Archived Cashier Speed Foolishness

[signingminion]

Most of my regular long time cashiers are super slow. Adding alcohol sales brought us down to yellow for the first time in years....it will be a long summer.

 

[redeye58]

Why even use checks anymore? They're expensive and a PITA to write out... why? A debit card does the same thing and is free.

My CU gives me free checks, I use them only for paying bills (I write it out in advance to pay my tgt card) so it takes a year to use up a box (150 checks) & it gives me a carbon showing what/who I wrote the check to.
And I wait until I get home to balance the register; NEVER in a public place.

 

[60SecondsRemaining]

Tldr;

Speed scores: Largely irrelevant. The metric that is actually meaningful is the checkout is fast guest survey.

Fast check out has very little to do with how fast you ring and very much to do with perception.

How long a customer waits is unimportant, what is important is their perception of how long they waited. An active gstl and quick backup are much more important than the actual transaction speeds.

 

[unknown]

Tldr;

Speed scores: Largely irrelevant. The metric that is actually meaningful is the checkout is fast guest survey.

Fast check out has very little to do with how fast you ring and very much to do with perception.

How long a customer waits is unimportant, what is important is their perception of how long they waited. An active gstl and quick backup are much more important than the actual transaction speeds.

Then it's great that Target perpetually understaffs it's front end. Then you call for backup and someone from seasonal has to walk up there. Lol. Great system.

 

[brizzy93]

I only backup cashier, and I do want to get off as soon as possible. I didn't know about the speed score for over a year tbh. Once I found out, I keep my eye on it now. It sucks so bad to be 100% and you get that oNE GUEST. I've suspend the transaction if the guest or someone with the guest runs to grab something, or if they have to look for their card. I never used to but now I know...

 

[RedMan]

Then it's great that Target perpetually understaffs it's front end. Then you call for backup and someone from seasonal has to walk up there. Lol. Great system.

It's all about the bottom line. Do you want two cashiers standing there twiddling their thumbs, watching $$$ burn into thin air? Or do you want to have someone from the sales floor back up? Look at the big picture. Traffic flow is not perfectly predictable, but it's based on past numbers. We do the best we can to be efficient with our people and our money.

 

[Deli Ninja]

It's all about the bottom line. Do you want two cashiers standing there twiddling their thumbs, watching $$$ burn into thin air? Or do you want to have someone from the sales floor back up? Look at the big picture. Traffic flow is not perfectly predictable, but it's based on past numbers. We do the best we can to be efficient with our people and our money.

Used to be they'd send idle cashiers to zone areas near the front. Then they figured out that they lose cashiers that way, because the good ones get transferred to sales floor positions when there's an influx of new cashiers. When all the new cashiers quit, they end up with just the newer and slower cashiers because the fast ones have all bailed out to other areas of the store.

 

[SallyHoover]

Vibeing about Cartwheel is the only thing that really slows me down to an R. Most of it is on the guests. I am still Green but the other big slow down is the chip card and guests pulling it out of the reader too early. Some times the system lets it cancel out and then they can start all over. About 1/3 of the time, it slows the system down to the point where I have to suspend the transaction. I then have to wait another 30-45 seconds for the system to reset. Wait another 10-15 seconds in order to pull it back up, if it is a large order wait that 30 seconds and then talk them through the process again so it doesn't happen again.

 

[redeye58]

You should be behind bars.

Does a coffee bar count?

 

[pfreshdude]

Yet I have a fantastic credit score.

Debit card isnt a Credit Card

 

[recentlyretail]

I really do have to question why any part of the customers actions are used in cashier speed metric ; I.e. Why I get dinged red for some jerk wad who waits to dig to the bottom of their trash bag to locate their debit card after I hit total. .... Like I can't do anything more than mention that they can preslide their card. I personally won't pre slide my card anywhere because I want to ensure I don't get charged wrong / twice etc. I will have my card ready in hand before I'm even in a line, but that's it.

I only go red on transactions where the guest wants something or they are slow on payment. I suspended a transaction the other day when I had a woman wait until I had hit total to tell me she wanted to check her cartwheel ..... She had four full bags of items, and wanted to see if any thing was on the app ..... Not like she even knew that she was missing out on a deal. She then huffed at me when I had to scan the slip to restart her transaction. .... I'm almost always green, I've even had two guest compliments on my speed at the register (I only back up from the floor ) - one compliment was actually a guest telling me that she had watched me ring out 4 people in the time it took,another cashier to ring out one (and this is a cashier who is 90%+ on guest service). So I really didn't give much of a rats behind about the actual score. I mean I do my part to stay green - I don't want to hurt the front end. But when I was pulled offstage one week to be reprimanded about a red speed score for the week prior - when I knew I had only handled maybe 6 transactions total - STFU. Also, don't ask me to pitch red cards when you are pulling me from the FR - but not taking the operator phone & we have a line that looks like Christmas. I'm just scanning and bagging. You want me to slow down and gravel for some poor sap to get our stupid cards then give me a cashier shift && I'll happily oblige.

 

[Kartman]

If you hit total and then go back, does that stop the clock?

 

[Retail Girl]

If you hit total and then go back, does that stop the clock?

No. The speed is simply calculated by taking the time of the transaction divided by the number of items (with different items being weighted differently).

 

[OffYaPhone]

I suspended a transaction the other day when I had a woman wait until I had hit total to tell me she wanted to check her cartwheel ..... She had four full bags of items, and wanted to see if any thing was on the app .....

