Now Good Grief Walmart

[Patri]

I hadn't been in our local one for some time. Yesterday, I was. In the past they had one end with about 6 self checkout stations. That area was expanded. And now the other end has them. And many check lines that at first look traditional have been converted. So there are 24 self check stations and only about 8 cashiers helping customers the old fashioned way. I went to one of them. I know it is a losing battle to preserve jobs for people.
I wonder if eventually we will have to stock the shelves, too.

 

[silentg]

I saw a post online of a WalMart that someone lit fireworks inside the store!

 

[AwayWeGo]

One nice thing about check-yourself-out terminals is the option to dump in all my pocket change, no counting required -- not by me, not by a cashier, not by anybody. The machine does it automatically. After I pony up the rest via paper money, I usually get a few coins back. But so what ?

Is this a great country or what ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[DaveNV]

One nice thing about check-yourself-out terminals is the option to dump in all my pocket change, no counting required -- not by me, not by a cashier, not by anybody. The machine does it automatically. After I pony up the rest via paper money, I usually get a few coins back. But so what ?

Is this a great country or what ?

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

I think my local stores must be a different model. At the self-check counters I see here, options are available for credit cards or cash only. Never saw (or maybe didn't notice) an option to pay with loose change. I have a huge coin jar at home, so I may have to try that! (I bank at a cashless credit union - everything is handled through ATMs, so no place to get rid of rolled coins. And I refuse to pay a 10% surcharge to use the CoinStar machines at Safeway. Frustrating!)

Dave

 

[AwayWeGo]

I refuse to pay a 10% surcharge to use the CoinStar machines at Safeway.

Same here. That's why I like the automated self-checkout lanes -- the ones with coin slots, that is.

I don't think I'd try emptying out my entire coin jar at Walmart -- maybe just a pocketful at a time.

Regardless, for those so inclined there are advantages to beep-yourself-out automated checkout terminals.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[rickandcindy23]

Rick goes to the self-checkout and loves it. I don't. I go to a person.

You would think more thievery would happen at the self-checkout lanes. I do wonder about that.

 

[DaveNV]

Rick goes to the self-checkout and loves it. I don't. I go to a person.

You would think more thievery would happen at the self-checkout lanes. I do wonder about that.

The self check at the Safeway I use has a weight-controlled area where you put your basket before and bag your stuff after scanning. So if someone was inclined to not pay for something, they’d have to be clever in how they handled it. They also have a clerk standing there to help with overrides and such, so I’d expect them to separate the shoppers from the shoplifters.

Dave

 

[PigsDad]

And I refuse to pay a 10% surcharge to use the CoinStar machines at Safeway. Frustrating!)

I agree, but did you know that if you choose the "gift card" option on the CoinStar machine, there is no service charge. Amazon gift cards are usually an option, so that works for me since I would be spending money with them anyway.

Kurt

 

[DaveNV]

I agree, but did you know that if you choose the "gift card" option on the CoinStar machine, there is no service charge. Amazon gift cards are usually an option, so that works for me since I would be spending money with them anyway.

Kurt

I did not know that. I will have to look more closely at things next time I’m in the store. Thanks!

Dave

 

[Passepartout]

I think my local stores must be a different model. At the self-check counters I see here, options are available for credit cards or cash only. Never saw (or maybe didn't notice) an option to pay with loose change. I have a huge coin jar at home, so I may have to try that! (I bank at a cashless credit union - everything is handled through ATMs, so no place to get rid of rolled coins. And I refuse to pay a 10% surcharge to use the CoinStar machines at Safeway. Frustrating!)

Dave

My Smith's & Fred Meyer (Kroger) stores have self checkouts that accept change- they say to insert change first. I cringe when I see some person dumping a big stash of change into a CoinStar machine when a couple of blocks away is a credit union with a FREE coin sorting machine.

In response to an earlier TUG thread about self-checkouts taking jobs, I asked the manager of my store, who told me that they had to hire 5 people specifically to operate the self-check area. So it actually increased the employment- as well as reducing wait-time for customers. Then he told me of a new program that we will get soon called something like 'Scan-and-go' where customers pick-up a hand held scanner or use an app in their phone to scan items as they go into the cart (presumably in a bag) and then bypass the register on the way out of the store. I don't know how this will catch pilferage or outright thievery, but that's what I was told.

Jim

 

[bluehende]

I actually like the self checkout. I can bag groceries as I like so when I get home I save time putting them away. I also can check prices as it seems the mistakes have been growing lately and amazingly never in my favor. I do feel guilty over job loss, but not over the upside down pies in my bags. If we have a big order we go to a person.

