Posted on 06/06/2004 4:36:52 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
WASHINGTON (AP) - Supermarket checkout clerks are going the way of the bank teller - available if you want one, avoidable if you don't.
Self-checkout machines, which let customers scan, bag and pay for their own groceries, offer shoppers a chance to avoid the lines at the checkout stands.
"This is like an ATM for them. It's quicker and easier," said Jennifer Panetta, a spokeswoman for the six-state Harris Teeter chain, based in Matthews, N.C. "They are in pretty much all our stores."
About one-quarter of grocery chains are trying them now, with some 34,000 machines in use in stores in 2003, said market analyst Greg Buzek, president of IHL Consulting Group in Franklin, Tenn.
Buzek, who wrote a report on the equipment, predicts that by 2007 there will be 244,000 self-checkout machines in stores and that virtually every chain will at least some of them.
"The way we shop has changed quite a bit in the last 15 years," he said in an interview. "But the checkout lane hasn't changed all that much."
For example, shoppers have been shifting from grocery carts to plastic baskets, and adding short stops to the big weekly grocery purchase. More than half of supermarket customers bring fewer than 15 items to the register, and self-checkout is ideal for them, according to Buzek's report.
Express lanes were set up to speed these customers through, but self-checkout can be even faster, Buzek said. A space that could fit one or two lanes can handle four to six self-checkout machines, reducing the chance of getting stuck in a line. "There's usually nobody in line at self-checkout," Buzek said.
Customers take longer than a clerk to ring up and bag groceries, but the shoppers do not seem to notice that, the report said. Because the customer is keeping busy scanning and bagging instead of waiting while the clerk does the work, time seems to pass faster.
"I think this is faster if you know what you are doing," said Khatool Reha of Reston, Va., as she dropped a couple of cans of spaghetti into a plastic bag at a Harris Teeter store. "There is no need to wait in line."
When she buys more than 10 items, "I just go over there," said Reha, motioning toward the staffed lanes.
That is the way it is supposed to work, Buzek said. Getting more small purchasers into the self-checkout lanes frees cashiers in the staffed lanes to deal with big-ticket purchases that customers prefer to have someone else bag, he said.
For retailers, the use of self-checkout can reduce staffing at the front of the store. One staffer typically is the only employee needed to assist customers at the self-checkout lanes when shoppers cannot get a bar code to scan or do not know where to put their credit card.
Buzek said there also is less theft at a self-checkout counter.
Employees are responsible for most of the theft in a retail store, he said. One common form is "sweethearting," in which the clerk helps a friend by passing a cheaper item over the scanner but dropping a more expensive one into the bag.
That is hard to do on a self-checkout machine. The computer can identify the object, typically weighing each product-coded item. A customer drops the item into the bag after it is scanned, and if the weight of the bag doesn't change by the proper amount, the machine halts the transaction until things get straightened out.
Wal-Mart has self-checkout in about 840 of its more than 3,000 stores, and is putting the equipment into all of its new stores as they open, said Gus Whitcomb, a spokesman for the chain in Bentonville, Ark.
Whitcomb said Wal-Mart customers have put just about everything through the scanners - even ready-to-assemble desks in "a big gigantic box." Other stores, such as The Home Depot hardware chain, also have been using self-checkout.
Not every food store chain is leaping to the technology. Publix Super Markets, based in Lakeland, Fla., has about 800 stores, mostly in Florida, but only about a dozen have self-checkout, and seven of those were already in stores the chain purchased in Tennessee, said Brenda Reid, a Publix spokeswoman.
The corporate culture at Publix emphasizes having staffers do things for customers, Reid said. "Self-checkout would be very countercultural," she said.
Publix stores where the manager sees a demand for self-checkout can get it, she said, but "nobody is beating down our doors."
Ours take checks.
It does say thank you. I will see what lines are shorter and go there. Also if I have a lot of produce I find it easier just to go to the clerk and have him or her check me out. The library I go to also has self check out. But I rarely use it because I enjoy talking to the circ people.
I wish our's did.
