| reply to JALevinworth
Re: [Rant] Stop and Shop You seem to be unclear on who is paying for whom. They are not paying me to wait around for them to get off their butts. I am the customer who is paying them for service.
Maybe some time I'll relate the trouble I had getting them to follow their scanner price policy. (Short version: They were not going to follow their policy and I had to spend 10 minutes arguing with them about it. I think their SOP was to stonewall until the customer gives up and pays the higher scanned price instead of the posted price.)
And then there are all the signs over the aisles which are wrong, making customers walk up and down multiple aisles looking for stuff. Probably part of the plan to increase impulse buying. |
|
 r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX
 ·row44
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to Mele20
Re: [Rant] Stop and Shop said by Mele20:said by r81984:The OP has a valid rant.
Everyone here pretending like it is no big deal the self checkouts were closed will be the first to get frustrated if they were in the same situation.
You are wrong. There is only ONE store here with those horrible self check lanes and what I rant about it that there are lines for those awful self check lanes that ALWAYS REQUIRE clerk intervention (so slower than cashier lanes) and only two cashier lanes open with NO quick check cashier lane open. The NO quick check cashier line open is what I rant about. I should not have to do my own bagging...not at prices charged in Safeway! And I also should not have to wait forever. The other grocery stores here don't have self check nor does Target or Wal-Mart. I prefer all the other stores over Safeway because I resent Safeway trying to force me to do my own checkout and they are too cheap to have a quick check lane always open. My favorite grocery store has FOUR quick check lanes ALWAYS OPEN. Now THAT is proper service! The reason Safeway has self check lanes and no one else does (and has almost no cashier lanes open) is because the cashiers are unionized at Safeway. They are not unionized at any other grocery in my town and those stores have plenty of open quick check lanes and NO self check lanes. As for Wal-Mart, they learned the hard way to not have self check...they removed them after people complained about them. Target only came here a year ago and they knew not to have self check lanes. Safeway loses a lot of my business to the other stores where there are lots of pleasant cashiers that quickly serve me. FYI all walmarts have either a self checkout or a one line to multiple register system. Targets dont have self checkout.
Quick check? huh? any register can take checks, but who uses checks anymore?
The self checkout at safeway never requires intervention, but when I did used to shop at walmart sometimes it required intervention.
I shop at randalls/safeway each week. They always have 4 self checkouts and at least 4 registers open. Sometimes more registers, but always at least 4. They are unionized also.
Now they might not have a bagger at each register so the cashier has to bag the items after scanning.
All stores with any kind of concern for customer service HAVE self checkout so those with quick purchases dont have to wait for people with cart fulls.
--
...brought to you by Carl's Jr. |
|
Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | reply to Thespis
said by Thespis:said by Mele20:The reason Safeway has self check lanes and no one else does (and has almost no cashier lanes open) is because the cashiers are unionized at Safeway.
So you're saying that a labor union forced a store to replace human workers with machines? Odd... No, I am saying that Safeway management refuses to properly man the quick check lanes because the cashiers are unionized! They make twice as much per hour as the cashiers at the other grocery stores here so Safeway doesn't want to pay out that much in order to keep the quick check lanes manned. The other stores hire mostly part time college students, at much lower wages, as cashiers and can thus afford to keep the quick check lanes open (and don't need to try and force self check out lanes on customers to save money).
Part of me is glad that the cashiers at Safeway are union and make really good wages but another part of me (the part that wants to use the quick check lane) doesn't like that at all.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
|
Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | reply to quatrix
said by quatrix:And since we're talking about checkout lane inefficiency, how about the people (the vast majority) who don't realize that they can swipe their credit cards while items are still being scanned? Instead they don't even pull out their wallets/purses until the very end.
You cannot swipe your card while items are being scanned in CVS... that causes an error and it ends up taking twice as long to straighten out the error and then finally be able to swipe the card. At many other stores, Safeway being among them, tell those stores to stop asking me "do I want to donate to xxxx cause?" and then after that asking me if I want cash back on my CREDIT card! Why in the world would I want cash back on a CREDIT card....not a debit card...a credit card. I HATE that in Safeway. Also, tell folks using debit cards to please not forget their pin. I think debit cards should be banned because they slow down checkout much more than someone writing a check. Plus, the stores that have readers that cause card error unless the card is swiped EXTREMELY SLOWLY (Safeway is one of them) should get better readers.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
|
|
|
Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | reply to JALevinworth
Most courtesy counters cannot ring you up if you have any item needing weighing. Since I shop healthy (perimeter of grocery stores only), I always have items that need weighing. In fact, that kind of item is probably all that I have. So, that option is out for me.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
|
Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | reply to BlitzenZeus
said by BlitzenZeus:Ask yourself this, who goes to the grocery store during a non-holiday weekday at eight am, very few people. Almost nobody does their family shopping at eight am.
