Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am asking this question as a cashier because it seems that the *grocery store chain* I work for wants highly satisfied customers, yet the training the front-end employees at the location I work for, which management above store management came up with, is not getting the results they want.
The front-end employees who received the training are the cashiers and the courtesy clerks/baggers.
Back in May on a busy Sunday my employer received complaints about the long lines, long wait, and slow cashiers. I had to work the following Monday, and I noticed that the front-end supervisor was walking back and forth at the front-end. I asked her why she was doing that, and she told me that our employer wants to keep the lines as short as possible due to complaints from customers regarding that as well as slow cashiers, and that she is supposed to make sure that happens. Then I had a customer who had several coupons. The front-end supervisor had me stop scanning the customers groceries. She called for the drug dept./general merchandise manager to check out the customers groceries as well as scan their coupons. She asked me to bag their groceries instead. I asked her what was going on, and she told me that my employer received complaints from other customers regarding customers using too many coupons.
So this particular front-end supervisor was given the task of training the cashiers and courtesy clerks/baggers on how to be 1) efficient, 2) productive, and 3) faster. The cashiers were given certain steps to follow as well as the courtesy clerks/baggers. The cashiers were told that we had a goal of 30 items per minute to reach, according to the Front-end Coordinator who came up with this training. The Front-end Coordinator is over an area of locations, including the location I work at.
The Front-end Coordinator also wants every cashier to have an overall score of 95% regarding their productivity. She also wants every location to have an overall score of 95%. Several factors determine both scores.
There was one time the location I work at received a score of 95%. Lately is in the low 90s, but management above store management is still not happy.
Then there are the customers who complain about the check out process being too fast. Either the cashiers are scanning too quickly, the courtesy clerks/baggers ask them for their cart too soon so they can load their cart with their groceries, or the payment process is too fast. It seems that these customers feel rushed.
Even though the Front-end Coordinator addressed the problems earlier this year.
There is no happy medium. The nature of retail is that when there is not stress on the front line, the stockholders and directors will think that payroll is wasted.
Early in my career in movie theatres, there was a massive cut in staffing at the company I worked for. The usher positions were eliminated, and other staffing severely cut back. It was what was needed to stay competitive, but was demoralizing.
A little later on in my career I was with a different company and running the flagship theatre when a new director of operations came on board. At his first visit on a massively busy night, I was standing in the lobby giving eye and hand signals to the staff to keep things flowing perfectly and customers happy. He watched, and the following Monday demanded a cut in staffing. It was then that I first knew he was a flaming idiot trying to impress the owner with even lower payrolls.
Fast forward to the 1990s and another theatre company. Payroll was to the bone, maintenance was deferred and the company was in severe financial distress. A group of investors came in, bought SOME of the theatres, evaluated things, and INCREASED the staffing to proper levels. Sales skyrocketed in the theatres they took over and the OVERALL profit rose, even with increased staffing costs. Eventually, the P&L sheet was so fantastic that they sold those theatres to the second company I mentioned at a great profit. In its hubris, that company immediately stripped out the policies that worked, and the acquisition of those theatres ended up bankrupting it within three years. (Heh heh, Paybacks are hell).
The difference in the successful investors was that they didn't have beancounters and bankers breathing down their necks. Beancounters have ZERO knowledge of the importance of customer good will and will cripple a company in search of pennies, while treating employees like slaves.
Don't expect things to change. With Aldi coming on strong, for profit grocery stores are quaking and looking to match the checkout speed. Aldi cashiers don't have to deal with coupons, don't have to deal with bagging, and they are allowed to sit. The products are designed to scan fast. They go at twice the speed of a regular cashier, cutting payroll cost in half.
One group that may weather the storm is Publix. Being employee owned, it can plan strategically rather than having to immediately panic react to market forces. Otherwise, foul weather ahead.
I honestly don't care how fast a cashier is as long as she is moving and doing her job efficiently and fairly quickly. (I certainly don't expect them to break into any kind of sweat, lol!)
I am much more impatient with other customers who take a long time finding coupons (either through their wallet or through an app) or cashiers being SO friendly that she and Mrs. Customer spend a couple of extra minutes talking about their grandchildren (although I think a friendly hello and maybe a quick remark about the weather is fine).
