Major Grocer Ending Self Check out Lanes..

[Stuart G]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43687085/ns/business-consumer_news/


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.

The move marks a surprising step back from a trend that began about a decade ago, when supermarkets began installing self-checkout lanes, touting them as a solution to long lines. Now some grocery chains are questioning whether they are really good for business.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This acutally means more jobs for more people. It may not be a lot more jobs. But some. And it is a surprise to me.

[Vincardog]

1. They do NOTHING to get MY business. I refuse to use them. I demand that they pay some one to check

me out

[krispos42]

2. They can be a pain in the ass.

Some of them are laid out poorly, and some of them work so badly that the person watching over the section might as well be running a register full-time... they'd get more business through that way.

[femmocrat]

22. So true. When I used it, I had to get the front-end manager to get it to work properly.

I thought I would give it a try, but I never used it again.

Plus, I didn't appreciate its announcing my purchases! STFU!

[krispos42]

23. My mom had a bad experience a couple of weeks ago...

One cashier, the rest self-service checkouts. Long line, and the self-serve line jammed up 3 times for her for like 12 items.


And the volume is way too loud when the store is quiet. Okay, so when it's really busy the volume is okay, but having the checkout screaming "DORITOS - TWO NINETY-NINE" in an empty store gets real old real quick.

I mean, imagine...

"TROJAN EXTRA-SMALL SINGLE - ONE FORTY-NINE"
"SUMMER'S EVE EXTRA-STRENGTH DOUCHE - THREE NINETY-NINE"



Yikes!

[femmocrat]

24. LOL

Exactly! :rofl:

[krispos42]

26. It's like the old "Price check on Tampax Ultra-Aborbant Tampon 50-pack, please"

joke... except it's EVERY DAMN THING IN THE BASKET!

*beep*

"COOL-WHIP WHIPPED CREAM - TWO NINETY-NINE"

*beep*

"CLOTHESLINE ONE HUNDRED FEET - THREE NINETY-NINE"

*beep*

"TROJAN HER PLEASURE CONDOMS TWELVE PACK - THIRTEEN FORTY-NINE"

*beep*

"JOHNSON AND JOHNSON TWO HUNDRED PIECE FIRST AID KIT - NINETEEN NINETY-NINE"

*beep*

"FIRST ALERT CHEMICAL ICE PACKS THREE-PACK - FIVE NINETY-NINE"

*beep*

"MARLBOROUGH RED - EIGHT NINETY-NINE"




Sounds like a hell of a night...

[Sinistrous]

3. I try to never use them.

My main complaint with them is that I hate being talked to by a machine. If they had decent prompts and a mute button, I would probably like them.

[Ian David]

4. Self check-out lanes don't save me any time.

About 2/3 of the time, something goes wrong that requires sales-person intervention.

The people who work the registers all day long are faster than me anyway.

And 1/3 of the time, I need to get "spot-checked" anyway.

In total, my gut feeling is that self check-out has probably cost me MORE time over the years.

[Macoy]

39. Great News!

This is great news. I have always refused to use the self-check-out lanes. I do not care about saving time or even a few pennies if the savings come at the cost of some one losing their job.

And yes, I realize some folks look down their nose at the “lowly” jobs being created by using real cashiers, but it is honest work and better than not having a job.

Macoy

[rpannier]

5. I have never used a self check out lane by myself

They're there to save the store from having to hire another employee

Here in Korea, Home Plus has self check-out lanes and when I go early in the morning they're the only ones open. But the clerks there still check all my stuff

I used to find it odd that they did that until I realized they could stand and talk to each other while waiting for another customer -- not a lot of shoppers at 7 am. So it's a good thing for them

[ellenfl]

6. altruism? makes me wonder if maybe too many customers

were circumventing the checkout obligation . . . or am i being too cynical.

ellen fl

[TheDebbieDee]

13. Great minds think alike................

Theft prevention was the first thing that came to my mind, too.

[Journeyman]

7. Excellent. I'm not a Luddite. But when they had me do the work. . .

but the food cost the same, it rankled. I also didn't much care for the loss of so many jobs with no discernible benefit for anything but the corporation's bottom line.

[underpants]

8. I use them all the time or go to the customer service counter- if there is nothing to be weighed

I don't need to talk with cashiers.

[buddysmellgood]

12. I don't need interaction in the check out lane.

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. I'm with you. I know intellectually that the machine may be

costing a person a position, but I really don't like talking to people - at the same time, I don't want to be rude. So a machine avoids both scenarios.