Here, many folks go about 6-7AM. Night owls are looked upon askance as anyone not in bed asleep by 8PM must be up to no good and if they are not up and out doing their errands at the crack of dawn....well...the Mall shuts down at 8PM except Fri and Sat when it stays open till 9PM...except Sears shuts down at 8PM on those two nights and Sears shuts down at 7PM all other nights and Sunday at 6PM.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
|
Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | reply to scross
Your official opening was at 8AM? Here all the grocery stores open at 5AM! By 5:30AM, there are quite a few folks in them. The quiet times here are when I shop:7PM and later.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
|
Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | reply to r81984
Our Wal-Mart does not have self check. They did several years ago and those were so hated by customers that they removed them. We simply have about 20 checkout lanes and several of them are quick check lanes. "Quick check" does not mean lanes where folks can write checks to pay as you can do that in any lane in any store although not many do anymore. "Quick check" lanes are those that are "quick" to get through because they limit the number items to 10 or 5 maximum. But you can write a check in them if you want.
Self check at Safeway is always requiring intervention and there is only one clerk on it so it takes a lot longer than standing in the quick check lane (but in Safeway the quick check lanes are not open all hours as they are in other grocery stores). Besides, those self check lanes you can't use your rainchecks and I have NEVER shopped in Safeway where I did not have to get a bunch of rainchecks. You probably don't even know what a raincheck is....my mother had never heard of one but she lives on the Mainland. In Hawaii rainchecks are daily fact of life and everyone carries around a bunch of them for grocery stores, drugstores, target, etc.
Self check is not for small purchases as those are probably because you had to go back in the store a week, two weeks, three weeks, whatever later to get maybe one of your raincheck items and then go back the next day for another one. You get in the store and learn that the Thursday produce load was late to be delivered on the barge from Honolulu to Kona side of the island and so instead of being out in the store by 2PM (and you have to get there by 3PM otherwise it frequently be sold out) it won't be put out until about 8PM. So, you go back Friday afternoon and it is gone or you learn there it never arrived and you have to get a raincheck. Next produce load comes on Monday afternoon but when you get there Monday you learn the Big Island Safeways were shorted out because not enough came into Honolulu on the Friday before (barge takes three days from Honolulu) to Kona side and then a two hour drive to Hilo side. This is a regular weekly occurrence at Safeway for produce and any popular meat, bread, frozen food, etc that is on sale that week.
Then you want frozen petite peas that are on sale...well, there never are any when on sale so you get the raincheck. The Matson container load that has frozen food is unloaded on Friday nights and put out by Saturday afternoon so you have to go back again that Saturday just to get your frozen peas. So, lots of trips for one or two items and on rainchecks and you must stand in line for a cashier for those items. A lot of the rainchecks read something like Open Nature organic shoulder lamb chops at Safeway card club price of $5.99 per pound. So, Safeway gets some in finally...a month after you got the raincheck, you pick up a package at $7.99 per pound. You must take it to a cashier...not self check and the cashier has to spend time figuring out the difference between the current price and the raincheck price which is complicated by the fact it is a per pound price not per item price and then the computer won't accept it and a manager has to be called. This happens VERY FREQUENTLY in Safeway and the other stores also but they don't have a charade of having self check lanes that are worthless in Hawaii with all the rainchecks and couple that with buying healthy which means many items (if not all) will need weighing so no courtesy desk checkout...those self check lanes are dumb ...at least in Hawaii.
--
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
|
| So Stop and Pee is still in business?
I've found that Safeway (Spaceway) has the slowest freaking checkers. They have to stop and chat. I've told them to keep checking and I'll freaking bag - there's a line behind me. Here they still use the belt that the shopper loads. The clerk unloads at KS.
That is faster since clerk can pull anything that needs to be weighed and do it all at once or leave all of it in the cart until last.
King Soopers (King Stupid's) is very much faster at checkout. Albertson's stores were always dirty.
I've found Target not too bad, but I won't do Wally World. We used to have a Cub/Grocery Warehouse, but those stores usually benefit those who buy in bulk.
I'll use self-check but that damn bagging requirement just pisses me off. I'm buying one small item - I don't NEED a bag. |
|
| Re: [Rant] Stop and Shop I go to that Stop and Shop reluctantly, but it's adjacent to where I work, and I just walk next door. So it saves gasoline because I don't have to stop at a better store on the way home.
