
7-Eleven Struck Back Against an Owner Who Took a Day Off - danso
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/business/7-eleven-japan.html
======
harrisonjackson
This would be fine if he was running a store without the 7-11 name/brand.

As a business owner, I do empathize with him. He wants to be his own boss and
make his own hours, but he still needs to keep his commitment or he needs to
dissolve it the right way.

As a customer - this would be piss me off so much. There is a 24 hour fitness
that I used to go to that closed at 10 pm. HOW IS THAT OKAY?? (this was years
ago and still gets me worked up) This is just like that - he wants all the
advantages of the franchise but isn't willing to uphold their brand. What's
next? He doesn't like the coffee they source because he thinks it is too
strong so he waters it down??

~~~
tempsy
Uh 7-11’s name came from the fact it was open from 7am to 11pm originally, so
being open 24 hr/day is not an inherent promise of the brand.

~~~
flexie
You are absolutely right (1) and I have no idea why people down vote you, even
if they think its irrelevant.

We, here at our office desks, are quick to demand that this store or that
service is open 24/7.

The guy needed a day off. Go somewhere else and get your chocolate bar.

1:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven)

~~~
harrisonjackson
Yes, as a customer I like the same experience when I go from one chain to
another - that's the value of their brand.

If he wants a day off then he should take a day off - I don't think 7-11 is
setting his working hours or vacation days, but they do expect him to manage
his store the way he's agreed to.

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austhrow743
Shame on the New York Times for such a bs title.

They care that he closed the store not that he took the day off.

"Man loses franchising rights after violating core aspect of the franchise
brand" doesn't have the same ring to it I guess.

~~~
fzeroracer
Shame on you for not reading the article.

The entire point was that as a small franchise owner he has to work 24/7 on
the clock every day of the week due to the company off-loading all of the risk
and issues onto the owner. You don't see a problem with a company mandating
that their employees work every single hour of every single day?

~~~
austhrow743
>The entire point was that as a small franchise owner he has to work 24/7 on
the clock every day of the week

That's not the entire point of being a small franchise owner at all. He is
allowed to have and has employees. He is supposed to run a schedule of them to
keep the business staffed around the clock. That doesn't mean he has to
personally be there for every single hour that it's open! How absurd.

>off-loading all of the risk and issues onto the owner.

There is no offloading of all risk and issues to the business owner. All risk
and issues are already inherently the owners. That's what it means to be a
business owner. It's how they earn their share of the venture. If things work
out you can earn a lot more money than as an employee. If things don't then
you crash and burn. That's what you signed up for when you created or bought a
business.

>You don't see a problem with a company mandating that their employees work
every single hour of every single day?

Sure I do. That's in no way what happened here though. He isn't the employee
of 7 Eleven. He is a business owner who has leased their brand in exchange for
agreeing to certain terms. He gets more customers because people trust that
his business, as a 7 Eleven, will be open all of the time and in exchange he
has to be open all of the time. And again, they don't want him personally
there 24/7\. Just his business open.

~~~
michaelt
_> He is allowed to have and has employees._

An article that was posted to HN last year [1] profiled several convenience
store franchise holders who, it sounded like, weren't making enough money to
afford employees.

After all, if your country has 1.5 jobs per job seeker, raising wages; and
you're only making $20 an hour of sales on the overnight shift, you're going
to be losing money on that shift.

Of course, you might argue that a business that marginal should just close
down - but if you spent $$$$ setting up, stocking and advertising the store,
which might have seemed a good investment before another store opened nearby
cutting into your sales, the decision to close down might not be an easy one.

It also says that 7-11 has an "area-dominant strategy" where, essentially,
having a high density of franchise stores is their business strategy. That's
in contrast to many franchises that include an area of exclusive territory, so
there's one successful franchise rather than two struggling ones.

[1]
[https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/05/27/national/behind...](https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/05/27/national/behind-
scenes-24-7-service-realities-owning-japanese-convenience-store/)

~~~
Erlich_Bachman
> the decision to close down might not be an easy one.

So what, we should adjust the laws, break the contracts and make everyone else
jump hoops around him and give him special treatment because he has to make a
difficult decision? This is not kindergarten, this is business.

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geofft
> _He said that 7-Eleven had offered to pay for his remaining inventory —
> owners are responsible for buying their own products from the company at
> wholesale prices_

This feels like an American MLM scam, just tuned to be actually profitable for
the "owner" under normal conditions and therefore sustainable.

(Is this normal for legitimate American etc. franchises too, or is this
specific to Japan's setup?)

