I think it would serve department stores well to have accessible staff. Cutting back on staff to increase profits probably has the opposite effect, as some of us just don't bother unless we have to go to a department store. Also, I found one department store with whom I had unsatisfactory experiences with catalogue sales appear to have a firewall against the public at the management end, so I stopped shopping that store and since then they've been having financial problems. I guess I'm not the only one who wants customer service.