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At Wal*Mart i get a free donut.... The register tells me i scan one donut while there are two in the bag. OKAY.... fine with me.....
I don't think that is stealing, something I do not do.
On our scanners you don't scan donuts, unless they are in a bag or box with a bar code. You have to go to the proper page, pick the donut pic...or put in a number...and it'll ask 'how many'. Yes, what you do is "stealing". Sorry.
Sure, this can work if you buy 5-10-15 bulk items at Sam's since the door checker will have some type of printout as to what you bought and check through everything to ensure you didn't "forget" to scan something.
Gas stations HAVE to offer to pump your gas (because of disabled ppl and the ADA). By me (upstate NY) you honk your horn twice or call a phone #. Instructions are on the pump. But then again. I've seen the cashiers carry out coffee to the car for seniors with walkers, etc.
This only applies when stations have sufficient personnel to allow for an employee to leave the inside without compromising safety or security. Lots of stations have one employee part of the day, and they can't leave the inside empty.
Lot's of people appear to be standing in those long lines because they:
A. Are afraid of self checkout
B. Really have nothing better to do - see this at the post office too
I want to get in and out like the Marines, hate shopping.
Lots of people stand in long lines because they 1) don't even notice a cashiers light on and NO line there or 2) if there's no long line...even with the light on...then it must not really be open. I can't tell you how many times I've had my light on, NO closed sign in sight and just waiting for customers and they'll ask me "Are you open??". Sometimes, if I'm feeling a little smarta$$ I'll say, "Nope! Just checking to make sure my light works!". lol I refrain from saying "Here's your sign!". Fortunately my customers are good eggs and will laugh. I have left my register and gone to one with a line and told them I can help them...unless they really LIKE standing in line. They are happy to get OUT of line!
But you DO understand that the store is manipulating you, right? It's not your choice to use self-checkout. It's the store's. They push your Impatient Button by not having enough registers open. The store controls you and you don't even realize it.
Self checkouts were put in BECAUSE people are impatient and don't want to stand in line. In our store, if everyone shows up, we'll have three or four registers open at 7 AM, at least one more opens every half hour till about 8:30 when the 7 AM people start their breaks. There is one self check, four scanners, open from 6 AM and the other four open at 7 AM. There is NO reason people should have to wait all that long to get through. Now, if we have a lot of call outs I can't promise anything but it makes me mad because it puts the pressure on ME and I have to listen to the complaints all morning. Just the way I want to start my day...not! The lines start really forming about 9 AM and it just gets crazier as the day goes by. We have had as many as 15 registers open and STILL get told we "need more cashiers". No, we don't and there will NEVER be one cashier for every customer so we all just have to learn to live with it or shop elsewhere. I experience the same thing in other stores around town so I know it's not just 'my' store.
I use it all the time. Better than standing in line at the 15 items or less line behind some moron with a hundred items in her cart!
In our store the self checkout scanners are right next to the express registers and they were installed to take the pressure off of them. But they never put up any signs prohibiting more items and people who don't want to stand in line take advantage of that. It's okay, to a point. At one time today all four of the scanners were busy and three of them were people with small orders. This one woman had a HUGE basket of stuff and it took her forever to get it all done while customers in line were getting madder and madder. WE can't say a word to the "offender" but the customers can and sometimes do. They were really never intended to do a two week order.
Yes, WIC can be a pain, especially when being used by newbies. Because it's so exact they often aren't sure what to get and bring the wrong things. There are markers on everything that is WIC approved but they don't always see them. At the register it's a pain because if they want the product we have to wait for someone to come get the wrong one, go get the right one and that takes time because those people do NOT move fast! I have never had ANY WIC transaction take over an hour nor have I ever had anyone bring in "a few dozen WIC coupons". I think the most I've ever had was four. It can go just as fast as any other transaction if the customer is on the ball. I don't like waiting like that because it really messes with my 'scans per hour' and makes me look slow. I am NOT slow, at all.
