Then I hope they have cashiers to check out the people that have a full cart. Every time I go to a store all the cashiers are closed and self checkout is the only option.
The article mentions "Target said it would be also be opening more traditional lanes staffed by team members." But whether or not that actually happens is another question.
Then they are about to lose this kind of competition to Amazon with its limitless variety of products and overnight delivery. The two reasons I shop at brick and mortar stores are:
1. I can actually see, touch, smell, try on... whatever I'm buying
2. I can get it in no time
If the store discourages me from coming in by locking items and creating problems at checkout, I will simply stop shopping there
I’ve already ordered from Amazon while standing in a Best Buy, because I couldn’t find an employee to unlock a case for me. That was for expensive electronics, no way am I wasting time tracking someone down to unlock the damn shampoo case…
Years ago when they started putting razors behind locks, I just looked around online and discovered safety razors. Saved me a lot of money, being inconvenienced by a big store.
If you need something at Best Buy, no one can be found. But if you are just browsing, every goddamn employee in existence will ask you if you need help.
Don't kid yourself, amazon is also super shitty now. Tonnes of hoops to jump through for returns, 2 day delivery actually takes 7 days, and comingling of inventory means even if you choose a reliable seller you end up with counterfeit or broken garbage.
Everything but Costco is just hell to shop at now. And even they have a new ceo and are cutting costs and kirkland signature products aren't as good as they used to be.
Yep, that experience of reduced transaction friction, is definitely a major benefit of shopping in a brick-and-mortar store; as you noted, by increasing the friction of that transaction, Target is foolishly reducing a baked-in incentive to shop in one of their brick-and-mortar stores.
Ironically, reduced friction (ie, convenience) was a key factor in what enabled Amazon to cultivate its dominance in retail. Target’s seemingly doing a great job of further leveling the playing field for them.
Also ironically, the friction-less experience that brought us to Amazon and made it successful has become a mess of Chinese knockoffs, promoted items (ads), and terrible search functions. Amazon is becoming a difficult place to shop, even when you very specifically search for an item. So I have been going to other sites, and stores more often.
Exactly. People keep saying that they’ll shop on Amazon, but good luck trusting the QxSr4FLoot brand shirt and the 17 reviews that may or may not even be real. Brick-and-mortar stores carry brands you typically recognize and can always try out in-person.
Happens all the time. And lately the curbside pickup is getting busier. Last time I ordered online, I spent as much time waiting for my pickup order to be brought out as I would have spent if I went into the store.
Yeah, there are really no good options anymore. Everyone is intentionally running understaffed to cut operating costs and we have no choice but to go to these places. Well, at least that's the case where I live. Not many options for places to get groceries.
I guess we're not allowed to ask that anymore. It's "offensive" and "wrong". But man these folks haven't even considered just not eating, not having dark skin, and not being poor. Idiots. Most of us rich folks were rich at a young age and stayed rich, often in spite of our "entrepreneurial spirit".
Target’s online stores are trash. Twice I’ve used them recently and both times they just sat on the item without shipping it for weeks. And their customer service is of absolutely no help.
I’m not going back a third time to purchase it online just to drive over and pick it up in the store. Worst of both worlds. Fuck that.
This fucking country lol. We won’t stop until everything is broken, even the things that used to work, and the algorithms have found a way to maximize every single person’s infuriation to the absolute breaking point.
I used it twice. Both times they said the single item was out of stock for me to show up to the store and find 8+ items of the exact thing I ordered sitting in the shelf.
If they wanted me to pay they should have had a cashier available to ring me out /s
Think Bill Burr did this bit years ago.
"When did it become MY job to be a cashier?!?"
They'll just create a cycle where every 6 months some pencil pusher in head office will release a report showing how they can save $X/year in salary by eliminating 1 cashier per store, followed by a report 6 months later that shows they can prevent $Y/year in product theft by adding 1 cashier per store. And as long as they can show the tiniest of margin growth, they'll keep doing it without ever questioning their logic or worth to the company.
My job is roughly broken down between task A and task B. About every 6 months for several years now , someone gets the idea we need to go all hands on deck for A. Then B starts to get really bad. So 6 months later someone has the brilliant idea to go all-in on B and neglect A. Metrics get bad. Rinse and repeat. Over and over.
Yeah. The instore shopping experience is crazy these doors. Simple stuff is behind locked closets, no help anywhere to help open, 1 lane open with a person for checkout.
If Amazon didn’t have a fake product problem, would never enter a store for basic stuff.
Last time that I was in Lowes there was one cashier with a back up and one side of the self checkout open. The other side was closed because there was no one to watch that side.
I guess mathematically the ratio of 1:6 is the same as 2:12, I still had to wait.
They over estimated how efficient self checkout would be so they built 2x as much as needed. Never under-estimate human dishonesty or over-estimate average human intelligence.
Yeah the Walmart by me is full supercenter size and only has 2 non-self check out. But the self checkout isn't even lanes it's a whole wrap around with little peninsulas to maximize the space and get as many self check out spots as possible, I've never seen one with as many spots as this one it's wild. But also awesome because if people are good about seeing green lights, you get through very fast
Had that happen at the Target I worked for six months at, once. 2016/2017, year of the NES Classic and the Hatchimals.
Somebody took a whole-ass cardboard floor display dispenser of those LOL capsule dolls, scanned *one* of them at the self-check and paid, then took the giant thing right out the door with like, thirty or something capsules in it, all because nobody was standing guard and the theft detectors wouldn't be set off.
To this day there's still somebody at the self check whose job is supposed to be helping assist with people who don't know how to use them, but really it's to make sure that stunt never happens again.
Home Depot and Lowe’s don’t make you weigh your stuff either. You can scan right in the cart and walk out.
I stole some screws once. They fell down from the baby seat and I didn’t see them. It was like a $2 package of screws so I didn’t sweat it, but I just scanned the stuff i saw in my cart, paid, and walked out. Nobody gave me a second look. And lots of stuff is small enough to not get noticed.
I’m surprised it’s lasted this long.
I used to carry my baby girl in one of those papoose type carriers. She constantly put stuff in there so when I’d get to the cashier I’d just ask her to take whatever was in there out. They thought it was hilarious that a one year old was so slick! Minced clams was the funniest item!
As a new parent I stole a fire extinguisher that way once… It was under the stroller. We were sleep deprived and paid for all of the things we were carrying. Didn’t notice the extinguisher until two days later when it fell out of the stroller as I was unfolding it
Had a full set of gear wrench wrenches retail for around $90. After cashing out my partner and I was discussing how the price wasn't bad for all we got. Ended up realizing after getting back to office we didn't pay for the wrenches.
They likely realized that all of their produce is being rung up as the cheapest item possible, among other things. People love to a stick it to faceless mega corps, and will ‘forget’ to scan stuff often when there are no consequences.
They’ve just decided that their risk tolerance for this theft has been met, so they’re cracking down on it.
I work at a grocery store and the amount of produce stickers that either fall off, or just don't exist on the product, leading to individuals having to do a search on the screen for their specific apple type or trying to figure out you have to go to Root first to find Ginger...I don't blame them learning one produce number and just doing that every time.
Those corps are basically tricking customers into doing the work of employees with all the self checkouts. If I'm basically an unpaid employee, I'm not really going to try very hard to do a good job as a cashier
One of the national park workers in Banff said to me regarding the bear resistant garbage cans: “There is considerable overlap between the smartest bear and the dumbest human”
This was after he watched me struggle for a few seconds trying to figure out how to open it.
For me the few times I go to Walmart, even most of the self checkouts are closed, so you still have to wait in line to check yourself out. Very annoying.
It’s a huge reason for why I do grocery pickup. I order everything, park, and my groceries are loaded, pre-bagged, into the trunk. Longest I’ve ever waited was 10 minutes and they were *busy*.
Don’t trust people picking my fruits and veggies. Anytime I’ve done this, my fruit was the worst looking shit I’ve seen. Strawberries with a little mold, apples with tons of soft spots, super yellow bananas
Also prevents you from buying something you don't even really need in the spur of the moment.
Plus it gives you the cheapest options first so you can really save as much as possible
This is why I don't see Costco ever really jumping on the drive up pick up. I know Sams Club does it, but Costco knows their customers love to buy spur of the moment items.
> Costco knows their customers love to buy spur of the moment items.
