Self Checkout (1 Viewer)

[Sailorsaint]

Go to New Jersey

I went to school in Morristown in '86, a few of us chipped in on an old used car while there, but I don't remember full service stations....maybe I'm just blanking it out because that was one of the coldest winters I've spent stateside.

 

[saintmdterps]

The bags clumping together is 100 percent accurate. Someone needs to invent a more user-friendly way to have the plastic bags loaded/unloaded. First, it is wasteful when you grab a bunch and toss them to the side. Second, it can be time consuming to sit there and try to pry a bag open.

Whoever fixes this should also address the produce baggies sticking together. I'm not licking my fingers to open a bag, lol. Maybe place a container of that stuff folks used to use instead of licking stamps.

That's because they buy the cheapest bags possible and the clumping is a result. Self-checkout is another example of corporate greed in that they don't hire as many cashiers. Corporations will grumble that "no one wants to work" but that's false. People just don't want to work for greedy corporations that take, take, take and give nothing.

 

[EGLSShin]

All Walmarts are going to self-checkout sooner than later. Most dollar tree's are making the switch slowly. One morning I had to go pick up some Milk at the Winn-Dixie over on vets near bucktown and there wasn't a single cashier there, it was all self-check out when the store opened. Just seems inevitable at this point.

 

[SaintRob]

Whoever fixes this should also address the produce baggies sticking together. I'm not licking my fingers to open a bag, lol. Maybe place a container of that stuff folks used to use instead of licking stamps.

I touch the parsley. It's usually still moist after that automatic mist thing periodically goes off. Also, when I buy parsley, I get the furthest back parsley in the bunch. I can't be the only one doing this.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

Well, whether people like it or not, its gonna be more and more. Peolple have demeaned minimum wage workers for a long time and no one wants to do it. They were mocked for wanting more money, well, Boomer, this is what you get.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

All Walmarts are going to self-checkout sooner than later. Most dollar tree's are making the switch slowly. One morning I had to go pick up some Milk at the Winn-Dixie over on vets near bucktown and there wasn't a single cashier there, it was all self-check out when the store opened. Just seems inevitable at this point.

The Neigborhood Walmart by my house only has one cashier, but after like 6 or 7pm, its all self checkout. But they do usually have 2 people helping out in the self checkout. There are 2 big self checkouts that have a belt, and there are 6 small self checkouts. those 2 workers usually keep them flowing pretty good.

Honestly, if people have a problem with self checkout, then there are plenty of places that still have cashiers, go there. chances are those places are more expensive over all, but sometimes you have to make a grown up decision and decide if you want to save money on your shopping and check yourself, or spend more on groceries and have a cashier. I have always been a bargian shopper, so if i can save $20 on a $100 trip, then self check out it is... I go to Rouses from time to time, and they are proud of their groceries. There is another small store (2 stores locally) Ralphs that have excellent meat prices, so i go there often. But man Rouses hurts me everytime I have to go in there...

 

[Dallas_Saint73]

I touch the parsley. It's usually still moist after that automatic mist thing periodically goes off. Also, when I buy parsley, I get the furthest back parsley in the bunch. I can't be the only one doing this.

I recently tried this and it worked nicely, lol. It was the cilantro for me.

 

[0rion]

I use the fork out of em. I have years of cashier experience so it's a rarity for me to ever not get out more quickly using self checkout. I do however agree with OP that it sucks badly when sheet doesn't work correctly since customers will never be given any leeway to do their own voids or other authoritative measures (out of the store's fear of ppl using it for theft) so then you're stuck waiting on the self checkout emperor to come and fix something you could've fixed yourself in 10 seconds if given the necessary authority.

Checkout emperor.....I'm totally using that.

Also on the bag issue. My wife started carrying in her own bags a few years ago. I will say it's so much nicer using your own bag versus the plastic bags. The environment impact is obvious but it's overall just a nicer set up. We can get pretty much all our weekly groceries in 3-4 bags. It makes it way better to load/unload at the car and at the house. Takes a bit to get accustomed to but once you do you'll never go back to plastic bags.

 

[Hedon James]

That's because they buy the cheapest bags possible and the clumping is a result. Self-checkout is another example of corporate greed in that they don't hire as many cashiers. Corporations will grumble that "no one wants to work" but that's false. People just don't want to work for greedy corporations that take, take, take and give nothing.

We usually agree on a lot, mdterp, but not on this. this is EXACTLY what is happening!

