Snowstorms can cause significant issues for stores, from widespread power outages to blocking entrances and exits to sheets of ice covering the parking lots. When sudden weather hits and stores are shut down behind inches of snow, it is up to the store’s maintenance team or vendor to help keep stores and their technology up and running. On average, the United States gets over 250 inches of snow per year. In 2021, many states received between 5-12 more inches of snow than usual, making the 2021-2022 snow season a record-breaking one.
A strong relationship between City and our retail partner before, during and after the snow season allows for clear communication to pass through - from our technicians and operations teams to store managers – and more incidents being addressed and resolved on time. This strong partnership and trust placed in City to monitor, prepare and regulate the stores throughout the snow season can mean a huge weight is lifted off our partners, allowing them to focus on providing for our communities in times of need.
City implemented a number of changes this past snow season to drive efficiencies, improve service quality and deliver cost savings for our partner. Two major ways City achieved this was through offering more centralized services by refining our vendor count to those that largely self-perform and securing two-year contracts with all our stores. This focus on more specialized vendors and long-term service arrangements allowed City to provide vendors with more security and achieve less snow incidents, a reduction in back-charges/vendor failures and overall, a higher level of service and care.
Additionally, City proactively pre-treated and obtained store manager sign-off on all our partner’s sites before the arrival of snowstorms. These extra steps provided a safer environment for our partner’s customers and associates, led to fewer safety claims than previous snow seasons and delivered cost savings for our partner.
Snapshot of City’s 2021-2022 Snow Support:
• Supported 735 stores across 16 states and D.C.
• Reduced overall vendor count by 28% from the 2020-2021 season
• Experienced a 35% reduction in snow related calls (i.e., incidents)
• Accumulated a 34% reduction in back-charges due to snow vendor failures
This has been the best snow season we have ever had.City Retail Partner
Our teams have made vast improvements to our services that have allowed us to stay ahead of many issues and strengthen our response times. As we head towards the upcoming hurricane season, we acknowledge the efforts and hard work of our team members during the 2021-2022 snow season and the role our relationships with our vendors and store managers played in making it successful.