That's when I would have let her know to please step aside so that I can help the guest behind her. That really grinds my gears. Why wait until AFTER you have already rung and bagged all her items to think it's okay to check if there's something on there? Sometimes I'll let them know that they can go to guest service to have it adjusted (though I personally know it's not easy to do there).

 

[Sufficio]

I don't understand why it's apparently so difficult to get a green cashier speed for the week. Most of my team members get yellow or red, I've literally never gotten anything besides green. My score is ~95-100% every day. I also have guests who take a long time writing checks, counting change, have 1000 hangers to remove, decide to check cartwheel, etc, but never enough to significantly impact my score. I don't suspend or ask them to do anything special like swiping early or anything. I'm not particularly skilled or fast at cashiering so why the hell do my team members always get yellow/red?! Our front end is lagging behind the rest of the store because of it.

 

[Kartman]

Are you an alien from space?

 

[pellinore]

Our front end SrTL was telling me that he expects that the next metric we'll get coached on will be cashier speed. I have a difficult time getting my speed score up....at 88% I would be slow, but now, at 90% I'm not sure that I can make that speed. Can you be terminated if your score remains below or near 86%?

Sometimes, it doesn't take much to get an "R" and have your score go down. Today, I ended up with over 105 transactions and my score was 89%....then with 3 transactions my score went down to 86%. What am I supposed to do to fix this?

I've noticed that your time gets messed up if a guest has to enter their PIN twice...or if the guest pulls the card out too early.... it makes a difference.

Also at our store we're still having issues with the suspend slips. So you're taking a chance when you suspend. At the moment, you can't win at my store.

 

[emayf]

I think it's so unfair how if a guest is taking a long time to pay, searching for a quarter to make exact change, runs to go get something, not being prepared or focuesed on checking out it ends up in an inevitable R! Why can't the clock stop after I hit total? How is it fair that cashiers have to take the hit because someone else wasn't prepraed?

 

[BeelzeBecky]

My speed score sucks most days. I ring up stuff really fast and start the day off with 100% because I take hangers before starting and talk as I ring and just am generally fast, but somehow there's always going to be the 105 year old who forgot they were going to write a check and has to dig around looking for their check book, or the guest who just walks away to browse magazines while I'm standing there wondering where tf they went. There are those who chat with a long lost friend and I have to repeatedly say "that will be $49.76" while frantically pointing at the total screen or the ones who dig for that exact change.

We're not supposed to suspend transactions to game the speed system but when a guest up and walks off and I have a +1, I'll suspend faster than you can say "NEXT!" and move their basket/bags and start ringing up the next person. It's rude as hell to go into a store and then walk off without paying while you're doing last minute shopping. The people in line don't have patience for that and they blame the cashier.

But check writing, yeah, that's the worst. I've yet to see anyone have "Target" and the date and their signature filled out on a check before they hit the register. They know they're writing a check, and they act like it's a big surprise that they're doing it. Like it's their first time in a store or writing a check. They're like newborns just opening their eyes, confused and not knowing how to do anything.

Checks should be abolished. It should be a crime to write a check in a store. You wanna mail a check to the electric company? Fine. You enjoy paying that $15.00 for a box of checks. But try writing one in line at a store, get arrested. Go directly to jail. Get spanked by your cellmate.

Checks are SATAN'S CURRENCY!!!

 

[qmosqueen]

 

[sunshineyellow]

Checks are SATAN'S CURRENCY!!!

Lol I always used to get excited when I saw a check- a chance to sign them up for the debit redcard!
It's never, ever worked though. People who write checks are too set in their ways.

 

[sunshineyellow]

I try not to worry too much about cashier speed scores these days. With the transition to chip redcards things have slowed a lot with people having their old cards deactivated, not knowing the pin to the new card, etc. In addition, we're feeling a big push to have cashiers talk up cartwheel and the redcard, which divides their focus and slows things further.

Yet with the suspend system having issues, I'm not going to risk having to re-ring an entire transaction that's having some delays. Ultimately I feel that if we are fast enough to keep the lines at 1+1, we are doing great.

 

[redstripes]

Am I the only one who has had guests take so long figuring out their payment it pings the GSTL on the PDA to come check on us to make sure everything is okay?

I'm with CVS now, it's been a while since I worked front lanes, this may not be a thing any longer.

 

[glo]

Am I the only one who has had guests take so long figuring out their payment it pings the GSTL on the PDA to come check on us to make sure everything is okay?

I'm with CVS now, it's been a while since I worked front lanes, this may not be a thing any longer.

I think it still does. I don't usually have GSTL/GSA checked in Redwire on my mydevice, but I think it gives an alert with something along the lines of "transaction stalled".

 

[iBowlGood]

I have talked to old grizzled vets who have been with the company for like 15 years and some less. Target does this crap all the time and even in my time they changed their minds. Last time it was how important the "vibe" is and now everyone in the store needs to know how "suspend is our friend". Its cringe worthy corporate garbage pushed by people who don't have real jobs outside of being trendy corporate sluts. This kind of trifle shit is what I call "Making Jobs" because thats all its doing in reality.

I don't know if they are supposed to but every facet of the store I work pushes "suspend is your friend" I feel like we should be chanting this while we sacrifice small mammals to Lucifer or something.It dousn't increase sales or give the guests a better shopping experience and is only a flawed internal metric to measure performance. As if didn't already suck to be a cashier, now they have to shill redcards, worry about suspending and speed, zone the piles of junk around the front, all the while they stand in mostly one place for hours. I feel bad for cashiers, they probably have the worst job in the store.