self checkout is an inconvenience when the cart is full

Where I work, we haven't got self check outs yet. They are coming
though as some stores in our chain, in our city have already received
them. I hear ALOT from our customers that they wish we would hurry and
get them...

Be careful what you wish for!

Funny how 10 years ago, our Union swore up and down we would never get
them....

I hate self checkout. I think its just one more way for a company to
avoid customer interaction and customer service while the prices
remain high.

I have to agree with you. I went grocery shopping on Friday night.
When I approached the checkout lanes, there were only two registers
open, each with 4 people and fully loaded carts. I decided to use teh
self checkout lanes depsite my inner voice telling me not to. I had a
semi full cart and some of my own bags. My inner voice was right. My
experience with the self checkout was a night mare. These self check
out lanes are good if you have 5 items. They are not designed to
accomodate large orders.

I worked for Kroger here in Savannah GA. Trust me - we are underpaid.
I'm sorry the cashier was disinterested. I did not like my job but I
joked around with all the people who came through my line (even the
jerks) to make my job more interesting. The only time self-checkout
was the only option was when I left at 11:00 p.m. Then the elderly
night lady came in and trust me.. very underpaid. I then came to work
at 7 in the morning and opened up a lane. Mgmt usually left around
the time the customer service closed.

I understand that people work crazy shifts and maybe after 11 pm is
the only time the complaintent could show up..

Or maybe the Kroger I worked at was the only one that had the hours
that were given for "lane closers & openers".

Dunno...

You know I had retired from posting on this site, but this topic has
lured me out of retirement :-). I work for a major retail chain and
we have self-checkout. While I enjoy running it as a change of pace
from a regular register, I have come to loathe self-checkout for a
variety of reasons. For one thing, people need to pay attention to
what they're doing. I'd estimate about 80% of the problems people
have would be solved if they just payed attention. Examples: somebody
scans an item and just puts it in their cart, somebody thinks they
scanned an item (but didn't) and put it in the bag, prompting us to go
override it. Many people have to literally taken by the hand and
walked through the entire process. I'm not going to complain about it
too much because it is my job after all, and it's one thing when we're
not busy, but when we are I don't have time to babysit people. If I
have to constantly keep helping the same person, it ties up that lane
and makes everybody else who needs help have to wait longer.

For some people, if they have to wait .01 seconds longer than they
think they should have to, they flail their arms incessantly at me as
if that's going to make me come help them any faster. If the regular
lanes get backed up, we get really busy and I get all the complaints
from people who say we need more lanes open. And I always get some
union guy whining that we're taking jobs away. Again, as if I am in a
position to do anything about any of this. When I offer to get a
manager for them to talk to, they are either in too much of a hurry or
apathetic.

As for your complaint, if that happens again I would ask whoever is
working if there is anybody who can ring up your order if it's a large
one. Where I work, there is always somebody on third shift who does
other things too but whose job it is to open a lane if need be. I
will mention one thing though. Because volume during the times you
mention is so low, they are going to have the minimum needed personnel
to run the store. That might mean there not being a lane open at all
times. They could schedule more people, but that extra cost would
likely be passed on to the consumer in the form of more expensive
groceries. It's sort of pick your poison. In any event, I hope
Kroger gets back with you, this is good feedback.

Maybe it's the location...

I shop at Kroger a lot now cos it's pretty much a choice between them
and walmart, or going out of my way to drive to food lion.

but at the one i go to the employees have always been polite -
Southern hospitality and all.


Although I personally don't usually take full carts through the SCO
but that's mainly because when I shop it's usually mid-day and there's
a register open as well. I mean for a handful of items it'll save
me time but if I have a full cart it's just super awkward and ends up
being rather inefficient for me.



As for produce however... If you look at the produce, you should see a
sticker on it with a 4 digit number. That's the code you use. And
that code is a nationwide standard in most cases.

ie. bananas are code 4011 in NY (Wegmans), Kroger, and the local
military commissary.

I love my Giant's self checkout. It has a hand scanner and I pick up
something and bag it right away - I have back problems so leaning over
and bagging once is my preference.

But, that's MY preference. If I were forced to do it because of lack
o staff, it might occassionally prove irritating.

Good luck.

I know in my experience, the overnight cashier is usually the top paid
cashier with the most seniority, who chooses this shift.

And if they are disinterested you think they should be paid more?


Good Day

This is a good complaint. If the store will not make it easy for
customers to check out, the customers will go elsewhere.

Michelle likes to shop at off-hours, and her store should make it
convenient for her to do so. Don't make a full-cart shopper use the
self-check.

I hate self checkouts! Doesn't matter where they are, I hate them all.