Archived Cashiers might be safe

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buliSBI

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http://www.timesnews.net/article/9033660/supermarkets-consider-replacing-self-checkout-lanes

DALLAS — Ten years after self-checkout lanes debuted in many American supermarkets, some chains are beginning to rethink the option.

Beginning this month, Albertsons LLC is removing the self-checkout lanes in all of its 217 stores in seven states, including Texas.

As it remodels stores, Kroger has decided to consider the metro or Euro style of checkout lanes, with one customer line for multiple staffed express lanes vs. self checkouts.

For Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, self-checkout no longer fits with the customer-service experience it wants, spokeswoman Christine Wilcox said.

"Our customers are our highest priority, and we want to provide them with an excellent experience from the time they park their car to when they leave," Wilcox said.

When Albertsons installed self-checkout lanes nearly a decade ago, "it was in response to a growing trend in retail for stores to be even more self-service" than ever before, she said. Albertsons is replacing the self-checkout lanes with regular lanes and opening more staffed lanes during peak shopping hours.

Last month, Kroger removed the self-checkout lanes in its high-traffic store in Houston on Montrose Boulevard in response to shoppers who want to move through quickly with a few items, Kroger spokesman Gary Huddleston said.

"This isn't a test," Huddleston said. "We are looking at each and every store as we remodel to determine which checkout works best."

A recently remodeled Kroger store in Dallas has both the metro lanes and self-checkout lanes. A new store under construction also will have both quicker options, he said.

Whole Foods Market and H-E-B's Central Market both use the metro lane express checkouts instead of self-checkout. The stacked checkouts with one line move faster, and shoppers don't get stuck in slow lanes or behind customers having trouble with self-checkout.

Metro lanes check out customers three times faster than traditional express lanes, Huddleston said. The average wait time for customers who use metro lanes is 5 to 20 seconds, he said.

The Dallas area is in a state of hyper-competition in the grocery business as existing chains expand and new ones move in. That's inspiring grocery chains to rethink everything they do, said Bob Young, managing director of the Weitzman Group, which manages many grocery-anchored centers.

"Customer service and the personal touch is a prevailing theme today," Young said

Technology also is moving checkouts in new directions.

Kroger is experimenting in Cincinnati with an automated tunnel scanning technology in which shoppers put their items on a conveyor belt and the items are scanned while moving through a tunnel.

And Home Depot recently put 30,000 First Phones in its stores that allow employees to walk around and check out customers anywhere in the store.

While they're not viewed as a replacement for self-checkout, the First Phones, which Home Depot spent $64 million to develop and buy, are another speedy option for customers, said Craig Fishel, Home Depot spokesman.
 
I for one, LOVE self-checkout lanes, and use them whenever and wherever I can! There are 2 Walmarts in my town. One opened in the early 90s, and the other just opened 2 summers ago. The older Walmart still has 8 self-checkout lanes, but the new Walmart does not have ANY. So Walmart has definitely seemed to stop installing the self-checkouts in their new stores, which is a shame.:thumbsdown:
 
i dont care for them really lol.

its faster going thru express IMO.
 
I can see this might be happening. I see many customers, usually the elderly, have so many problems with these.
 
I don't like using the self-checkout lanes...the U.S is a mostly service based economy now. Now we're going to start taking service jobs away? There would be no jobs left if companies could get away with it, they'd save tons of money.
 
I think one of the basic motivations behind these trends is that you don't want that affluent/sophisticated guest -- who's time is relatively more valuable, who is unlikely to quibble over price, who's most likely paying by card -- to wait behind someone with more/different needs. It's basically market segmentation. Target attracts all kinds of consumers with its discount prices. That said, the higher-end guests tend to spend more on discretionary goods, which have fatter margins. I personally think the "metro" configuration is the optimal way to check-out shoppers with a few items.
 
The metro setup is where you stand in one line and there's a screen and it tells you which register to go to, right? That seems way more efficient...no need for GSAs or GSTLs to speed weave, the computer tells you where to go as soon as the other transaction is completed.
 
I think one of the basic motivations behind these trends is that you don't want that affluent/sophisticated guest -- who's time is relatively more valuable, who is unlikely to quibble over price, who's most likely paying by card -- to wait behind someone with more/different needs. It's basically market segmentation.
LIke me. :D
 
Mcdonalds is testing self service though

http://www.neowin.net/news/mcdonald...-kiosks-to-replace-cashiers?showcomments=true

Still wont stop them from messing up my order :facepalm:

I personnely like self service. Maybe because I'm one of the few who can handle a touch screen. The store I work at now is owned by Kroger (Its like a walmart Super center but more upper class especially in terms to clothing, meat and seafood. Plus their deli items are the best in my opinion) and it has 4 U-Scan check outs. We are remodeling it now so its unclear if U Scan will remain. (I do know they are gonna get rid of the floor tile but keep the 30 year old celiling tile with the ugly black track)

I agree with the job loss. But thats when we should move the over sea jobs back to America.
 
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Mcdonalds is testing self service though

http://www.neowin.net/news/mcdonald...-kiosks-to-replace-cashiers?showcomments=true

Still wont stop them from messing up my order :facepalm:

I personnely like self service. Maybe because I'm one of the few who can handle a touch screen. The store I work at now is owned by Kroger (Its like a walmart Super center but more upper class especially in terms to clothing, meat and seafood. Plus their deli items are the best in my opinion) and it has 4 U-Scan check outs. We are remodeling it now so its unclear if U Scan will remain. (I do know they are gonna get rid of the floor tile but keep the 30 year old celiling tile with the ugly black track)

I agree with the job loss. But thats when we should move the over sea jobs back to America.

Thanks for the link to the article. I myself also like self service for the most part until I get the error messages. Our WalMart has several U-Scan checkouts that are never opened. I asked a cashier about it and she said it caused more problems with theft.

The fast food giant is poised to add touchscreen kiosks in more than 7,000 of its restaurants in Europe in effort to replace actual, human cashiers. The touchscreen kiosks should help speed up customer transactions up to three or four seconds.

Really??? Three-four seconds? Are people that impatient or are the McDonalds "big wigs" that gung ho about getting customers in and out?
 
The articles are rewriten by the staff at Neowin. Most are young kids with no experience in journalism.

It takes a lot longer then 4 seconds to order food unless they are talking about payment and in that case it would be card only.
 
I for one, LOVE self-checkout lanes, and use them whenever and wherever I can! There are 2 Walmarts in my town. One opened in the early 90s, and the other just opened 2 summers ago. The older Walmart still has 8 self-checkout lanes, but the new Walmart does not have ANY. So Walmart has definitely seemed to stop installing the self-checkouts in their new stores, which is a shame.:thumbsdown:

The closest Walmart to me used to have self-checkout, then they took them out.

My family and I were shopping one night around 11p using the self check. There was a woman at one next to us who had finished and was having a "remove the unexpected item" problem and it wouldn't let her pay. She waited while we scanned, bagged, paid and started putting our stuff back in the cart. Finally she strolled out the front door with her cart full without paying. The light was still blinking when we walked out the door with no one in sight. She had to have had a couple hundred dollars in that cart.
 
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