The times.... they are a changin'.... Sometimes, I change with them... Sometimes, not. It depends on the situation and my mood.
Self Checkout Fails and Then?…
- Thread starter OldSaw
- Start date
Produce can be problematic for me, paper coupons have to be scanned by employees at my Kroger, so I usually use a manned checkout for produce and coupons. If I'm only picking up a bottle of fabric softener and a bag of yellow popcorn, then I self checkout.
What's with stores nowadays bringing in the self-selection shelving? Back in the good old days, you'd just walk into the store, tell the proprietor what you want, and he'd get it off the shelf for you and take it to the till. He'd even get the ladder out and do the climbing to the top shelf if you happened to request the imported tin of tomatoes instead of the the domestic.
I use the self-checkout often, as I usually only have a few items, and the manned tills usually have longer (or slower) lines. If I can slide up to a free cashier and get right through I'll take that option instead, but it's usually not there. It kind of fits in with my usual "get in, get the stuff, get out" attitude toward shopping in those big box stores.
Devil's advocate, you are getting a discount in that the store can save on employee cost of all the cashiers they don't have to employ, so they can refrain from increasing prices.
Now, as long as there isn't a critical flaw in the system that makes shoplifting overly easy and justifiable ...
Okay, first off, I do not support any of the following.
It seems pretty easy to do the self checkout in a way that spins things in the customer's favour. Get a bag of bulk candy, and key in the bin number for peanuts or something. You are paying $0.59 per pound instead of $3.49. Tell the machine that the produce sitting on the scale is a regular onion, rather than an organic mango. Got the wrong code .... oops.
Scan three of the four duplicate items you have. Oops.
... and hey, the store is making you do their job, so you are entitled to a bit of compensation, right? It's not theft, it's just you getting your labour paid for.
I don't think he's saying it's a dumb remark per se, but commenting on the situation where customers make that complaint to the sacrificial lamb employee sent to babysit the self-check-out area. It wasn't his decision to install the self-checkout, so send your complaint to Corporate HQ (or your local wetshaving forum) instead.
I use the self-checkout often, as I usually only have a few items, and the manned tills usually have longer (or slower) lines. If I can slide up to a free cashier and get right through I'll take that option instead, but it's usually not there. It kind of fits in with my usual "get in, get the stuff, get out" attitude toward shopping in those big box stores.
Devil's advocate, you are getting a discount in that the store can save on employee cost of all the cashiers they don't have to employ, so they can refrain from increasing prices.
Now, as long as there isn't a critical flaw in the system that makes shoplifting overly easy and justifiable ...
Okay, first off, I do not support any of the following.
It seems pretty easy to do the self checkout in a way that spins things in the customer's favour. Get a bag of bulk candy, and key in the bin number for peanuts or something. You are paying $0.59 per pound instead of $3.49. Tell the machine that the produce sitting on the scale is a regular onion, rather than an organic mango. Got the wrong code .... oops.
Scan three of the four duplicate items you have. Oops.
... and hey, the store is making you do their job, so you are entitled to a bit of compensation, right? It's not theft, it's just you getting your labour paid for.
I don't think he's saying it's a dumb remark per se, but commenting on the situation where customers make that complaint to the sacrificial lamb employee sent to babysit the self-check-out area. It wasn't his decision to install the self-checkout, so send your complaint to Corporate HQ (or your local wetshaving forum) instead.
Unfortunately, the employee on scene is the face of the company.
I used to get complaints by customers, sometimes ranting complaints, on decisions so far removed from me in authority, time, and cost that it was ridiculous.
Nonetheless - I knew, to that customer, that I WAS the company.
I took those complaints with grace and apologized for things I had nothing to do with.
But I passed those complaints up line, and eventually, some things we had done were changed.
... and, the Grocer is not going to keep pricing lower due to the change.
The Grocer is going to raise prices as a direct result of the decision to use self checkout due to rampant retail theft.
Articles are full of stories where retail theft is directly blamed for increased pricing.
The Grocer is going to raise prices as a direct result of the decision to use self checkout due to rampant retail theft.
Articles are full of stories where retail theft is directly blamed for increased pricing.
I work in a Supermarket and I also spend a few hours a day “on patrol” in the self checkout area. I also work on the normal cash registers most mornings. Most of the problems that I face are caused by the customers not watching the computer screen and actually reading and do what the self checkout asks you to do. Yes, they do have glitches from time to time and they are placed there mainly for customers who have a few items only. It should by reasonably fast and you are done. One of the main issues where I work is that the Company never enforced no trolleys of groceries in the self checkout area. We have four self service checkouts and sometimes there are four trolleys of groceries holding up all the people who only have a few items.
I could see it as a solution to an express checkout kind of deal, where someone has two or three non complicated items.
