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Self-checkouts aren't really designed to reduce staff. On the contrary, if you do a couple of searches, what you will find is store managers indicating they either stay neutral or hire more staff.
The name of the game is throughput. There's a reason why there are apps out there to help you get food faster at restaurants like Panera, McDonalds, Chik-Fila, etc. It's about increasing sales. With the footprint they have, the easiest way to increase sales is to increase the number of customers completing their orders before they walk out.
Grocery stores are no different. The real trick is actually understanding that Self-checkout (SCO) systems are not faster than manned lanes. What makes them work is that they can employ more SCO lanes, which means more lanes are open to get people through. You're going to start to notice the implementation of more SCO lanes and a reduction in the manned lanes for this very reason. SCOs are going to change, as well. There will be some stations designed to only handle a few items (the smaller stations) and some designed with belts to handle full carts. Again, it's about throughput, not saving on labor.
If anything, the retail industry jobs won't be going away - they'll simply be changing.
I take a little pride and sense of accomplishment if I can whiz thru a couple dozen item s with no errors and get out the door in good time. I save the retailer and all of us who shop there some costs.
Big question unanswered: Are the savings being reflected in the costs of goods?
One big irritant, is those robotic messages that play over and over and over and over and over and over again! Sheesh, isn't once enough!!! Particularly when you have a big cart of groceries!
This has been an interesting thread. I just remembered another type of self checkout that I used at the Frys (Kroger chain) grocery store at Speedway & Pantano in Tucson. It is for customers who have a Frys (Kroger) discount card. They called it "scan and go" or something like that.
You pick up a scanning gun near the store entrance and first scan the bar code on your Frys card. Then as you pick out each item in the store with a bar code on it, you scan it and put it into your cart. You can even put the items in a shopping bag in your cart after you scan them, so when you are done shopping, everything is already bagged.
For fruits and veggies that need to be weighed, you take them all to an interactive scale in the produce section. You point the scan gun at the scale to start the menu. You use a video screen on the scale (similar to a self check out scale) and weigh each item of produce in your cart. When you are done with that, you point your scan gun to stop the session with the scale.
Last, you go to a "scan and go" pay station and point the scanner gun at the checkout screen. A list of all your items appears with the total amount to pay. You pick your payment method and pay like you would at the self check or the cashier check out. You set the scanning gun next to the checkout counter and leave. Your items are already bagged, because that was done as you scanned each item. (you need to bring bags with you).
I had no problem using that instant scanning system, but I wondered how much Frys might be losing in theft as a result of it. I am an honest person not interested in cheating the store or their system, but it would not be hard to scan the cheap ground beef but put the expensive steak in the cart instead. Or, the same switch with almost any other item in the store. You are bagging the items as you go along, so nobody sees what's in the bag at the final checkout.
Anyone else used this type of self scan checkout in a store?
^- The general idea sounds ok. But the scanning process needs a few adjustments.
IE: loose Produce could scan like this.
1. scan the bar code on produce item (ex. tomato)
2. scan a produce bag with QR code on it
3. place the desired amount (ex. tomato) into that bag
4. place filled bag onto produce scale
5. if it has the desired amount, scan the bar code generated
repeat steps for other loose produce items.
I do the main steps already, scanning would make my trip quicker.
My only real issue with self checkouts are the damn scales on the scanner. I can scan/bag faster than the damn machine. The whole scan, wait for scale to weigh, place the item into bag, scan next item.
Takes to friggin long. I often need to wait for a cashier to adjust the machine.
No I wasn't getting beer, cigarettes, etc. Just basics like milk, juice, cereal, etc.
Until they adjust that so it works better, I'll pass.
Good for you. Stores love customers who do employees' jobs for $0! The only time I use them is if the manned lines are very long. I will go through human cashiers even if I have only one item. Sure I know how to use them, but I shouldn't have to.
Well, we kind of lost the option of "full service" 99% of the time, except in states where self-service isn't permitted (NJ and Oregon were still holding out a few years ago).
That's one of my objections to self-service. Two examples: in NJ in the 1980s, grocery stores started cutting back on baggers. So, rather than wait for a bagger or wait for the clerk to bag items after they were all rung up, people started bagging their own griceries. Guess what happened- baggers disappeared entirely. In Ohio, when self-service gas stations started up, there were "Self-Service" and "Full-Service" pumps, with a slightly lower price if you pumped your own. Then, of course, "Full Service" disappeared completely. Far more profitable to have an employee behind the counter at the attached mini-mart ringing up chemical-laden hot dogs from the roller grill and a cold brewski for the road. (I still can't believe the latter is legal.)
