Stores that cater to the demographic that does lots of shoplifting have that problem.
That might have been true in 1980, but that was 40 years ago.
Yep - credit card processors take a percentage of all transactions, including tips, so the establishment is on the hook for that percentage of the tips that get paid out.
Can you explain what you mean by this? Who is the demographic that does a lot of shoplifting?
Stop and Shop is a regular large grocery store located in suburban areas.
I think we’re (or at least I) am talking about a different chain in a different part of the country then. The outfit I was thinking of is midwestern, has that name or one very similar and is found mostly in hardscrabble small towns and the poor part of bigger cities. Their target market is the working poor and the barely getting by on not enough social security set.
Knowing you’re from NYC I suspect I’ve screwed up which chain I thought was being discussed.
Oops on me.
Which chain are you talking about?
Yesterday I joined the hordes at Meijer. Crowded but chill shoppers it was kinda festive actually. I’m not hosting this year so I felt zero stress I just needed a few items for seafood gumbo. My app crashed, really need to update it, so I joined the self checkout queue with my full cart 
.
Anyway got the first checkout lane, score! It’s roomy and no ones breathing down your neck. I managed to dbl scan a couple items and as I soon as I voided them on the touch screen a CSR came over to check up on me and they officially voided it. Cool, fast service. And the Muzak playing to soothe the savage beasts in the store? was William Tells Overture I think it was also sped up in time, the checkout areas were going smooth and emptying quickly were we all in step with the music?
I hope this thread doesn’t result in a nightmare where a row of self-checkout machines is belting out The Heavy’s How You Like Me Now?
Is it possible you were thinking of Save-A-Lot? (As opposed to Stop & Shop?)
I went into CVS to get some post-holiday cheap chawklit. Two different ones near her now have two self-checkout lanes with an employee dedicated to standing there, doing pretty much nothing & no one at the registers. All of the candy was 50% off but not all of it was priced so I walked up to the counter as I wanted to know how much they were before adding to my bill when Mr. Do Nothing tells me I need to use the self checkout. I tell him I need a price check, when he tells me to come with him, about three aisles over is a price scanner where I have to scan the bar codes for prices.
I walk back with the couple of bags of candy I’m holding in one hand & scan the first one. He then tells me I must put it on the checkout shelf, which is so low it’s about 4" below my knees, about 1-1½’ below the scanner height. I walked the eff out, leaving everything right there. I refuse to shop where I must put stuff down on tables designed for little people; I’m not a freakin’ gorilla, my knuckles don’t drag; there’s absolutely no reason for me to bend over, repeatedly. Don’t tell me they’re so low because they’re designed for you to put your items in a paper bag (which you need to pay for). I had so few items I didn’t need to put them in any bag, a purchased paper bag or one that I did (not) bring with me.
I’m also not sure what the role of the employee was, standing behind people, not doing much at all. Oh well, the scale is happier that I left the candy there.
The scales are to prevent shoplifting so that the weight of the item actually matches what was scanned. You don’t need to put it in a bag, you can just put it down, pay, and then pick it up. Really don’t understand why that’s such a terrible thing.
I guess he’s there to clean up after the people who storm out in a huff because they refuse to gasp put their items on a scale! Oh no the horror!
All that stuff is designed to be wheelchair compatible. Which means designed for somebody about 3-1/2 feet tall. Not between 5 feet even and 6-1/2 feet.
IMO it’s great that the WAG 1% of folks in chairs can now reach everything. For the larger but also sorta infirm folks in the crowd it’s a definite reduction in usability.
Im unaffected, being both of small-average size and not (yet) infirm. But I do wonder how many non-wheelie people legitimately struggle to use things sized and shaped for those folks?
It would not surprise me to learn there are more people of normal stature on foot who cannot bend over easily than there are chair users who can’t reach up easily.
'Tis definitely a public policy conundrum.
I don’t know what to tell you; I have been in drugstores [not a CVS] where the checkout shelf is not that low, there is no scale at all (guess they are not that worried about people shoplifting gum and candy), and there is no employee constantly standing there, though the people at the registers can see what you are doing (when they happen to be there). Once when I was scanning a couple of relatively expensive items I noticed the security guard was paying attention to what I was doing, but he never interrupted me or did anything remotely objectionable.
One of our major grocery stores had this for a while (I think they got rid of it a few years back).
I LOATHED it.
Yes, checkout took about 45 seconds. And you don’t need to load stuff onto the conveyor belt, nor bag it afterward.
Shopping, on the other hand, took me 3 times as long. The one thing it was useful for was when I was shopping for a Scouting event, and had a specific amount to spend; I could tell what my total was as I shopped.
When I had my driveway redone, they made the bottom bit (that’s part of the sidewalk) so flat that water no longer drains, and black ice forms. Yes, it’s more wheelchair accessible – not that the rest of the sidewalk is remotely wheelchair accessible, so no one with a wheelchair ever uses it. But it’s way more dangerous to people on foot.
I’ve never had a problem with the height of the shelves doing self-checkout. Maybe it’s because I’m only 5’6", or maybe it’s because I can still bend over. Dunno, but it’s something I’ve never thought about before this thread, so it can’t have been an issue for me.
But it’s not just people on wheelchairs. There are lots of shorter shoppers. And I think that in general, it’s more problematic if a shelf is too high than if it’s too low.
It wasn’t the requiring use of a scale, it was the piss-poor flow. There wasn’t a line, but if there had been one, I would have lost my place in it to go back & get a price & their requiring scales is an option; not all supermarkets use them in the bagging area. Their putting the platform so low is an ergonomic nightmare. If it was higher I wouldn’t have the same complaint. Overall, it’s a piss-poor design for a job I’m not even getting paid for nor wanted. If there had been a cashier, everything would have been put down & picked up from a counter higher than either of them in the self-checkout.
Okay, I’ll buy that but the shelf is sooo much lower than the scanner. Pretty much every reusable bag that I’ve either owned or seen someone else using in a store is shorter than a store paper bag. Even if you purchased one of the supermarket-style paper bags it might only be 6" higher than the scanner platform; with a standard reusable bag or backpack, you’d still be sweeping your stuff off the scanner & down into your bag because the platform is so much lower.
I just want to say (speaking from 20 years experience with the things) that the self-checkout cashier position is one of the most unpleasant jobs in a grocery store —almost completely because of the amount of abuse from customers that these folks are forced to endure.
Could have scanned the candy, decided it was not worth the price and had the minion come over and remove it from the total. Then on to the next item with the same result. More work for the minion who now has something to do.
Late reply, but I love how common it is to walk in needing “just a few things” and plodding back out pushing a full-ass cart.
You mean there are people who can go in for “just a few things” and walk out with “only a few things”? 