"SCO" in regular checklanes?

[IWishIKnew]

I had lunch with a friend today, who said she went to a store and their SCOs were on regular checklanes, just with no cashier and the POS set to SCO.

Is this a pilot or a new thing or just a weird store being weird?

My friend is a reliable narrator and she wouldn't confess to being confused about SCO for a normal SCO but was deeply confused about being herded to a checklane to check herself out.

 

[versionDefect]

I had lunch with a friend today, who said she went to a store and their SCOs were on regular checklanes, just with no cashier and the POS set to SCO.

Is this a pilot or a new thing or just a weird store being weird?

My friend is a reliable narrator and she wouldn't confess to being confused about SCO for a normal SCO but was deeply confused about being herded to a checklane to check herself out.

I heard they were going to eventually do something like this but I don't really know how well it would function as the POS doesn't control the lane light. So if a guest needs help. How would a TM know?

 

[Yetive]

There is a store in the next district that does this. 3 or 4 registers turned around and set to sco. Not a pilot. Any store can do this.

 

[IWishIKnew]

Huh. I should ask her if that store has the short checkouts 2 deep (like one store near me) or like my store (that she usually goes to, as it's close to her work) with the full-size checklanes. Store with the short checklanes has no SCO (it's an IGA store). I could see this working a little better with the short checkouts where you could basically rope off 2/4 of them and have a TM nearby.

 

[dannyy315]

We have Shoprite and Stop and Shop stores with registers like that. You put the items on the belt and get them yourself at the end lol.

 

[Yetive]

Huh. I should ask her if that store has the short checkouts 2 deep (like one store near me) or like my store (that she usually goes to, as it's close to her work) with the full-size checklanes. Store with the short checklanes has no SCO (it's an IGA store). I could see this working a little better with the short checkouts where you could basically rope off 2/4 of them and have a TM nearby.

They have no sco. No belts on the lanes and are IGS.

 

[azure]

Hold up couldn’t a guest just change any price to anything?

 

[dannyy315]

Hold up couldn’t a guest just change any price to anything?

No because the POS is SCO. The lane itself looks like any ordinary checklane, but it runs the SCO software.

 

[azure]

No because the POS is SCO. The lane itself looks like any ordinary checklane, but it runs the SCO software.

Oh I see. Can someone send a photo?

 

[haderix]

There was a video out there somewhere long ago demonstrating how it works that I can't find. The checklane fixtures are replaced with ones where the guest and the team member stands on the same side and there are belts as well. Once the register is logged in it turns the lane light on. All lanes are open, meaning all lane lights are on. When the guest needs help or requests a person to cashier the light flashes. If they need to pay in cash it also requests a team member.

Random fact, front lanes payroll is allocated based on SCO usage. So the more SCO it used, the less payroll you receive.

 

[VinceTomatoFour]

Hold up couldn’t a guest just change any price to anything?
Not when there’s store mode…. It would prob function the same way guest service registers operate where you can keep it on sco screen only and when guest needs help tm has to sign in under their digits

 

[VinceTomatoFour]

There is a store in the next district that does this. 3 or 4 registers turned around and set to sco. Not a pilot. Any store can do this.

There’s something wrong with this…. What about the cash register thats attached to the screen??? Won’t the drawers pop open when guest pays cash?

 

[azure]

There’s something wrong with this…. What about the cash register thats attached to the screen??? Won’t the drawers pop open when guest pays cash?

No, some stores self checkouts don’t have the ATM system so I’m assuming the register can detect if it doesn’t and has a team member come over.

 

[MxTarget]

No, some stores self checkouts don’t have the ATM system so I’m assuming the register can detect if it doesn’t and has a team member come over.

I was at the Santa Fe store a while back and their SCOs just had cash drawers. When you use cash, it has the “Team Member on the Way” message and they sign in and make change like a non-SCO transaction.

 

[countingsheep]

Oh i wish my store would do this! They refuse to hire cashiers leaving us with sco from 3pm to close. And only 3 sco lanes 🙄 90% of 4hrs on a lane for these vultures.

 

[Dream Baby]

Oh i wish my store would do this! They refuse to hire cashiers leaving us with sco from 3pm to close. And only 3 sco lanes 🙄 90% of 4hrs on a lane for these vultures.

Our store has been doing this for months because they are too cheap to schedule enough cashiers.

At of our guests don't use them because there is no one there and they assumed it's closed!

 

[azure]

Oh i wish my store would do this! They refuse to hire cashiers leaving us with sco from 3pm to close. And only 3 sco lanes 🙄 90% of 4hrs on a lane for these vultures.

That doesn’t make much sense. Why wouldn’t you just have 2 cashiers and all your self checkouts open? Of all targets transactions I’m willing to bet over 50% are done at self checkouts.

 

[RunForACallBox]

A GM store close to where I live does this. They don’t have any SCOs and they still have 4 Express Lanes that they’ve turned into SCOs.

 

[BadWolf4531]

All the Meijer stores in my area have been doing this for years. Their traditional SCO lanes are supposed to be "express" (~20 items or less), but then they have longer SCO lanes with belts and the lazy susan bagging stations.

With all of Target's investments in technology and remodels, I assume this will be the norm at most stores going forward. It's been slowly happening for years, but the future of Service & Engagement payroll is going to be primarily fulfillment services (i.e. Drive-Up runners), not cashiers.

 

[graydot]

There is a store in the next district that does this. 3 or 4 registers turned around and set to sco. Not a pilot. Any store can do this.

I don't see how this would work without it just being really awkward. All of the checklane models in stores (P97, P04, P18) have the bag racks behind the counter and are not easily accessible from the front. The flatbed scanner is also blocked by the plexiglass partitions. It would just be really awkward to operate without actually being behind the register, no?

 

[Rarejem]

I don't see how this would work without it just being really awkward. All of the checklane models in stores (P97, P04, P18) have the bag racks behind the counter and are not easily accessible from the front. The flatbed scanner is also blocked by the plexiglass partitions. It would just be really awkward to operate without actually being behind the register, no?

I wish this could be changed so the lanes could easily be converted. Lately we have had ONE advocate only scheduled until 10 am. This is not working as well as whoever did the scheduling thought it would. Having extra SCO's available and usable would alleviate some of the congestion and stress.

 

[DBZ]

A walmart near me has sco only. I think they have 2 employees there to help with voids and stuff. I'd say there are 14 of them? They have great bagging stations at half of them. The others are regular SCO. I kind of love it, but mostly because I can check myself out quicker then most cashiers. Oh and their hand scanners are battery operated. No stupid cord.

 

[Rarejem]

Oh and their hand scanners are battery operated. No stupid cord.

I wonder how often they have to replace them if they aren't attached.

 

[DBZ]

I wonder how often they have to replace them if they aren't attached.

I feel like they would disappear often. I'm sure they get dropped a lot. Can you imagine a kid getting a hold of it and walking around and scanning things.

 

[graydot]

I wish this could be changed so the lanes could easily be converted. Lately we have had ONE advocate only scheduled until 10 am. This is not working as well as whoever did the scheduling thought it would. Having extra SCO's available and usable would alleviate some of the congestion and stress.

Yeah Target definitely should have considered designing the checklanes like this for P18. 4 self-checkouts are not enough and anytime someone pays with cash we need to have a technician come out to fix the cash recycler, so there are times when we’re down to just two. The Walmart near me has like 20 self-checkouts.