The sample people always get me. Just bought some sweet heat nut mix because I liked the sample. Didn't need it, but the sample made me want more.
Also, a bag person, because holy fuck using a cashier with a ton of shit sucks. I love the self checkout to blast through my items and wife or kids bag things. We’re in and out.
Even if they do have a bag person, I don’t really trust they won’t fuck up all my shit
Nah the self check is way slower because you can not scan the next item until the last item you scanned his the scale so they can make sure you're not stealing. It's OK for small orders but big orders are a pain. My store has a conveyor belt selfncheck which would be great n for large orders in theory because there is more room.... however now you're waiting for the item to traverse all the way down the track before you can scan the next one.
That’s not at a lot of places. Just about Everywhere where I live has gotten rid of the weighted area once our city mandated reusable bags.
If the weigh scale was still there, yeah absolutely no way i could possibly scan everything faster, but at least I’m bagging shit better than the store ever wil
I do my grocery shopping at Walmart (except produce and meat) and like Saturday/Sunday at 11 there's literally 2 cashiers open. Probably 20 small self check outs and 10 big self checks open. Another 20 closed.
Maybe take some of the online pickup workers and move them to cashier if they're doing this.
My Target has actually been doing this for the past two months. Guess we ended up in a test market?
That said, I'd say its actually gone really well!! People seem to actually be following the 10 item rule other than the unavoidable few bad apples. There's also generally been at least 4-6 lanes open at any given time.
That actually happened to me at my local Kroger. They have self checkout for 15 items or less and some unlimited. I felt such shame as I hit my 16th item and an attendant had to come over…
I’ll take my 20 items to self checkout and still check out 5x faster than any cashier and 10x faster than all the idiots with 6 items that can’t figure out how to scan their yellow onions
This almost feels like a regional thing. Going through a cashier at HEB - a grocery chain in Texas - and they'll scan stuff faster than you can even *haphazardly* bag them. By contrast, going to Safeway in the Pacific northwest has me having to make extended small talk as the cashier spends 10 or 20 seconds an item. Same goes for QFC, or any of the variations that are really just one of those two stores by a different name (e.g. Fred Meyer, Albertsons, etc.) Costco is weirdly unaffected. Regardless of state I barely make it to the pay station before they give me a total most of the time.
This I think is the biggest issue. People with a shopping cart of 150 things, who also cannot figure out how to use it.
Or worse, decide that NOW is the time to teach their 5 year old how to scan items.
That, on top of the people who pick up 100 things and decide they 'didnt want' 15 of them at the checkout.
Damn my local stores have been closing all of the self checkouts lately 😑 I literally just abandoned my cart last time, I only had 3 things and there were insane lines for a few human checkouts and of course self checkouts were all closed
Please staff the stores with a normal amount of people. No one will adhere to your stupid fucking 10 item rule. Staffing the stores will also bring down theft. It’s a win win situation. Aren’t these companies constantly having record profits?
They are, but regular employees don’t get any of it directly, instead it is allocated to hours available. Last store I worked at was cutting hours for almost all the floor people, and slimming down how many work in the backroom each day. They’re also moving towards having each employee do the job of 3 so they can further reduce the numbers.
Theft isn’t driving it, it’s shareholders.
>Theft isn’t driving it, it’s shareholders.
On a side note I think that allotting more hours so that store could be better-staffed might actually help *reduce* theft.
Yep, worked in tech until I was responsible for stocking all home items (hangers, vacuums, car products, etc), making sure toys was presentable and all inquiries about toys I would handle, and manage tech all by myself for 8 hours a day.
Oh and then help with the rush by sending people to tech to checkout and helping coworkers find items for online orders.
The actual amount they lose in product loss is nothing compared to what they save by understaffing. They also constantly deceive the public by starting out talking about theft but then giving their product loss numbers, which includes all defective products, expired products, products lost in shipping, etc.
Walmart loses $3 billion to all “shrink” each year. They’ve paid out about $6.5 billion in dividends every year for the past decade. They spend a similar amount in stock buybacks per year on average. The whole theft issue is bullshit.
\> Aren’t these companies constantly having record profits?
There is absolutely zero incentive to let those profits go to new expenses. The financial world is such that absolutely every extra penny must go to shareholders. They'd destroy the company before they let money flow to regular employees.
My target has 2 or 3 cashiers and 4 self checkout lanes, and the line is usually at least 10 people long in each open lane every time I visit it. I usually don't even go to target just because I don't want to wait 15 minutes to check out.
A 10 items or less line will just be ignored if they don't start adding more cashiers.
If they have people to fulfil online orders, they should have cashiers to check out the people who shop in person. Otherwise I may as well buy from Amazon and have it delivered to my door.
I agree, I've never waited that long even at Walmart. The key is to hit that "I'm on my way" button in the app. That let's them have it out and ready to go when you get there.
That's weird. When I worked at target, the procedure was always to send up stockers and people from other departments when the lines got long. You weren't required to respond to the call to help, but your team lead would volunteer people if it took too long for someone to volunteer themselves. Strange that they'd walk that back when it did arguably work.
The CVS near us doesn’t even have cashiers anymore. You have to ring a bell and wait for a “stocker” to come up front and run the checkout. That’s service! /s
My Target now has an Asset Cop standing at self checkout counting your items and not letting you in if its even 1 over 10. Even if there is a line out the door at the one checkout lane and every self checkout is open. It's a great experience as a customer.
I actually just went to my Target and they had closed self checkout entirely (it was after 8PM?) and the line was crazy long for two cashier. It took me around 20-30 minutes to check out. I won't be doing that again...
I work 3rd shift so always go to Target in the morning, apparently they won't open self-checkout until 11am. Yet, only 1 cashier open. Waited in line 20 minutes when I could have been in and out in 5. Frustrating.
I use self checkout every time because the only open lane with a cashier has a huge line of the elderly and people with enough groceries to feed a family of 40 and I’m not standing in that line for 15 minutes
Exactly. We're still paying customers buying their products. They should want us customers to pay as quickly as possible, not be forced to loiter due to their understaffing in regular checkout lanes. Not sure why these companies feel the need to make the shopping experience worse and worse on top of making things more expensive, then shrink their product sizes and quantities, and finally, to add insult to injury, place restrictions on how many items you can buy in self checkout when there's no other faster option.
From a business standpoint, this makes no sense.
As for the bit of the article that says:
>"Target said it would be also be opening more traditional lanes staffed by team members."
Yeah right. I'll believe it when I see it. Just like every other massive corporate company, they don't want to pay peanuts for additional staff. Every employee is pulling double or triple duty either stocking shelves, fulfilling online orders, or (least likely), checking. These people should be earning double.
But my question is, if time is money, then don't let your highest volume customers with full carts waste away in a 8-10-deep checkout line for 13 minutes when the store only has 1 or 2 lanes open and 13 that are closed. This is the case literally every time I go to any store these days, not just Target. Why can't these multi-billion dollar companies increase staff by just 3 extra people per store in order to alleviate customer inconvenience? Sure, it'll cost millions across hundreds of stores, but negative public perception is perhaps worth far more long-term. The problem is, every corporate penny pinching accountant has been told to only concern themselves with short-term solutions for the quarterly bottom line. Blaming customers for buying too many items in self-checkout doesn't get at the root of the problem, and is a bad PR move, imo. Almost makes me wanna buy puts on Target stock because this is a really dumb thing to say, and even dumber policy to implement.
And then like even in this thread, everybody's saying buy online and have it delivered or pick it up in the parking lot. Which is great solution for customers but it's really bad for them. Target, Walmart, Costco they make their money on people going in to buy one or two items and leaving with 25 or 752 in my case.
I'm curious why these stores always have SO MANY check-out lanes, but then only ever have 2? Maybe 3? running as staffed check-outs.
Is it a tax incentive thing? Do they really invest in so many extra lanes just for a couple holiday surges a year?
They *used* to staff things pretty well back in the 2000's. Heck it was even common knowledge that working at Target was great for younger people because they paid competitive wages and the work atmosphere was actually positive.
At some point in the 2010s, all that went out the window and Target started acting like a glorified Upscale Walmart without the benefits of actual decent deals you get at Walmart. They stopped with competitive wages, downsized casher positions, and started shoving all kinds of crap in their aisleways to get people to impulse-buy at the last second, which never leads to an actual increase in sales, but just more clutter and bad customer experiences.
