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I do most of my grocery shopping at Kroger (in this case Frys in Arizona), and the rest at Safeway/Albertsons. A couple of times when I have gone up to the register to check out the cashier says, "Did you find everything you were looking for?" I have answered no, and nothing happened. Meaningless customer service question. On their online survey they ask you if you had a problem and you wanted a representative to call you. So I said yes, because I wanted to know why they repeatedly advertise a product they don't carry. There's been no call. Another time a rather obscure product was on sale and the shelf was empty...as it had been for several weeks. I decided to ask the woman who was supervising the checkouts about the product, and if there was any in the store room. She automatically said no, sorry. I worked in a grocery store way back in the 1960s and early 1970s when we didn't have handheld scanners to stock shelves. Now they hardly have to think.
Are those examples of the Hilton Experience?
No, I think people still looking for the old fashioned walk you to your car kind of grocery service should look for Trader Joe's or whatever the upscale equivalent is in their area, definitely not Krogers.
Yes, a little hyperbole, sometimes that's what gets the meaning across a bit better.
Retail, including grocery has changed massively since the sixties and seventies I'm sure. I started back when we did our ordering and pricing manually, deliveries for many items came once a month. Thirty years later we let the computers do most of the ordering, mdse comes in three or four times a week and in between there is very, very little mdse back in the stockrooms.
You still have the option to shop elsewhere and get full service checkout, for a price of course. If you want the Hilton experience you don't pull into a Motel 6.
I agree with you to a point. I'm happy to bag my own groceries at WinCo or other warehouse type stores and take the cart back to the corral because the prices are the lowest except for the club stores like CostCo.
But Albertsons and Fred Meyer are not cheap. They're about the same price as Trader Joe's. I seldom shop at TJ's because you can't buy most national brands there. I resent having to check myself out and bag my own plus return carts at Albertsons and Fred Meyer because I don't get a price break. In my area, the only store more expensive than these two is Whole Foods.
It's not always possible to park near a cart corral. Store workers increasingly these days do not want to help customers. They would say, that's not part of my job description. And it's true, it's not.
When I was a child, customers didn't put their carts back. I remember that store workers would assist my mom out to the car and then take her cart back. A lot of them got tips, too. Stores won't hire people to do this nowadays because they are cheap. They have passed the work on to you. But you don't realize it. In another ten years or so, you'll be required to re-stock shelves every time you remove items to purchase them. This is coming in our lifetime.
No it isn't. Where are you pulling products from to restock the shelves? That location simply becomes the new "shelf".
You still have the option to shop elsewhere and get full service checkout, for a price of course. If you want the Hilton experience you don't pull into a Motel 6.
Thankfully, the difference is no where near as big as Hilton and Motel 6, proving that self-scanning isn't saving a ton of money to matter to stores.
I remember when service at the grocery store always had someone check your items; an employee would bag your items and then even carry them out and load them into your car for you. “Yes” service as we knew it is gone and this is the “do-it-yourself-age”, like it or not.
I remember when service at the grocery store always had someone check your items; an employee would bag your items and then even carry them out and load them into your car for you. “Yes” service as we knew it is gone and this is the “do-it-yourself-age”, like it or not.
You can always order your groceries for delivery if you want a full service experience.
It amazes me that stores don’t want to hire employees to do the work, or is the problem that some people don’t want to do this type of work; both cases seem to be evident with some types of businesses. However I prefer to have a store employee and choose not to use self-service (I’m not paid to do that for them).
Banks are also driving me crazy with having few tellers at window inside the bank to help customers. I had been asked while standing in line by bank managers to use their ATM. I don’t want to use their ATMs and avoid them all the time. They also tell me that I can do many banking transactions online. Again, I don’t trust doing “online transactions” and I want to have a bank employee deal with my needs.
I have found another smaller bank in my area that never asks customers use the ATM and have “always” provided quick assistance in helping me at their bank. It’s nice to find someplace that wants customers and is willing to take care of their needs.
Hey there, AksarbeN :--)))
I am glad you found a better bank! I want a teller v.s. online or atm!
There is a comic strip, Crankshaft that had a story arc about the tellers not wan -ting to serve Ed. They would even hide! I thought, no way! I've never had tellers suggest I use the ATM or direct to online when I was right there! What is this world coming to???
It amazes me that stores don’t want to hire employees to do the work, or is the problem that some people don’t want to do this type of work; both cases seem to be evident with some types of businesses. However I prefer to have a store employee and choose not to use self-service (I’m not paid to do that for them).
Banks are also driving me crazy with having few tellers at window inside the bank to help customers. I had been asked while standing in line by bank managers to use their ATM. I don’t want to use their ATMs and avoid them all the time. They also tell me that I can do many banking transactions online. Again, I don’t trust doing “online transactions” and I want to have a bank employee deal with my needs.
I have found another smaller bank in my area that never asks customers use the ATM and have “always” provided quick assistance in helping me at their bank. It’s nice to find someplace that wants customers and is willing to take care of their needs.
I use Bank of America. They're the pits if you need to speak to someone at a desk. You could stand there 10+ minutes with no one looking at you even when they don't have customers. I usually give it a few minutes, if they don't look up I ask if anyone is here to help with X issue.
There is always a line inside. The ATM machine usually has a line too. They had 3 lanes outside, one ATM, 2 for tellers. They recently redid the middle lane, now it's another ATM.
I don't have their cell app but supposedly you can take a pic of a check for deposit, you don't even have to go to the bank now. Seems like they're going to be self serve too eventually
I suppose they won't handcuff and march you through the self-checkout, if that's what you mean by "forcing people" but if one out of 32 registers is open, I call that forced.
Poor baby. I don't like being forced to have to teach some idiot how to properly pack my groceries.
Case in point - I had to go out to Price Chopper during a time (early morning) when their self checkouts aren't open. I had a gallon of milk, 12 3 oz cans of cat food, a box of cereal, a 12 oz bottle of OJ, and a package of adhesive picture hangers.
Would you believe I had to TELL the cashier to use only two bags instead of three???? The milk goes in one bag, and everything else fits perfectly in the other. I even lined everything up on the belt to make it obvious. At least he got the milk being in its own bag correct, but he was going to split everything else between two bags - why??? Absolutely no need for that!
When I lived in Florida and shopped at Publix there were NO Self Scanners. They hired extra help during Season, and even Store Manager would work the check out lines when it go very busy.
I now live in the Poconos, PA, and Shop Rite does not have Self Scanners either. Customer Services goes around when lines get too long telling customers to got to them to check out.
I will have to ask my daughter what she thinks about this since she has worked in Loss Prevention in major supermarkets and retail stores for 20 years if self check out creates more shoplifting. She not only has worked the floors but monitored cameras in the back offices. You do know they have those as well?
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