 

[slip]

I had the same thing happen to me at my local McDonald’s. I haven’t been in there for ages so I don’t know how long it’s been going on but there was a person right where you used to order. That person directed you to the self order machine. There wasn’t even anyone at one of the three regular registers. It was strange. She stood there the whole time I entered my order so I don’t get it.

 

[am1]

I guess self check out is cheaper then $15/hour and mandated benefits.

 

[vacationhopeful]

It is WAY cheaper to NOT have any cashier errors on taking the orders or change making.

Many self-serve processes take only credit or debit cards ... or a cash taking machine. Faster process to taking electronic payments the bank by the minute (or hour) verses at day's end.

Machines can have a greeting and order screens in multiple languages.

No fewer problems with "NO SHOWS" employees or overtime or workman's corp or the ACA insurance costs.

One person checking bag tags with PAID receipt is cheap .. it matches or the product stays but once in the hands of a non-empoyee SHOULD be trashed (still cheaper in the end).

Eventually, even the food preparing process will be more machine preformed.

So the employee stuffing a fast food bag with Whopper when their friend ordered 1 hamburger or the small fry becomes large onion rings ... etc.

 

[clifffaith]

I really dislike the self check out -- half the time something goes wrong and then the helper person has to step in. We tend to use them together at Home Depot -- seems to take two of us to figure it out. They have removed them from our local Ralph's. I remember standing in line to have a checker ring me up, when another cashier tried to direct me to self service when I had a full cart of groceries. When I said I preferred to wait she said she'd do it for me, and that no one liked the self checkers. In a matter of a couple months they were gone.

 

[silentg]

You can also order your groceries and pick them up without getting out of your car. Publix has a deliver to your home service now too.
We are getting to the time when we never have to leave the house!
Silentg

 

[Panina]

You can also order your groceries and pick them up without getting out of your car. Publix has a deliver to your home service now too.
We are getting to the time when we never have to leave the house!
Silentg

It actually is easier to order most things and get delivery home.

I consciously go to the stores to give them the business so jobs remain. It becomes frustrating as many times things are out of stock I want.

 

[Patri]

In response to an earlier TUG thread about self-checkouts taking jobs, I asked the manager of my store, who told me that they had to hire 5 people specifically to operate the self-check area. So it actually increased the employment- as well as reducing wait-time for customers.

I considered that, but there were 3 people watching the self-scan lanes, whereas in the past there may have been 16 manning regular lanes. When fully staffed at my Walmart now, that would mean 11 cashiers. So I don't see real personnel savings. Naturally, the 16 lanes were not always open, just at the busiest times.
A family-owned grocery store in town also took out some counters and put in 4 self-checks and hired one person to monitor. The old lanes were almost always fully staffed, so they now have fewer employees up front. I imagine staff are doing more in the back, and as vacancies occurred, they didn't have to hire all back.

 

[Luanne]

I guess self check out is cheaper then $15/hour and mandated benefits.

How do you know the jobs haven't been shifted elsewhere in the store?

 

[am1]

I don't but if stores managed without the extra help elsewhere then why start now? They are trying to balance costs vs sales.

How do you know the jobs haven't been shifted elsewhere in the store?

 

[Beachclubmum]

I'm a germaphobe and LOVE not having a cashier touch my items. Otherwise, it seems like I always get in the line with the check-out person who's coughing away or noticeably sick. Shudder.

 

[VacationForever]

It is called rising labor costs.... case of a business has got to do what makes sense.

A couple of months ago, I read that Amazon(?) is testing no check out counters and every shopper needs to pre-register in an app with an account and credit card info. People just need to walk into a store, pick out what they want and just walk out. The scanners at the door, presumably, will be able to tally up whatever items have been taken out of the store and charged to the account.

 

[easyrider]

I used the self check out at Lowes and forgot that I had a heavy box in the bottom rack of the cart. The electronic alarm didn't catch me either. As I was putting the cart back I noticed the box so I went inside to pay. I received a look from the cashier in charge of the self checkout. It was a $90 box of fasteners.

I am certain people are misusing the self check out. I could have very easily.

Bill

 

[PigsDad]

I don't but if stores managed without the extra help elsewhere then why start now? They are trying to balance costs vs sales.

Have you ever thought that maybe it is the customers that are asking for more self-checkout lanes? It is often faster since more customers can be checking out at the same time in the given space, which results in a better customer experience for many. I for one would much rather use the self-checkout lanes -- it seems that it is only the older people who complain about this new technology...

Kurt

 

[Patri]

You calling me old?
The rationale of some is that customers are now doing the work while also paying for the goods. A win for the store, for sure.