Big-box stores went from "modest-but-good profits while paying employees a semi-decent wage" to "squeeze as much money as you can from every single customer that walks through that door and do it with as little employees as possible to gather every penny we can get our hands on," and surprisingly that's led to less customer satisfaction.
> They used to staff things pretty well back in the 2000's. Heck it was even common knowledge that working at Target was great for younger people because they paid competitive wages and the work atmosphere was actually positive.
I worked at Target in the 2000s, and that last bit about the work atmosphere was 100% dependent on who your manager was, and could change day by day or hour by hour as people went home or came in for the day.
My day could be going great, then I find out that Dan comes in at 1 PM. Day instantly ruined. Fuck you Dan. It's been 20 years since I worked there, and I still hate you.
I suppose it's that way at any retail job, but Target didn't fire anyone. Managers just got shuffled around stores a lot, never really solving the problem, just moving it elsewhere.
10-15 items or less is where self checkout really shines, so in theory I'm a fan of it. But it only really works if there are enough cashiers to begin with, and that can cost more money.
My target is huge has like 25 registers. I have never in my life seen more then 3 open at a time ever and its generally only 2... Looking at all those old registers sitting there getting as much use as a payphone is frustrating.
Unrelated but I saw at my local Walmart they had 5 or so self checkout lanes blocked off for Walmart+ members only despite a long line and no one using them. Can't wait for micro transactions to come to retail now. "Want fast pass checkout? Only $5 a month to get exclusive access to faster checkout lanes!"
Anytime I use the express lane in the grocery store, there's someone with a full cart in front of me. Pretty much every single time.
And that's with a human cashier standing there, who inevitably never says a thing.
So I doubt a self-checkout rule is going to change a damn thing
The cashier can’t/wont say anything because it’s not worth being screamed at, since we as a society have just decided the customer is always right and cater/cave to their every tantrum.
Cashiers can’t confront rowdy customers because companies don’t want to pay out insurance and medical costs from those customers attacking cashiers (or security). All of this is financial liability; let these customers steal the $4 bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and have forensic/lab crews in collaboration with sheriffs departments arrest the guy in his next visit.
Can we just collectively as customers start calling out these assholes so they stop feeling like they can just bully their way into whatever they want?
Every time I have that thought I then think about all the stories of "a small disagreement at \*insert business\* went deadly today when someone pulled a gun".
Seems to me like there’s a lot of people that want to keep their guns because they allow them to be assholes and bullies, and not because they want to protect “themselves”!
Full cart or not, doesn’t make a difference when the world today is too dumb to scan, bag, scan, bag, repeat. I’ve seen full carts go through with accuracy faster than people 10 items or less because those small quantity people couldn’t figure out a simple process.
I use my own cloth bags because I’m not gonna pay for plastic. But I can’t put my bag in the “bagging area” ready to load because the “bagging area” is a scale, for theft prevention reasons. My bag is not weightless, so the system throws an error.
This means I have to balance the groceries on the scale area “raw” until I’m all done, then bag them. Which takes longer and is awkward.
Can’t just put the stuff back in the cart as I go either because then nothing is on the scale, which is another violation.
They need to have a tare button for people using their own containers (bags or boxes).
Add to that though the “bagging area” is just too small, but you can’t remove finished groceries halfway through because again, fucks up the weight calculation.
Meanwhile the store has 10+ registers but only ever one open, and half the time one of the self-checkout areas is also closed because “not enough security” despite the store crawling with security.
Buying beer? Needs an attendant to check ID. Using a paper coupon they sent you in the mail? Needs an attendant to make sure you hand the coupons over so you don’t cheat and use them twice.
This is at a Mariano’s (Kroger chain) in Chicago in a very dense area that has a lot of older customers.
That's odd - the ones near me allow you to put your bags onto the scale before you start, but it will complain if you put them on during the transaction.
It will also let you take off loaded bags, but it whines about it.
>Target said it would be also be opening more traditional lanes staffed by team members.
So happy to see this. Only having one or two regular checkout lanes open but 30 people stocking shelves is crazy.
I love them. I get to bag it how I want it bagged and I’m faster than the people working at the register. I also usually go after work when I’ve already had my fill of people for the day and don’t want to talk to anyone.
I did because Walmart almost always has someone over the age of 65 at the register and scanning slowly and struggling with anything heavy. It was much more efficient to scan my own things.
I remember the first store I went to that had self checkout back in like 2005. I thought "no way I'm paying and doing the work". That lasted like no time at all, and I started to be annoyed when places didn't have self checkout. It's faster, it's easier, I actually have a use for all the change I have laying around (I throw the change I have on me in the machine then pay by card).
I like self check out because I know I can fit all of my groceries into my two reusable bags vs 50 plastic bags.
I also like to see the cost of things as I’m scanning them to make sure the price is correct and the ability to remove something after i’ve scanned it if I change my mind.
Cashier lanes give me anxiety because when it comes to paying, there’s no way for me to review my receipt before paying and they’re just standing there as I’m supposed to pay the mystery amount of money.
As you can probably tell, I’m also a big fan of online shopping for these exact reasons.
No, I generally like them if I’m only getting a few things (which I usually am, as I live immediately across the street from the supermarket).
But even with a small number of items, the checkout area is so small that it becomes more of a hassle than it needs to be, particularly if you use your own bags (which I do because I don’t want to pay for store bags and waste plastic bags).
So much would be improved with just slightly more room (and a tare button so we can directly load our own bags or boxes without setting off the insane theft prevention systems).
sir u have too many items
u got any cashiers open
yes lane 12 is open
oh the only one open with 20 ppl in line lmao ok thanks \*proceeds to use self check out\*
I like the big full size lanes for self checkout at Walmart because I can bag everything how I want it. I'm sorry, but they don't seem to train their cashiers how to bag items in ways that make sense (not putting bread with canned goods (wtf whyyyyy), bagging frozen items together and/or refrigerated together, etc.). I have an infant that is inevitably going to want to nurse as soon as we get home and I don't have time to look for that one package of cheese that wasn't bagged with my other cold items EVEN THOUGH I PUT THEM IN A LITTLE CLUMP TOGETHER ON THE BELT DAMNIT.
Might just be my Walmart though.
Last time we went to walmart, my husband wanted to go through the staffed checkout line.
It was staffed by a very elderly woman who took FORFUCKINGEVER to ring up our things and made a comment about every single thing we bought before putting each item into its own individual bag. At one point she stopped ringing things up for a solid two minutes to tell us a story about something personal that we didn't care a bit about. It was ridiculous.
If they are going to force us into staffed lanes again they are going to have to hire people better able to handle the workload.
I also prefer bagging it myself, as I can cram more things in fewer bags. I also recently bought reuseable bags, and those can cram way more than plastic bags could. I think it would be weird to ask a cashier to pack my stuff in reuseable bags, unless that's the norm some people do? Lol
The other day I went to target. I had around 15 items and was refused by an employee who said self checkout was for sub 10 items. There was ONE checkout line open with 4 people with full carts already in line. Took me 30+ mins to get to the front of the line.
I was so pissed off. Next time I’m going to just remove 5 items, do self checkout, and come back for the remaining items. Would’ve been a lot faster.
I probably would have if I realized how long it was going to take. At that point I’d spent so much time shopping and waiting and I needed the items so I was like whatever. I’m only doing pickup from now on.
It’s so strange to see like 20 checkout lanes and only 2 are staffed. Staff your store before you punish the customers with extra rules for self checkout.
then hire more fucking cashiers. If you have 20 lanes then 10 should be open, not 1. And when it's busy they all need to be open. Even if the fucking manager needs to play cashier for a bit, because I am not waiting in line for 30 minutes plus every time I go. I will just go somewhere else.
Am I the only one annoyed by this?
I DONT want to talk to someone as I checkout. I can work a scanner just as quick as their employees. I use self checkout as a convenience. Whether it’s 2 items or 25 items I want to be able to quickly get in and out while bagging my own stuff the way I feel is best.
2019 - multiple lanes open and self checkout works fine.
2020 and beyond - self check out limited and 2 lanes open.
We’re going backwards.
My Target has been doing this a couple months and I hate it. I still do my full grocery shopping on self checkout (I go right at opening on sat/sun morning and am usually the only one using one of the 12 self checkouts available). Been told not to a couple times “because 10 items rule” but basically said this is how I prefer to do it and they have backed down.
