Sparse employees in shops

[Engineer]

Voted Obama in twice you don't need to know anything more than that. I'd vote 3rd party in a heartbeat as I knew it wouldn't matter if Obama or Mitt won, the economy was going to circle the drain either way.

The US problem resulted from both parties (and still does) and started long before Bush or Obama took office. Business is running the show (ignore the man pulling the strings behind the curtain).

 

[lxskllr]

How does one person running one register get you out of the store faster than one person watching over four DIY registers?

Yeah, it's frustrating when the 'watcher' is totally incompetent and/or negligent...but they can be just as useless at being a dedicated cashier. Self checkout gives you a chance.

Some stores seem to be going the way of doing most transactions through self checkout. Example: I've noticed it at Home Depot. If there's no business, the person watching the lanes will just ring you up. But as they get busier, they back off and just supervise. Recently, it would appear they are also in charge of reciepts- they no longer print at the kiosk. So they are also a receipt-checker. Same old story- get the most use out of the least number of people. At least they're being more successful with it than Walmart.

That brings me to another piss off of mine... Back in the day, I could absolutely get out faster with a real checker, and a belt that delivered the paid items to me, so I could bag myself. Stores got rid of the conveyor, so the checker has to do the bagging. I get shittely bagged groceries, and about 20 extra bags that aren't necessary :^S

 

[Engineer]

That brings me to another piss off of mine... Back in the day, I could absolutely get out faster with a real checker, and a belt that delivered the paid items to me, so I could bag myself. Stores got rid of the conveyor, so the checker has to do the bagging. I get shittely bagged groceries, and about 20 extra bags that aren't necessary :^S

There are self checkout lanes at Meijer that still have the belts. Actually, I've seen the customer check out the items and Meijer employees bag the items as they come down the belt (one bagger per two lanes).

I do agree that having the belts can be a time saver. I think Walmart set this up to have the cashiers bag the items and still give the customer what they 'think they want' (i.e. bagged groceries). However, it simply slows down the cashier trying to scan out the items.

 

[OverVolt]

People can vote with their wallet

 

[Engineer]

Stop....giving...them...your...money....

Not you I'd figure but everyone else. I won't ever buy a GM for example as I don't agree with a bailout. Ford is fine though. GM Recalls... Hello!? The writing is on the wall. They deserved to go out of business selling cars without stainless steel breaklines to save literally like a dollar.

I don't give GM my money because, at one time long ago, I bought 4 of them and they are the only cars that I've had that gave me so many problems that I finally quit buying them. I've had little issue with Ford or Chrysler products.

As for giving money, if you're talking about political donations, I don't.

 

[bradley]

if you bothered to read your link, it says there's nothing wrong with walmart's ice cream bar, and even puts forward that they're lower in fat and potentially healthier than the competition.

the slower melting is caused by the inclusion of various gums.

Guess what the most expensive ingredients are amongst this list: milk, cream, buttermilk, sugar, whey, subsidized HFC, guar/cellulose gum, calcium sulfate? I'll give you a hint... it's not the gum, HFC or calcium sulfate. You would basically be chowing down on non-melting 'fillers/binders' and Walmart's official statement.


Science and logic malfunction?

"According to Sean O’Keefe, a professor and food chemist at Virginia Tech, the more cream—meaning fat—ice cream has in it, the *faster* it melts. "

"Walmart gave a different, slightly less profound explanation: 'Ice cream melts based on the ingredients including cream. Ice cream with more cream will generally melt at a *slower* rate, which is the case with our Great Value ice cream sandwiches."

Similarly, most people don't know the difference between real cocoa and cocoa butter in chocolate products. Therefore Walmart and Hershey's can dramatically lower the quality of their product (by switching out almost every ingredient and/or changing their ratios) and still please uneducated consumers. I'm sure both appreciate your business.

 

[UnklSnappy]

Well I do think the economy is bad but you'd expect more people to leave wegmans, giant, and trader joes for walmart and target... so meh.

I don't know about the others, but Wegmans treats both their employees and customers very well. with fully staffed and stocked stores. Which is why it's the only grocery store I shop at. It's just not worth it to me to go any where else even if their prices might be slightly higher. But then it is a family owned company which probably makes all the difference. It also consistently makes the Fortune's list of best companies to work for.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't know about the others, but Wegmans treats both their employees and customers very well. with fully staffed and stocked stores. Which is why it's the only grocery store I shop at. It's just not worth it to me to go any where else even if their prices might be slightly higher. But then it is a family owned company which probably makes all the difference. It also consistently makes the Forbes list of best companies to work for.

Wegmans really is a great store. Good food, and you can pay what you want. They have stuff ranging from budget to ultra premium. I could probably shop there more cheaply than my local Walmart, and get better food in the process.

