Posted on 03/02/2020 1:28:51 AM PST by grundle
A French hypermarket used self-service checkout stations to circumvent the country’s strict limits on working on Sundays, and many people were none too happy. Advertising
For the first time in French history, a hypermarket was open on a Sunday afternoon. French labor law prohibits the employees of hypermarkets and large supermarkets from working after 1pm on Sundays. But last Sunday, the Géant Casino de la Roseraie in Angers, in northwestern France, was open to customers until 9pm. So how did they do it? Self-checkout stations and security guards employed by an external company.
The workaround at the 5,000-square-metre store didn’t technically break any laws, but it did vex local officials. “I find this manner of circumventing the law fairly dishonest,” said Karine Engel, deputy mayor overseeing commerce in Angers. But because no laws were broken, there is nothing the municipality can do to prevent the extension of Sunday hours, either.
Trade unions and protestors were also displeased. Nearly 200 protesters, including some Yellow Vest demonstrators, disrupted business by tipping over shopping carts in the store and blocking the entrances.
While Sunday’s opening was the first of its kind for a hypermarket, Casino has been using the automated checkout system to keep smaller stores open on Sundays for some time. Three of its stores one in Lyon, one in Marseille and one in Montpellier are open 24/7. Other supermarket chains in France have also been experimenting with self-checkout and extended Sunday hours.
Officials and unions acknowledge that the technology allows employees to have Sundays off, but union officials worry that over time the automated systems will lead to layoffs.
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Wow, their systems must be much better than what we have here!
No mention of having to keep minders on hand for all the glitches, which would violate the Fwench law.
Are they really avoiding all the “Unexpected item in cart”, “Do you want to skip bagging?”, “Please contact attendant” hassles, or just letting those items go for free?
Engel.. Anger....you can't make this stuff up.
Hey Engel from Anger...it's just Adam Smiths invisible hand doing it's job.
I have been having much better luck recently, with the automated check-outs in my hometown, than I had originally.
The systems are improving recently.
Been using self checkout in Walmart and Sams for several years. No problems, and fast.
I LOVE the self check out!!
Courteous, efficient self-service.
I remember studying operating hours in my MBA classes. You would think that if the stores made X money in their curtailed operating hours that the same amount would be made with the longer hours. This is not the case. The additional money was significant, which is why Walmart has such long hours.
I can only imagine how much more money companies are making because they sell online as well. I have several times bought items at Walmart.com from my home that I would not have driven to the store to get simply because I was tired or busy, or the store doesn’t have them in inventory. I would have done without those items. For example, I have bought two shop vacs even though I have a serviceable 40 year old unit. One for the house and one for the barn. The old one was donated to a helper.
We’ve had some Wal Marts in our area reduce their hours.
“We’ve had some Wal Marts in our area reduce their hours.”
I think they’ve reached saturation. I live close to Tallahassee and I think there are five Wal Marts in town and two or three in reasonable driving distance. I think Tally has 150,000 people.
Hypermarket? Is that out near the Tannhäuser Gate?
Ditto! I no longer pay incorrect prices and feel harried by emptying my cart , trying to verify prices, and again loading my cart easy Peasy nice and slow
Yep. Buying alcoholic beverages requires a verification by a human but other than that its all good.
It’s down the road from the Super Duper market
Walmart is the best. The have taken self checkout to the bare minimum. All that is required is to:
Scan your items, place them in the bagging area (I think that part may have been eliminated) or skip bagging, and swipe your credit card. You never have to touch the screen. You can if you want and the prompts are there but you can ignore them. start the process simply by scanning and then swiping. The scanners are mobile so you do not have to remove items from your cart.
All the others have you gonna through multiple annoying screen touches.
Chicago and Cook County stopped prosecuting shoplifters who steal less than $1000 from a store. The self service check outs are an open gate for free stuff by the criminals. Some stores in Chicago are taking out the self check lanes.
I have been having much better luck recently, with the automated check-outs in my hometown, than I had originally.
The systems are improving recently.
At walmart they dumbed them down. Turned off bag scales, etc.
French union activists will simply burn the place down.
They have a long history of doing stuff like that.
Shop closing laws (an entirely Western European phenomenon) were one of the stupidest and most irritating things about living there. They accomplish nothing. They just make life a bit more inconvenient for everybody....all because some nanny staters think it their place to dictate everything to everybody.
Bars? Restaurants? Gas Stations? Train Stations? Factories? They can all stay open all the time.....in fact gas stations with their convenience stores attached do a fairly brisk business in Germany because they’re allowed to stay open. Ditto grocery stores which can manage to be inside train stations.
So why have these idiotic shop closing laws I asked? “oh...that’s because the little mom and pop stores couldn’t afford to stay open to match the big stores who can just hire more people” they answered. Well....either work harder, offer better value such that I’m willing to shop at your small store or go out of business. If you can’t match your competitors in the market then is probably time to wind the business up and do something else.
But of course Yurps being Yurps, they will go on thinking some petty bureaucrat knows best and allowing said little Hitler to dictate to them.
Up in Northwest Arkansas in a town near Bentonville, Walmart’s home town, There have eliminated the need for a human to check your age for Alcohol sales.
You can elect to have a picture taken that is sent to a third party AI. If the AI thinks you are over 40 it approves the sale.
If you look under 40 you can download and app on your phone that will verify your age without human interaction. Pretty cool stuff.
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