Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Self check @PCC?
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April 3, 2014 at 6:06 pm #610919
RonnieRayMemberI noticed that PCC in Greenlake now has SELF CHECK MACHINES! I was horrified. I sent a comment to the folks at our West Seattle PCC. I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling this way, so, please join me in letting them know that we don’t want these in OUR store!!!
April 3, 2014 at 7:11 pm #806476
jissyParticipantThey have them at the Issaquah PCC, too.
April 3, 2014 at 8:40 pm #806477
JanSParticipantRonnieRay..I’m curious..what is so dastardly wrong with self-check machines @ PCC? they want to work proficiently , too. Or is PCC different, they can only do it the “natural” way, where customers get personalized service? I just don’t get it. If a customer only has two things to buy, why should they wait behind someone who has much more….they could sip in and zip out without having to stand and wait for the person with 20 items.
April 3, 2014 at 8:52 pm #806478
SueParticipantI’m curious about what is so horrifying about them as well. Not that you aren’t entitled to your opinion, but I know that given the choice, I will almost always take a self-check machine.
April 3, 2014 at 9:23 pm #806479
rwParticipantOne can also consider self checkout machines as a way to reduce labor costs by hiring fewer people — instead they force you to look up produce codes and bag your own groceries rather than paying checkers and baggers. I use them only if I have a few non-produce items AND the regular checkstand lines have multiple people waiting in line. Think of self checkout as one more way businesses will respond to dramatic increases in the minimum wage.
April 3, 2014 at 10:31 pm #806480
JanSParticipantseriously? At the self-checkout lines at the grocery store where I shop, they are always manned by checkers because….people. And how hard is it to look up a frickin’ code?(oh, yeah, we’re talking about people…lazy people. And I’m assuming you never have shopped at Winco….you always bag your own there…and yes, they give you time.
April 4, 2014 at 12:26 am #806481
JoBParticipanti almost never use self checkout lines
i actually left a cart full of stuff at the Home Depot the last time i went because they had no checkstand open.
they lost a $200+ sale that day.
Their loss was McClendon’s gain.
when you self check and the amount rung up on the machine doesn’t tally with the sales price on the rack.. guess what you get to do? You get to wait for a clerk.
when the item you purchase doesn’t fit in the bag guess what you get to do.. you get to wait.
personally, i would rather wait for a clerk to check me out than wait for a clerk to fix the machine while i wait to finish their work.
if i want to do the work for myself.. i can order almost anything i purchase from the internet and have it delivered to my door..
and save the wear and tear on my joints.
that’s not why i go to brick and mortar stores.
April 4, 2014 at 12:28 am #806482
rwParticipantOf course it reduces labor costs, Jan. At Safeway I believe one person monitors six or eight diy checkout stands. And you can call it laziness, but I call looking up product codes performing a service that someone else is otherwise paid to perform. Call me lazy but I cut my own hair, clean my own house and yard, and umpteen other things. I’ll even pick my own berries and wash my own car when the occasion permits. I like the checkout people at PCC, Metropolitan, and even TJs. I believe the shopping experience at any of these three would decline with the diy checkout lanes.
April 4, 2014 at 12:43 am #806483
rwParticipantA few links:
http://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/article/220077/Jewel-Osco-puts-an-end-to-self-checkout?rc_id=433 (note the part about adding cashiers as they remove self-checkout machines.)
http://news.yahoo.com/self-checkout-lanes-taking-jobs-212900146.html
April 4, 2014 at 12:55 am #806484
anonymeParticipantMixed feelings. I like self-checkout for smaller purchases, but not big shopping trips. And people did lose their jobs at Safeway when these were installed a few years ago; I remember some of the checkers pleading with customers to continue to come through their lines so that they wouldn’t be fired.
