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the Ship’s Store Balance Sheet and Profit and
Loss Statement (NAVCOMPT Form 153) are
verified with the substantiating documents sub-
mitted. If discrepancies are discovered, a letter
report is forwarded to the command concerned.
CUSTOMER SERVICES
The success of any ship’s store or service
activity in meeting its purpose and objectives is
dependent to a considerable degree on the face-
to-face relationships between the store or service
operators and the customers. Desirable merchan-
dise, attractive displays, and prompt services are
all important; however, customer satisfaction can
only be assured by a conscientious, responsive
operator. You, as a supervisor, must impress upon
your operators the importance of their jobs to the
general morale of shipboard personnel.
Remember, once you have selected an
operator, you will have a continuing responsibility
to ensure that the operator is making all efforts
to improve customer service. You should always
encourage all of your operators to be as respon-
sive and helpful to the customer as they themselves
would desire to be treated.
PROVIDING RESPONSIVE SERVICES
If your customers are happy and satisfied, you
will seldom hear anything about it. However, if
there are any dissatisfactions or complaints, you
will usually hear about them very quickly.
To make certain you are doing your best to
carry wanted ship’s store items, you should
periodically run a ship’s store survey, asking
whether the crew is satisfied and what items, if
any, they would like to see the retail outlets carry.
Remember, however, you are running a ship’s
store and not a Navy exchange. Just because a
person wants some off-the-wall item and you have
determined it not to be of general interest, you
should not have to carry it as stock. That is what
special orders are for.
You can find a detailed discussion of the
importance of effective customer services to the
Navy in Ship’s Serviceman 3 & 2, module 1,
chapter 4. You should also consult the Navy
Customer Service Manual for additional in-
formation.
EVALUATING CUSTOMER
SERVICES
As mentioned earlier, a good indication of
troublespots are the complaints that you will
receive. Most of the complaints received aboard
ship are concerned with the ship’s laundry, and
most of those complaints involve lost or misplaced
clothing. You may want to change your laundry’s
procedures for the logging in and out of division
laundry bags. You may want to institute more
training on the wash decks on sorting and the use
of identification markers. You should examine
carefully any improvements you can make on
your existing procedures.
The main complaint you will encounter about
the barbershop is usually concerned with a bad
haircut. About all you can do is to give your
barbers more instruction and let them have more
practice. Unfortunately, your customers may have
to live with any mistakes your barbers make
until time for the next haircut.
RESOLVING CUSTOMER
COMPLAINTS
You, as a senior Ship’s Serviceman, will be
expected to investigate any complaints from the
crew about the ship’s service operation. As
previously mentioned, the main complaint will be
concerned about missing or damaged laundry.
You will first have to determine if the clothes were
actually deposited for cleaning or repair. If they
were, then you must determine the circumstances
of the loss or damage. If damage has resulted in
the ship’s laundry, use the following information
to determine what the proper reimbursement
recommendation should be.
Loss Of or Damage To
Personal Apparel
When losses of or damage to personal
apparel occur through the operation of a ship’s
store laundry, dry-cleaning facility, or tailor
shop, a claim for reimbursement can be sub-
mitted to the commanding officer via the ship’s
store officer.
After a recommendation has been made from
the ship’s store officer, the commanding officer
will determine the amount to be paid as
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