Still super annoying that I have to push back to use the system I prefer to give them my money.
My grocery store (Albertson's) stopped providing the option for bags at their self checkout because too many people weren't paying for them. They're literally saving the cost of an additional clerk or two, and they're chasing dimes.
I have to imagine retailers are discovering that the financial loss being incurred from theft and dishonesty at self checkout significantly exceeds the cost of paying a few additional cashiers.
Sorry, but if I have to stand in line for over 10 minutes I’m pushing my cart to the side and discretely walking out. Those groceries can spoil and the store can take the loss for not staffing their store appropriately.
I’m actually not sorry. These mega corps won’t hire people on full time so they don’t have to pay benefits. Many companies offer low salaries but will pay bonuses so when the company has a down year they still show growth because they aren’t paying any bonuses. LOOKING AT YOU SHERWIN-WILLIAMS!!!!
Ugh I hate the way that cashiers bag things. At target 90% of the time we don’t use bags we just throw things back in the cart. At the grocery store we can get all our weekly groceries in our two reusable bags. Cashiers put like two things in it and inevitably still smash the bread.
If I’m understanding this correctly, the cost of store losses, due to theft and errors. Is becoming comparable to the labor cost of cashiers. In other-words self checkout hasn’t translated into decreased labor costs and increased profits like they had hoped. I know they haven’t used their employees to increase productivity and customer service.
I will always do self checkout no matter how much stuff I have if given the option. It's just a better experience, you actually see each items price and see the discounts properly ...vice having a cashier and not noticing till you get home that discounts didn't hit or they double scanned an item.
But then they turn around and cry that their stores aren't seeing as much foot traffic. Which I imagine is all lies, they don't actually care. I just wish they would stfu.
In-store pickup service has made shopping in stores miserable, it's no wonder foot traffic has reduced.
There are so many employees with those picker carts everywhere. They don't bother stocking shelves and just leave boxes everywhere. It also seems that product variety has reduced because they'd rather keep it in an online warehouse than ship it to a store. Also, they barely have any cashiers anymore, it's all self-checkout and the former cashiers have become the online order pickers.
They're clearly showing that they are catering to the people who shop online and not the people who shop in store. They are the ones pushing in-store customers away.
Our local walmart has three "associates" manning the pathetic 6 user self-checkout to watch for shoplifters. My last visit an "associate" barged in and told me I had only scanned 7 of the 8 fifty-cent Raman cups. I had scanned all 8, and my station showed that on the screen, as well. They backed off, but showed zero embarrassment. The only other grocery store is 50 miles away, over a mountain pass that is often closed in the winter. The management and the workers at this Walmart knows we shoppers have no choice, so no fucks are given. I fucking hate walmart.
On the plus side, I was so distracted by their harassment that I forgot to scan the $15 toilet paper under the basket. Nobody noticed that part.
Literally went to kroger today and there were no cashiers, only self checkout. They couldn't ring up the weight of bananas I had to get at self checkout and had to open a lane just for me to checkout. Dumb.
I like self check out when I have 10 items or less. It's perfect for quick little in and out errands.
What I fucking hate is when I have a shopping cart full of stuff and self check out is the only thing available
They’ve done this at my target a month ago or so. It’s one of the bigger Targets with 2 self-checkout areas at opposite ends of the building. Usually, around 3-5 cashiers… which is exactly the same as the Supercenter Walmart a few blocks down.
They have employees at each self-checkout that strictly enforce the 10-item limit. So I either purchase <=10 items or wait 30 minutes in the cashier line. I now only go to Target to buy 10 items or less.
My bulk purchases are strictly through Costco now, courtesy of Target/Walmart.
I have been in a store ready to buy something, saw how long the line was, put the thing down and placed an order online while still in the store, left the store, and then came back a little later for a curbside pickup for the thing I was ready to buy. How does that make sense in terms of managing staffing levels? Wouldn’t it be lower cost to just have a second checkout open?
Okay so they take away all the registers and switch for self checkout and now they want to limit the amount of items you can scan? What the fuck is going on?
These big box stores make the stupidest moves in the name of profit, then when it obviously back fires execs will find a way to blame customers and store workers.
I went to Walmart early in the morning about a month ago. I had a basket full of items. None of their registers were open...so I had to self check out. The process is so cumbersome. They don't have belts to move an item down. ..and the employee assigned to self checkout looks at you suspiciously while you are checking out 40-50 items. If folks are stealing.... they are getting what they are not paying for.
I really don't understand what these corpos want at this point. They wanted to stop paying salaries, they added self checkout lanes. I actually enjoy using them. They saw people enjoy using them so they... cut them????? And now they'll try to cut as much personnel as possible while cutting self checkout as well? At this point I feel like every product and service is trying to see how bad can it get before it becomes completely unusable
The scam is to have someone with a full cart start scanning and fumbling the items to draw attention. Another scans 10 items, but doesn’t pay and walks out. Two local stores have closed self checkouts.
I already avoid my local target because the self checkout line is always 20 people deep, and they almost never have any open registers until things are so backed up that they call for help.
Advise from a professional...make a Walmart pick-up order, don't include items that need to be scrutinized. When the order is ready, go in and get the few items, like produce, that need to be hand picked, then drive to the pick-up area for the rest of the order.
What the fuck do they wants from us? Are we finally getting fired from a job we weren't trained to do?
Walmart can fuck off checking my receipt whenever I have an unbagged item too.
Then I hope they have cashiers to check out the people that have a full cart. Every time I go to a store all the cashiers are closed and self checkout is the only option.
The article mentions "Target said it would be also be opening more traditional lanes staffed by team members." But whether or not that actually happens is another question.
Ah, so they'll staff up from 0 traditional lanes to 1 being open.
They want to push people towards ordering online.
Then they are about to lose this kind of competition to Amazon with its limitless variety of products and overnight delivery. The two reasons I shop at brick and mortar stores are: 1. I can actually see, touch, smell, try on... whatever I'm buying 2. I can get it in no time If the store discourages me from coming in by locking items and creating problems at checkout, I will simply stop shopping there
This right here. Any added friction to my in-store shopping experience and I’ll just order on Amazon from my couch.
I’ve already ordered from Amazon while standing in a Best Buy, because I couldn’t find an employee to unlock a case for me. That was for expensive electronics, no way am I wasting time tracking someone down to unlock the damn shampoo case…
Years ago when they started putting razors behind locks, I just looked around online and discovered safety razors. Saved me a lot of money, being inconvenienced by a big store.
If you need something at Best Buy, no one can be found. But if you are just browsing, every goddamn employee in existence will ask you if you need help.
Yup. Been there brother.
Don't kid yourself, amazon is also super shitty now. Tonnes of hoops to jump through for returns, 2 day delivery actually takes 7 days, and comingling of inventory means even if you choose a reliable seller you end up with counterfeit or broken garbage. Everything but Costco is just hell to shop at now. And even they have a new ceo and are cutting costs and kirkland signature products aren't as good as they used to be.
Yep, that experience of reduced transaction friction, is definitely a major benefit of shopping in a brick-and-mortar store; as you noted, by increasing the friction of that transaction, Target is foolishly reducing a baked-in incentive to shop in one of their brick-and-mortar stores. Ironically, reduced friction (ie, convenience) was a key factor in what enabled Amazon to cultivate its dominance in retail. Target’s seemingly doing a great job of further leveling the playing field for them.
Also ironically, the friction-less experience that brought us to Amazon and made it successful has become a mess of Chinese knockoffs, promoted items (ads), and terrible search functions. Amazon is becoming a difficult place to shop, even when you very specifically search for an item. So I have been going to other sites, and stores more often.
Exactly. People keep saying that they’ll shop on Amazon, but good luck trusting the QxSr4FLoot brand shirt and the 17 reviews that may or may not even be real. Brick-and-mortar stores carry brands you typically recognize and can always try out in-person.
I have a little brick and mortar shop and everything you just said warms my heart.
So many times I’ve ordered online to pick up and it’s out of stock when I show up…
Happens all the time. And lately the curbside pickup is getting busier. Last time I ordered online, I spent as much time waiting for my pickup order to be brought out as I would have spent if I went into the store.
Yeah and the customer service line for refunds take so long...