~~~
p1necone
Not really the same thing, but I used to work for a small food business that
sold bottled/canned drinks from a fridge via a contract with Frucor (New
Zealand), and the prices they charged wholesale to this small business were
often _higher_ than what you could buy the drinks for retail at nearby
supermarkets.

~~~
retsibsi
Would it have been illegal to buy and resell stock from the supermarkets?

~~~
maccard
No, but it's usually against the agreement you have with the supplier, which
will, like this story, probably end with a terminated agreement.

Depending on your local laws, the nearby supermarket might have been selling
below cost, so it might not be as huge a pricing discrepancy as you imagine.

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Waterluvian
Aren't there a crazy number of convenience stores everywhere in Japan, and
where not, there are vending machines?

Also, I find something incredibly cozy about my city going to sleep at night.
Almost nothing is open, not even most convenience stores, and I just find that
so cozy.

~~~
ravenstine
I'm the opposite. I like knowing that at 3am there's somewhere that's open
where I can buy things like contact lens fluid, pain relievers, etc. (7-Eleven
happens to have those)

~~~
EpicEng
Perhaps just plan ahead for your contact lens solution. I get that it's
convenient, but working those shifts is miserable (I did it).

~~~
ravenstine
I'm an imperfect human being. I'm going to go through contact lens solution
and put off replacing it until I squeeze the bottle late at night and nothing
comes out. I'm glad there are people I can pay at any time of the day to fix
my self-inflicted problem.

~~~
EpicEng
Sure, but it's not great fun for the person on the other side of the counter.

~~~
jumpman500
Most people don’t work for fun.

~~~
EpicEng
I imagine you understood what I meant by "not fun", but ok. I suppose my view
is, if you can't plan ahead for your trivial purchases, I don't really care.
I'd rather just shut the store down and let you bemoan the fact that you can't
buy snacks and Tylenol at 3am.

~~~
ehnto
Reach outside of your bubble and realise there are likely tens of thousands of
people in your city who live a different schedule to you, for work and other
needs like care and support.

There is room for a night time economy based around the people and services
that run while you sleep in your standard schedule. Big cities wouldn't be
possible without the efforts of people on AM heavy schedules.

~~~
carlmr
Also not to forget, if there are people awake at night without outside
pressure, then there's probably people fine with working at night.

In Germany you can't work on Sundays. I always wanted to work on Sundays as a
student, Fridays and Saturdays were worse, since that's the only days where
most social gatherings happen.

On the news I hear people saying they don't want to force people to work on
Sundays. I'm thinking maybe, just maybe, not everybody is the same.

I even agree we need limits. But how about limiting it to working 5 days a
week, instead of picking an arbitrary day where you can't work.

~~~
Moru
Germany is a very catholic heavy country, it's hard to do anything except
church on sundays. Or fleamarkets on the now completely deserted shopping mall
parking areas... Think an IKEA parking space completely empty on a sunday.
They fill it up with flea markets instead :-)

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Markoff
I don't get it, if he doesn't like 7-eleven franchise conditions, why he just
doesn't open regular non-franchise convenience store? it's not like they have
monopoly, article claims they have 40% of market, so he would join majority of
other convenience store owners

~~~
thebusby
Because 7/11 handles all the products and logistics to deliver items multiple
times daily. Where would he get things to sell, and how would they get to his
store?

~~~
austhrow743
Wholesalers. The same way the other 60% of stores get things delivered.

------
rkachowski
> Government figures show overwork was blamed for 246 claims related to
> hospitalization or death in 2018. The retail industry was one of the biggest
> sources, officials show. Another 568 workers took their own lives over job-
> related exhaustion.

I find it mind blowing, and pretty damning of the culture of shame in Japan
that the number of work related suicides is more than double the amount of
work related hospitalizations. How doesn't this get more attention?

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claudeganon
Prior to World War II, Japan had massive syndicalist groups and labor unions
that caused enough disruption to win universal male enfranchisement. Now, they
have “black companies” working people to death with near impunity, while
online mobs of right-wingers celebrate their behavior. Quite a horrifying
trajectory.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karoshi](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karoshi)

~~~
anm89
How do you define "universal male enfranchisement“ and how do you prove that
claim?

~~~
jdale27
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Election_Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Election_Law)

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taurath
The other side of a culture of extreme duty is a culture of extreme shame. Its
not the way for humans to live. We haven't yet seen the end of its self
propagation.

~~~
peteretep
Tying this to Japan when 7-11 runs a virtually identical model in Thailand
seems weird.

~~~
taurath
Thailand is a relatively poor country where labor is super easy to find.

~~~
austhrow743
Australia is one of the richest countries in the world and our 7 Elevens are
24/7\. Along with many other businesses. There's nothing weird here. Have you
never been to a city?

