multiple stories of different associate experiences that represent Publixs culture of customer
service. It serves as an example to all of the members in the Discourse Community. Since it is on
the national site it is both credible and accurate. The writing did not have any spelling errors and
facts were approved by having the location of the store next to the citation. The information is
also read by all of the associates of every Publix. One story tells of a manager named Krzysztof
Holzer whos in charge of ten manufacturing facilities that are available 24/7. It states that Publix
applauds Holzer for all of the hard work he has done, especially in putting customers first. Publix
states, When his phone rings in the middle of the night, he listens patiently, assesses the
situation and offers resolution usually by getting out of bed and driving to the facility. This
source really shows how much Publix cares about Customer Service and since they update the
source throughout the year, it will be an advantage to refer to it for examples.
Chemi, Eric. "Proof That It Pays to Be America's Most-Hated Companies."Bloomberg Business
Week. Bloomberg, 17 Dec. 2013. OneSearch. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.
This article contains a study done by a very well-known, credible site that provides
information on businesses. The website has over 20 million visits monthly and over 320,000
professionals that are subscribed to it. The article states that it actually pays to be Americas
most hated companies. While this is opposite on what Publix and many other customer service
prioritizing companies believe, the data actually shows that companies who have negative
reviews on their customer service, are actually the ones that are flourishing when it comes to
revenue. The article seems to base company success on revenue. It states that companies who are
getting the most complaints are the ones actually prospering rather than companies that the
general population seem to like. The author of the article makes a point that companies may be
purposely lacking customer service in order to do business the smart way. This source is not
biased and simply makes an observation and analyses the statistics of Americas biggest
companies. Multiple graphs make it easy for the reader to look at them and see the results of the
study. The article also provides sources for the statistics that it has used.
Cooper, Steven. "Customer Service under the Microscope." WKMG. Click Orlando, 13 May
2013. OneSearch. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.
This is a web page of one of the major local news departments of Orlando. The web
article had a video that conducted a study that compared five stores on how long it took them to
actually engage with the customer and help them out, not just a hello, but an offer to help

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(Cooper). Supermarket visits included Publix, Walmart, and Target, while other stores included
Lowes and Home Depot. All stores stress an importance on engaging and helping their
customers. The study involves a member of the news crew that had a hidden camera who went to
each store at five different locations, and timed how long it took an associate to meaningfully
help him. The purpose of going to five different locations was to make sure the results are
accurate and continuous for each supermarket. Each supermarket was given an average time
(average of the five locations) and the results concluded that Home Depot, Lowes, and Publix
were the stores with the best times, while Walmart and Target seemed to score way below. This
will useful to refer to in order to see if the scores of these companies correlate to the success of
each company. The source is credible by the author not having a biased point of view and simply
stating what the study results showed.
Freebern, Tim. Personal Interview. 20 Sept. 2014.
The personal interview contains questions regarding the reasons why Customer Service is
so important to Publix. It also asks questions that attempt to acknowledge what good customer
service means to him as a manager and Publix as a company. Questions like what attitude do
you expect your associates to have when it comes to dealing with customer? serve to find out
what he does as a manager to make sure Customer Service is being prioritized. Questions will
also attempt to see how good customer service affects Publix in general; whether it helps,
hinders, or does neither. Since Tim Freebern has been associated with Publix for over 10 years
and worked his way up to become a Store Manager, his knowledge and experience will definitely
be helpful with this topic. Tim has also worked in other supermarkets like Albertsons, so he has
experience with supermarkets outside of Publix.
Hamstra, Mark. "Customer Royalty." Supermarket News 4 October 2010: 12-32. OneSearch.
Web. 19 Sept. 2014.
The article Customer Royalty has useful information to cite for researching this
particular discourse community. It contains interviews done with different associates, including a
store owner, and has a study that shows the general overview of the success of Publix in the last
ten years. By using this information combined with the interview and handbook, it will be useful
to compare whether or not customer service is the reason for the success. It also has information
on how much Publix is spending to make sure it provides outstanding customer service
(Hamstra, 24). For instance, the article explains what each department is responsible for and how
it affects the customers. One example in the article states what the aprons department, whose
purpose is to teach recipes for family dinner, does to make sure the family has a meal that
satisfies everyone in the family. Growth plans of the company are also included and the methods
Publix will use to do so. The author of the article does not have a biased point of view and bases
all conclusions on data from the studies. The article also cites external sources used. No spelling
errors and the fact that it was from a published journal with professionals in the supermarket
business affirms the source accurate.

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Publix Code of Ethics. Florida: Publix Asset Management, 2014. Print.
This is an article found on the national Publix website that states what its morals are for
the company and the reason for their success. Publix believes that all of their success stems from
the amount of value they put into their customers. It states, Customers are the reason we exist
(Publix). The article also has the different responsibilities each associates should hold. These
responsibilities include the local community and the environment. It seems as though Publix
doesnt just stress importance on what is going on just inside the store, but the community as a
whole. It even quotes the founder of Publix, George Jenkins, who says, You not only have to be
right, you have to look right. Publix believes that they have to be an example in order to find
success. Since it is on the national site of Publix, it is both credible and accurate. The article is
very straightforward and easy to navigate through to understand the information.
Ushantha, Chanaka, A.W. Wijeratne, and S. Achchuthan. "An Assessment of Retail Service
Quality: An Empirical Study of the RSQS in Sri Lankan Supermarkets." Developing
Country Studies 4.3 (2014): 78-90. International Sharing Platform. 8 Mar. 2014.
OneSearch. Web. 19 Sept. 2014.
This is a study that is conducted in a supermarket in Sri Lanka that attempts to measure
the customers perception on retail service quality and its impact on customers satisfaction in
supermarkets (Ushantha, 79). In order to collect its data, they contacted 168 retail shoppers
from major super market located in the Colombo district. The results of the study show that the
retail service quality has a positive correlation with customer satisfaction. The Sri Lanka
economy is a good place to do this study because the growth of the retail sector in the country is
outstanding and at the time of the study the most demanding category of the economy. The study
defines how retail service quality is measured and how the customers are affected by it. The
source has a works cited page and lists full citations of all of the references that it used. Many of
these references are professionals of the supermarket and retail business in the Sri Lanka
economy. The author does not have a biased point of view and all conclusions are based on data.
The study was easy to navigate through because of the separated sections such as methodology,
hypothesis, and results.
Your Associate Handbook. Florida: Publix Asset Management, 2014. Print.
The Associate Handbook is given to all associates when they are first hired. The
handbook is divided into six different chapters with Customer Service being the first chapter. It
provides information on Publixs expectations from all of their associates regarding Customer
Service, especially how associates are expected to communicate to the customers. A section
under Customer Service titled What we expect from you states that Publix expects associates
to: 1) fully commit themselves to give customer friendly, helpful service, 2) keep the stores and
facilities clean, 3) be totally fair and honest with everyone, and 4) recognize the highest level of
ethical and social standards. Publix believes that if it sincerely follows these fundamental
expectations that it will achieve their goals to continue to set a standard for excellence in the

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supermarket industry. The handbook also contains different rules intended to better a
customers experience while shopping. Rules such as the 10-Foot and 10-Second Rule and the
Carryout Rule are explained in detail in the handbook and will be very useful to refer to when
discussing how important Customer Service is to Publix. Since the Associate Handbook is given
to every Publix employee it is both accurate and credible.