Archived Cashier Speed Foolishness

[unknown]

I guess cashier speed is now more important than it was a year ago. Shouldn't it always be?

Anyway, at every huddle now, we are told to "suspend" the transaction if the guest is looking for change, searching for a card, etc.

How exactly does this speed up cashiering? What I mean is, from the guest's perspective, this makes zero difference.

And they say, take off the hangers before starting to check out. Well, again, from the guest's perspective, what difference does it make.

And, when you have a large order(groceries, domestics, clothes) people out their clothes last on the belt. Am I supposed to reach waaaaay over all this??

This is just more foolishness to achieve a made up metric. When you suspend a transaction, it's not really speeding things up. It's actually slowing it down from the guest's perspective.

 

[sher]

I've always done the hanger thing. It is or was in one of those orientation cashiering videos. I only do it if the clothes are in front though. If they're at the end, sometimes I scan them all and then remove hangers and fold/bag after I hit total.

But yea, from a guest's perspective, nothing is different. This b.s. is all about what the register is calculating.

 

[Tar Ghetto]

At 1 of the stores I worked at, the gstl/GSA would speed weave and take off hangers for cashiers to speed things up.

 

[MrGSTLman]

I am guilty of saying all of what you are being told. It works. Suspending the transaction stops the timer altogether and you can either a) recall the transaction after 10 seconds, or b) allow the guest more time to find their card while taking the next guest. I'll even add... have the guest swipe or insert their payment device at the beginning of the transaction. It adds 60 seconds to the transaction time.

It's true - we give you ways to try and speed you up because at the end of the day that is what the guest wants. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a guest lane hop or ask me to open another lane simply because they don't want to wait in a one person line. They really are ways to trick the system. The one thing that slows cashiers down the most is hangars, keepers, spider-wraps, and the like so yes, we try and encourage cashiers to remove these speed barriers before they start scanning so the timer doesn't start.

 

[unknown]

I am guilty of saying all of what you are being told. It works. Suspending the transaction stops the timer altogether and you can either a) recall the transaction after 10 seconds, or b) allow the guest more time to find their card while taking the next guest. I'll even add... have the guest swipe or insert their payment device at the beginning of the transaction. It adds 60 seconds to the transaction time.

It's true - we give you ways to try and speed you up because at the end of the day that is what the guest wants. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a guest lane hop or ask me to open another lane simply because they don't want to wait in a one person line. They really are ways to trick the system. The one thing that slows cashiers down the most is hangars, keepers, spider-wraps, and the like so yes, we try and encourage cashiers to remove these speed barriers before they start scanning so the timer doesn't start.

But none of that saves time. It merely "tricks" the system. So what's the point??

 

[Retail Girl]

You're right...all it is doing is gaming the system to do it that way...especially suspending transactions. It actually slows things down, but then the transaction doesn't count in the speed score...and that's all that matters...the appearance you are going faster...not that you actually are.

 

[Kartman]

DO the hanger thing!

It merely "tricks" the system. So what's the point??

It helps to keep the store green.

 

[NXT]

Best thing to do is wait to hit total until after the guest swipes their card. You are guarenteed a Green. If the guest uses cash, well then that doesn't help.

 

[Bullseyerc]

I suspend, reach over, and take all hangers off. I get 95-100% usually. I'm not gone let some slug ruin my score.

 

[MrGSTLman]

Think about it for a minute. You're going to have to spend time taking the hangars off or spider wraps, keepers, etc. one way or the other so it's going to be the same amount of time for the guest no matter whether you do it before the transaction starts or after. Doing it before the timer begins just helps you keep your score green.

It may not "save" time but to the guest you are being more efficient and they may see it as time saved.

 

[snoboy8999]

Or you can just scan all the clothes first, hit Total, and take the hangers off while the guest is fussing around paying. This is when the big plastic bags are helpful if you have them!

Or just leave them on unless the guest asks. Don't even give them the option.

 

[MrGSTLman]

If they have an abundance of clothing I do that sometimes. I also scan via the hand scanner if they have a lot as well.

 

[RedMan]

Or you can just scan all the clothes first, hit Total, and take the hangers off while the guest is fussing around paying. This is when the big plastic bags are helpful if you have them!

Or just leave them on unless the guest asks. Don't even give them the option.

Please don't leave the clothes on the hangers. The stores are scored on hanger recycling. Silly, isn't it?

 

[snoboy8999]

How even?

 

[Retail Girl]

How even?

They know how much you sell that is hung...so then they figure you should get so many pounds back.

Also, it makes them harder to bag with the hangers on. I found it easier and faster to take off the hanger, semi fold it and stick it in a bag than to stick it in a bag with a hanger on.