Unfortunately, I've had repeated problems at this Stop and Shop. I know it's not me, because I don't have those problems at the better supermarket near my home.
Useless trivia: This Stop and Shop was originally built as an Edwards store and had a large "Edwards" sign in front, but it never opened under that name. |
|
moes
join:2009-11-15
Indianapolis, IN Reviews:
·Revol Wireless
·AT&T DSL Service
 ·Comcast
| reply to bitemeboy
That's it, just cause us more time because we have to go place items back that you in your wisdom left because "mommy they wont give me vip service" Plus confronting me would of been quite the site I would of laughed you out of the store and it would of been nice not ever seeing your face again, I've been in this industry to long. You're not understanding how these things work, you just believe you deserve "special" treatment.
I know I sound like an ass and all, but in the gist of this, we have so much going on, 1 person is not going to get special treatment because they want to throw a fit and act like a 2 year old. |
|
r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX Reviews:
·row44
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to Mele20
said by Mele20:Our Wal-Mart does not have self check. They did several years ago and those were so hated by customers that they removed them.
I really find this hard to believe as self checkout are extra lines open in addition to the regular registers.
So only those who like them or with few items used them when it was quicker than the regular registers.
If you did not like them no one forced you to use them.
I guess you live in an area where walmart was always out of stock so people were using rain checks constantly then I guess I could see how the self checkouts could be slow, but usually they have 1 worker for several self checkouts to handle those kind of things.
said by Mele20:We simply have about 20 checkout lanes and several of them are quick check lanes. "Quick check" does not mean lanes where folks can write checks to pay as you can do that in any lane in any store although not many do anymore. "Quick check" lanes are those that are "quick" to get through because they limit the number items to 10 or 5 maximum. But you can write a check in them if you want.
Normally people call those the "10 items or less" lane.
said by Mele20:Self check at Safeway is always requiring intervention and there is only one clerk on it so it takes a lot longer than standing in the quick check lane (but in Safeway the quick check lanes are not open all hours as they are in other grocery stores). Besides, those self check lanes you can't use your rainchecks and I have NEVER shopped in Safeway where I did not have to get a bunch of rainchecks. You probably don't even know what a raincheck is....my mother had never heard of one but she lives on the Mainland. In Hawaii rainchecks are daily fact of life and everyone carries around a bunch of them for grocery stores, drugstores, target, etc.
Self check is not for small purchases as those are probably because you had to go back in the store a week, two weeks, three weeks, whatever later to get maybe one of your raincheck items and then go back the next day for another one. You get in the store and learn that the Thursday produce load was late to be delivered on the barge from Honolulu to Kona side of the island and so instead of being out in the store by 2PM (and you have to get there by 3PM otherwise it frequently be sold out) it won't be put out until about 8PM. So, you go back Friday afternoon and it is gone or you learn there it never arrived and you have to get a raincheck. Next produce load comes on Monday afternoon but when you get there Monday you learn the Big Island Safeways were shorted out because not enough came into Honolulu on the Friday before (barge takes three days from Honolulu) to Kona side and then a two hour drive to Hilo side. This is a regular weekly occurrence at Safeway for produce and any popular meat, bread, frozen food, etc that is on sale that week.
Then you want frozen petite peas that are on sale...well, there never are any when on sale so you get the raincheck. The Matson container load that has frozen food is unloaded on Friday nights and put out by Saturday afternoon so you have to go back again that Saturday just to get your frozen peas. So, lots of trips for one or two items and on rainchecks and you must stand in line for a cashier for those items. A lot of the rainchecks read something like Open Nature organic shoulder lamb chops at Safeway card club price of $5.99 per pound. So, Safeway gets some in finally...a month after you got the raincheck, you pick up a package at $7.99 per pound. You must take it to a cashier...not self check and the cashier has to spend time figuring out the difference between the current price and the raincheck price which is complicated by the fact it is a per pound price not per item price and then the computer won't accept it and a manager has to be called. This happens VERY FREQUENTLY in Safeway and the other stores also but they don't have a charade of having self check lanes that are worthless in Hawaii with all the rainchecks and couple that with buying healthy which means many items (if not all) will need weighing so no courtesy desk checkout...those self check lanes are dumb ...at least in Hawaii.
I used to work at walgreens. I gave out rainchecks all the time on coupon items when we were out of stock.
I think everyone knows what a raincheck is.
I never had a problem at self checkout at safeway.