The stores are not doing this on a whim. They are reacting to unions and gov't employment laws. If they can save money by replacing people with machines, they will do it.
wita wrote: "I don't do drive through unless the doors are closed."
I'm the same way. My wife doesn't understand why I like going into a place versus trying to do a purchase through typically crappy intercom systems. When I'm face to face, for example, it's much easier to get an order exactly how I like it, such as "can I have extra onions on that."
I also agree that automation destroys jobs, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Automation on a farm, for example, turns out far more crops for much less human effort. This isn't really so much a matter of jobs as it is one of customer service. I don't mind paying more to have my groceries bagged for me for example.
SamAdams76 wrote: "Answering machines have made my life much more efficient. I get so much more done because of them. "
Ah, well I don't know what job you are in, but I typically won't do business with someone if I get an answering machine. I'll just find someone else who wants my business enough to be there when it's convenient for me. Of course, you may be in a job where people have to go through you, like a government agency. I really dislike doing business with any agency that is more concerned about making work easy rather than serving their customers (but I kinda expect that from the government). When I have a choice, though, I'll take my business elsewhere!
You don't even need a technically challenged customer in front, just some idiot who's been standing in line for 10 minutes and apparently only realizes at the register that she's in a grocery store and needs to write a friggin' check! What is wrong with these people? Who writes checks anymore (besides the people in front of me?)
I usually shop online and have my groceries delivered. On the rare occasions I go to the Albertson's, I try to use the automatic checker, if I don't have a lot of stuff. I don't go to the grocery store to chat.
Well I don't know what job you are in but in the job I am in, sitting around the office waiting for the phone to ring doesn't cut it. The answering machine allows me to get out of the office and actually visit customers and otherwise see to it that they are being taken care of. I can check my voicemail remotely from the field and be on top of everything without having to sit in an office all day.
longtermmemmory wrote: "Democrats demand supermarkets deduct wage/social security taxes for people who use self checkout lanes."
Good one! Thanks for the laugh. You know, humor only works when there is an element of truth. I wouldn't be surprised if the socialistic swine DID come up with this idea.
Ever get caught behind a 10-13 year old boy who's paying with nickels and pennies in a self-checkout?
TheDon wrote: "The stores are not doing this on a whim. They are reacting to unions and gov't employment laws. If they can save money by replacing people with machines, they will do it."
You hit the nail on the head! Next time the Demoncats start pushing to raise the minimum wage, keep in mind the number of entry-level jobs they'll eliminate.
I prefer people myself.
Notice things don't get any cheaper when they enact all these new features.
They are indeed great for just a few items. Unfortunately, Albertson and Kroger in the DFW area are using them as the main resource and have reduced regular checkers to as few as ONE or TWO..which makes the self line just as time consuming.... ~sigh~
If they kept the regular checker lines and only added the self service lanes, it would be much much better. But they really are using them as a way to reduce head count, at least in these stores in my area, which does nothing to improve the service.
SamAdams76 wrote: "Well I don't know what job you are in but in the job I am in, sitting around the office waiting for the phone to ring doesn't cut it."
I never said I had or would use an answering machine. I only stated I don't like businesses where I can't reach a human at MY convenience. You haven't stated your line of work (government?), but if you are profit-oriented, be aware that you'd probably lose my business (and the business of others like me) if we continually have to speak to your answering machine. I don't mean anything against you, of course, because it's your decision how to do your job, just as it's my decision where to take my business. Unfortunately, some agencies have a captive "customer" base, like governments. What can you do if you need a license, for example, and you can only reach an answering machine? And, it's amazing how often government agencies won't return your call even if you DO leave a message!
I blink my lights for this purpose when I have time, or I just wave if they can see me!
Yeah, have not seen that here at all. IN fact, I just was in King Soopers here. 4 self checkouts, and about 8 regular lines open.
When customers leave me a voice mail concerning a billing problem or an unresolved technical issue (I am a service manager), it gives me time to research the problem before calling them back. They are invariably pleased when I return the call in short order, prepared with answers and solutions to their issues. Voice mail is great but e-mail is even better. Many of my customers now e-mail me and correspondence is thus even more efficient than the days of the secretary.
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