What also irritates me is extra waiting due to a credit card problem or a price check. The store I frequent has a policy of asking the customer what she thinks the price is, and if it sounds at all reasonable to take their word for it -- but to then call a manager about the problem to check on it later. Yes, I imagine this policy leads to some shortages and errors, but I think it is MUCH better than having a line of five or more customers wait as long as five extra minutes for the price to be verified.
I also dislike it when I go to a convenience store just for a gallon of milk, and I have to wait in line while the person in front of me buys and scratches off a dozen lottery tickets (but that is not the fault of the cashier, of course).
Finally, it REALLY ticks me off to be ready to check out when it is VERY busy and see only about one-third of the registers staffed, with more than a half-dozen carts in each line.
I honestly don't care how fast a cashier is as long as she is moving and doing her job efficiently and fairly quickly. (I certainly don't expect them to break into any kind of sweat, lol!)
I am much more impatient with other customers who take a long time finding coupons (either through their wallet or through an app) or cashiers being SO friendly that she and Mrs. Customer spend a couple of extra minutes talking about their grandchildren (although I think a friendly hello and maybe a quick remark about the weather is fine).
What also irritates me is extra waiting due to a credit card problem or a price check. The store I frequent has a policy of asking the customer what she thinks the price is, and if it sounds at all reasonable to take their word for it -- but to then call a manager about the problem to check on it later. Yes, I imagine this policy leads to some shortages and errors, but I think it is MUCH better than having a line of five or more customers wait as long as five extra minutes for the price to be verified.
I also dislike it when I go to a convenience store just for a gallon of milk, and I have to wait in line while the person in front of me buys and scratches off a dozen lottery tickets (but that is not the fault of the cashier, of course).
Finally, it REALLY ticks me off to be ready to check out when it is VERY busy and see only about one-third of the registers staffed, with more than a half-dozen carts in each line.
Well, you asked, lol!
Yeah...
I get it.
But there is only so much the cashier, the Front-end managers, the Front-end supervisors, store management as well as upper management has control over.
As for the customers...
How many really care about the other customers waiting behind them?
Because I am wondering if our customers expect us, as a whole, to do something about the other customers who are too slow or are wasting everyone else s time?
I get it. But there is only so much the cashier, the Front-end managers, the Front-end supervisors, store management as well as upper management has control over.
As for the customers... How many really care about the other customers waiting behind them?
Because I am wondering if our customers expect us, as a whole, to do something about the other customers who are too slow or are wasting everyone else s time?
THE BOLD: No, that was just a vent!
And as far as how many customers really care about other customers waiting behind them -- Well, I think that is a matter of personality. Personally, it does bother me a LOT if I am the cause of a hold-up, and I always apologize -- or, more times than not, I will just tell the cashier to forget about it and I will get that item at another time. I also will set the coupon for an item on top on that item when it is sitting on the belt and the customer in front of me is paying; I rarely have more than three coupons. (However, based on what I have seen, I think I am in the minority).
And as far as how many customers really care about other customers waiting behind them -- Well, I think that is a matter of personality. Personally, it does bother me a LOT if I am the cause of a hold-up, and I always apologize -- or, more times than not, I will just tell the cashier to forget about it and I will get that item at another time. I also will set the coupon for an item on top on that item when it is sitting on the belt and the customer in front of me is paying; I rarely have more than three coupons. (However, based on what I have seen, I think I am in the minority).
Hmmm...
Makes me wonder if the customers who complained earlier this year were just venting.
And the Front-end Coordinator took their venting seriously.
I want someone to enforce the Express Line rules. If someone with a cart load of items is in the express line I expect the supervisor to direct them to a different cashier.
I expect there to be enough cashiers on the line so there are no more than 3 carts in front of me. Supervisors should know their rush times and staff accordingly. Seeing three people stocking shelves when there are long lines at the cashier is sloppy management.
I don't expect cashiers to break land speed records, but they should be efficient and be able to talk and scan at the same time.
I expect baggers to put my frozen/refrigerated items together in bags and not put canned goods on top of bread or potato chips.
Many of the stores in my area have gone to self scanning, which is great if you only have a few items, but a pain if you have a whole cart full.