My wife manages a grocery store, and cashiers have really become a problem, which IMPLODED during the pandemic. Grocery stores are "essential" businesses, like the medical profession and banking, and could not be shut down for safety's sake during the pandemic. And while there are many jobs in grocery, cashiers are the one job that are REQUIRED to interact with customers. During the pandemic, this was a great concern, despite mask mandates. Truthfully, it started before then, but the pandemic just accelerated things to warp speed.

She has a few good cashiers....friendly and personable to the public, and keeps the lines moving. But generally speaking, those folks are her most experienced cashiers. Because of their experience (seniority), they don't want to work evenings, weekends, or holidays. I can understand that desire, but guess when the majority of people actually shop for groceries? Her best cashiers don't want to work during the busiest hours of the business, which is when the most $$$ is made. A closed register/line is lost revenue....you gotta keep folks moving through those registers or you're not making money!

Simple solution....hire more cashiers, right? Easily said, but much more difficult to do. In fact, it's her hardest job to fill....generally speaking, most people just don't want to do that job. They'll work in deli, produce, backroom, stock shelves, front desk, cash office, customer service....cashier is always the most difficult position to fill and has the highest turnover by FAR. Referencing the above statement regarding her best & most experienced cashiers....they don't want to work during the peak hours of business. And if you MAKE them, they'll quit. Or even worse, they'll call out "sick" with no warning. In theory, you call in someone else to work. But it's the weekend/holiday, and no one wants to work on a moment's notice....they either avoid the call (easy to do in today's world of caller ID) or "already have other plans." This causes a cascade of labor issues through internal re-shuffling of department labor, and NO ONE wants to work the register. To avoid/minimize these scenarios, she has tried to accommodate with rotating schedules, giving everyone opportunities for weekends & holidays off, but it's a retail business.....at some point you have to work a weekend or holiday and if you can't or won't do that, it's a problem. Referencing the previous statement that cashiers are the position with the least number of applicants, today's teens generally don't possess the social skills (nor desire) to interact with customers. They'll do anything BUT that. Don't want to talk to people, or interact with them....in fact, prefer not to even SEE people. She's got a waiting list of teen applicants for 2nd/3rd shift "stockers", which generally involves NO INTERACTION with anyone! Go figure...

And now that everyone makes $15/hour, that wage is insufficient; now they want $20/hour. And MANY folks complain to her on a DAILY basis about the increased cost of groceries. While increased cost of product is a big driver of increased shelf prices, more than 50% of "overhead" in the grocery business is LABOR. Customers complain about "not enough cashiers" because that's the only job that impacts their customer experience, but when she is able to hire a sufficient number of cashiers (at a higher wage), she still gets complaints about the higher prices.

Self checkouts address ALL of those issues. They work nights, weekends, and holidays without complaint. And generally speaking, while all mechanical items fail at some point, they generally work when they're scheduled to. When 1 goes down, it doesn't cascade into your "back room" operations and throw your entire operation into disarray. The only downside to the self checkouts are the customer complaints about lack of cashiers. Which I understand....I'm one of them....i HATE them. But I also understand that the choices in today's world is that I can self-checkout in a timely manner, or wait in line 5-10 customers deep because only 1 cashier showed up for work today. Welcome to the new reality...

 

[black_floyd]

Checkout emperor.....I'm totally using that.

Also on the bag issue. My wife started carrying in her own bags a few years ago. I will say it's so much nicer using your own bag versus the plastic bags. The environment impact is obvious but it's overall just a nicer set up. We can get pretty much all our weekly groceries in 3-4 bags. It makes it way better to load/unload at the car and at the house. Takes a bit to get accustomed to but once you do you'll never go back to plastic bags.

I just hope you wash em regularly. The vast majority of the customers I used to encounter had at least one of the following bits of nastiness in their reusable bags: smoke stench, a lot of hairs, pet odor, or food crumbs.

 

[0rion]

I just hope you wash em regularly. The vast majority of the customers I used to encounter had at least one of the following bits of nastiness in their reusable bags: smoke stench, a lot of hairs, pet odor, or food crumbs.

They get wiped out and they live in the trunk of the car.

 

[saintmdterps]

We usually agree on a lot, mdterp, but not on this. this is EXACTLY what is happening!

My wife manages a grocery store, and cashiers have really become a problem, which IMPLODED during the pandemic. Grocery stores are "essential" businesses, like the medical profession and banking, and could not be shut down for safety's sake during the pandemic. And while there are many jobs in grocery, cashiers are the one job that are REQUIRED to interact with customers. During the pandemic, this was a great concern, despite mask mandates. Truthfully, it started before then, but the pandemic just accelerated things to warp speed.

