I work at a store in West Virginia that has three other stores in the surrounding area. We are currently the only store of the four that doesn't operate them.
That being said, most of the senior people I work with treat it as a slap in the face when the topic comes up. The general feeling is that it eliminates jobs as two full time registers would have to be removed.
I'm somewhat indifferent when it comes to having them at our store. I've used them at the other stores in the area and it is actually my preference because I would come in, purchase my items, and get out as quick as possible. I've seen lines at one store backed up three or four deep and nobody using the U-Scan, so you can see what I obviously did.
On the other hand, we have customers who can't figure out how to use their food stamp cards, so I wonder what it would be like for them to check out their own groceries.
I see a couple of benefits for employees:
1. Easy to check out during breaks instead of waiting in line. Every store I have been in that has them you almost never have to wait in line.
2. Customers who do not want to be engaged in conversation with a cashier or are looking for a quick out have somewhere else to go, making checking out some customers less stressful.
Thoughts?
__________________
"The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of The Kroger Co. family of stores."
My first store had them and my new one doesn't. Same thing, they tend to think, ( some customers as well), that they take jobs. But in my experience with them is that they replace two registers that weren't used that often so no jobs or hours were lost.
I personally like them because when you only got 15 minutes for break you don't want to spend most of it in line buying something to eat or drink.
personally, i use uscans anywhere i shop, because i want in and out, and really don't want to have to listen to a beat down employee have to recite 'the lines"that they are forced to say. customers where i worked, were split. half, were rich snoots, who like the idea of someone waiting on them hand and foot, so bagging, or even scanning their own stuff insults them. the other half, were like me. problem where i was, was so many people either couldn't figure them out, and made a scene when they felt stupid, or it was someone who thought they could pull fast ones, multiple scanning the same coupon, trying to not scan everything, ect, lot of dishonest people where i worked. as far as taking jobs, kroger hires as few people as they can scrape by with. the number of registers, doesn't even factor
I like running U scan a lot more than regular cash register. Running 6 registers at once and dealing with all the technical issues gives uscan a lot more responsibility than standing at one register that rarely has problems. The only annoying thing is that people think they're smarter than they really are and get mad at me when the register tells them to wait. At uscan you can help people enough to where they feel happy and waited on, yet not so personal that they still feel they have some independence from relying on a cashier.
When they first came out at the beginning, I wasn't so sure, but the lines are definitely shorter. For breaks and stuff, yeah. And especially during the holidays! On the other hand, if I'm leaving the store and maybe doing a little shopping, I don't mind waiting a little. We always have such great cashiers, I just have to go through their lines. Plus, if it weren't for going through the lines, I wouldn't get to really meet some of the new cashiers, and besides, I gotta keep those baggers busy! They gotta work, too!
Sometimes, I'm just tired and would rather have someone else punch in a PLU code and weigh an item, although I don't mind doing it at the U-Scan. There are benefits to both ways.
I do get annoyed, though, when a) my change gets stuck in the U-scan slot, b) the scanner can't read a barcode, or C) I hear that message telling me to wait for assistance...OY! Plus, lifting heavy items like soda pop and water (24-packs) or dog food are just easier through the line, where they can use a hand scanner and I do no more lifting than I need to!
I work at a store in West Virginia that has three other stores in the surrounding area. We are currently the only store of the four that doesn't operate them.
That being said, most of the senior people I work with treat it as a slap in the face when the topic comes up. The general feeling is that it eliminates jobs as two full time registers would have to be removed.
I'm somewhat indifferent when it comes to having them at our store. I've used them at the other stores in the area and it is actually my preference because I would come in, purchase my items, and get out as quick as possible. I've seen lines at one store backed up three or four deep and nobody using the U-Scan, so you can see what I obviously did.
On the other hand, we have customers who can't figure out how to use their food stamp cards, so I wonder what it would be like for them to check out their own groceries.
I see a couple of benefits for employees:
1. Easy to check out during breaks instead of waiting in line. Every store I have been in that has them you almost never have to wait in line.
2. Customers who do not want to be engaged in conversation with a cashier or are looking for a quick out have somewhere else to go, making checking out some customers less stressful.
Thoughts?
Your Uscan cashier is supposed to be walking around in the middle of the registers interacting with customers. We have a handheld which we use to scan heavy items left in the cart. If your uscan cashiers aren't doing that you should talk to the front end supervisor.
If i'm in a good mood I'll go and make sure people are getting the produce codes. Usually I don't because it sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable that I'm harping on them and assisting them with every little thing.
I work at a store in West Virginia that has three other stores in the surrounding area. We are currently the only store of the four that doesn't operate them.
That being said, most of the senior people I work with treat it as a slap in the face when the topic comes up. The general feeling is that it eliminates jobs as two full time registers would have to be removed.
I'm somewhat indifferent when it comes to having them at our store. I've used them at the other stores in the area and it is actually my preference because I would come in, purchase my items, and get out as quick as possible. I've seen lines at one store backed up three or four deep and nobody using the U-Scan, so you can see what I obviously did.
On the other hand, we have customers who can't figure out how to use their food stamp cards, so I wonder what it would be like for them to check out their own groceries.
I see a couple of benefits for employees:
1. Easy to check out during breaks instead of waiting in line. Every store I have been in that has them you almost never have to wait in line.
2. Customers who do not want to be engaged in conversation with a cashier or are looking for a quick out have somewhere else to go, making checking out some customers less stressful.
Thoughts?
Your Uscan cashier is supposed to be walking around in the middle of the registers interacting with customers. We have a handheld which we use to scan heavy items left in the cart. If your uscan cashiers aren't doing that you should talk to the front end supervisor.
If i'm in a good mood I'll go and make sure people are getting the produce codes. Usually I don't because it sometimes makes people feel uncomfortable that I'm harping on them and assisting them with every little thing.
I posted that our store doesn't have U-Scan's and how the people I work with feel that it takes peoples jobs away, not how the operator runs it.
Another benefit I see but i've heard the opposite on is having them close to the door would minimize shoplifting because there is a person available to check items at the door should the alarm go off. This is a problem at our store especially with an express lane which is our busiest register right next to the door.
-- Edited by Drew P Weiner on Thursday 25th of November 2010 09:21:10 AM
__________________
"The postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of The Kroger Co. family of stores."
I work at a store in west virginia and it works fine especially when you need something during your break you get out of the store quicker but when i am simply a customer i boycott the uscan
when i firsted started working at my store, there were only five registers and only four were used (it's a small town kroger). so when we had u-scan installed, register five was removed, so in a way, at my store, we added jobs.
as for working on u-scan, it's boring, but at the same time, i get frustrated when people want me to do every little thing for them. it's called u-scan. not cashier-does-it-for-you-because-you're-too-f***ing-stupid-to-read-and-follow-directions-scan.