With the airlines, if you choose to deal with a human, you end up in a line of people with very complicated problems that can't be handled at the kiosk so your wait time is longer. Similar issue with stores; people with a lot of coupons or a large order head for the checkouts with a human and you have to wait behind them.
Interesting comments on throughput from reds37win; I hadn't thought of that aspect.
Well, we kind of lost the option of "full service" 99% of the time, except in states where self-service isn't permitted (NJ and Oregon were still holding out a few years ago).
That's one of my objections to self-service. Two examples: in NJ in the 1980s, grocery stores started cutting back on baggers. So, rather than wait for a bagger or wait for the clerk to bag items after they were all rung up, people started bagging their own griceries. Guess what happened- baggers disappeared entirely. In Ohio, when self-service gas stations started up, there were "Self-Service" and "Full-Service" pumps, with a slightly lower price if you pumped your own. Then, of course, "Full Service" disappeared completely. Far more profitable to have an employee behind the counter at the attached mini-mart ringing up chemical-laden hot dogs from the roller grill and a cold brewski for the road. (I still can't believe the latter is legal.)
With the airlines, if you choose to deal with a human, you end up in a line of people with very complicated problems that can't be handled at the kiosk so your wait time is longer. Similar issue with stores; people with a lot of coupons or a large order head for the checkouts with a human and you have to wait behind them.
Interesting comments on throughput from reds37win; I hadn't thought of that aspect.
Even worse, if you have the audacity to call the airline to ask for help on booking your very expensive plane ticket, they charge you for it! $25 or some ridiculous amount. And the websites are often buggy.
I turned and left the store empty handed, with the stunned clerk staring at me, speechless, wide eyed, and open mouthed.
Wow, you really showed that poor clerk didn't you. You know what you accomplished, you made some poor souls work day miserable, that's it, nothing more, because it's not in her power to open a lane just for you.
It certainly didn't send much of a message to the people who have any say about how the store is run. But I guess it feels like a grand gesture to dump on someone. Instead of making such a dick move, it would have made the point more efficiently to communicate with someone with at least a little authority, like the store manager, or higher.
Then why have the self checkout at all? A cashier still has to be there. You still can't check out booze or cigarettes. But the main thing is the store presumes we want to do the cashier's work for them. I remember several years ago, I was shopping at Kroger early in the morning. I finished at 6:15 AM and had a huge cartful of groceries: frozen food, refrigerated items, canned goods, you name it, it was in there. It was around $175 in stuff. I went to the registers and they were all closed.
The snarky employee informed me they would have no cashiers until 8AM; I would have to use the self checkout. I said, "You're kidding, right?" You want me to check this many groceries out and bag them myself? The self checkout is designed for small orders." She said, "Sorry. We have no one until 8AM." I said, "In that case then, I hope you have a stocker available now, because you'll need to put these groceries back. Quickly. I'll just buy them at a store that will actually help me." I turned and left the store empty handed, with the stunned clerk staring at me, speechless, wide eyed, and open mouthed.
Regarding the bolded part in pink...
For every customer who does not like self checkout...
Instead of leaving the basket full of groceries inside the store and leaving, send a letter to the District office, Regional office or their Corporate Headquarters.
The self checkout clerk has no control over how the store is run.
The self checkout clerk has no say in how the store is run as well.
Even worse, if you have the audacity to call the airline to ask for help on booking your very expensive plane ticket, they charge you for it! $25 or some ridiculous amount. And the websites are often buggy.
And then they bombard you with messages while you're on hold..."You can also visit our Web Site at wedontcareair.com..." Umm, no, I can't do what I need to do on your Web site.
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The whole scan, wait for scale to weigh, place the item into bag, scan next item.
In Ohio, when self-service gas stations started up, there were "Self-Service" and "Full-Service" pumps, with a slightly lower price if you pumped your own. Then, of course, "Full Service" disappeared completely. Far more profitable to have an employee behind the counter at the attached mini-mart ringing up chemical-laden hot dogs from the roller grill and a cold brewski for the road. (I still can't believe the latter is legal.)
