One of the few downsides to shopping at Trader Joe’s is that some products get discontinued due to slow sales, or because the seasons are changing and their main growing location can’t produce them anymore. Whether you blame weak consumer demand or mother nature, the fact is that certain things won’t be available for awhile — or may never return to the shelves again.

As a consumer, it’s a real downer when one of your favorite products disappears. But there’s a way for stores to soften the blow. Since the retailer knows at least a few weeks in advance about upcoming cancellations or the end of seasonal availability, they could place appropriate signage near the products to let customers know. For example, the sign might say “Last supplies of the season — stock up now!”

For people who really like that item, this simple messaging gives them a chance to stock up before it’s too late. And when the product in question is about to be discontinued because of weak demand, a late surge in sales might be enough for the store to give it another chance.

Traditionally, the “Black Friday” weekend that begins the day after Thanksgiving is one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. And even in today’s uncertain economy, the anecdotal evidence suggests that a lot of people decided to shop online and in stores during this always-busy period. Personally, I only spent a few minutes near retail stores, but several questions came to mind:

– Almost every major store has special deals available if you start waiting in line at 3 am. Why aren’t some of these deals reserved for loyal customers who shop there all the time? That way, there would be an extra incentive to make repeat purchases instead of just engaging in a one-time event and starting all over again next year.

– Given that several people were injured or even killed during various Black Friday stampedes, might it be smart for some stores to adopt the opposite approach? Maybe they could take a cue from Southwest and let people check-in via the Internet. Each person would get a number indicating their place in the line, which would thus dictate when they get to enter the store.

– Many people spend the whole day shopping and get hungry in the process. Why don’t retailers and restaurants partner to offer free meals for people who spend over a certain amount of money, especially at off-peak times when the restaurants are otherwise quiet?

Whether the economy is good or bad, addressing these issues could make people happier with their holiday shopping experience. In the process, stores would attract more shoppers and entice those who do show up to stick around longer and buy more products.

In any business, some customers will be overly demanding, have a bad attitude, or exhibit other behaviors that make them unprofitable. Most business strategy folks would advise “firing” these unsavory customers once you identify them. But there’s another aspect to these misbehaving customers that is often overlooked. Specifically, their actions can worsen the experience for other customers and drive your good customers away.

Cases like this require swift and decisive action. Let’s say that you have a restaurant, or a hotel, or a store. One of your customers is being loud and obnoxious, and is not only bothering your staff but scaring away your other customers too. Every minute this goes on is a threat to your revenues and customer satisfaction scores. So don’t put up with it: throw out the jerks, and do it in a very public way so that the good customers know you care about their experience, and won’t stand for people who want to ruin it.

Sure, there are practical limits here. People who might become violent may require help from your security team or calling the police to assist. Rules for proper conduct need to be posted and enforced equally across your entire customer base. And you should probably avoid using the offending party’s name or picture in any messaging to the rest of your customers that explains how you’ve reacted. But done properly and tastefully, throwing out customers who don’t behave like reasonable citizens will make your staff and the other 99% of your customers a lot happier, and shows them that you value their experience at your business.

When dining out, it’s very common to receive a portion that is far too large to finish in one sitting. For restaurants that have a large percentage of customers who are on vacation or tend to visit before a movie or other event, this means a lot of food is left behind. While some restaurants donate their leftovers to a local food bank, the majority of restaurants just throw it away.

I ran into the giant portion problem at a breakfast place last weekend. The normal serving of pancakes was so big that my wife and I couldn’t come close to finishing it, and we had no way to take home the leftovers. To help prevent this waste, I would like to see restaurants give you a heads-up about dishes that come in gigantic serving sizes. Then, let the customer substitute part of the oversized portion for something less filling, like receiving a cup of fruit instead of the final pancake.

Whether they handle this via text on the menu itself or just train the servers to mention it, providing an extra degree of choice would help customers avoid daunting portions — and prevent the remorse that comes from leaving good food behind.

