Safeway Customer Service Desk Hours (Opening, Closing +More)

Safeway customer service desks are typically open from 9 am to anywhere between 7 pm and 10 pm Closing time depends on where the store is located. Stores in highly populated areas have later customer service desk hours to help accommodate more people. Some stores may also do a soft closing, which still allows customers to get some transactions taken care of at the customer service desk.

This article is about the customer service desk at Safeway. We’ll look into what the typical hours are for the service desks, how many employees usually work it, and what services are provided.

Read further to find out all you need to know about customer service at Safeway.

Table of Contents

General Safeway Customer Service Desk Hours

Most of Safeway’s customer service desks open at 9 AM.

This is usually hours after the store opens its doors for the day. Generally, one employee can open the service desk and another will join slightly later.

Closing times vary more than the opening hours. Busier stores keep their customer service desks manned until 10 pm Less busy stores may close their desk at 7 pm Still others will do a soft closing.

What Is a Soft Closing of the Customer Service Desk?

A soft closing allows stores with less traffic to still provide some of the services offered at the customer service desk.

Rather than have employees dedicated to manning the desk, employees from other departments are trained to perform services that customer service desk workers provide after the desk has technically closed.

Locations that offer a soft closing don’t typically provide all the same services after the soft closing. The services provided are limited but useful for customers who come in during the later hours.

What Are Safeway’s Store Hours?

Most Safeway stores are open by 6 am. However, as with the customer service desk hours, the store hours vary by location, also.

For instance, in suburban-like areas, many Safeway stores are open from 6 am to 11 pm You can go to a highly urban area and find Safeway stores that are open from 5 am to 2 am.

These locations only close long enough for the restocking crew to fill the shelves. Then, the doors open again for shoppers.

Why Don’t the Customer Service Desk Hours Match the Store Hours?

None of the well-known grocery store chains or big box stores keep their customer service desks open the same hours as the store itself. It simply isn’t cost effective for them to do so.

Grocery stores see far less shoppers in the wee hours of the night and morning. Nonetheless, there are some people who visit stores at these times.

While that is the case, there isn’t a need for returns, exchanges, and any of the other services provided at the customer service desk.

Safeway would pay employees to man a desk that doesn’t have customers to serve.

It would be a waste of the company’s money to open customer service as long as the store.

What Services are Offered at the Safeway Customer Service Desk?

The customer service desk handles several kinds of transactions and duties. Some of the most prevalent are returns and exchanges.

If you have anything to bring back because it was damaged, opened, or incorrectly purchased, the customer service desk employees will handle that for you. Thus, part of their jobs are to restock items that are ok to put back on shelves.

Safeway stores get phone calls from customers, also. Most callers do not know the extensions for the departments they’re trying to reach. A customer service desk worker answers these calls coming in and will transfer you to the department you need to speak to.

They also provide support of their own over the phone.

Some of the kinds of calls customer service desk employees handle themselves include complaint calls, calls to check on stocked items, special orders, and employment opportunities.

Many customers service desks in grocery stores provide lottery sales, too. You can purchase lottery tickets and scratch off tickets. You can also redeem winners up to a specified amount.

Some Safeway locations also offer fax services, copy services, and money services, such as check cashing and money wires through Western Union.

Can I Check Out at the Customer Service Desk at Safeway?

You can check out at the Safeway customer service desk, but it’s not a regular checkout register. So, what do we mean by this?

You shouldn’t load up a whole cart of groceries to checkout at the service desk. The customer service desk isn’t equipped to handle large grocery purchases. It’s not set up like the normal checkout stations.

You should also only checkout at customer service if you have other services needed there. For example, let’s say you have a box of cereal to return because you got home and found it was open.

You can take your handbasket of groceries with you to the service desk and process the return and your purchase at the same time.

You could also be prompted to checkout at the customer service desk on a busy day. Should a representative invite you to checkout there, there’s no reason not to take advantage of the offer.

Is There a Customer Service Desk Manager?

There may be a customer service manager, but this person is usually responsible for all employees who engage in providing customer service.

These employees include the cashiers, the sales floor reps, and the customer service desk workers.

Generally, there are a few services desk team leads or shift leads that serve as immediate supervisors to the customer service desk employees.

Wrap Up

Safeway provides a broad range of customer service desk hours for its customers.

While the service desk isn’t open for the entirety of the store hours, it opens by 9 am and closes as late as 10 pm in some locations.

Customers of all types can get what they need from the service desk most of the time.

References

https://www.safeway.com