 

[RedMan]

They know how much you sell that is hung...so then they figure you should get so many pounds back.

Also, it makes them harder to bag with the hangers on. I found it easier and faster to take off the hanger, semi fold it and stick it in a bag than to stick it in a bag with a hanger on.

By semifold, do you mean stuff? I would stack the clothes, pull out the hangers, then stuff the mess into a large bag.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

By semifold, do you mean stuff? I would stack the clothes, pull out the hangers, then stuff the mess into a large bag.

Then, the guest complains about how you bagged them.

 

[RedMan]

Yeah, but that had to complain to me, cause I was the GSTL. hahahahaha I always apologized if they complained, "Oh, I'm so sorry. Let me re-bag that for you. I just figured that you were gonna wash them anyway." That usually guilted them into letting me stuff their bags.

 

[unknown]

Think about it for a minute. You're going to have to spend time taking the hangars off or spider wraps, keepers, etc. one way or the other so it's going to be the same amount of time for the guest no matter whether you do it before the transaction starts or after. Doing it before the timer begins just helps you keep your score green.

It may not "save" time but to the guest you are being more efficient and they may see it as time saved.

I disagree. How do you know what the guest thinks?

Sorry, all this is a failed metric.

So before everyone jumps on me and says ... Yes, but we are scored on it .... I get it.

But it's nonsensical. My opinion.

It's also a huge was of time to repeat every morning at huddle to suspend the transaction to "save" the guest time. Can anyone explain how this specifically saves the guest time?

 

[Frontlanegirl]

This is all foolishness. The one thing that slows down my efficient process is the guest. I have worked retail for years and I am very efficient at ringing and bagging appropriately. I now have to wait for the guest to fish out their method of payment, figure out how to use the chip reader ( all the while I am trying to tell them how), dig out their coupons, waiting for the items to get to me while the guest scans them for their cartwheel, the guest realizing they don't have enough money and then having to void items to bring the total down, etc, with too many other examples... Now as far as suspending the transaction, if there are only a couple items it is quick at recalling the transaction. If you have a large order it does take long. All the while you are still with the same guest and the line behind them gets longer and longer.

 

[Anelmi]

Interesting. We never have cashier huddles. Speed score? They don't talk about it. At all.

 

[Yetive]

Target is about how things look on paper. You can suspend a transaction and gossip with the guest for 5 minutes while 10 guests stack up in your line, and that is great service on paper. Just like the endymes. If I get to the guest quickly, give her super service, she opens a red, and spends a couple thousand dollars, it is bad service if I don't make her wait while I go back to clear the phone. However, if I show up, clear the phone, and tell the guest to eff off, great service. Target will forever try to measure the unmeasurable.

 

[Retail Girl]

By semifold, do you mean stuff? I would stack the clothes, pull out the hangers, then stuff the mess into a large bag.

No...I would fold pants in half and then half again. Shirts...I would hold them with one hand at the top middle and then fold that in half. It was in between nicely folding and shoving into a bag.

 

[Retail Girl]

I disagree. How do you know what the guest thinks?

Sorry, all this is a failed metric.

So before everyone jumps on me and says ... Yes, but we are scored on it .... I get it.

But it's nonsensical. My opinion.

It's also a huge was of time to repeat every morning at huddle to suspend the transaction to "save" the guest time. Can anyone explain how this specifically saves the guest time?

Suspending a transaction doesn't save the guest time. In fact, it slows down the entire process...and would occasionally piss a guest off...especially when the order wouldn't recall. But...it took the transaction out of the speed score figure so it wouldn't count against the cashier. It doesn't matter if it really saves time as long as they can cheat the metric and look faster.

Now...I can tell you that I had no problems getting a weekly green score, and I never once suspended a transaction or did any of these other hints to beat the clock. A decently fast cashier will be able to make up for the slow guests most of the time. And the ones you can't make up for...well, that's why the speed score is set as low as it is. And yes, it is not overly fast.

But, it's easier to cheat the system than it is to get cashiers to become proficient enough at their job to be quick about it.

 

[unknown]

Suspending a transaction doesn't save the guest time. In fact, it slows down the entire process...and would occasionally piss a guest off...especially when the order wouldn't recall. But...it took the transaction out of the speed score figure so it wouldn't count against the cashier. It doesn't matter if it really saves time as long as they can cheat the metric and look faster.

Now...I can tell you that I had no problems getting a weekly green score, and I never once suspended a transaction or did any of these other hints to beat the clock. A decently fast cashier will be able to make up for the slow guests most of the time. And the ones you can't make up for...well, that's why the speed score is set as low as it is. And yes, it is not overly fast.

But, it's easier to cheat the system than it is to get cashiers to become proficient enough at their job to be quick about it.

Wish I could like this more than once.