Arkansas Blog

Hrrmph. Better count your change when that human just places it in your hand instead of counting it back. I consider neither this nor the self-checkout line progress. And we won't even talk about the disparity between prices listed where the product is displayed and what shows up at the register when it's scanned.
It all adds to the bottom line, Sugar. Their bottom line, that is, not yours. (Can you guess I just got back from the grocery store?)

Signed by my alter ego: AllButALuddite (one who wants a cell phone which only does one thing -- let you call a wrecker if your vehicle gets balky or the police if some jerk becomes too enamoured of your purse/car/body/whatever.)

I would gladly lose $5.00 on every transaction at the Kroger self checkout aisle if it meant I didn't have to wait in line. The whole "speedy" self service concept is wasted due to the oblivious morons who have 30 items in their basket, and the people who take an hour to scan their 11 items.

They pick up a box, peer at the screen, look at the box, peer at the screen, and scan the box. The scanner beeps. They look at the screen again, look at the box, and place the box in the bag. They look at the screen, then they pick up their next box. By this point eight minutes have elapsed since they started, and I'm standing behind them with my one 2-liter of Diet Dr. Thunder praying that God will smite them on the spot.

This person will spend twice as much time checking out themselves as they would have spent in a normal line where their groceries are scanned by someone who knows what they're doing.

Better count your change when that human just places it in your hand ...
Posted by: Doigotta

Yes, trust but verify. ATMs are so good at not making mistakes, I would think if a machine consistently shorts you $5 and they don't get it fixed, they may be hoping you don't pay attention and they get to keep $5 every now and then.

We had a grocery store in my town that, for years, consistently had higher prices programed in the cash register for the barcodes than what was marked on the shelf.

Everybody knew what they were doing. They were purposefully charging more a the register, hoping you wouldn't notice. When you called their attention to it they always cheerfully made the correction and said, they must not have it updated in the computer yet.

After a while word got around our small town and the store eventually went out of business.

The store was owned by some strong fundamentalist Christians.

I learned years ago in business, never give credit to a preacher.

to RRoe:
have you ever considered some of us have bad vision, are slow-thinking, disabled, and still want to be a ltitle independent? I take patients to the grocery store all the time, so watch out, we are out there and trying to participate fully. Funny how the staff is always helpful, it's the customers who are so self important. Careful, the next brain injury from a car accident could be yours.

to RRoe:
have you ever considered some of us have bad vision, are slow-thinking, disabled, and still want to be a ltitle independent? I take patients to the grocery store all the time, so watch out, we are out there and trying to participate fully. Funny how the staff is always helpful, it's the customers who are so self important. Careful, the next brain injury from a car accident could be yours.

Spirit:
Its not wise to judge a book by its cover.

Self-serve checkout is the next step in chasing customers back to the local Mom and Pop. When Home Depot installed their "helpful and speedy system", they went from 5 or 6 live clerks down to one clerk and about six scanners. And longer lines, confusion and frustration.

So between unmarked items, mis-marked items and out-of-order machines, I have thrown in the towel and now have returned to the local hardware store where I cheerfully park at the front door, get sincerely greeted, get knowledgeable assistance and pay a little more.

Home Depot may increase their profit by replacing those darn expensive employees with faceless, impersonal scanners but there should be a cost to pay . . .

I'm as big a supporter of reform at Wal-Mart as the next guy, and I fully realize that automated checkouts are just the latest way of cost-cutting, but having used Wal-Mart's self checkout probably thirty times, I love it.

It makes shopping at the nearest Target, with no self-checkout and never more than two (usually just one) of about 25 checkout lanes staffed by a cashier at any one time, excruciating.

If you're smarter than the computer--and smarter than your neighborhood shoppers and cashiers--automated checkouts are the welcome wave of the future.

Self- checkout works well at WalMart and Kroger, but not very well at all at Home Depot. The items just don't lend themselves to that gadget at the end that measures the weight of the sack.

Spirit:
Its not wise to judge a book by its cover.
Posted by: Don Keyhotay

Don Key (your favorite animal, I'm sure):
What's not wise is to extend credit to a preacher. Trust me, I've been burned by more than one of them. They kind of think everybody owes them something, I guess. I'm sure most pay their bills, but I've had particularly bad luck getting paid by men of the cloth.

