Most of our grocery stores have had self-checkout lanes for several years. But this is new:
The "Scan-IT" system. As you enter the store, you scan your discount card at a little kiosk and pick up a small hand-held scanner and some bags. As you shop, you scan each item as you put it into your bags. Then, at the checkout, you scan your card again, return the scanner, and pay - your order is already totaled.
Interesting, and if everyone adapts to it, a real time-saver at the checkout line!!!
Upper management has foisted this on our store. It's not as great an idea as it seems.
It actually takes longer for the customer to locate the bar code on the item being purchased, scan them one at a time, bag them, and then proceed to where the next item they want to purchase is located in the store, as opposed to having a cashier do most of this work. This is a simple case of efficiency in performing a task - the cashier is capable of scanning the items quickly, because it's what they do as a job. At our store, we also do the bagging for the customer, something we can do very quickly because we are both practiced at the job, and because the bags are held up on a frame, rather than loose and unsupported in the cart. These uninteresting things are what we do for a living. The customer should only have to do the fun part - the shopping.
There is a team representing the firm that has made the hand scanners, trying to entice customers to using these new "easy" devices. Most of our customers are point blank uninterested. Many who have used the scanners have said that it makes shopping harder, instead of easier, and will not be using the scanners again.
Besides, what would you rather hear when you pay: "Have a pleasant day!" or *beep*? Interacting with a real, live person has it's advantages.
That having been said, there is one part of the process that I approve of - we now have computerized scales in the produce department, where the customer can place the bagged produce on the scale, enter on the computer touchscreen what the item is, get a report on the screen as to what the price of the item is, press a button which tells the computer to print out a label with a bar code on it, and the bar code can then be scanned easily at the register (or with the hand scanner). The advantage of this is that the customer knows how much the produce will cost as they are accumulating their purchases.
Other than that, the system is crap, something that makes shopping harder for the customer.
Not to mention the fifteen-foot stretch at the front door that is now being taken up by the hand scanner display, space that was formerly used by the grocery and general merchandise managers for special displays of seasonal goods. Talk about a negative impact on sales! Sheesh.