Sometimes even if i had a cart with like 10 bags worth, I will use self checkout as all 4 are empty and long lines at the registers. I can scan items faster than any of the cashiers working there. Also, I never had a error on their registers yet that required an intervention from an employee to fix, even with so many items and key in/weigh items.
As for self checkouts, in your situation it does not seem to be a self checkout problem. It is a Hawaii/stores never have enough stock problem.
--
...brought to you by Carl's Jr. |
|
scross
join:2002-09-13
Cordova, TN
2 edits | reply to Mele20
Re: [Rant] Stop and Shop said by Mele20:Your official opening was at 8AM? Here all the grocery stores open at 5AM! By 5:30AM, there are quite a few folks in them. The quiet times here are when I shop:7PM and later.
This was 30 years ago in the 'burbs, and it was a relatively high-end (read: overpriced and catering to higher-income clientele) grocery store, not your average Kroger or WalMart. A lot of the people shopping there were maids and housekeepers, buying for their employers. I was also fairly frequently sent on delivery and catering runs to various financial businesses downtown - which was a bit odd since there were plenty of other grocery stores situated much closer to them, but I guess these were considered "unworthy".
At the time, the only such business open 24 hours, or even keeping extended hours, would have been something like a 7-11. IIRC, the posted hours for our store were 8 AM - 9 PM, but I got there at 5:30 AM, and I know we often had stock people working there until the wee hours of the morning, so for all intents and purposes we could have had much longer operating hours. But at the time it was considered unconscionable to do much stocking and other work during official business hours with customers present, especially at that store. (Or for that matter to have displays that didn't look almost perfect at all times, which was one of my ongoing jobs during the day.) It wasn't until the warehouse-type stores came along that this became acceptable practice, and today it's very common. |
|
scross
join:2002-09-13
Cordova, TN | reply to carpetshark3
said by carpetshark3:I'll use self-check but that damn bagging requirement just pisses me off. I'm buying one small item - I don't NEED a bag.
You don't have to take a bag. You can always just set the item(s) on the bagging carousel, which is actually a weighing device; there is often an open spot in the center just for this purpose. Or push the "skip bagging" button, which is usually available but may require an attendant to double-check what you're doing.
My pet peeve is bags that won't open. If I try to open some in advance then that ticks off the machine, and if I take too long to open one and bag an item, then that ticks off the machine. So these days I might just sit things down on the carousel and bag them all at the end of my transaction (because who cares if I tick off the machine then?), or maybe I'll just skip bagging completely. |
|
scross
join:2002-09-13
Cordova, TN | reply to r81984
Our local WalMart's had self-checkouts for a while (maybe a year), but then they disappeared. At first these were supposedly going to be replaced with a "new and improved" system, but when these never turned up I asked around and was told they wouldn't be coming, because "nobody liked" the self-check. As far remember the original worked as well as any other self-check, which is to say that it wasn't without its problems, but newer systems have tended to be less finicky.
My local Autozone briefly had a self-check kiosk. It supposedly took cash but that never worked, although the credit card scanner did. I got to use it maybe once before they took it away.
The key to beating the lines at my local Walgreen's is to checkout at the makeup counter (never busy); the second choice is the photo counter (rarely busy). I assume you could checkout at the pharmacy in the back, too. But the lines at the two cashiers are rarely long anyway, and the cashiers who work them tend to hustle. |
|
| reply to A non
Fair enough. Sorry for being hard on you before.
said by A non :Useless trivia: This Stop and Shop was originally built as an Edwards store and had a large "Edwards" sign in front, but it never opened under that name.
Yeah, they took over the Edwards chain. Mine actually was an Edwards for years before that, and even something else before. I still absent mindedly call it Edwards which amuses my kids to get to rip on ole Dad. On a similar note, my bank has changed hands so many times I'm never sure the name at all. Just the color, lol.
-Jim |
|
r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX Reviews:
·row44
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to scross
When I was living in Canada, their walmart has a one line for 4 register system.
You stood in the one line and the register number would flash on one of the 4 registers when they were ready for the next person. It was pretty damn efficient.
They still had normal register lines also.
The best thing for a company with the self checkouts is you could have 1 or 1/2 a person tied to multiple registers.
You get more throughput with less employee costs.
I remember when self checkout first came out at walmart and they always had errors. It seems they made their systems less sensitive over the years, but I no longer shop at walmart as their prices are mostly higher than other places except on a few key items.
As for the safeway self checkouts I use them all the time and never had a glitch or employee intervention yet. So their brand of self check out system works.
--
...brought to you by Carl's Jr. |
|