 

[MongGrel]

I don't know about the others, but Wegmans treats both their employees and customers very well. with fully staffed and stocked stores. Which is why it's the only grocery store I shop at. It's just not worth it to me to go any where else even if their prices might be slightly higher. But then it is a family owned company which probably makes all the difference. It also consistently makes the Forbes list of best companies to work for.

Publix is the same way down here, and why we mainly shop there.

Publix

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publix

"Where Shopping is a Pleasure"

*The company, founded in 1930, has never had a layoff*

It has a tuition reimbursement program originally designed for degree-seeking students, but has also become available to those taking individual courses or technical training, including online courses. The program is available to all Publix associates who work an average of 10 hours per week for six months.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publix#cite_note-tuition-54

 

[lxskllr]

Publix is the same way down here, and why we mainly shop there.

Publix

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publix

"Where Shopping is a Pleasure"

*The company, founded in 1930, has never had a layoff*

Great deco touches on their first store. Style seems to have gone out of style :^/

 

[Fayd]

Guess what the most expensive ingredients are amongst this list: milk, cream, buttermilk, sugar, whey, subsidized HFC, guar/cellulose gum, calcium sulfate? I'll give you a hint... it's not the gum, HFC or calcium sulfate. You would basically be chowing down on non-melting 'fillers/binders' and Walmart's official statement.

so walmart makes a cheaper product to service a lower income consumer. what's the problem? However, to call their bar 'not food' is incorrect, as your own link is quick to point out. but hey, don't let me stop you from spreading the gospel of stupidity.

Similarly, most people don't know the difference between real cocoa and cocoa butter in chocolate products. Therefore Walmart and Hershey's can dramatically lower the quality of their product (by switching out almost every ingredient and/or changing their ratios) and still please uneducated consumers. I'm sure both appreciate your business.

hahahah, you're outraged and yet you don't even know what your outraged about.

Cocoa butter is the high quality (preferred) fat for use in the chocolate industry. the 'controversy' is companies substituting CBS (cocoa butter substitutes), taking the form of other types of oils, because cocoa butter is expensive. Again, price bracketing products, or desire to hit a price point.

There are limits to stupidity. hopefully you read this and reevaluate your life. But something tells me you won't.

 

[bradley]

...and yet you don't even know what your outraged about. There are limits to stupidity.

Certainly. And... I stated, manufacturers have switched out the very things constituting 'chocolate': cocoa butter and cocoa solids for mimetic substances. Don't blame me because you chose to react out of emotion rather than act with reason and comprehension.

"Similarly, most people don't know the difference between real cocoa and cocoa butter in chocolate products. Therefore Walmart and Hershey's can dramatically lower the quality of their product (by switching out almost every ingredient and/or changing their ratios) and still please uneducated consumers."

And I have no problem with Walmart's gum sandwiches (or ice cream that doesn't melt after 12 hours at room temperature) as long as they're labeled as such. Although, at $3 a box, I doubt Walmart would have as many takers.

 

[Cerb]

American consumers have spoken loud and clear about what they want first and foremost: The lowest possible price on EVERYTHING. You can't sell pizzas for $8.99 or giant jars of pickles for $2.99 if you're paying a lot of employees to hold customers' hands. Like they say: Fast, cheap, or good - Pick two.

I resisted using the self-checkout lanes for years. Now, I realize that it will be faster and less painful in just about every store I shop. I almost never have to stand in line now. I don't have chit-chat with someone I don't know. And I don't have to watch someone with an IQ of 40 figure out how to put a dozen eggs and a bag of apples in the same bag. I don't use a checkout lane now unless I have a cart full of groceries.

Where is this? Walmart and Kroger have the only food self lanes around here, and both almost always require intervention before I'm done (alcohol, foil packaging, transparent packaging, barcode printed on glossy plastic, plus often wanting me to rescan the last item, which adds another, so I have to get the cashier to void it...), and almost always have lines. If there's no line, I'll go to one of them open right next to the shared cashier, if there are lines on regular checkouts (or, take my chances, if the lines on real registers are long enough). Meanwhile, Aldi and Publix have fast lines and fast cashiers, but no self-checkout lanes.

Lowes is the only other store with one that I go to, and it's a PITA.

They should be nice, but I haven't encountered an implementation was was, yet.

Throw in the old 'rent a cart' technique and now you have a way to get the customers to bring the cart back for the deposit. Now, they don't have to pay someone to go around and collect carts.

But Aldi, the only one around me that does that, has no buggies in the parkling lot, and the buggies are all in much better shape than other stores' buggies. I am now of the opinion that every store should do that.