By non complicated, I mean not bulk items (like loose candy or peanuts by the pound), unpackaged vegetables, alcohol or other items that require an age verification, etc.
For me, I seldom go to the Grocery if I only need 2 or 3 items. It just isn't worth the trip. If I'm going there, it's going to be for the list I've been making for some time and most always requires a cart (trolley).
I don't use them either - I don't work there. At Lowes and Homedepot I park at the far door designed for the construction trade. There always seems to be a manned checkout at that end of the store.
I use self checkout all the time. It's faster, I want out; I've got better things to do than stand in line.
If there is a problem, I call the teenager over. Wish I had one at home to help me with my "devices."
If there is a problem, I call the teenager over. Wish I had one at home to help me with my "devices."
I also use the self check out whenever it is available, and rarely run into an issue. If ever there was an issue, it was a system problem...so far this happened only once to me and all the self check outs were affected. Last week I was at Wholefoods and was not able to find the code for the bananas, but did not realize they had also a hand held scanning device and when it shown to me, it was an easy check out. In the other store the code is only 4 digits (Shoprite) or they have a bar code and the scanner scale reads it (Aldi).
I was self-checkout resister for a long time. Then I realized it was faster and easier to deal with. Especially as my patience for people expired during 2023. Have to admit though, I did use the cashier line a couple of times late last year and the youngsters were super polite and helpful. Almost felt like pre-scamdemic times!
Most of the supermarkets here also have the option for you to take a hand-held scanner and scan the items as you put them in your basket. Do any of you do this? I do occasionally see a shopper going round the supermarket with one of these. I’ve never tried it, and I don’t really see the point, but hopefully they made it easy to unscan something if you change your mind and put it back on the shelf.
I don’t know why but I always view people who use these with great suspicion. I think perhaps I consider them too obedient for my preference in human beings. I imagine they’re the sort of people who always watch their neighbours through the curtains and they call the police if anyone has parked their car facing the wrong way. There is a word for these people, but I won’t use it because it might breach the guidelines here.
I might be misjudging these people entirely. Maybe it is a reasonable way to shop and there is some benefit to it that I haven’t grasped.
I don’t know why but I always view people who use these with great suspicion. I think perhaps I consider them too obedient for my preference in human beings. I imagine they’re the sort of people who always watch their neighbours through the curtains and they call the police if anyone has parked their car facing the wrong way. There is a word for these people, but I won’t use it because it might breach the guidelines here.
I might be misjudging these people entirely. Maybe it is a reasonable way to shop and there is some benefit to it that I haven’t grasped.
Can't say I have ever seen anyone with their own scanner, probably because I'm in and out in a flash. However , my first thought is that these folks are probably on a very limited budget and want to tally up the total as they go so they have enough money at the checkout.
One of our local groceries places did this some 7 or 8 years ago, but it did not last long. They even had special carts made with a holder for the scanner. Guess, too many took the way out or were dropped and got damaged. They did this maybe for a year or so.
EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
I would find such a thing very useful under certain circumstances. I received a voucher for £100 worth of groceries from a large store near me which I never use, and do not wish to patronize as I dislike their business methods. I went to the store, intending to spend my voucher in full, never to return. I loaded up my trolly, mentally adding up the total as I went until I reached £100, added in a couple of items just to be sure, then went to the checkout. I had spent over £250
Never go shopping while you are hungry. It costs a fortune.I would find such a thing very useful under certain circumstances. I received a voucher for £100 worth of groceries from a large store near me which I never use, and do not wish to patronize as I dislike their business methods. I went to the store, intending to spend my voucher in full, never to return. I loaded up my trolly, mentally adding up the total as I went until I reached £100, added in a couple of items just to be sure, then went to the checkout. I had spent over £250
Hence:
The store had decades of practice in not enforcing "12 items or less" in the fast check-out line, so that's an easy approach to take.
I read an account (which may have been apocryphal) of a clerk who dealt with a shopper with a full shopping cart in the '12 items or less' line, by asking; "Which 12 items do you wish to purchase?"
The Meijer stores have an app. that you can download on your phone. You can then use your own phone as a scanner. It's called "Shop & Scan" and I use it almost every time I shop there. I can scan and bag my stuff as I shop, including produce (the scales in the produce dept. display the bar code that you can scan or print out a bar code label). The app. displays a running total and lets me know if there's an electronic coupon available to "clip" for items as they're scanned. When I'm done shopping, I go to the self checkout, scan the Qcode on the register and it downloads the items in my cart to that register, applies the coupons, I pay for my items, and I'm done. It does frequently wait to download the cart until the self checkout clerk has done a random audit of a few items from your cart, but it's still way faster and easier when I'm buying a lot of items and it allows me to price check as I shop.