She has a few good cashiers....friendly and personable to the public, and keeps the lines moving. But generally speaking, those folks are her most experienced cashiers. Because of their experience (seniority), they don't want to work evenings, weekends, or holidays. I can understand that desire, but guess when the majority of people actually shop for groceries? Her best cashiers don't want to work during the busiest hours of the business, which is when the most $$$ is made. A closed register/line is lost revenue....you gotta keep folks moving through those registers or you're not making money!

Simple solution....hire more cashiers, right? Easily said, but much more difficult to do. In fact, it's her hardest job to fill....generally speaking, most people just don't want to do that job. They'll work in deli, produce, backroom, stock shelves, front desk, cash office, customer service....cashier is always the most difficult position to fill and has the highest turnover by FAR. Referencing the above statement regarding her best & most experienced cashiers....they don't want to work during the peak hours of business. And if you MAKE them, they'll quit. Or even worse, they'll call out "sick" with no warning. In theory, you call in someone else to work. But it's the weekend/holiday, and no one wants to work on a moment's notice....they either avoid the call (easy to do in today's world of caller ID) or "already have other plans." This causes a cascade of labor issues through internal re-shuffling of department labor, and NO ONE wants to work the register. To avoid/minimize these scenarios, she has tried to accommodate with rotating schedules, giving everyone opportunities for weekends & holidays off, but it's a retail business.....at some point you have to work a weekend or holiday and if you can't or won't do that, it's a problem. Referencing the previous statement that cashiers are the position with the least number of applicants, today's teens generally don't possess the social skills (nor desire) to interact with customers. They'll do anything BUT that. Don't want to talk to people, or interact with them....in fact, prefer not to even SEE people. She's got a waiting list of teen applicants for 2nd/3rd shift "stockers", which generally involves NO INTERACTION with anyone! Go figure...

And now that everyone makes $15/hour, that wage is insufficient; now they want $20/hour. And MANY folks complain to her on a DAILY basis about the increased cost of groceries. While increased cost of product is a big driver of increased shelf prices, more than 50% of "overhead" in the grocery business is LABOR. Customers complain about "not enough cashiers" because that's the only job that impacts their customer experience, but when she is able to hire a sufficient number of cashiers (at a higher wage), she still gets complaints about the higher prices.

Self checkouts address ALL of those issues. They work nights, weekends, and holidays without complaint. And generally speaking, while all mechanical items fail at some point, they generally work when they're scheduled to. When 1 goes down, it doesn't cascade into your "back room" operations and throw your entire operation into disarray. The only downside to the self checkouts are the customer complaints about lack of cashiers. Which I understand....I'm one of them....i HATE them. But I also understand that the choices in today's world is that I can self-checkout in a timely manner, or wait in line 5-10 customers deep because only 1 cashier showed up for work today. Welcome to the new reality...

My sister was a manager for Walmart, and she echoed your wife’s sentiments. I stand corrected

But corporate greed is what’s driving grocery prices up. The proof is in seeing prices stay sky high once supply chain issues, bird flu, or whatever the excuse of the day is finally blows over. I don’t blame the stores as much as the suppliers

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

We usually agree on a lot, mdterp, but not on this. this is EXACTLY what is happening!

My wife manages a grocery store, and cashiers have really become a problem, which IMPLODED during the pandemic. Grocery stores are "essential" businesses, like the medical profession and banking, and could not be shut down for safety's sake during the pandemic. And while there are many jobs in grocery, cashiers are the one job that are REQUIRED to interact with customers. During the pandemic, this was a great concern, despite mask mandates. Truthfully, it started before then, but the pandemic just accelerated things to warp speed.

She has a few good cashiers....friendly and personable to the public, and keeps the lines moving. But generally speaking, those folks are her most experienced cashiers. Because of their experience (seniority), they don't want to work evenings, weekends, or holidays. I can understand that desire, but guess when the majority of people actually shop for groceries? Her best cashiers don't want to work during the busiest hours of the business, which is when the most $$$ is made. A closed register/line is lost revenue....you gotta keep folks moving through those registers or you're not making money!