If there are enough checkers, then no one waits in line so long that they get impatient with coupons. But no one should have to wait in line for 10 minutes at the grocery store.
Freezer and refrigerator items should be bagged together and not with other items. Bags shouldn't be too heavy, especially for older patrons.
I am asking this question as a cashier because it seems that the *grocery store chain* I work for wants highly satisfied customers, yet the training the front-end employees at the location I work for, which management above store management came up with, is not getting the results they want.
The front-end employees who received the training are the cashiers and the courtesy clerks/baggers.
Back in May on a busy Sunday my employer received complaints about the long lines, long wait, and slow cashiers. I had to work the following Monday, and I noticed that the front-end supervisor was walking back and forth at the front-end. I asked her why she was doing that, and she told me that our employer wants to keep the lines as short as possible due to complaints from customers regarding that as well as slow cashiers, and that she is supposed to make sure that happens. Then I had a customer who had several coupons. The front-end supervisor had me stop scanning the customers groceries. She called for the drug dept./general merchandise manager to check out the customers groceries as well as scan their coupons. She asked me to bag their groceries instead. I asked her what was going on, and she told me that my employer received complaints from other customers regarding customers using too many coupons.
So this particular front-end supervisor was given the task of training the cashiers and courtesy clerks/baggers on how to be 1) efficient, 2) productive, and 3) faster. The cashiers were given certain steps to follow as well as the courtesy clerks/baggers. The cashiers were told that we had a goal of 30 items per minute to reach, according to the Front-end Coordinator who came up with this training. The Front-end Coordinator is over an area of locations, including the location I work at.
The Front-end Coordinator also wants every cashier to have an overall score of 95% regarding their productivity. She also wants every location to have an overall score of 95%. Several factors determine both scores.
There was one time the location I work at received a score of 95%. Lately is in the low 90s, but management above store management is still not happy.
Then there are the customers who complain about the check out process being too fast. Either the cashiers are scanning too quickly, the courtesy clerks/baggers ask them for their cart too soon so they can load their cart with their groceries, or the payment process is too fast. It seems that these customers feel rushed.
Even though the Front-end Coordinator addressed the problems earlier this year.
Where is a happy medium?
Haven't read any responses to this, but what I see happening here, is the company trying to provide the kind of results that can only realistically be achieved by hiring more cashiers.
So, I highly recommend that you and all of your fellow cashiers stop trying to help them reach their goals of getting the work of two people out of one person. And if that doesn't work, you should all start going out on worker's compensation for carpel tunnel for having to do repetitive motions at an unrealistic speed.
You all need to stop letting them get away with not hiring more help. Because that's what the bottom line is here. They will push you all to the max, try to make you all think you're not performing well, to get the max out of you. And, they'll try and make you all quit before you file a workers comp claim, too.
If coupons are a problem, they need to stop accepting them.
Seriously, you know this is insane. Don't buy into their garbage of trying to make you think something's wrong with you because you can't meet their insane, unrealistic goals - that they actually know are insane and unrealistic. it's a numbers game to them. They hope to use you up and get you to move on before there is an unemployment or workers comp claim.
So, get revenge. Start seeing your doctor about pain regarding the fast, repetitive motions. Then, ask your doc to write a note saying you need time off due to carpel tunnel type pain. Then, file a workers comp claim.
Then, at least in CA, the employer has to offer modified work. So, maybe they'll stick you in the office or some other cush job, because you can't do fast repetitive work anymore. And, in the meantime, because you are on workers comp modified work - they can't fire you easily.
I generally stop at the grocery store pretty much ever day because we buy our food fresh for that night's supper. So, I get a lot to experience a lot of good and bad issues at those stores. I generally shop at Publix because the food seems a higher quality and the staff are very tuned to providing whatever service they can to accommodate you. I pay more there, but the experience is worth it.
I also notice that Publix does not have self check out lanes, because I guess they do not want customers to have to act as cashiers. I think that lends a more upper class atmosphere to the store too.
But, if I had to cite anything that does bug me a little, it is that Publix is always asking " Would you like to donate to ________," when you check out. I realize all you have to say is no, but it happens all the time there.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