I don't doubt your experience at all, but a few months ago (ok, about 2 years ago ) I was behind a young couple who had their entire monthly allotment of WIC coupons at 10 PM on the expiration date and it was their last chance to use them. There were no more stock clerks available so the cashier had to swap out the wrong items herself on the store shelves, and the couple also had a lot of non-WIC items that they were paying for with their SNAP card. Did I mention that none of this was sorted? The cashier had to read through all the coupons then try to find the items in the mess while piling up the non-WIC items to ring up separately.
Honestly, I was more amazed than bothered by how primitive this process was and how long it took the cashier to individually take care of each coupon's worth of food. All I could think about was how so many people want a similar process for SNAP card holders to make sure they can only buy the cheapest 'Valu-Time' or store brand items instead of that gourmet Wonder Bread. Well, that and that I wanted to get home to bed.
When I have about 20-25 items, I am faster than most cashiers, and am almost always faster than most other customers. I know the location of all UPCs and have a subset of fruits and veggies for which I already know the UPCs.
So, the self-checkout line is what I use most, if not all, of the time.
Quick in...quick out!
YOU are the kind of customer I love! lol When I'm working self checkout I try to 'teach' my customers all the little 'tricks' to get them through faster. Even if they don't know the UPC numbers our scanners make it very easy to find and use them. There's a screen for those who know they can use the UPC numbers...produce mostly...a screen they input the first letters of the item and get a list or pages with pictures they can choose from.
Sure, this can work if you buy 5-10-15 bulk items at Sam's since the door checker will have some type of printout as to what you bought and check through everything to ensure you didn't "forget" to scan something.
Now imagine the same thing at Dollar General or CVS or a supermarket with a cart piled up to the brim with dozens or hundreds of individual items. Chaos, blood in the streets, cats and dogs lying with one another.
At our store the only things they check at the door are large items and unbagged items. They don't do this to catch a thief necessarily but they ARE checking up on the cashiers! The first week they started it I got busted because I didn't scan a big bag of dog food under the cart on one and two cases of water on another. It must work because we had the best inventory we've had in a long time! lol We do try to be careful though because that's one thing that affects our bonuses and we DO like those!
I don't doubt your experience at all, but a few months ago (ok, about 2 years ago ) I was behind a young couple who had their entire monthly allotment of WIC coupons at 10 PM on the expiration date and it was their last chance to use them. There were no more stock clerks available so the cashier had to swap out the wrong items herself on the store shelves, and the couple also had a lot of non-WIC items that they were paying for with their SNAP card. Did I mention that none of this was sorted? The cashier had to read through all the coupons then try to find the items in the mess while piling up the non-WIC items to ring up separately.
Honestly, I was more amazed than bothered by how primitive this process was and how long it took the cashier to individually take care of each coupon's worth of food. All I could think about was how so many people want a similar process for SNAP card holders to make sure they can only buy the cheapest 'Valu-Time' or store brand items instead of that gourmet Wonder Bread. Well, that and that I wanted to get home to bed.
Boy, I'm glad I have never had a customer that bad! lol I've never had anyone save up all their vouchers like that. What are they feeding their kids in the meantime?? I can understand your frustration in a situation like that but I think it's a really rare thing to have happen. I mean, I've been doing this for seven years now and never seen anything THAT bad. I WOULD like to have a conversation with whoever decided how many cans of baby formula to put on each voucher. If it's three or four, great, but I've seen many a time where it's ONE can on each voucher and I'll have to do it four times. Just dumb.
When I first started doing the WIC transactions it scared me to death just because they ARE so picky about everything but it didn't take me long to get into the 'groove' and if the customer hasn't screwed up I can get them out fast. I'm a fast cashier though and do things pretty automatically anymore.
I shudder when I see where people think making SNAP like WIC would be a good thing. They have NO idea what a can o' worms that would open up!
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