Simple solution....hire more cashiers, right? Easily said, but much more difficult to do. In fact, it's her hardest job to fill....generally speaking, most people just don't want to do that job. They'll work in deli, produce, backroom, stock shelves, front desk, cash office, customer service....cashier is always the most difficult position to fill and has the highest turnover by FAR. Referencing the above statement regarding her best & most experienced cashiers....they don't want to work during the peak hours of business. And if you MAKE them, they'll quit. Or even worse, they'll call out "sick" with no warning. In theory, you call in someone else to work. But it's the weekend/holiday, and no one wants to work on a moment's notice....they either avoid the call (easy to do in today's world of caller ID) or "already have other plans." This causes a cascade of labor issues through internal re-shuffling of department labor, and NO ONE wants to work the register. To avoid/minimize these scenarios, she has tried to accommodate with rotating schedules, giving everyone opportunities for weekends & holidays off, but it's a retail business.....at some point you have to work a weekend or holiday and if you can't or won't do that, it's a problem. Referencing the previous statement that cashiers are the position with the least number of applicants, today's teens generally don't possess the social skills (nor desire) to interact with customers. They'll do anything BUT that. Don't want to talk to people, or interact with them....in fact, prefer not to even SEE people. She's got a waiting list of teen applicants for 2nd/3rd shift "stockers", which generally involves NO INTERACTION with anyone! Go figure...

And now that everyone makes $15/hour, that wage is insufficient; now they want $20/hour. And MANY folks complain to her on a DAILY basis about the increased cost of groceries. While increased cost of product is a big driver of increased shelf prices, more than 50% of "overhead" in the grocery business is LABOR. Customers complain about "not enough cashiers" because that's the only job that impacts their customer experience, but when she is able to hire a sufficient number of cashiers (at a higher wage), she still gets complaints about the higher prices.

Self checkouts address ALL of those issues. They work nights, weekends, and holidays without complaint. And generally speaking, while all mechanical items fail at some point, they generally work when they're scheduled to. When 1 goes down, it doesn't cascade into your "back room" operations and throw your entire operation into disarray. The only downside to the self checkouts are the customer complaints about lack of cashiers. Which I understand....I'm one of them....i HATE them. But I also understand that the choices in today's world is that I can self-checkout in a timely manner, or wait in line 5-10 customers deep because only 1 cashier showed up for work today. Welcome to the new reality...

sort of buried in there is the decades long tradition of running on a skeleton crew
this is an issue with service, but also schools and small businesses
if you're built to operate on the bare minimum staffing and one of your staff is missing, you've baked in problems to your functionality
and of course, managers will want to blame workers when it's corporate or administrative staffing that created the issue

 

[Hedon James]

sort of buried in there is the decades long tradition of running on a skeleton crew
this is an issue with service, but also schools and small businesses
if you're built to operate on the bare minimum staffing and one of your staff is missing, you've baked in problems to your functionality
and of course, managers will want to blame workers when it's corporate or administrative staffing that created the issue

truth on the skeleton crew comment!

wife's company is constantly chiding her to "reduce payroll", like a broken record. their solution is "cross training", so that when someone inevitably fails to show, you plug'n'play someone else into the vacancy. Problem with that is, as discussed above, this causes a cascade of labor issues into all departments. And when someone is actually doing TWO jobs in the same shift, but has to go home sick, you now have TWO VACANCIES instead of one. they're constantly telling her "you're going to have to find ways to do more with less". So you are also correct that corporate CREATES this issue, but then holds her responsible for not solving it in a manner they deem acceptable.

My question to her was "does that also apply to them? can they find ways to do more with less profit?" And she is right when she replies "only if you don't want me to keep working there. Can i quit?"

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

truth on the skeleton crew comment!

wife's company is constantly chiding her to "reduce payroll", like a broken record. their solution is "cross training", so that when someone inevitably fails to show, you plug'n'play someone else into the vacancy. Problem with that is, as discussed above, this causes a cascade of labor issues into all departments. And when someone is actually doing TWO jobs in the same shift, but has to go home sick, you now have TWO VACANCIES instead of one. they're constantly telling her "you're going to have to find ways to do more with less". So you are also correct that corporate CREATES this issue, but then holds her responsible for not solving it in a manner they deem acceptable.

My question to her was "does that also apply to them? can they find ways to do more with less profit?" And she is right when she replies "only if you don't want me to keep working there. Can i quit?"

and like you indicate - the manager can't get mad at corporate, so unless they are zen masters and can channel frustrations into healthy outlets, they will lash out a workers - some of whom are actually sick a taking care of kids or other real life stuff (or some have hangovers and don't need to interact with the public anyway)