I seem to remember the packer also carried the big heavy duty paper recycling bags full of groceries to your car for you and placed them in the boot! Luxury to have a car!
Except for the grandparents who had neither a car or license. The shopping went in string bags and the pull along two wheeled trolley for the ride on the tram and walk home.
Low carbon for sure with the benefit of a little exercise.
I had all but forgotten the trolleys. Probably havenāt seen one being used since the early 90ās. Reminds me of seeing the shopkeeper,s addition handwritten on the wrapping paper.
The machines may be convenient for some people, and a means of stealing for others. BUT I would refuse to use them as I like the personal interaction of the ācheckout chicksā. It is a social experience most of the time. My IGA actually does not have the machines, thank goodness - and is another reason for my loyalty to that store.
One such āchickā at the local Woolies is a late middle-aged man. He is the life of the party, he knows everybody and their business and will discuss it (at high volume) with anybody. Most men like him, the ladies love him. Ever-smiling he lightens up your day.
So much better than the dreary self-absorbed teenagers who struggle to squeeze out a soulless āand have a nice dayā at the end of the transaction. Some have yet to learn that an unpleasant job is better than no job and if you have to do an unpleasant job the way to get through the day is to make the best of it. You can find a way to make it bearable and if you do it well somebody might notice and give you a better job.
Pay minimum wage get minimum effort.
Itās better for the supermarket to have low paid, untrained staff who do a half arsed job than better people who cost the end consumer a little more. Everyone wants good service but price is a far bigger driver on supermarket shopping. If it wasnāt we wouldnāt be having this whole self serve discussion.
Actually, I find using the self checkouts a source of fun. Went to kmart the other day with one item to pay for and a five dollar note. I managed to occupy the attention of two staffers showing me how to scan, press various options on the screen, and insert said paper money. Loads of fun. I have been in the IT industry for 35 years and know my way around computers. If that is what the retail industry wants, then good luck to them. As an aside, went to my supermarket today. They like to have lots of fresh fruit and vegies right at the front of the store. There was a security person standing guard to watch everyone to make sure they presumably didnāt just walk in and grab a banana and walk out.
At Coles they allow you to sample fresh fruit if you ask for a ātasteā test, Woolworths may have the same. This Coles policy was made aware to me by a supervisor there when I wanted to check the flavour of some new ranges of apples. I was able to walk out the store and share with my spouse to see if we liked them or not (so 4 apples for free). Worth asking the supervisor/manager staff if you want to sample the products to see if they are to your taste and texture standards. Not sure if they will change it but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Itās my understanding that both big supermarkets pay higher than minimum wage rates. Like Awards, Enterprise Agreements are public documents.
Iāve used self serve in Coles, Big W, Kmart and Woolies. Except for the first couple of times at Coles, Iāve had no issues with the unexpected item in the bagging area situation, whether it be just a few items or half a trolley. Woolies are also in the process of activating the bag scales across their stores.
Before we got the self-serve at our store roughly half of customers would persistently ask us when we were getting self-serve in. Itās a bit like asking someone if pineapple belongs on pizza. You either vehemently agree or vehemently oppose.
We always have manned checkouts available in our store, both express and non-express. There may be times when it doesnāt look there is someone on a non-express, especially when itās what we call the āQ wordā (if a staff member or customer says it, it will invariably become extremely busy in the following few minutes). When we are not serving we are required to do other things that may see us temporarily away from the checkout, but the person is floating nearby and will return when they see someone waiting (almost always, if the light is on, the lane is open, even if you canāt see someone). Or you can always ask at the service desk if there is someone open.
Itās also been the case at my store that we have actually hired more checkout staff since self-serve was introduced. During busy periods weāll also have 2 people working inside self-serve.
When I personally use self-serve I actually donāt want that human interaction, unless itās absolutely necessary. The times I want the human interaction Iāll go to a manned checkout. While Iām working the amount of conversation I give to customers is generally based on the amount the customer is willing to give me. Many times Iāll say āhello, how are youā and get no response back at all.
Self-serve is also good for those that want to take cash out. If weāve had a run on people wanting cash out, like if thereās a local sports event on, or the local atms are down, we can often run out at the registers. If that happens we can direct them to the self-serve to get their cash out, even if they arenāt buying anything.
As with the introduction of free fruit for kids, they learned it is better to ālook goodā and allow adults to have a taste or even a piece, rather than chasing them off. Simply a $100 basket is more valuable to them than the loss of āan apple.ā
That is correct that they get a slightly higher rate. In exchange though Woolworths as well as several other major supermarkets remove many penalty rates, resulting in a lower average per hour pay than the minimum. Woolworths and Coles staff are currently in a fight to remove these agreements.
