I have been watching this topic. This has got to be one of my biggest pet peeves!
In general LQS are not corporately owned. The thinkers, planners, organizers, buyers, and owners are right there in the shop, many times being the same person or at least related to them. They don't have to keep their stockholders happy by paying dividends! Generally YOU are the person they must keep happy! And they have experience behind the sewing machine. Euphemistically, they would be foolish to hire a burger-flipper when their employees need to have sewing knowledge. Corporate mentality is such that they hire low wage burger-flippers to maximize profits and put them in places where experience is needed, thinking they can TRAIN them.
In the very distant past, I worked for a small chain store in a distant state that was eventually purchased by JoAnn's. Things changed dramatically when JoAnn's took over. We had been a store centered on customer service. Their private motto/policy had been, "If the customer brings in a dozen eggs and claims to have purchased them here, we refund it!" I enjoyed working there tremendously! The customers were happy! When we cut a yard we measured from the OUTSIDE of our thumbs TO MAKE SURE THE CUSTOMER GOT WHAT SHE PAID FOR. Measuring on the outside gives the customer maybe an inch or two per yard to keep her happy and coming back! When JoAnn's took over everything changed, and very much for the worse.
They wanted to increase what was paid to the stockholders. They called the outside of the thumbs rule "wasteful". Stingy cutting increases corporate profits which go to the stockholders! It was their policy to make sure the customer got ONLY what she ASKED for, not caring if she got what she PAID for. Fabric is never completely on grain while on the bolt and JoAnn's does not take this into consideration. You ask for 1 yard and you get 1 scant, usually very crooked yard from which you usually have to cut 2-4 inches to get it back on grain! Their attitude was that it is going to be cut up and go unused to be thrown out anyway and the customer will never notice it! I heard this said by upper management! This stinginess makes for customers who don't trust the store because of the disappointment which happens when she gets home. I did not work for JoAnn's very long.
A short while back I bought a piece of braided trim from JoAnn's for the edge of a corset I was making. I bought 1 yard, which was more than what I needed for the two edges that needed bound. When I got home I did not measure it or cut it in half, but just started sewing it onto one edge, then the other. The second piece was too short! I chalked it up to poor planning on my part and went back to buy another piece. I asked for a yard, which was enough because I already had one side done. When the woman cut the piece she stretched it across the yardstick, then cut it. For those of you who only do quilting and not clothing construction, it is like asking for a yard of elastic and having her stretch it while measuring. When the piece of trim relaxed, it was only 3/4 yard long! I told her I asked for a yard and there was only 3/4! She stood there and argued with me that it was a yard and I laid it against the yardstick showing her that it only came to the 3/4 mark! She said that everyone in the store had just gone through retraining for cutting and it is store policy to pull everything taut against the ruler. I told her that if she charges me 3/4 of a yard for it, I will still take it (because I really only needed 1/2 yard), but not at the price of 1 yard. I had to get the manager involved and she stood there with a blank look on her face! I had to show her how to measure properly, by laying it against the yardstick. She eventually cut me a very scant yard piece, but never once apologized. I did not go back for several years!
If you are buying a fat quarter, you expect to get half of a half yard piece that is ON GRAIN! 18 inches ON GRAIN! Otherwise you are getting cheated! It is not important to JoAnn's that the fabric be on grain. They are concerned that YOU ARE RIPPING THEM OFF by expecting to get what you paid for!