I'm new to Uscan, and yesterday was my first day on the thing. Do any of you have any tips for me?
I learned the hard way not to give cartons of cigarettes to people at Uscan, cause a couple guys saw that I'm new and they pretty much stole them while they promised me they were going to exchange something at the customer service desk, and then they walked out while I was busy attending to other customers.
Make sure you grab the cigarettes and give it to them as the last thing they scan so you can get their I.D. and watch them pay for it.
Be ready to have patience with people who get way overly angry at the self checkout for telling them to put something in the bag or take something out. It has never made sense to me, they could just go to a regular lane but they don't.
Don't be afraid to transfer orders to the attendant station. If something isn't working right at the U-Scan it will most likely be fine at the attendant station.
When you get the alert "Item NOF" alert make sure you enter the barcode manually or enter the PLU for the customer otherwise they will just put it in the bag and it will tell them to "remove the unscanned item" for the rest of the order.
Turn the volume on all of them down to 60%. You will be much happier I assure you.
I assume you have the new barcode system at your store, so use the handheld more as just an alert for when you need to help someone. When it beeps look at which U-Scan needs help and go and scan your barcode. Don't respond to it on the handheld or it will bring your "interactive score" or whatever it is called down. One of the reasons they switched to this system is because they want you to interact with customers more. Scanning your barcode 100% of the time instead of responding on your handheld looks really good.
Look busy so head clerks won't try and make you bag. Wipe down the scanners and scales, put bags on the U-Scans, or answer customer service calls at your phone.
If you have a customer say a price is wrong, give it to them if it is under a couple dollars. If they have already paid and the price is wrong, walk them over to customer service. It will make them less angry and will make it look like you are going the extra mile.
That's all I can think of. U-scan should be a relief when you get on it. Don't let it stress you out. Lots of clerks grab a magazine off the rack and read it when it gets slow, however your supervisors may be averse to that.
I didn't know there was an "interactive score." The CSM who trained me did, however, say that they prefer us to interact with the customers more. He said there was this acronym that they use called L.E.A.D. and I forgot it stands for, but he did tell me that I pretty much don't need the handheld, just the barcode. Yeah, our store is brand new, with brand new Toshiba registers and Uscan.
I pretty much watched the other cashiers stand there at their station and yell PLU codes at the customers across the floor who need help with the produce. They use the handheld all the time, and are always chatting with each other and goofing around.
Thanks for the tip with the "Item NOF" cause I didn't realize the customers would just put it in their bag, and I've just been clearing a ton of those with the handheld. I'll be going to them and making sure from now on with the barcode.
Funny story, I had a customer who was scanning the sticker on a green bell pepper and it came up as "NEW ITEM" with a price of $40.65 so he kept on voiding it and then rescanning it several times. And I was just clearing the void on the handheld. Then I was like, why so many voids, then I walked over and, wow. So me and him were laughing at how there was no way that pepper was $40. So I entered the PLU for him. Then I had to get a manager's override, cause that was a lot of money's worth of voids for the transaction to complete.
I think I'll only use the handheld when I'm busy with a customer's order at the attendant station. Otherwise, barcode all the time.
Speaking of customers saying a price is wrong, I found I had to do a few price overrides during my shift. And it was kind of a pain doing it both with the hand held and with the barcode, cause if there was multiple items that needed the price override... you know, it was just slow and more steps to perform. Transferring it to the attendant station was much easier and faster for me.
Thanks for the tip with the cigarettes. I'll be telling customers from now on, "sorry, I have to scan these myself before I hand them over to you."
Does my "interactive score" go down if I scan an item, like say those 24 packs of water, with my handheld? I'm guessing it also goes down if I clear ID checks on the handheld too, cause I've been doing that a lot.
I do what others have mentioned. You a) open the case, grab the requested item(s), do not hand it to them (even if they say they are going to pay at a cash register) (you walk the item to the cashier they desire to check out at), b) scan it for them at self check and hold onto it until they finish paying. (I.e. check id if you are uncertain. I have acute facial blindness so I over card. Pisses individuals off but it's better to be safe than sorry.) I've worked retail to know that you learn a lot about human psychological behavior in a grocery store.
Does my "interactive score" go down if I scan an item, like say those 24 packs of water, with my handheld? I'm guessing it also goes down if I clear ID checks on the handheld too, cause I've been doing that a lot.
It definitely does go down with the I.D. Check on the handheld but not with just scanning items with the handheld. Think of it as if the U-Scan prompts you to respond to something and you do so on your handheld, it will bring the score down, but if there is no prompt and you just make a selection on your handheld, I dont believe it will go down. I know they pin the scores on the side of the attendant station at my store but it is probably different at yours.
I know they pin the scores on the side of the attendant station at my store but it is probably different at yours.
Our store has 4 U-scans, each with 6 checkout lanes. None of their attendant stations have any scores pinned there. In fact, the only type of scores I've heard the CSMs talk to us about are our ring tender scores on the registers, which they've shown me personally on their clipboards, and a big monthly list of scores of the ring tenders of all cashiers posted in the break room. But I've never seen anything about U-scan scores.
Guess our store doesn't care about that. Probably explains why all the cashiers I've seen on the U-scan are always using the handheld and never the barcode, and why they're mostly busy chatting with other cashiers and CCs or bagging.
Generally with cigs we scan them for them and do the ID check all at once. The only time I ever handed them to customers when I worked front end was with trustworthy regulars.
