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Self scanners in grocery stores have led to an increase in shoplifting
Well my most recent trip to Walmart for groceries (6:30 am) was so unpleasant that I have vowed not to scan my groceries in the future, ever. I will read one of their magazines for sale and patiently wait to be waited on. If my frozen entrees and ice cream begin to 'weep' I will tell them I no longer want it.
One cashier ONLY with a line wrapped around the candy carousal and waiting. I had no patience to stand there waiting for my ice cream to melt and decided to scan my groceries myself. I had a lot of groceries, fresh produce, meat, poultry, dairy, frozen entrees and ice cream plus large miscellaneous items such as a 40 bottle case of water along with the super sized TP & PT packages. Mission accomplished...or so I thought.
Paid with my credit card and waited for my receipt...waiting, waiting and more waiting. All the 'yellow vested' employees were gathered around at the other end of the store, at the exit, chitchatting. I gave up on the receipt and made my way to the exit. One of the chit chatters stopped me and asked for my receipt. I explained to her that the self-serve register did not produce one for me and she said she would not have stopped me except that the TP and PT were not bagged.
I have to interject here and say that by the time I had scanned and bagged all my items I was exhausted and frustrated. I started laughing and asked this woman where, exactly are the bags LARGE enough to place these super sized items would be, hmmm? Doesn't exist, there aren't any!
I spent a lot of money on my groceries and paper products and my impatience was my undoing.
Self scan and bag, no, not again, unless all supermarkets do away with cashiers entirely but I am a senior citizen so I may no longer be here by then.
No, they don't. Did you see my above post? Saturday night, 7:45PM, one of the biggest, newest Krogers in town with 16 self checkouts open, and one register.
For a few things, sure, but I refuse to do manual labor for a cart full of stuff while handing a business my money.
You should complain to management. I've never seen anything like that. In fact, I typically shop at Walmart and there usually are available cashiers standing in front of their lines, waving people in.
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.
You should complain to management. I've never seen anything like that. In fact, I typically shop at Walmart and there usually are available cashiers standing in front of their lines, waving people in.
I have, it falls on deaf ears. It's ridiculous. And I'm not the only one; I can see the disdain in other customers' eyes.
Nobody is forcing people to use self checkout. Every store I go to that offers that option also has traditional cashiers available. I use SCO because I do a better, more compact job of packing my groceries than any cashier does, plus I'm not in the mood for chitchat after 8+ hours in a call center.
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.
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.
Why? There's still a register open if you must watch someone else scan your groceries.
You have never shopped at a PUBLIX then. They have NO self-scanners
They do have self scanners. And also staffed lanes. We have two Publix here. One has self scan and one does not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TimAZ
The filth of the belts on manned cashier lines is another reason I prefer self-check lanes. Kids, dogs, leaking cartons, potted plants, even bags of compost are all plopped in carts along with groceries, then the groceries go on the belt to be handled by the cashier.
With self scan I roll my (kid-free) cart up to the register and put my groceries directly in a bag.
That's why I like Publix. They are constantly cleaning the belts. And loading your groceries into your car and offering to put your cart away. Yes, please.
Quote:
Originally Posted by katharsis
My husband just told me that the Home Depot we frequent has gone to ALL self scanners!
I can envision a total nightmare plus a loss to the company because I am sure that if someone scans the amount for 33 of the same very small item, instead of 36, who is going to notice? I can also imagine the wait times if something does not scan!
Well, I hope I'm wrong about that, but time will tell. I will say that if it proves to be too much of my time wasted, I will go elsewhere.
I am trying to imagine someone self checking their big pile of lumber! Our HD has both staffed and self check, though I notice the self check at our store is well staffed and they interact with pretty much every customer. I guess there is not much theft because of this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marcandme
Their registers are set up differently. Do they have self scans.???
Costco and Sam's both have self scans with big belts for all your items. Costco still has lots of staffed lanes even with the self scan. Sam's can't decide what they want to be. They keep changing their rules for the customer. A while ago you couldn't take more than 5 items to the self check. At the staffed lanes EVERYTHING had to go on the belt. I saw people trying to put huge items, like a patio umbrella or an 8 person tent on the dang belt because they were told they had to do that in order to buy it. Now, you can take whatever you want through self check, but they are checking every item in your cart against your receipt and then they scan your receipt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceece
Another reason I don't like them: Can't buy booze at self check counters, and I buy any alcohol I want when I do my grocery shopping. It wouldn't be a problem if they still had a full slate of cashiers but most places have cut back so the lines are long.
Of course you can. They verify you are of legal age and you move on. No big deal.
For me, time is of the essence and I am usually much faster than the staffed check out lane.
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.
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.
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.
A Hilton experience?
I think that's a bit of hyperbole.
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?
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