While traveling last weekend, I went to a great sushi place. They had one really strange practice, though. Apparently, regular customers can reserve not just a certain dining time, but also the exact table they want. This sounds fine, except that nearly half of the tables were marked “Reserved” when I arrived. And those same tables were still being held for the same customers after I had finished eating.

What’s the problem here? Isn’t this restaurant just providing loyal and attentive service to their repeat customers? Yes, but there’s a cost. You see, when people notice a full restaurant, they assume it’s in demand and thus worth going to. Conversely, lots of empty tables suggests that you should move on to another establishment. In other words, holding too many tables for reservations will arguably reduce your walk-in business.

Maybe this restaurant doesn’t care about walk-in traffic. But for those that do, the fix is very easy: just place a limit on the number of reservations you’ll take at a certain time slot, and be very picky about how many prime tables you’ll hold empty for those customers. Otherwise, repeat business could be costing you new business at a greater clip than you realize.

Last weekend, I had a really great hotel experience, and a really bad one too. The odd thing is, I was in the same room the whole time. So what changed from one night to the next? Simple: a bunch of really loud and obnoxious people stayed in the room next door during that second night.

This normally wouldn’t have been so bad, since most hotels have at least decent insulation between rooms. But our room had an unfortunate “feature”: a door leading to the next room. The concept seems harmless enough: if you’re staying with a group of friends or family, you book adjoining rooms and then open the doors on both sides to form a larger room. The downside: even when closed, doorways between rooms let a lot more noise through than a regular wall.

When I asked the hotel about this, they told me that only some of the rooms have connecting doors. In fact, had I know about this in advance, I could have requested a room that lacks the feature. Which brings me to my point: when both types of rooms are available, the hotel should let you choose if you want a room with those connecting doors, or a room without them. It’s really no different than choosing one king bed or two queen ones. But until they wise up, I’ll be making a special request for the right kind of room during my next hotel stay.

I don’t have a Starbucks loyalty card, but I noticed an interesting sign directed towards Starbucks cardholders. The sign was located in one of Starbucks’ airport locations, and basically said that they couldn’t accept the Starbucks card or provide any related benefits at that particular store. I’m pretty sure that all the Starbucks in airports and hotels are franchised, so it sort of makes sense that they don’t use the same loyalty system.

Even though the technological disconnect makes providing the regular loyalty benefits impossible, I would like to see Starbucks make some effort to compensate the loyal customers who get a reduced experience at the franchised sites. For instance, they could offer a free upgrade to a larger size or a flat-rate discount to anyone who presents the loyalty card. Even without access to the loyalty backend, surely these stores could assign a standard coupon code of some sort and use that for the loyalty discount.

Regardless of the approach you choose, it’s important to recognize and reward those customers who think enough of your brand to carry a loyalty card with them. While the benefits might vary from store to store, giving these customers some type of discount or bonus is a lot better than saying their relationship with you doesn’t count if they happen to choose the wrong location.

I got a flu shot this year, like I typically do. Back in college, the flu shot saved me from a nasty flu-like illness that put dozens of students in the hospital, so it’s been an easy sell since then. But it always amazes me to see how stubborn some people are about getting the shot.

Even with all the PSA’s and other messaging out there, a lot of people don’t bother with flu shots. As I was thinking about this recently, I realized that vaccinations are sort of like any other network ecosystem. In other words, the value of the product to any one user (in this case, someone who got the shot) increases as more people use the same product (thus getting the shot themselves). Take email, for instance. The more other people have email access, the more useful your email account will be.

What does this have to do with vaccinations? It’s simple: the more other people get the shot, the less likely they are to get the illness. Fewer people with the illness means that you’re less likely to get it too. In other words, when other people stay healthier, it reduces the spread of disease and helps you stay healthier too.

So how can the folks in charge of flu shots take advantage of this? At a minimum, I’d like to see state-wide or nationwide programs that give coupons to everyone who gets the shot. They could then give these to friends, family, and coworkers to help them save money on getting the same vaccination. Or, beef up the messaging by cultivating testimonials from people who can give personalized stories of why they do it every year — or just got the vaccination for the first time. Either way, realizing and taking advantage of network effects for vaccinations would help keep everyone healthier.