I was a courtesy clerk at Ralphs (Southern CA), and three months in they sent me to cashier training and I became known as a combo clerk. Of course, I spent almost 8 hours in the check stand every day, primarily days where I worked 5:00am to 1:30pm. There was also a sales manager at 5:00am scheduled as the cashier, but they always scheduled a combo for that shift so we could check while the manager loaded SCO and did their morning paperwork or whatever. As of last month, combos have been taken away and now (you guessed it), managers are always in the check stands and they still cannot make QueVision. My store (though using combos) always made it through a day without a dip but as of now they cannot seem to make it a day without 5 to 6 dips. Does anyone else know why Ralphs removed the combo program?? I am assuming it was abused (hell, like I said I could barely get out of the check stand), but does anyone else have any other ideas?? Feel free to ask any questions if I wasn't clearly.
Sincerely,
a courtesy clerk who kind of misses being able to check
A lot of stores don't have enough baggers, that's probably why. I've noticed customers being very angry on the surveys that they have to bag their own groceries, which is totally acceptable. They pay more and shop at Kroger because they expect somebody to bag their groceries and when they have to do it themselves, they could've shopped at Aldi or Wal Mart and saved money. Kroger tends to turn every bagger possible into a cashier or they can't hire and keep baggers. Kids these days don't want to just bag groceries... which I ALSO understand. Customers are entitled pricks and they make the kids/baggers feel like second class citizens.
We can thank Wall-Mart for this change. Customers are happy that they are finding them selves waiting longer for no courtesy or lack of cashiers. If customers are unhappy I ignore the cruel words and make them wait longer.
Are combo clerks on a courtesy clerk or cashier wage scale? It could have been removed if it wasn't cost effective.
Around here, courtesy clerks are stuck at minimum wage, and cashiers aren't. If combo clerks are making more than courtesy clerks, it might be a waste of money to have them outside.
In my division, combo clerks are courtesy clerks that have been trained to check. We are meant to just hop in the check stand when the store gets swamped or a cashier/manager needs a break. We record our register hours and are paid 20 cents more each hour we check, which puts us at the rate of a new cashier. However, managers would have us stay in the checkstand so they could act as FES; aka not enough actual cashiers scheduled. That make sense?
You're better off becoming an actual cashier than a combo-clerk, anyway. If you're classified as a front end cashier then you're not only always getting twenty cents an hour more, but you'll eventually earn more once you start getting raises. As a combo-clerk, you were being taken advantage of because even with the twenty extra cents per hour spent on a register, you'd still be making less money than a cashier with comparable experience to yours.
We are back in the checkstand, secretly of course (under our managers' cashier numbers). Glad this job is only temporary while I'm in school or else I'd ask to be a cashier. Not complaining though; I'm good at checking and enjoy it sit makes my shifts go by faster. Any other stores still using baggers as cashiers?
-- Edited by onepluscombo on Tuesday 10th of July 2018 12:21:36 PM
Our store has pretty much trained ALL the baggers at cashiering and Uscan. Also strange, they're currently training a recently hired bagger to do the service desk.