Women of the cloth, on the other hand, seem to be okay, but I'm still watching 'em.

By the way, I don't know if you saw my response the other night on the "screw you" post at
http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/arkansasblog/2006/07/fooling_the_people.aspx but I DID understand that it was an anon, not you who said it, and I was agreeing with you that the anon was not a deep thinker. -Regards

I can't stand the self check out lines. It sure seems like a good idea on the surface...but all the points have been made already about the various problems with the scanners and the users.

I also can't stand waiting in line when there are several registers closed nearby. Infuriating...

I just got back from Terry's...old fashioned, a little more expensive, but worth it to be in and out...

What's not wise is to extend credit to a preacher. . .They kind of think everybody owes them something, I guess.-Spirit
---
It is unfortunate that a lot of individuals in ministry have some kind of entitlement mentality. Not just preachers.

And it is especially galling to be taken advantage of when you are no doubt being charitable in giving them more than is needed.

I am confident that one who is pursuing a "higher calling" to the detriment of others will, in the end, suffer greater consequences than we can administer.

But don't let the misdeeds of a few color your view of the rest. Every profession or calling has stellar examples as well as the bad apples that tarnish the barrel.

Be open to help those in need - but be a good and wise steward - support good causes generously - but don't get burned twice by the same ember.

DK

I did note your previous comment -Thanks.

Uh, why go to Wal-Mart? You're already paying for their employees' medical care. Why add to their profits?

The locally owned hardware and/or grocery store probably has just what you need at the same price. Most of them will give you cash back on your check, too -- and most count back your change.

Being irritated at waiting in a line in the new millennium is a sign of absolute depravity in an overpopulated world with real suffering going on. Grow up.

I love anything old-timey, to be sure. But the bulk of our grocery shopping takes place at the Kroger. I have the patience of Job. Ms. mann--not so much.

I have learned a few little tricks to speed up the U-Scan process.

1. Don't let junior "help".
2. Treat the bagging area as though it is an incubator of baby ducks--be gentle.
3. Bag your goods right away.
4. The scanner will not accept a new item until the screen clears, so watch for that to happen.
5. If the attendant even THINKS about stepping away from "control central", just kindly say, "Uh-uh."

I love the people checkers at our local Kroger. I have learned their names from years of patronage and occasionally even buy them a candy bar at the check out. It makes them smile to be appreciated and I always get excellent service. I tremble to think how automated the world has become.

Kroger is notorious for NOT having the correct price on an item. At my Pike Ave. branch, the store has an aisle for mark downs- eg after Easter sales. The prices shown on the bar code on the sale aisle are never the price that goes through the scanner. God forbid if a customer questions the price. Most of the checkers behave as if your trying to steal the item and are certainly put out if they have to check the price. Also be very careful if your card doesn't seem to scan on the first try and the cashier has to re-enter. Have known of several people that were double billed on their bank statements because of rescanning. Not only at my store, but at several different Kroger locations around the city.
Remember in the good ole days when Kroger promised that if an item didn't scan correctly you didn't have to pay?

In four years of Kroger-ing at McCain Blvd, NLR, I can recall only one instance of self-check short-changing (it was a single buck), and only one instance of an item not scanning at the shelf-marked price. Both instances resolved quickly and satisfactorily. In fact, employees there are unfailingly polite, as are fellow customers. It's bizarro world.

I would take umbridge at self-checkout if the cashiers showed any level of customer service. As it is, I say, let's keep the minimum wage where it is...fire all of the domestic clerks...give a discount to those of us willing to scan and bag our own groceries and open up the Southern Border so that we can get some labor up here that thinks our minimum wage is worth jumping a fence, traversing a desert, and swimming a damned river so that they can work 80 hours a week and give me some service with a smile instead of talking on their cell phone or fondling my groceries as they attempt to determine what humus is and why anyone would be interested in buying anything that isn't wrapped in a hostess wrapper.

Is there a gas station anywhere in the metro LR area that still employs neighborhood teenagers to pump the gas, wash your windshield, check the oil, etc.? For $3/gallon it sure would be nice to get some basic service again, and the jobs might just help keep kids from getting into the crime & drug culture that too much time on their hands seems to produce.

To Scammed by Kroger:
Kroger is still supposed to refund the entire price of the item if it does not ring up correctly. About once a month my family usually has a problem with an item ringing up incorrectly. We always check our receipt before leaving just to make sure. Also, their produce has a habit of ringing up higher than the marked price.

