Costco online, app HELP!!, please :)

[TheHolleys87]

Actually, I would say at least 80% of the time that I go through the self-scan line at Costco, an employee is there and just scans all of my items w/ their hand scanner without taking them out of the cart. Easy peasy. Maybe I'm just lucky?

Kurt

On Sunday at the self checkout in our Costco, an employee scanned every item, and that seemed to be the situation at every self checkout station. I thought it defeated the purpose of self checkout. At least they did let us keep them in our cart, but we only had three items, so it was easy to be sure they didn’t miss any.

 

[WorldT]

I go to Costco almost every week. It is closer than Sam's to me. Before, the employees will scan everything for you in the self checkout lane. ( self checkout...). These days they only scan the heavy items. And then tell you to take out the rest and scan it normally and drop it on the sensor to the left. No hand scanners for customers. They will only scan everything for you if it is a very slow day like this afternoon.

 

[joestein]

I just read an article earlier today on Yahoo that Walmart was making all office workers go back to Bentonville AL where their corporate headquarters is. They have a choice; move or be laid off. Apparently, the head of shopper technology, which the article mentioned as her being behind some of the self-checkout tech at Sams Club, is refusing to move. She is expected to be let go.

Maybe Costco should grab her and make her in charge of shopper technology.

 

[davidvel]

This is not my experience at our local Costco. Others may be different. Ours seems to have an employee at most of the individual registers and they work that register. Not just one or two employees that float. There is always a few registers (I think our store has 9 self checkouts in total) that don't have an employee with a wand assigned to them. When you get one of those registers you are responsible for scanning everything yourself. There is also an employee directing people to registers. You go where they tell you. I always hope I get sent to a register with an employee.

Doesn't Costco have employees checking your receipt and comparing it to items at the door? Costco has the exit staffed to reduce shrinkage. It seems the main comparisons here are to Sam's Club who seems to have figured out a way to do this without the need for all these shenanigans. It seems Costco is chasing loose change in the couch cushions instead of trying to make the customer experience better.

Well, that is very different than here. Having a cashier on every register certainly defeats the purpose of self-checkout. Maybe they decided to do this vs. admit defeat with self-checkout. (You certainly can fit more registers in the same space, though.)

Yes, they also check receipts. Just another backstop. I have never had any problems with this, despite so many people having so much angst about waiting 10-30 seconds in a line.

 

[davidvel]

I just read an article earlier today on Yahoo that Walmart was making all office workers go back to Bentonville AL where their corporate headquarters is. They have a choice; move or be laid off. Apparently, the head of shopper technology, which the article mentioned as her being behind some of the self-checkout tech at Sams Club, is refusing to move. She is expected to be let go.

Maybe Costco should grab her and make her in charge of shopper technology.

I think Costco is doing just fine on the shrink issue. No changes needed.

Costco said the company’s shrinkage rate was between “0.1% and 0.2%,” according to its data at the time. That’s significantly lower than the nationwide average of 1.6%, as reported by the NRF.

https://moneywise.com/news/top-stories/costco-is-winning-the-war-against-retail-theft-as-target-and-walmart-shutter-stores-across-US