I have worked in retail for a while. Something that is a little embarrassing for me to say but hey its money. I have noticed and observed many things in my time in this world of green, corporations and “customer service” and while some are based on customer service and are customer service oriented some retailers are just money hungry and just want to expand there pockets. It’s all about how many houses they have or cars or what investors are into the company and what imagine the company has and how much green it can bring to the wallet and what they can do to expand there wallet. The sad part? We all need retail outlets for essentials and there is nothing that will change that really. Corporations will continue to put more and more weird, addictive chemicals in food and sell them to a retail chain and the chain will see green and money and the hand-shake from hell will occur.

And what about this Self-Checkout that a lot of retailers are trying to incorporate into there stores? What is this all about? Is it easier? How does it benefit the store? Well I’ll tell you how it benefits the stores that do have them.

1.) They are easier to use and often quicker with small orders.
2.) You don’t have to worry about getting shorted at the registers by a cashier because it’s all computerized.
3.) Saves the hassle of going through someone’s line who doesn’t give a darn and in turn ruining your experience there.
4.) Most of all it helps that store out immensely because they don’t have to hire new employees to run it and can have three; four or five self-checks making it faster for you and cheaper for them.

Training associates in this time and era just isn’t cheap so when a company sees an opportunity to have more registers but the same amount of coverage, of course they will jump all over that. It will make them seem like they care about convenience and at the same time help there bottom line and wallets. Now I am not trashing self-checkouts at all, I prefer them to regular registers. Some may not like it because if you get overcharged or something rings in twice, it’s instantly your fault. It is definitely more efficient and reliable and despite sometimes giving you headaches it can make shopping easier. Kudos to the there who incorporate self-checkouts into there store. Those who do not, well that’s the way you want it and the direct customer service approach is good… I think it’s old. Customers are looking for faster checkouts, accurate checkouts and that’s what you’ll get from the self-checkout machines.
I do have one grievance with the people who use the self-check out machines. They all say that they are doing the job of the employee and should be paid for ringing out there own stuff. I think that Americans have better things to do then call the headquarters of Wal-Mart, Stop and Shop and some others to claim there pay for 1-5 minutes of trouble. It’s not like the cashiers get paid a lot of money either. If you want to argue over 10 cents then go ahead but if I go through a self-check out machine and I encounter a problem with a price or it keeps saying a repeated message I will calmly go over to the employee who is running the area and ask them to clear this because I did indeed scan it and they do and I can move on. I can sense people’s frustration over these machines and I can empathize with you but you also have to keep in mind that you’re not at the machine trying to ring out things for 9 hours… just a few minutes.