In the mean time though my point stands. Itās impossible to make a living wage from working checkouts alone these days, so donāt expect anyone who cares that much about it.
I donāt use them because I donāt work for the supermarket!
Simple. They take away jobs without making anything less expensive. There was NO price drop when supermarkets introduced self-checkouts, was there? There was NO price drop when the last of the now expendable checkout staff were laid off a few months later either. And to top it off, when they found that people were scanning avocados as brown onions etc, rather than replace the checkout staff with store detectives, they asked our Police to come stand at self checkouts and police THEIR bungle, thus costing us taxpayer money as well. (No - Iām not kidding, one of the supermarket Big Two really did that, and no, they didnāt get free store staff out of it, they got told to deal with it themselves.)
Which ever path - assisted or self checkout - Iām keeping people employed
9 times in 10 Iāll need self check out assistance, usually more than once. The Coles system is flawed. It really dislikes speed. Two people at a machine - the flow is too fast & errors consistently with unrecoverable unbagged item errors. I seem to be able to do that by myself when operating in ambidextrous mode. It prefers plodders. Woolworths system is much more tolerant.
I agree. The first time I used the self service checkout I scanned and paid for my groceries and as I was leaving the store I was approached by a security guard who asked me to accompany him. It was humiliating and embarrassing. I assume he thought I had not paid for something. I was taken out the back room and asked to place my order on the table. I did so and luckily I had requested a receipt. He took about 5 minutes to go through everything and then left me to repack my order. NO apology!! I should have sued the company for the embarrassing assumption of guilt. I have never been back to Coles and I will never shop there ever.
I hate them, too. I prefer keeping people in jobs and having contact with a real person rather than an impersonal machine.
If I find there are no manned checkouts, I go to the service desk and tell them they have a choice: either open a checkout or put my purchases back on the shelves. Itās not failed yet.
I take that back - they now do. I called the attendant over 5 times, eventually telling her she was going to be busy. At the end, if you have pressed the āskip bagging brain dead measurement b/sā button it asks for assistance again. Of interest, the glass scanning surface is very very tough, but not tougher than a glass jar containing olives ā¦ I found that amusing.
Last time I use self service. Typical business ālogicā - create a cost saving and a problem - enforce fixing the problem because byproducts of it (theft) eat into the cost saving - and force people away from using it. Iām sure on paper it will work - most sheep take the easy path no matter how bad it seems (not saying I havenāt been a sheep - but now I am āHaroldā 
) ā¦
(for an explanation of āHaroldā ā¦)
Does anyone remember Masters? They had only self service checkouts with a service counter for refunds or special orders.
It is my cynical belief that within a short period of time, the bigger supermarkets will go the way of Masters and there will be no provision for a checkout chick to put your goods through - at least in off peak times.
The only way to keep checkout chicks on duty is to boycott the self service section. But will people in a hurry queue up if thereās only one operator and an easy to use self service?
I think people are delusional if they think the medium-to-long-term-goal is not to have only self serv.
This is NOT my wish, but I think it is inevitable.
I prognosticate self service checkout is a fad. It will eventually be found that it costs as much or more than humans when all costs are considered and customer loyalty/satisfaction factored into P/L. It will be replaced by NFC technology where every product will have its device affixed and the scanner will get all of it on the way out. No costs there I am sure. Right. I prognosticate automated NFC checkout will be a fad.
However also being a realist, these fads will be as popular as outsourcing became until it started falling down on its own merit and eventually collapses.
OK, just hoping, and it is obvious most accountants, tax laws, and management often take a long time (forever?) to be concerned with much other than short term P/L and their bonuses, noting their KPI are usually tied to same.
It may be worth asking if there is a longer term strategy behind the changes to checkout service?
IE is the end game here only about self service?Are customers simply learning the skills of a competent and experienced check out operator?
It is also worth considering that there will always be some customers who for various different reasons, eg physically or mentally limiting abilities, struggle with the current self checkout paradigm. How valued customers who are unable to adapt, is also an important discussion.
P.S.
Large organisations are typically not random in making major changes. In particular changes that relate to such a fundamental part of the shopping experience as checkouts will have been analysed carefully by most businesses. The change management will have been strategically determined and agonised over by large teams, often years in advance. There will likely be a further forward vision in the supermarket business about where they need to be in 5, 10, 25 years time. It is how you ensure your competitors do not get ahead, while giving yourself a small opportunity of being there first.
Cynicism would suggest that retraining our behaviours at the checkout is just another step on the path of retail chain supremacy. Whether it is true or not, the principles of marketing have long been determined. The customers free will is simply another variable. One to be tamed. No! Controlled?
As part of this future Iāll suggest the supermarket as a walk in and pick off shelf service will cease to exist.