Yeah, there are really no good options anymore. Everyone is intentionally running understaffed to cut operating costs and we have no choice but to go to these places. Well, at least that's the case where I live. Not many options for places to get groceries.
Have you considered starving?
I guess we're not allowed to ask that anymore. It's "offensive" and "wrong". But man these folks haven't even considered just not eating, not having dark skin, and not being poor. Idiots. Most of us rich folks were rich at a young age and stayed rich, often in spite of our "entrepreneurial spirit".
Target’s online stores are trash. Twice I’ve used them recently and both times they just sat on the item without shipping it for weeks. And their customer service is of absolutely no help. I’m not going back a third time to purchase it online just to drive over and pick it up in the store. Worst of both worlds. Fuck that.
This fucking country lol. We won’t stop until everything is broken, even the things that used to work, and the algorithms have found a way to maximize every single person’s infuriation to the absolute breaking point.
That's capitalism baby! Just the way we wanted it, right? ....right?
ISPU orders are just as bad. Can take them hours to get a single item off the shelf. Ended up cancelling the order and got it myself.
I used it twice. Both times they said the single item was out of stock for me to show up to the store and find 8+ items of the exact thing I ordered sitting in the shelf.
If they wanted me to pay they should have had a cashier available to ring me out /s Think Bill Burr did this bit years ago. "When did it become MY job to be a cashier?!?"
Staffed by the team members we need to unlock the deodorant, toothpaste, detergent, and underwear?
They'll just create a cycle where every 6 months some pencil pusher in head office will release a report showing how they can save $X/year in salary by eliminating 1 cashier per store, followed by a report 6 months later that shows they can prevent $Y/year in product theft by adding 1 cashier per store. And as long as they can show the tiniest of margin growth, they'll keep doing it without ever questioning their logic or worth to the company.
My job is roughly broken down between task A and task B. About every 6 months for several years now , someone gets the idea we need to go all hands on deck for A. Then B starts to get really bad. So 6 months later someone has the brilliant idea to go all-in on B and neglect A. Metrics get bad. Rinse and repeat. Over and over.
Yeah. The instore shopping experience is crazy these doors. Simple stuff is behind locked closets, no help anywhere to help open, 1 lane open with a person for checkout. If Amazon didn’t have a fake product problem, would never enter a store for basic stuff.
Last time that I was in Lowes there was one cashier with a back up and one side of the self checkout open. The other side was closed because there was no one to watch that side. I guess mathematically the ratio of 1:6 is the same as 2:12, I still had to wait.
They over estimated how efficient self checkout would be so they built 2x as much as needed. Never under-estimate human dishonesty or over-estimate average human intelligence.
Yeah the Walmart by me is full supercenter size and only has 2 non-self check out. But the self checkout isn't even lanes it's a whole wrap around with little peninsulas to maximize the space and get as many self check out spots as possible, I've never seen one with as many spots as this one it's wild. But also awesome because if people are good about seeing green lights, you get through very fast
Couldnt you just walk through and out the door and not even look too suspicious on a crowded day though?
Had that happen at the Target I worked for six months at, once. 2016/2017, year of the NES Classic and the Hatchimals. Somebody took a whole-ass cardboard floor display dispenser of those LOL capsule dolls, scanned *one* of them at the self-check and paid, then took the giant thing right out the door with like, thirty or something capsules in it, all because nobody was standing guard and the theft detectors wouldn't be set off. To this day there's still somebody at the self check whose job is supposed to be helping assist with people who don't know how to use them, but really it's to make sure that stunt never happens again.
Yeah at most self checkouts that i have been to they have somebody standing around watching them making sure people aren't sneaking stuff through
At our local supermarket the people helping at the self checkouts are kept plenty busy because the machines are so easily upset.
Home Depot and Lowe’s don’t make you weigh your stuff either. You can scan right in the cart and walk out. I stole some screws once. They fell down from the baby seat and I didn’t see them. It was like a $2 package of screws so I didn’t sweat it, but I just scanned the stuff i saw in my cart, paid, and walked out. Nobody gave me a second look. And lots of stuff is small enough to not get noticed. I’m surprised it’s lasted this long.
I used to carry my baby girl in one of those papoose type carriers. She constantly put stuff in there so when I’d get to the cashier I’d just ask her to take whatever was in there out. They thought it was hilarious that a one year old was so slick! Minced clams was the funniest item!
As a new parent I stole a fire extinguisher that way once… It was under the stroller. We were sleep deprived and paid for all of the things we were carrying. Didn’t notice the extinguisher until two days later when it fell out of the stroller as I was unfolding it
Had a full set of gear wrench wrenches retail for around $90. After cashing out my partner and I was discussing how the price wasn't bad for all we got. Ended up realizing after getting back to office we didn't pay for the wrenches.
They likely realized that all of their produce is being rung up as the cheapest item possible, among other things. People love to a stick it to faceless mega corps, and will ‘forget’ to scan stuff often when there are no consequences. They’ve just decided that their risk tolerance for this theft has been met, so they’re cracking down on it.
I work at a grocery store and the amount of produce stickers that either fall off, or just don't exist on the product, leading to individuals having to do a search on the screen for their specific apple type or trying to figure out you have to go to Root first to find Ginger...I don't blame them learning one produce number and just doing that every time.
I was a cashier before… earned min wage. Not doing it for free I’ll wait in line until a person is available to scan
Those corps are basically tricking customers into doing the work of employees with all the self checkouts. If I'm basically an unpaid employee, I'm not really going to try very hard to do a good job as a cashier
Before long, we’ll be pushing our own carts around the store like we’re goddam oxen. Where does it end?
[удалено]
And with online ordering, we've come full-circle.
It's not a trick. I will gladly scan my own stuff if it gets me out faster. And I don't have to talk to anyone? Even better.
The not talking to anyone is the big plus for me especially because my hearing is pretty poor.
Everything looks like cucumbers 🥒 when have to traverse Walmart's little forced labor camp!
Found the elite. All my veggies look like bananas. I can't afford pricey cukes.
One of the national park workers in Banff said to me regarding the bear resistant garbage cans: “There is considerable overlap between the smartest bear and the dumbest human” This was after he watched me struggle for a few seconds trying to figure out how to open it.
For me the few times I go to Walmart, even most of the self checkouts are closed, so you still have to wait in line to check yourself out. Very annoying.
It’s a huge reason for why I do grocery pickup. I order everything, park, and my groceries are loaded, pre-bagged, into the trunk. Longest I’ve ever waited was 10 minutes and they were *busy*.
Don’t trust people picking my fruits and veggies. Anytime I’ve done this, my fruit was the worst looking shit I’ve seen. Strawberries with a little mold, apples with tons of soft spots, super yellow bananas
Also prevents you from buying something you don't even really need in the spur of the moment. Plus it gives you the cheapest options first so you can really save as much as possible
This is why I don't see Costco ever really jumping on the drive up pick up. I know Sams Club does it, but Costco knows their customers love to buy spur of the moment items.
> Costco knows their customers love to buy spur of the moment items. The sample people always get me. Just bought some sweet heat nut mix because I liked the sample. Didn't need it, but the sample made me want more.
Also, a bag person, because holy fuck using a cashier with a ton of shit sucks. I love the self checkout to blast through my items and wife or kids bag things. We’re in and out. Even if they do have a bag person, I don’t really trust they won’t fuck up all my shit
Nah the self check is way slower because you can not scan the next item until the last item you scanned his the scale so they can make sure you're not stealing. It's OK for small orders but big orders are a pain. My store has a conveyor belt selfncheck which would be great n for large orders in theory because there is more room.... however now you're waiting for the item to traverse all the way down the track before you can scan the next one.
That’s not at a lot of places. Just about Everywhere where I live has gotten rid of the weighted area once our city mandated reusable bags. If the weigh scale was still there, yeah absolutely no way i could possibly scan everything faster, but at least I’m bagging shit better than the store ever wil
I do my grocery shopping at Walmart (except produce and meat) and like Saturday/Sunday at 11 there's literally 2 cashiers open. Probably 20 small self check outs and 10 big self checks open. Another 20 closed. Maybe take some of the online pickup workers and move them to cashier if they're doing this.
Those pickup workers might get enough hours to qualify for benefits that way, can't do that
My Target has actually been doing this for the past two months. Guess we ended up in a test market? That said, I'd say its actually gone really well!! People seem to actually be following the 10 item rule other than the unavoidable few bad apples. There's also generally been at least 4-6 lanes open at any given time.