I’m neither lazy nor stupid, but sometimes the self-checkout is a pain in the butt. Every store has a different system, they don’t always work properly, and some systems are far less intuitive than others. The PCC at Fremont has one that I find especially difficult. I wonder if self-checkout at the California PCC might not create a security/logistics nightmare due to the high school swarms…
April 4, 2014 at 1:06 am #806485
2 Much WhineParticipantSNARK ALERT! If you don’t like self-checkouts don’t use them. You’re buying presliced bread, hot pockets, canned soup and all the other pre-packed conveniences that are now a part of our life. Self-checkouts could be avoided entirely if we all hunted, fished, foraged and grew our own food but in the end that’s quite a little bit more work than typing in a code or two and bagging your own stuff. It’s all about perspective.
OK, now that I got that out of me. . . .I am not crazy about self-checkouts because they seem to get messed up every time I place something in the bagging area that doesn’t weigh the right amount. It is very annoying waiting for the clerk to come and clear the darned thing. If they fixed that I’d have no problem using them.
April 4, 2014 at 2:35 am #806486
NorthbyNorthWestParticipantAgreed, if you don’t like them don’t use them. Last time I checked stores with self-checkouts still offer regular checkouts. Using the term “horrified” and trying to start a de-facto online petition is a little much. By the way, I live within about 1/2 a mile of Metro/Safeway/PCC, so please be aware that not everyone views this as a problem for “OUR store”…
April 4, 2014 at 2:46 am #806487
Seattle TrashMemberOh cool! I hope we get one or 2 in the West Seattle location. Really great for people who have just a few things. I usually do 2-3 big trips a month, I always feel bad when someone is picking up an item or two and stuck behind me (I’ll let them jump ahead if the cashier hasn’t started my transaction.)
Ronnie, where can I let them know I think it would be great?
April 4, 2014 at 3:24 am #806488
manhattan93MemberMaybe I am the only one that feel the clerks at PCC WS are the ‘cold blood’ people, except the senior ones. Nope, I didn’t bring any kids with me, or loaded them with tons of coupons.
April 4, 2014 at 4:18 am #806489
seaopgalParticipantI tend to agree that the overall warmth of the staff might be improved by the machines …
April 4, 2014 at 4:29 am #806490
KevinParticipantFortunately the GOOD stores still have REAL people to interact with their customers!
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Thriftway? – I doubt you will ever see self check out. A number of years ago, they were promoting “finger print” checkout verification, matching your finger print with your bank card. They promptly dropped the idea when they saw that most customers were NOT interested.
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Metropolitan Market? – I highly doubt it!
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Nordstrom? – Not a chance!
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You may pay a little more at these stores, but you receive PERSONAL service – and that to me is worth quite a bit in this day and age.
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Heck… even “Safeway Delivers” offers to bring your order into your kitchen and place the order on your counter.
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And on a “sarcastic red headed” note, what if the WSB ever decided to become a “self service blog? :)
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April 4, 2014 at 4:51 am #806491
miwsParticipantKevin, I was probably the only one using that system at Thriftway, and was disappointed when it went away.
I think they called it “Pay by Touch”, but I used to like to call it “Pay by Finger”. The only problem was there’d occasionally be “bad reads” for whatever reason.
I actually had a problem for a bit, where it wasn’t working at all for me over the course of several visits. Finally, one of the Cashiers asked me if the debit card associated with the account had expired and been replaced. DUH! *Forehead slap*
I had forgotten to update the info with Thriftway after the new card came, so that’s where the problem was.
Mike
April 4, 2014 at 6:08 am #806492
SueParticipantMy ex-husband tried to use that pay by touch thing at Thriftway when they had it, and there were always problems with it and it never worked and he had to swipe the card anyway. So he just gave up.
April 4, 2014 at 6:15 am #806493
JanSParticipantKevin…there are still nice clerks at Safeway, even though they have self-checkout. I have known at least one of them for 30 years. When I got my kidney last year I had one teller just hug me real tight. I do not fear that there will always be familiar tellers there. :)
April 4, 2014 at 8:01 am #806494
KevinParticipant@Jan, you are absolutely correct about the nice clerks at Safeway. I can name you about a dozen by name that I interact with on a daily basis, and there in lies the basis on my dislike of self check out, because I wish to maintain those “personal” relationships that I have developed over the years.
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