Do$-$It$-$Yourself Building Centres $($DIY$)$ is a major

regional home centre retailer with $27$ stores, all

located within two Canadian provinces. It competes

with the market leader, Home Depot. Although

Home Depot has a larger product range and lower

average prices, DIY has carved out a very lucrative

niche by serving homeowners who undertake reno$-$

vation or construction projects.

Each DIY building centre has about $25,000$

different products. A major part of its business is

to provide advice to customers undertaking their

own renovations and construction projects. The in$-$

store sales associates devoted a significant part of

their time to providing free advice to customers.

Among other forms of advice, this involved recom$-$

mending the type of paint to use on the outside of

a house compared to what to use on the interior,

the type of stone and patterns for an interlocking

stone driveway for a suburban home, etc.

The enthusiasm of DIY to provide assistance

to customers has been so prevalent that the recep$-$

tionists of individual stores have been obliged to

provide advice or to pass the telephone calls on

to the relevant associate on the sales floors.

Although providing advice had been believed to be

very successful in developing a loyal customer base

and contributing to profitability, the calls were fre$-$

quently disruptive. Associates were often busy with

in$-$store customers at the time of the calls. Often,

the calls were put through to inappropriate associ$-$

ates: e$.$g$.,$ a paint question was given to the fence

and deck associate. In addition, calls that were put

on hold were frequently lost as the reception tele$-$

phone systems were not designed for call centre

purposes.