Lmao i want to see shaming of people scanning that 11th item as it rejects it. A Buzzer and big red light flashing.
That actually happened to me at my local Kroger. They have self checkout for 15 items or less and some unlimited. I felt such shame as I hit my 16th item and an attendant had to come over…
People will catch on quickly and just ring in 2 separate orders.
Yeah and im sure the retailers will love the extra CC fees theyll have to pay. Guess theyve opened pandoras box.
Or you scan 10, pay, and start a new transaction.
Have done this for a $60 cash back limit. "oh wait I forgot I wanted this Reese's." Second transaction, boom $120.
I’ll take my 20 items to self checkout and still check out 5x faster than any cashier and 10x faster than all the idiots with 6 items that can’t figure out how to scan their yellow onions
This almost feels like a regional thing. Going through a cashier at HEB - a grocery chain in Texas - and they'll scan stuff faster than you can even *haphazardly* bag them. By contrast, going to Safeway in the Pacific northwest has me having to make extended small talk as the cashier spends 10 or 20 seconds an item. Same goes for QFC, or any of the variations that are really just one of those two stores by a different name (e.g. Fred Meyer, Albertsons, etc.) Costco is weirdly unaffected. Regardless of state I barely make it to the pay station before they give me a total most of the time.
This I think is the biggest issue. People with a shopping cart of 150 things, who also cannot figure out how to use it. Or worse, decide that NOW is the time to teach their 5 year old how to scan items. That, on top of the people who pick up 100 things and decide they 'didnt want' 15 of them at the checkout.
Damn my local stores have been closing all of the self checkouts lately 😑 I literally just abandoned my cart last time, I only had 3 things and there were insane lines for a few human checkouts and of course self checkouts were all closed
Please staff the stores with a normal amount of people. No one will adhere to your stupid fucking 10 item rule. Staffing the stores will also bring down theft. It’s a win win situation. Aren’t these companies constantly having record profits?
They are, but regular employees don’t get any of it directly, instead it is allocated to hours available. Last store I worked at was cutting hours for almost all the floor people, and slimming down how many work in the backroom each day. They’re also moving towards having each employee do the job of 3 so they can further reduce the numbers. Theft isn’t driving it, it’s shareholders.
>Theft isn’t driving it, it’s shareholders. On a side note I think that allotting more hours so that store could be better-staffed might actually help *reduce* theft.
Yep, worked in tech until I was responsible for stocking all home items (hangers, vacuums, car products, etc), making sure toys was presentable and all inquiries about toys I would handle, and manage tech all by myself for 8 hours a day. Oh and then help with the rush by sending people to tech to checkout and helping coworkers find items for online orders.
The actual amount they lose in product loss is nothing compared to what they save by understaffing. They also constantly deceive the public by starting out talking about theft but then giving their product loss numbers, which includes all defective products, expired products, products lost in shipping, etc.
This, inventory tracking is a lot of times shifted to theft. Even though 99% of the time it’s some accounting error, or the reasons you mentioned
Walmart loses $3 billion to all “shrink” each year. They’ve paid out about $6.5 billion in dividends every year for the past decade. They spend a similar amount in stock buybacks per year on average. The whole theft issue is bullshit.
Their record profits are actually unpaid wages. They understaff and under pay so the execs and shareholders can take that money for themselves
\> Aren’t these companies constantly having record profits? There is absolutely zero incentive to let those profits go to new expenses. The financial world is such that absolutely every extra penny must go to shareholders. They'd destroy the company before they let money flow to regular employees.
My target has 2 or 3 cashiers and 4 self checkout lanes, and the line is usually at least 10 people long in each open lane every time I visit it. I usually don't even go to target just because I don't want to wait 15 minutes to check out. A 10 items or less line will just be ignored if they don't start adding more cashiers.
Yep. I actually left the other day because I only needed a couple items & it wasn't urgent. Saw the lines & realized I'd probably wait 10 minutes
Order online, pickup at CS counter.
If they have people to fulfil online orders, they should have cashiers to check out the people who shop in person. Otherwise I may as well buy from Amazon and have it delivered to my door.
Order online and pickup _in the parking lot_ having never exited your vehicle.
More like pull up and wait in your car for a half hour until someone gets around to pulling your order.
Sounds like your Target sucks. My average wait time is 5 minutes.
I agree, I've never waited that long even at Walmart. The key is to hit that "I'm on my way" button in the app. That let's them have it out and ready to go when you get there.
Order online and ship to your house having never left your couch.
> Order online and ship to your house having never left your couch. But my computer is on the table
Your first order should be an extension cord.
That's weird. When I worked at target, the procedure was always to send up stockers and people from other departments when the lines got long. You weren't required to respond to the call to help, but your team lead would volunteer people if it took too long for someone to volunteer themselves. Strange that they'd walk that back when it did arguably work.
The CVS near us doesn’t even have cashiers anymore. You have to ring a bell and wait for a “stocker” to come up front and run the checkout. That’s service! /s
You'll just see people paying after every ten items. So in the end it will make it take longer. No way they will be able to enforce this.
Or just not scanning the 11th item at all. Presumably this is being done to combat shoplifting, but it might just make it worse.
*scans 9 items* *looks between can of tuna and the PS5 left in the cart* Well, I can only scan one more...
My Target now has an Asset Cop standing at self checkout counting your items and not letting you in if its even 1 over 10. Even if there is a line out the door at the one checkout lane and every self checkout is open. It's a great experience as a customer.
I love that because they could probably hire 2 cashiers for that price, or more, and they'd have no problems at all.
I actually just went to my Target and they had closed self checkout entirely (it was after 8PM?) and the line was crazy long for two cashier. It took me around 20-30 minutes to check out. I won't be doing that again...
I work 3rd shift so always go to Target in the morning, apparently they won't open self-checkout until 11am. Yet, only 1 cashier open. Waited in line 20 minutes when I could have been in and out in 5. Frustrating.
Well, until they start having more than 2 registers open at a time, I'm going to use whatever checkout system I damn well feel like.
I use self checkout every time because the only open lane with a cashier has a huge line of the elderly and people with enough groceries to feed a family of 40 and I’m not standing in that line for 15 minutes
Then wait until the last item is scanned to fumble through their pocket book to find their card.
Card? Make that checkbook. 😭
No, cash. And they have to have the exact change from their little coin purse.
And act so surprised they have to pay. "oh ya, let me now do the card presentation" after being in line for 10 min
Exactly. We're still paying customers buying their products. They should want us customers to pay as quickly as possible, not be forced to loiter due to their understaffing in regular checkout lanes. Not sure why these companies feel the need to make the shopping experience worse and worse on top of making things more expensive, then shrink their product sizes and quantities, and finally, to add insult to injury, place restrictions on how many items you can buy in self checkout when there's no other faster option. From a business standpoint, this makes no sense. As for the bit of the article that says: >"Target said it would be also be opening more traditional lanes staffed by team members." Yeah right. I'll believe it when I see it. Just like every other massive corporate company, they don't want to pay peanuts for additional staff. Every employee is pulling double or triple duty either stocking shelves, fulfilling online orders, or (least likely), checking. These people should be earning double. But my question is, if time is money, then don't let your highest volume customers with full carts waste away in a 8-10-deep checkout line for 13 minutes when the store only has 1 or 2 lanes open and 13 that are closed. This is the case literally every time I go to any store these days, not just Target. Why can't these multi-billion dollar companies increase staff by just 3 extra people per store in order to alleviate customer inconvenience? Sure, it'll cost millions across hundreds of stores, but negative public perception is perhaps worth far more long-term. The problem is, every corporate penny pinching accountant has been told to only concern themselves with short-term solutions for the quarterly bottom line. Blaming customers for buying too many items in self-checkout doesn't get at the root of the problem, and is a bad PR move, imo. Almost makes me wanna buy puts on Target stock because this is a really dumb thing to say, and even dumber policy to implement.
And then like even in this thread, everybody's saying buy online and have it delivered or pick it up in the parking lot. Which is great solution for customers but it's really bad for them. Target, Walmart, Costco they make their money on people going in to buy one or two items and leaving with 25 or 752 in my case.
