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The Next Phase of Poor Customer Service

It seems there are two competing phenomena out there. The self checkout approach - which I hate for groceries to be honest unless I have like 5 items ( and then it’s great!). We noticed Wegmans has a self scan ( while you walk around ) approach which is a new variation of this . The delivery approach - with COVID 19 a lot of people have moved to - we used this for Costco for a while - and is supremely convenient and the pickup approach ( Home Depot‘s and target‘s version of this is great ). Ive heard Walmart is also super good about this.


Delivery and pick up is far better than self checkout and saves the bother of meandering about a grocery store and great as a time saver and with pickup the prices don’t seem randomly higher ( which annoys me to no end for delivered groceries )

regards
avi
 
For quite a while I resisted using self-checkout lanes. My line of thought was: "self-checkout 'robots' just reduce the amount of real employees employed in a job. In my neighborhood, if enough people aren't working then eventually I won't be working, too".

Some cashiers are just unpleasant to work with though. If I have only 1-2 bags worth of stuff I now use the self-checkout machines; for a full cart of groceries I still go to a cashier but most places don't use a bagger and the cashier doesn't bag the best. I still want to support real workers though.

The McDonald's touchscreen ordering kiosk is 100% awesome though. I can take my time and customize as I see fit and see the prices in real time as I construct an order, and go back and forth as needed through categories. I don't feel pressured to order super fast and can get everything I want without weird communication problems.
 

Owen Bawn

Garden party cupcake scented
I'm old enough to remember supermarkets bagging your groceries and putting the bags in little tubs on a ball bearing roller track that went outside the store. You paid, got in your car and drove to the front of the store where another kid then loaded the bags into the back of your car.
groceries.jpg
 
They just finished remodeling the store. The old registers were in place the last time she went. This time they were gone and the self checkouts were in their place. They just need to make sure there is a basket available to load the bags into as she unloads her basket to scan the items. But, she will never know. She has shopped there her last time.
Self checkout is usually for when you only have a few items instead of a full cart. This store doesn't have cashiers at all?. My Winco has both but you have to do your own bagging.

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Self checkout is usually for when you only have a few items instead of a full cart. This store doesn't have cashiers at all?. My Winco has both but you have to do your own bagging.

Sent from my SM-A705U using Tapatalk
No cashiers at all. It’s totally self check out.
 
The WM in the, well, more dangerous part of town put in multiple self scanners. To save salaries, I presume.

A few months later there were gone. Somehow, shoppers would forget to scan a lot of their items.

AA
Imagine that!

Walmart’s ultimate goal is that every shopper will have the Walmart app on their smartphone, scan every item as they put it into their buggy, and then just wheel it out the door to their car. The checkout process will be incorporated into the shopping process. I guess then they can use the checkout space for more shelves with items for sale. I don’t see how theft won’t be rampant.
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
Imagine that!

Walmart’s ultimate goal is that every shopper will have the Walmart app on their smartphone, scan every item as they put it into their buggy, and then just wheel it out the door to their car. The checkout process will be incorporated into the shopping process. I guess then they can use the checkout space for more shelves with items for sale. I don’t see how theft won’t be rampant.

Apparently the theft losses have to outweigh the cashier salaries.

There are insider tricks too, something about putting banana barcodes on steaks, etc.

This same store, I watched a couple use two or three "benefits" cards to fill three carts with groceries. The woman was moaning about putting it all away.

I had $20 to get me through the weekend.


AA
 
Apparently the theft losses have to outweigh the cashier salaries.

There are insider tricks too, something about putting banana barcodes on steaks, etc.

This same store, I watched a couple use two or three "benefits" cards to fill three carts with groceries. The woman was moaning about putting it all away.

I had $20 to get me through the weekend.


AA
It hardly seems fair does it?

Loss prevention surely had their fingers in the pie when they came up with this scheme. I can’t imagine they went into it blindly.
 
If you think about it, old fashioned "service stations" were the norm but are all but non-existent now. It's been self-serv gas for years, and we don't bat an eyelash. It used to be you sat in your car, pulled up to the pumps, and like 4-5 guys came out and ran around the car doing window cleaning, checking oil, pumping up the tires, etc. Now we are doing that for ourselves and don't think twice about it.
(Well, not really. How many reports have I heard of empty windshield washers and low tires because people just don't do it).

I guess grocery and retail department stores are going the same way.
 
It's pretty normal for stores where I live (Denmark) to re-do entire sections or even the entire store multiple times during the year.
Nobody makes a big deal out of it here, since it's pretty normal, and it never bothered me too much.
I don't really see an issue with self-checkout, as long as there is some employee there to assist in case of issues..
Idk man, I don't see why this has to be such a big deal, but to each their own.
 
It's pretty normal for stores where I live (Denmark) to re-do entire sections or even the entire store multiple times during the year.
Nobody makes a big deal out of it here, since it's pretty normal, and it never bothered me too much.
I don't really see an issue with self-checkout, as long as there is some employee there to assist in case of issues..
Idk man, I don't see why this has to be such a big deal, but to each their own.

It is one thing for the younger generation, who accepts automation as the norm, but older people look upon it in the way it has been characterized in this thread . . . namely, that they are doing the store's job for them, with no perceived benefit to anyone but the store.

You are right, however, because these same people, myself included, did not weep for the demise of Blockbuster when streaming superseded that business model, or self-serve gas (more below) became the norm. Nor did anyone look seriously at automation in the automotive sector, to the point where there are now 2+ retirees for every worker still on the line.


Self-serve gas is actually an example of how putting the Customer to work for you was done "right". At least in our area. When it first started occurring, the price of gas remained the same. BUT, if you decided to pump your own gas, the price was a few cents a litre LESS than having them pump it for you. So, Customers were incentivized to take on the role of gas monkey, and the positions were phased out over about a year or so.
 
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