As for automated machines, I enjoy using them when the lines are short because I can get rid of pocket change. I also hate when people come up with a cart full of items and decides to go through the self scan. Not only does it take time to scan all of the items, but the person continually has to remove bags and then wait for assistance because the weight on the scale doesn't match the entire weight of all of the items already scanned. One of Walmart's machines always seems to be down, and the others have signs taped to them saying "Cash Only" or Credit Only."

To Scammed by Kroger:
Kroger is still supposed to refund the entire price of the item if it does not ring up correctly. About once a month my family usually has a problem with an item ringing up incorrectly. We always check our receipt before leaving just to make sure. Also, their produce has a habit of ringing up higher than the marked price.

As for automated machines, I enjoy using them when the lines are short because I can get rid of pocket change. I also hate when people come up with a cart full of items and decides to go through the self scan. Not only does it take time to scan all of the items, but the person continually has to remove bags and then wait for assistance because the weight on the scale doesn't match the entire weight of all of the items already scanned. One of Walmart's machines always seems to be down, and the others have signs taped to them saying "Cash Only" or Credit Only."

MysteryShopper--The gas station at the corner of Markham and Barrow has a full-service lane. The guy wasn't a neighborhood teenager...and the gas was 75 cents more per gallon. I mistakenly pulled up and then moved to the other pump when the attendant pointed out my mistake.

"change" "cash back on your check"

Have you people ever heard of debit cards? I'll be glad when they get rid of checks!

I'm very computer litterate, but I will NEVER use an automated check out. I love pay at the pump, but those things are taking it too damn far.

Anonymous 1:56

I completely agree with you. I have shopped at the same Krogers for almost 30 years (Indian Hills) and have rarely had a problem with checkout by a live employee.

I know most of the employees by name and they greet me by my name.

I do not use the self-scan. It doesn't greet me by name, and it takes a job away from someone who could use one.

Arkhobbit -

Not only do they take jobs away from workers, the automatic checkouts allow Kroger and other stores to have only one employee staff the store at night ... like a giant 7/11. Dangerous for the employee and inconvenient for customers, especially when the auto-checkers breakdown.

I'm a recent convert to to auto checkout at Kroger. It's faster. But the bagging carousels at the Chenal store are much better than at others. If you're going to have a bunch of bags, most are just too cramped.

to RRoe:
have you ever considered some of us have bad vision, are slow-thinking, disabled, and still want to be a ltitle independent? I take patients to the grocery store all the time, so watch out, we are out there and trying to participate fully. Funny how the staff is always helpful, it's the customers who are so self important. Careful, the next brain injury from a car accident could be yours.

And what if the injury is caused by someone with poor vision driving because we wanted that person to keep their sense of "independence?" I certainly didn't make my comment to attack the disabled, that was a twist by you. The simple fact is that people should assess whether they can take full advantage of a service (SPEEDY checkout) or whether they should use more traditional means. I can't say I have ever met a person in a wheelchair who insisted on using the stairs to maintain their independence. It's all relative, but your moral posturing is just plain silly.

I have contended for years (and still do) that Wal-Mart could double their sales and profits if they would only make a practice of keeping enough cashiers operating at any given time. The back-up at the check-out registers invariably cause you to have to stand in line for what always seems an eternity. Surely, a register attendent (at the low wages Wal-Mart pays) could make the store more money in an hour than their salary would cost them.

I think people who post the same thing twice on this blog are the same dumb farts who jam up the quick-scan lines.

I think people who post the same thing twice on this blog are the same dumb farts who jam up the quick-scan lines.

Ah, but as long as no one leaves the line, it doesn't matter how long it gets. Wal-Mart makes the same amount of money; it just takes a little longer. I'd bet they've studied the trade-off between labor costs and lost customers and have it balanced for max profit.

People generally shop at WalMart because they have to, not because they want to, so you could probably make them walk on hot coals to the register and they'd put up with it.

Ah, but as long as no one leaves the line, it doesn't matter how long it gets. Wal-Mart makes the same amount of money; it just takes a little longer...
Posted by: Roland

Plus, I guess if you wait in line a while, you might be more likely to buy one of the impulse items they put in the checkout area.