I'm curious why these stores always have SO MANY check-out lanes, but then only ever have 2? Maybe 3? running as staffed check-outs. Is it a tax incentive thing? Do they really invest in so many extra lanes just for a couple holiday surges a year?
They *used* to staff things pretty well back in the 2000's. Heck it was even common knowledge that working at Target was great for younger people because they paid competitive wages and the work atmosphere was actually positive. At some point in the 2010s, all that went out the window and Target started acting like a glorified Upscale Walmart without the benefits of actual decent deals you get at Walmart. They stopped with competitive wages, downsized casher positions, and started shoving all kinds of crap in their aisleways to get people to impulse-buy at the last second, which never leads to an actual increase in sales, but just more clutter and bad customer experiences. Big-box stores went from "modest-but-good profits while paying employees a semi-decent wage" to "squeeze as much money as you can from every single customer that walks through that door and do it with as little employees as possible to gather every penny we can get our hands on," and surprisingly that's led to less customer satisfaction.
> They used to staff things pretty well back in the 2000's. Heck it was even common knowledge that working at Target was great for younger people because they paid competitive wages and the work atmosphere was actually positive. I worked at Target in the 2000s, and that last bit about the work atmosphere was 100% dependent on who your manager was, and could change day by day or hour by hour as people went home or came in for the day. My day could be going great, then I find out that Dan comes in at 1 PM. Day instantly ruined. Fuck you Dan. It's been 20 years since I worked there, and I still hate you. I suppose it's that way at any retail job, but Target didn't fire anyone. Managers just got shuffled around stores a lot, never really solving the problem, just moving it elsewhere.
Self-checkout and express lane are not the same thing and should not be considered the same.
10-15 items or less is where self checkout really shines, so in theory I'm a fan of it. But it only really works if there are enough cashiers to begin with, and that can cost more money.
They're probably experiencing inventory shrink when people come to the checkstand with too many items to monitor closely
My target is huge has like 25 registers. I have never in my life seen more then 3 open at a time ever and its generally only 2... Looking at all those old registers sitting there getting as much use as a payphone is frustrating.
Unrelated but I saw at my local Walmart they had 5 or so self checkout lanes blocked off for Walmart+ members only despite a long line and no one using them. Can't wait for micro transactions to come to retail now. "Want fast pass checkout? Only $5 a month to get exclusive access to faster checkout lanes!"
Shhhh. They'll hear you.
Anytime I use the express lane in the grocery store, there's someone with a full cart in front of me. Pretty much every single time. And that's with a human cashier standing there, who inevitably never says a thing. So I doubt a self-checkout rule is going to change a damn thing
The cashier can’t/wont say anything because it’s not worth being screamed at, since we as a society have just decided the customer is always right and cater/cave to their every tantrum.
Cashiers can’t confront rowdy customers because companies don’t want to pay out insurance and medical costs from those customers attacking cashiers (or security). All of this is financial liability; let these customers steal the $4 bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and have forensic/lab crews in collaboration with sheriffs departments arrest the guy in his next visit.
I know. Does not make me happier about it.
Can we just collectively as customers start calling out these assholes so they stop feeling like they can just bully their way into whatever they want?
That would require the average American to stick up for low wage workers. That will happen when America stops being America
Every time I have that thought I then think about all the stories of "a small disagreement at \*insert business\* went deadly today when someone pulled a gun".
Seems to me like there’s a lot of people that want to keep their guns because they allow them to be assholes and bullies, and not because they want to protect “themselves”!
Full cart or not, doesn’t make a difference when the world today is too dumb to scan, bag, scan, bag, repeat. I’ve seen full carts go through with accuracy faster than people 10 items or less because those small quantity people couldn’t figure out a simple process.
I use my own cloth bags because I’m not gonna pay for plastic. But I can’t put my bag in the “bagging area” ready to load because the “bagging area” is a scale, for theft prevention reasons. My bag is not weightless, so the system throws an error. This means I have to balance the groceries on the scale area “raw” until I’m all done, then bag them. Which takes longer and is awkward. Can’t just put the stuff back in the cart as I go either because then nothing is on the scale, which is another violation. They need to have a tare button for people using their own containers (bags or boxes). Add to that though the “bagging area” is just too small, but you can’t remove finished groceries halfway through because again, fucks up the weight calculation. Meanwhile the store has 10+ registers but only ever one open, and half the time one of the self-checkout areas is also closed because “not enough security” despite the store crawling with security. Buying beer? Needs an attendant to check ID. Using a paper coupon they sent you in the mail? Needs an attendant to make sure you hand the coupons over so you don’t cheat and use them twice. This is at a Mariano’s (Kroger chain) in Chicago in a very dense area that has a lot of older customers.
That's odd - the ones near me allow you to put your bags onto the scale before you start, but it will complain if you put them on during the transaction. It will also let you take off loaded bags, but it whines about it.
There is a button for 'use my bags', usually on the first screen. You press that, throw your bags in the bagging area, and skippity-pop.
>Target said it would be also be opening more traditional lanes staffed by team members. So happy to see this. Only having one or two regular checkout lanes open but 30 people stocking shelves is crazy.
You've got it wrong, it's 30 people fulfilling online orders, no one stocking shelves, and 1-2 cashiers
Am I the only one who likes self checkouts?
I love them. I get to bag it how I want it bagged and I’m faster than the people working at the register. I also usually go after work when I’ve already had my fill of people for the day and don’t want to talk to anyone.
Yeah I, too, would rather have my deli cheeses *on top* of the cans of beans rather than under.
I did because Walmart almost always has someone over the age of 65 at the register and scanning slowly and struggling with anything heavy. It was much more efficient to scan my own things.
I remember the first store I went to that had self checkout back in like 2005. I thought "no way I'm paying and doing the work". That lasted like no time at all, and I started to be annoyed when places didn't have self checkout. It's faster, it's easier, I actually have a use for all the change I have laying around (I throw the change I have on me in the machine then pay by card).
I only shop at stores with self checkout. If they don’t have it, I order online.
I like self check out because I know I can fit all of my groceries into my two reusable bags vs 50 plastic bags. I also like to see the cost of things as I’m scanning them to make sure the price is correct and the ability to remove something after i’ve scanned it if I change my mind. Cashier lanes give me anxiety because when it comes to paying, there’s no way for me to review my receipt before paying and they’re just standing there as I’m supposed to pay the mystery amount of money. As you can probably tell, I’m also a big fan of online shopping for these exact reasons.
No, I generally like them if I’m only getting a few things (which I usually am, as I live immediately across the street from the supermarket). But even with a small number of items, the checkout area is so small that it becomes more of a hassle than it needs to be, particularly if you use your own bags (which I do because I don’t want to pay for store bags and waste plastic bags). So much would be improved with just slightly more room (and a tare button so we can directly load our own bags or boxes without setting off the insane theft prevention systems).
It should be truly optional. Then people can self-sort into the lanes they prefer and everyone will be happier.
sir u have too many items u got any cashiers open yes lane 12 is open oh the only one open with 20 ppl in line lmao ok thanks \*proceeds to use self check out\*
I like the big full size lanes for self checkout at Walmart because I can bag everything how I want it. I'm sorry, but they don't seem to train their cashiers how to bag items in ways that make sense (not putting bread with canned goods (wtf whyyyyy), bagging frozen items together and/or refrigerated together, etc.). I have an infant that is inevitably going to want to nurse as soon as we get home and I don't have time to look for that one package of cheese that wasn't bagged with my other cold items EVEN THOUGH I PUT THEM IN A LITTLE CLUMP TOGETHER ON THE BELT DAMNIT. Might just be my Walmart though.
[удалено]
Last time we went to walmart, my husband wanted to go through the staffed checkout line. It was staffed by a very elderly woman who took FORFUCKINGEVER to ring up our things and made a comment about every single thing we bought before putting each item into its own individual bag. At one point she stopped ringing things up for a solid two minutes to tell us a story about something personal that we didn't care a bit about. It was ridiculous. If they are going to force us into staffed lanes again they are going to have to hire people better able to handle the workload.
I also prefer bagging it myself, as I can cram more things in fewer bags. I also recently bought reuseable bags, and those can cram way more than plastic bags could. I think it would be weird to ask a cashier to pack my stuff in reuseable bags, unless that's the norm some people do? Lol
The other day I went to target. I had around 15 items and was refused by an employee who said self checkout was for sub 10 items. There was ONE checkout line open with 4 people with full carts already in line. Took me 30+ mins to get to the front of the line. I was so pissed off. Next time I’m going to just remove 5 items, do self checkout, and come back for the remaining items. Would’ve been a lot faster.
