The next step in self-checkout
From CNN: The next step in self-checkout
“Convenience” my rear-end. If they wanted to make shopping convenient, they’d have more checkers, not fewer. What they want is for you to do their work for them…and I speak from experience. Our local Giant supermarket, recently remodeled to widen the isles so they could shove more standups into them making navigation impossible (my personal favorite was pitching a tent in the head isle, forcing everyone to navigate between a pole and a rope), is working hard every day to force their customers to do more and more of their work - believe me, they would have the customers unload the trucks and stock the shelves if they could come up with a way to do it…thay have radically reduced the number of checkers they have available, closing their “Express” lanes and even closing down all checker lanes during the overnight hours, in effect forcing their customers to do their work for them. Service economy? Pfui…it’s all about doing as little as possible while making as much short-term profit for shareholders as possible.
Me, I’ve about had it. Go ahead, Giant, check to see how my purchases there have dropped. You see, I know with your privacy-invading “Bonuscard,” you have the ability to manually review all of my family’s purchases, creepy as that is, along with everyone else you’ve coerced into using one with the artificially-higher prices you charge without one. Honest to goodness, I never thought I’d see the day I’d get better service and less hassle from a Wal-Mart or big-box store than I get from the local grocery store…
June 24th, 2007 at 11:22 am
STANDUPS in my super market are an annoyance also.. i think if a few people would ram their
carts into a few of them (accidentally of course)perhaps they might get the idea.
btw you can get a bonus card in most markets without filling anything out therefore getting the alleged savings without them being able to track your purchases.
June 29th, 2007 at 9:59 am
I go shopping early Saturday mornings at Giant. The typical setup consists of one
person at the money order/cigarette counter, one express lane, 2 regular lanes, and
a mess of self-checkouts (and mess is probably the right collective noun). There are
at least 6 vacant lanes. I invariably see the manager having to run around and solve
problems on the self-checkouts.
I hate the self-checkouts, and will switch to a smaller, possibly more expensive
grocery store before I use one.
As to the bonus card data, there is some guy out on the internet that lets you put
his barcode on your card, so all Giant gets is his info. Not being a bonus card user,
I’m not sure what that gains him or you.
– Tom
August 1st, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Here’s a good trick - simply trade your card with a friend / neighbor / coworker. Completely goof up their tracking, but still get the “savings”. Maybe we consumers need a “preferred store” debit card, which pays our favorite stores immediately, but makes the rest of them wait a few days for payment!