Major grocer getting rid of self-checkout lanes

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43687085/ns/business-consumer_news/ ^ | 7/8/2011 | Anika Anand

[Morgana]

One of the nation's major grocery store chains is eliminating self-checkout lanes in an effort to encourage more human contact with its customers.

Albertsons LLC, which operates 217 stores in seven Western and Southern states, will eliminate all self-checkout lanes in the 100 stores that have them and will replace them with standard or express lanes, according to published reports.

[avenir]

What weirded me out the other day was hearing a voice say “You can avoid waiting in the line by self-checking” at COSTCO. I’ve been going there for years and didn’t even notice the new self-check lanes they had installed.

[jakerobins]

Following Obama’s Economic plan? .... Next to get rid of those evil ATM’s? Sometimes I just want to run into the store and buy my 6-pack of beer and leave not chit-chat with the cashier and wait for them....Good thing I live no where near an Albertsons!

[RayChuang88]

If they can refine that technology, imagine packing all your groceries into store-approved cloth bags (bags that don’t interfere with RFID) and just run your bags with loaded groceries through the RFID receiving station. It would actually mean even faster-moving grocery lines.

[Kakaze]

Good!..........I once had a self check out "supervisor" tell me....come over here sir and I will train you on this.

My reply was, " You train employees, you serve customers"

I refuse to use the damn things.

[fullchroma]

I might use them if they came with a 5% discount on my total bill for the effort and inevitable annoyance.

[ninergold3]

I’ve embarassed my kids on more than one occasion by actually getting into an argument with the machine. “Damn thing - you know what I want to do so do it!” “I DID put the bananas in the bag”, etc. I finally stopped going to the self-check for my own sanity.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

The truth is that they are getting rid of them because of theft and labor it costs to get the customer throught the process. It isn’t about serving the customer that is just their spin.

[gov_bean_ counter]

That's great. And as I have often told my children...

What good is having kids if you can't embarrass them every once and a while???

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Some are some aren’t depends on each individual store and whether or not they voted to be union.

[HIDEK6]

Until they teach their cashiers that “Have a nice day,” does NOT mean “Thank you,” they’d be better off discouraging human contact with these people.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Some are some aren’t depends on each individual store and whether or not they voted to be union.

[ninergold3]

You betcha!

[HIDEK6]

and hopefully a thank you at the end of the transaction.

Good luck with that. This pisses me off tremendously. "Have a nice day" does not mean "Thank you."

It's gotten so that if one of these people ever says "Thank you" to me I give them a tip.

Tips have not become a significant part of my budget.

[doc1019]

WOW! You tip cashers? Not something that I have ever, even thought about. I would guess that this is not a standard practice.

[palmer]

The CVS in a city near me with certain city-like characteristics had a little problem. Sometimes it sounded like this:"pardon us, we failed to deactivate the security tag..." Those people would keep walking or look back and get waved through. Another symptom was that I would go to the self checkout and there would $20 worth of scanned items all tallied up, waiting for payment. But no sign of the merchandise, customer or payment. They would simply walk out without paying.

So they redesigned the entire store (not to single anyone out). The new store has more self checkouts, but also has one or two full-time self-checkout "helpers" who will help people who have trouble paying or whatever.

[Bellflower]

What human contact? I don’t exchange family histories with the checkout person, just grunts and groans while lifting items onto the conveyer belt and hopefully a thank you at the end of the transaction.

Not in a way to slow things down but I do share with checkout people. I believe every person is important and I want to act like it. This means not acting like all the person across the counter from me is to me is merely a function. They may look at me with wonder and I often feel like I am waking them up out of some work induced trance. I think some of them are grateful. You would be surprised at what can be shared with a checkout person!

[dajeeps]

It doesn’t matter to me... I don’t use them unless I have only one or two items. One reason is I like to use my own bags and the stupid machines have trouble dealing with them. And some times they have trouble dealing with stuff anyway and it takes forever to get someone to help me. They were a great idea, if they were smart. But since they aren’t smart it seems like more hassle than they are worth.

[catnipman]

“We just want the opportunity to talk to customers more,” Albertsons spokeswoman Christine Wilcox said. “That’s the driving motivation.”

I wonder if “talk to customers more” at Albertons will mean what it does at Safeway checkout, namely begging money from customers for Safeway CEO Steve Burd’s charity du jour?

[sickoflibs]

RE :”One of the nation's major grocery store chains is eliminating self-checkout lanes in an effort to encourage more human contact with its customers. Albertsons LLC, which operates 217 stores in seven Western and Southern states, will eliminate all self-checkout lanes in the 100 stores that have them and will replace them with standard or express lanes, according to published reports. “We just want the opportunity to talk to customers more,” Albertsons spokeswoman Christine Wilcox said. “That's the driving motivation.”Wilcox said the replacement of automated checkout lanes with human-operated lanes likely would mean more hours available for employees to work.”

Not here in Maryland where employees are unionized because he automated checkout machines are not unionized and dont need health care, Competition is difficult with food supply prices increasing without customer demand increasing. But Walmart had to give them up because of theft because of their main customer base. .

[The Chief]

STOP & SHOP a supermarket chain in the north east has something like you suggest, only you scan and bag your purchases as you shop, then you scan a bar code at the register (self check out or regular) and it transfers your purchases to the register for payment.

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