Coming Soon: Self-Serve Supermarkets

Supply Chain Systems Magazine ^ | Cindy H Dubin

[Inkie]

My local Pavilion tried this out about six months ago. Customers must have rejected it because it's no longer there.

[Paul Atreides]

Lowe's! They have 300 cashier lanes, yet only one lane, and the service desk stay open. They are as bad as the post office.

[discostu]

Yeah, after years of cursing Home Depot I've rediscovered the friendly face of my Ace local hardware man. I only go to HD for items I failed to find at Ace, which isn't very many.

[Tribune7]

And it's actually an improvement over the typical K-mart cashier.

[Miss Marple]

I won't use it for a large order. I am not quick enough, plus I am always checking to see if I made a mistake.

On small orders, it is pretty quick.

[Tax-chick]

We tried this at the K-Mart in Shawnee, and I didn't like it one bit. Not that K-Mart's not its own problem, but it's almost impossible to scan your own stuff while holding onto two toddlers!

Our local Albertson's doesn't employ any surly teens. We have fast-moving lines, cheerful carry-out help, and clerks who remember me (and all my kids) and tell me I'm looking thin! The deli clerk once helped me look for the garbanzo beans at 8 a.m. (they're with the pork&beans), and finally called the zone clerk off his break when we couldn't find them, and THEN told him what a stupid place that was to put the garbanzo beans, they should be by the pinto beans!

I'll just have to send my husband to the store if it ever goes self-serve!

[Tribune7]

I only go to HD for items I failed to find at Ace, which isn't very many.

ditto that.

[Slyfox]

I am all thumbs when it comes to those dern things. I hate it when a machine tells me I did something "incorrect".

[SortaBichy]

ya know... i have been a cashier for 30 years ( i was only 5 when i started..lol) the idea of do-it-yourself check out has a way to go before it can be mainstream. people aren't all that honest now, as i stand there & check them out. i shudder to think what would happen if they were on their own. i am a very friendly cashier... i think people would miss "us" for
the social aspect of marketing. a LOT of people can't even use the atm at register, much less scan their own groceries. also, lots of people want ME to pick up their heavy items,bag it up and a box person to put into the car for them. no way are they going to do it all themselves!

[Dog Gone]

Another pet peeve: hearing the screeching of a child, screaming "But I want it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" over and over and over.

Oh, that one's easy. Hand the kid a candy bar or toy from the nearest shelf.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

You must not have shopped in a Publix lately. The best supermarket chain I've ever seen.

[Havoc]

I spent ten years in retail. I can tell you from first hand experience, that those people at checkouts and wiping your behind in a store are overworked, underpaid, and generally work harder than the public they serve in many cases while being the but of jokes and recieve little if any appreciation. You stand on your feet for 4 hours without a break and when it finally comes that you can shut down your lane and take one, some self important imbacile walks up and drops his goods anyway demanding to be rung up.

The precise cause of checkout attitudes toward the public are a combination of public attitudes toward them and management treatment of them. There is a reason for high turnover in stores. There is a reason that mostly teanagers and old people work in them - it's the only job they can get. I can defend both sides and know both sides; but, self checkouts are aimed at doing one thing and one thing only - booting low end jobs out of existance - putting people out of work so that the business can staff a store that needs 300 bodies to run with 100 bodies that will be further unappreciated for their work.

It's a nice scam though - getting you to work for them for nothing. And who will it benifit? People don't stop and think about such trivial things as 'what if that were my job?' People don't look at the impact on associates that is caused by a Circuit city restructuring it's commission policies so that you have to sell 20 of the same machine that used to pay you the same money so more of the icing stays on top of the cake.

I'll leave it there for the moment. I realize I've slagged a lot onto the plate; but, I've got the benefit of long experience and can talk intelligently about it.

[Paul Atreides]

I live in Alabama. We have Food World, Winn Dixie, Wal Mart, and maybe Kroger. Then, there are the family-owned markets.

[Citizen of the Savage Nation]

Our local Albertson's doesn't employ any surly teens.

Neither does mine. Or Safeway. Always nice and fast, never crowded, and low prices, at least at the Safeway. I can't imagine why there are so many people in this thread who like this idea. What Utopia do they live in where everyone is tech savvy, fast, honest, never has problems and always pays in the most efficient way?? My experience is that grocery stores are filled with customers who are just the opposite.

Its nice at to pay at the pump, though.

[Focault's Pendulum]

And it's actually an improvement over the typical K-mart cashier.

I had a couple who were ok....but I wondered where they found the majority of them. I thought a few were McDonald's trainees.

[Dog Gone]

That's an age-old complaint. Machine labor has been replacing human labor for a couple of centuries now.

Just think of how many jobs were lost when the cotton gin was invented.

[grania]

Better than getting behind someone paying for two dollars worth of merchandise with a check.

That's better than when that check bounces...in the "express" lane.

[Paul Atreides]

I have worked the same kind of job. However, I managed to treat the customer in a civil manner, even when I didn't feel like it, or was all that sincere. I have worked several crappy jobs, such hauling out garbage, washing dishes, preparing food, restocking, etc., and I can tell you that standing at a cash register was preferable to them all. I've had mostly nice customers, and I have had rude ones. As long as they don't get vicious or personal, and hand over the money, it doesn't really bother me.

[Tribune7]

I had a couple who were ok..

You've had better luck than me. :-)