 

[alkemyst]

If people have recurring problems with self-checkouts they should go regular.

I am sure these idiots pull doors that say push on them multiple times prior to figuring it out.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Go to better places than Pizza Hut and Wal-Mart. Employees cost money and stores selling cheap crap can't afford to have excess payroll.

Hmm, and when they sell the same non-cheap crap for damn near the same price?

 

[alkemyst]

Hmm, and when they sell the same non-cheap crap for damn near the same price?

Obviously your time is cheap.

 

[Brian Stirling]

But now Walmart is losing sales as their customers, many who now have shitty or no jobs, run out of money. Now they're begging companies to bring back manufacturing so that their core base of customers can get better paying jobs and buy more. Reaping what you sow.

Hence my comment about the down escalator.


Brian

 

[rh71]

didn't read everything, but I'll just say that it's a sad state of affairs when we're surprised we're actually properly taken care of. Like when I went into B&N (yes, they're still around) with a Nook problem. Even when there were customers coming up behind me, they got someone else to quickly help them. Surprised at the level of service, only because you don't get that everywhere.

 

[Leyawiin]

If I don't have lurkers in a store constantly asking "Can I help you?" every five steps I take that'll be fine by me. I can almost always find what I want on my own and would rather do so.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

If I don't have lurkers in a store constantly asking "Can I help you?" every five steps I take that'll be fine by me. I can almost always find what I want on my own and would rather do so.

You're contributing to the downfall of society. By not being needy, you are preventing those workers from helping you. When they have no one to help, they will be out of a job. When they are out of a job, they will collect welfare, deal drugs, and commit violent crimes. Civilization will continue down the downward spiral it has been traveling since its conception, and all of humanity will die in a bloody, cannibalistic mess.

 

[Cerb]

You're contributing to the downfall of society. By not being needy, you are preventing those workers from helping you. When they have no one to help, they will be out of a job. When they are out of a job, they will collect welfare, deal drugs, and commit violent crimes. Civilization will continue down the downward spiral it has been traveling since its conception, and all of humanity will die in a bloody, cannibalistic mess.

You won this thread, Hamburgerboy, but you will not win all of OT!

 

[Mai72]

I was in the Bangkok mall yesterday and I went into electronics. I kid you not there must have been 30 workers ready to sell you a laptop or TV. It was annoying because when I would attempt to look at an item I would have 2 sales people ask me if I needed assistance.

Same in Korea. Whenever I went food shopping there was always someone ready to help you.

Maybe the decline in sales people is a Western dilemma?

 

[Cerb]

If people have recurring problems with self-checkouts they should go regular.

I am sure these idiots pull doors that say push on them multiple times prior to figuring it out.

More like those setting the rules are concerned about theft, and have what controls in place for that they can implement. Some packages are hard to scan, and the workers doing the checking instead of you have the little gun for that job, and can override the terminal. When scanning many of the same item, they don't get stopped, and instead just enter a quantity. They also don't get stopped by the bagging section detecting an anomalous change in weight (like putting the just-scanned item into a new bag, causing lots of changes in apparent force over a second or so). If they were to assume that the buyer weren't trying to steal, they could be quite quick and efficient. Not that that is the best idea, since it would likely encourage more theft from those already doing it, but it creates a real deficiency for the system.

Allegedly, Home Depot's are actually nice to use, but I'm always near an open register with a human whenever I go there, and never have to wait on more than one other person.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I was in the Bangkok mall yesterday and I went into electronics. I kid you not there must have been 30 workers ready to sell you a laptop or TV. It was annoying because when I would attempt to look at an item I would have 2 sales people ask me if I needed assistance.

Same in Korea. Whenever I went food shopping there was always someone ready to help you.

Maybe the decline in sales people is a Western dilemma?

Can you buy a 60" TV in Bangkok for what a fast food employee earns in a week?

 

[Carson Dyle]

Allegedly, Home Depot's are actually nice to use, but I'm always near an open register with a human whenever I go there, and never have to wait on more than one other person.

The ONE complaint I have with self-checkouts is that they're all a little different. Even the little things like where the receipt will be spit out, can be make it awkward. At Walmart, one thing I dislike is checking out produce. You put something on the scale, then you have to do an "item lookup" to enter the code. Why? I have a four digit code right in front of me - why isn't there a numeric keypad displayed immediately so that I can enter it?

I'm always a little bumbly the first few times I use a store's system, then it becomes second nature. Haven't run into many of the problems you mention with items that can't be scanned.

Once there's some kind of industry-wide standardization on both the software and the terminal layout, they'll become more widely accepted, even among the elderly and the curmudgeons who think that they're owed a checkout person.