[Stuart G]

9. I used one today..I would have rather had a person wait on me..

but the lines were long, and there was no one at this particular check yourself counter..I had bananas, and weighed them and the
machine added it into the bill. This one was a little different than others, seemed to work smoother and faster. But the thing told me to send the stuff down the conveyor belt, and I talked back to it. ........oh well...:bounce:

[aquart]

10. CVS just installed them. Hateful.

[flpab]

11. They replace a human, don't use them

I did at Ikea once and had to have a human help me. After I started thinking that was a job lost.

[skepticscott]

37. Do you search flights and buy airline tickets online

or do you always go to a travel agent? If the former, how is it any different than using a self-check? How many travel agents were replaced by online ticketing websites?

[Peregrine Took]

19. I hadn't been in a CVS in a few months - on the north side of Chicago.

I was rather shocked when I was there today and saw no cashiers in the usual places where they should be.

Some pushy type came over and grabbed my package of sponges and just ran them though the dumb machine and pulled my five bucks out of my hand and shoved it in the slot. Then she walked away without a word being spoken.

What a dehumanizing experience.

That's it for me and CVS - 'always preferred Walgreen's anyway.

[likesmountains 52]

15. The self check out lanes were gone from the Albertsons I shop at today.

I told the clerk I was glad they were gone. She said that Albertsons had decided that more face to face interaction was better. I never seemed to save much time using the self checkout..it was always something like "unexpected item in bagging area' or an item that was too light to register on the bagging area...

[robinlynne]

16. NICE.

[Lisa0825]

17. I guess I am in the minority here, but I like them.

I live alone, so most of my purchases are for 15 items or less, and I just get out of the store faster through self checkout. I don't go grocery shopping to form relationships with cashiers. I go there for food, and it is usually after work and after the gym, and I am tired and just want to get home fast and cook dinner.

I like that those with larger purchases still need to go through the cashier, but I prefer that when I have small purchases I can get out fast.

[Sherman A1]

18. Yes!

:bounce:

[PoliticAverse]

20. Like many here I also avoid them as they aren't faster than cashier checkout.

[Citizen Worker]

21. I refuse to use the self checkout and when encouraged to by store management I state loudly and

proudly that I prefer the Union cashier to a machine. The store manager now recognizes me and doesn't say a word. By the way, I checked at my local Albertson's store today and the self checkout equipment is still in use.

[some guy]

25. unrec for too long a line

the solid line at the bottom of your post is too long for my browser to handle. I dislike having to scroll left and right in order to read a thread. So I'll not read yours.

DU has a standard size for threads and they fit my browser, so this isn't a DU problem, isn't a problem with my browser, but is a problem with your post.

:hi:

:thumbsdown:

[ipaint]

27. I don't use them because I don't work for free.

If the grocer needs a checkout person they can hire one.

[glowing]

28. That's how I look at it too... I am not an employee. I spend a lot of money on groceries

because you have to eat. I don't care if it takes an extra 10 or 15 mins.. Its bad enough I have to put the groceries in and out of the cart about 3 times and once into a car.

[Bluenorthwest]

29. I rarely go to Albertson's since they put in the self checks

the local has had virtually no live checkers, the machines are crap, and the employees that were the reason I used to shop there are never there anymore.

[thelordofhell]

30. They got rid of them because they were too expensive to maintain

They could care less about the customer experience. This was all about the cost of maintaining the machines being more than the cost of a cashier.

[Tutankhamun]

31. Yeah, their satement about

the genuine human interaction they want for their customers, or whatever they said, reeks of pure bullshit.

[bemildred]

32. Automation kills jobs. nt

[awoke_in_2003]

33. They are a mile further away...

than Kroger's- I will be shopping Albertson's. They have a better meat department anyways.

[Maat]

34. I have always refused to use them.

Have never liked them.

Of course, I patronize my local family-owned market, which is oriented toward USDA-certified organic, locally-produced fresh food.

I know the check-out people by name, and always enjoy a brief conversation with them.

[AmericaIsGreat]

35. Who has lengthy conversations with their grocery cashier?

"Nobody" is the answer to that question.

[laser_red]

36. I like self checkout

self check out,

lots easier for me to check that
the price that rings up,
is the same as as the tagged price.

I also like to bag the stuff myself.

[Politicalboi]

38. What about choice?

I like the self check outs. They are real easy to use for the most part. When you get the hang of it, it does save time. I've gone into stores where the lines are long, and no one is at a self check out. I must have saved at least 15 to 20 minutes using self check out.