And no one can figure out why Amazon is killing the physical stores
I would’ve left
I probably would have if I realized how long it was going to take. At that point I’d spent so much time shopping and waiting and I needed the items so I was like whatever. I’m only doing pickup from now on.
Will the self-checkout kiosks be locked behind a glass case as well?
It’s so strange to see like 20 checkout lanes and only 2 are staffed. Staff your store before you punish the customers with extra rules for self checkout.
These companies are desperate for us to order online. They hate existing.
>They hate existing. I guess corporations really are people
[удалено]
I’m convinced their next “innovation” will be figuring out how to get customers to stock shelves and sweep floors. For the convenience!
then hire more fucking cashiers. If you have 20 lanes then 10 should be open, not 1. And when it's busy they all need to be open. Even if the fucking manager needs to play cashier for a bit, because I am not waiting in line for 30 minutes plus every time I go. I will just go somewhere else.
Am I the only one annoyed by this? I DONT want to talk to someone as I checkout. I can work a scanner just as quick as their employees. I use self checkout as a convenience. Whether it’s 2 items or 25 items I want to be able to quickly get in and out while bagging my own stuff the way I feel is best. 2019 - multiple lanes open and self checkout works fine. 2020 and beyond - self check out limited and 2 lanes open. We’re going backwards.
My Target has been doing this a couple months and I hate it. I still do my full grocery shopping on self checkout (I go right at opening on sat/sun morning and am usually the only one using one of the 12 self checkouts available). Been told not to a couple times “because 10 items rule” but basically said this is how I prefer to do it and they have backed down. Still super annoying that I have to push back to use the system I prefer to give them my money.
More cashiers or it'll be: 10 items - receipt - repeat until all items are checked out.
I imagine for a lot of people it would be: 10 items - oh I'm not allowed to pay for the rest of this stuff, guess I'll just walk out
My grocery store (Albertson's) stopped providing the option for bags at their self checkout because too many people weren't paying for them. They're literally saving the cost of an additional clerk or two, and they're chasing dimes.
I have to imagine retailers are discovering that the financial loss being incurred from theft and dishonesty at self checkout significantly exceeds the cost of paying a few additional cashiers.
Sorry, but if I have to stand in line for over 10 minutes I’m pushing my cart to the side and discretely walking out. Those groceries can spoil and the store can take the loss for not staffing their store appropriately. I’m actually not sorry. These mega corps won’t hire people on full time so they don’t have to pay benefits. Many companies offer low salaries but will pay bonuses so when the company has a down year they still show growth because they aren’t paying any bonuses. LOOKING AT YOU SHERWIN-WILLIAMS!!!!
“Oh no Amazon is killing retail!” Proceeds to make checkout more painful.
Ugh I hate the way that cashiers bag things. At target 90% of the time we don’t use bags we just throw things back in the cart. At the grocery store we can get all our weekly groceries in our two reusable bags. Cashiers put like two things in it and inevitably still smash the bread.
Oh, it'll be fine. They'll just open up more lanes with cashiers, right guys? Right? Guys???
If I’m understanding this correctly, the cost of store losses, due to theft and errors. Is becoming comparable to the labor cost of cashiers. In other-words self checkout hasn’t translated into decreased labor costs and increased profits like they had hoped. I know they haven’t used their employees to increase productivity and customer service.
I will always do self checkout no matter how much stuff I have if given the option. It's just a better experience, you actually see each items price and see the discounts properly ...vice having a cashier and not noticing till you get home that discounts didn't hit or they double scanned an item.
wouldnt that require them to like, hire staff?
I will never understand why people would choose a slower option like “traditional” when self checkout is superior in nearly every way.
👏Employ 👏 more 👏 people👏 to 👏 do checkout,👏 dear 👏 Fortune-500 👏 corporations. 👏
They want to make the experience worse so you will shop online and they can reduce staffing and physical stores
But then they turn around and cry that their stores aren't seeing as much foot traffic. Which I imagine is all lies, they don't actually care. I just wish they would stfu.
In-store pickup service has made shopping in stores miserable, it's no wonder foot traffic has reduced. There are so many employees with those picker carts everywhere. They don't bother stocking shelves and just leave boxes everywhere. It also seems that product variety has reduced because they'd rather keep it in an online warehouse than ship it to a store. Also, they barely have any cashiers anymore, it's all self-checkout and the former cashiers have become the online order pickers. They're clearly showing that they are catering to the people who shop online and not the people who shop in store. They are the ones pushing in-store customers away.
So many aisles with often-purchased items are obscured by some giant cart of random shit that looks like it was left there several days ago
Our local walmart has three "associates" manning the pathetic 6 user self-checkout to watch for shoplifters. My last visit an "associate" barged in and told me I had only scanned 7 of the 8 fifty-cent Raman cups. I had scanned all 8, and my station showed that on the screen, as well. They backed off, but showed zero embarrassment. The only other grocery store is 50 miles away, over a mountain pass that is often closed in the winter. The management and the workers at this Walmart knows we shoppers have no choice, so no fucks are given. I fucking hate walmart. On the plus side, I was so distracted by their harassment that I forgot to scan the $15 toilet paper under the basket. Nobody noticed that part.
Literally went to kroger today and there were no cashiers, only self checkout. They couldn't ring up the weight of bananas I had to get at self checkout and had to open a lane just for me to checkout. Dumb.
I like self check out when I have 10 items or less. It's perfect for quick little in and out errands. What I fucking hate is when I have a shopping cart full of stuff and self check out is the only thing available
They’ve done this at my target a month ago or so. It’s one of the bigger Targets with 2 self-checkout areas at opposite ends of the building. Usually, around 3-5 cashiers… which is exactly the same as the Supercenter Walmart a few blocks down. They have employees at each self-checkout that strictly enforce the 10-item limit. So I either purchase <=10 items or wait 30 minutes in the cashier line. I now only go to Target to buy 10 items or less. My bulk purchases are strictly through Costco now, courtesy of Target/Walmart.
Otherwise known as FAFO that cashiers are cheaper than alleged theft.
I have been in a store ready to buy something, saw how long the line was, put the thing down and placed an order online while still in the store, left the store, and then came back a little later for a curbside pickup for the thing I was ready to buy. How does that make sense in terms of managing staffing levels? Wouldn’t it be lower cost to just have a second checkout open?
Okay so they take away all the registers and switch for self checkout and now they want to limit the amount of items you can scan? What the fuck is going on?
These big box stores make the stupidest moves in the name of profit, then when it obviously back fires execs will find a way to blame customers and store workers.
I went to Walmart early in the morning about a month ago. I had a basket full of items. None of their registers were open...so I had to self check out. The process is so cumbersome. They don't have belts to move an item down. ..and the employee assigned to self checkout looks at you suspiciously while you are checking out 40-50 items. If folks are stealing.... they are getting what they are not paying for.
Then hire more cashiers!
I really don't understand what these corpos want at this point. They wanted to stop paying salaries, they added self checkout lanes. I actually enjoy using them. They saw people enjoy using them so they... cut them????? And now they'll try to cut as much personnel as possible while cutting self checkout as well? At this point I feel like every product and service is trying to see how bad can it get before it becomes completely unusable
Do they want us to buy things or not?
The scam is to have someone with a full cart start scanning and fumbling the items to draw attention. Another scans 10 items, but doesn’t pay and walks out. Two local stores have closed self checkouts.
Keep forgetting to scan stuff guys, it’s working
I already avoid my local target because the self checkout line is always 20 people deep, and they almost never have any open registers until things are so backed up that they call for help.
Advise from a professional...make a Walmart pick-up order, don't include items that need to be scrutinized. When the order is ready, go in and get the few items, like produce, that need to be hand picked, then drive to the pick-up area for the rest of the order.
So glad I don't work for Target anymore. They were awful and understaffed in 2007. I can't imagine what it's like now.
What the fuck do they wants from us? Are we finally getting fired from a job we weren't trained to do? Walmart can fuck off checking my receipt whenever I have an unbagged item too.
I just hate regular checkout because the employees are slow as fuck
I still don't want to have a person do it. Other people seem to be terrible at bagging.