It finally happened....

[Dreamstalker]

We got self-checkouts right before the holidays As predicted, they're in a row near the main entrance*...and while the manned registers are directly opposite so there are theoretically always eyes on them, throw in the usual confusion of SCs entering the store through the checkout lanes and...this can't be good. They're also cashless and lack scales, so SCs will still need to get produce weighed and barcoded. Upside is there is no way for a customer to enter PLUs/SKUs at all, items can only be scanned. But, customers can void items without employee assistance.

One of the managers also discovered a flaw. When an employee ID is scanned as the first item (as done at a cashier), it brings up the "master" register screen that shows all of that employee's transactions--including the transaction that was begun by that scan. In theory, one could 'complete' (or even delete) that transaction on the system and then walk out with the items...a receipt will print showing a void on the system, but as long as something prints it won't be flagged by anyone.

Two of us lower-level worker bees then tried to duplicate that, in case there was some arcane power granted by a manager ID that a peon couldn't access. My ID scan did the same thing, as did a relative newbie's. Not everyone would know how to cheat the system on that screen, but it wouldn't be hard to figure out.

* The other store I've visited that does have SCOs there are only two, they are in their own 'alcove' before the main checkout line and there is an employee/security guard stationed at the SCO....that space is also designed so people can't just run out the door

[CyberLurch]

Oddly enough, I was just at a Wal-Mart that had recently removed SCO (like in the last 10 days or so). This makes the THIRD time I'm aware of that they've put it in and then ripped it back out.

[Aria]

They should do it like my local grocery store and always have an employee 'babysitting' the self-checkouts. It's just necessary given how those things can fail to work :P

The employee ID issue... oh dear.

[notalwaysright]

No scale, even for bagged items? So people could act like they're scanning something and then just dump it in the bag, pay for a couple cheap items and walk out with a receipt?

On a related note, the warehouse store which was built in my hometown used to have SCOs... I loved it so much! Because everyone else was either afraid to use them or had huge amounts of items so it didn't make sense to use them. I'd breeze in and grab a rotisserie chicken for dinner and be out without hardly pausing. But you guessed it, they had to take them out due to theft issues.

[CyberLurch]

They should do it like my local grocery store and always have an employee 'babysitting' the self-checkouts. It's just necessary given how those things can fail to work :P

The employee ID issue... oh dear.

The Wal-Mart I spoke of DID have an employee watching over the dozen or so checkout kiosks. ONE employee. Trying to watch 12 things going on at once, and having to run and deal with problems constantly. I can easily come up with at least six different ways to exploit that. Honestly, does nobody at the head office stop to think anymore?

[dalesys]

... Honestly, does nobody at the head office stop to think anymore?

But... But... The salescriiter gulled the CEO (whose butler does all the shopping) that SCOs would enable a totally staffless store!

[Dreamstalker]

I think the idea is that whichever cashier(s) don't have a customer will be watching the SCOs. Riiiight...if they do see something hinky, they can't run over and intercept.

[Buzzard]

Pulling scams with the SCO would be so easy, even without waiting for a swarm of distractions (or engineering such). Sadly, I have enough of a conscience and/or no desire to face the consequences for such shenanigans (nor an absolute belief in my infallibility).

I'd use the SCOs more except for some of the wonky ones, and "Yes, I AM buying 3-6 whole cases of this item, and I don't want to stand there, scanning each. and. every. last. one., and fighting the wonky program"

Having an employee watching over the SCOs is a damn good idea, but since one employee can watch over a dozen machines in calm, orderly times, the same employee should be able to stretch to cover a couple other things and handle the chaos times too, right? And since there's an employee watching, nobody would ever try stealing, so we're golden there. Oh, and since they aren't doing much, we don't need to pay them that much either....

[RealUnimportant]

My local supermarket combined SCO overwatch and Customer Service - returns, exchanges, the like. Last time I was there, they had three people running the one position and SCO wasn't even busy; compare to before they combined them, and because one person could dedicate their time to one subset of tasks, they only ever needed two on duty to accomplish the same amount of work in the same timeframe... But no, this is more efficient.

[Dreamstalker]

My nearby CVS had SCOs for about a year and finally took them out. The attendant/cashier was a refugee from OldJob and told me that it was in fact due to theft. I know almost all the scams, and can think of more ways that our scan-only SCOs could be exploited...but I actually have a decent moral compass (most of the time...when it counts anyway).

There seems to be a lot of resistance to customers using them....I think because the customers they're targeted toward (run in, grab a quick drink or snack) want to pay with cash for a small purchase. Or they're just scared of the things because ZOMG it doesn't look like the ones at $BoxMart.

[Arcus]

There seems to be a lot of resistance to customers using them....

That happened to the store I shop at too. The store got people to start using them by closing all but one of the normal cashiers. Now you walk in and see 8 SCOs and one regular with a long line of people with huge carts full.
They also started out with one employee watching all 8 of the SCOs, but now they have two. Those things never scan right and the poor employee was always running from customer to customer. They still are, but now there is someone that can try to watch for theft half of the time.

[Dreamstalker]

...and now I'm hearing that we are all going to be trained on mobile POS systems. The theory is that we're going to be issued tablets on the floor during the holiday nuttiness so a customer can be rung out by anyone (but they still have to go though checkout to get a bag...are we supposed to carry a bundle of paper bags around as well to bag purchases?)

The only thing I can think of to explain this is that another SC bitched about "Fruit Store does this, why don't you?" (I got an arrogant ass last year around this time who demanded I drop what I was doing and ring him out; when I stated that I could not do that he fired back with the above and how he didn't want to wait in line) and it got back to A, who thinks "this is great, customers won't have to stand in line!" without possibly thinking how it could go wrong. Our wireless network can't even handle the traffic/devices that are already supposed to be on there.

No. Nononononono. If stockers are expected to cash out customers as well nothing will ever get done (as it is we can't even do our own jobs half the time). I realize that this may kinda sorta (not really) fall into "other duties as assigned", but nowhere in the job description does it mention anything to do with a register.

And if we thought whining about 'wrong' prices were bad now, imagine what will happen when an SC realizes they can literally pull us over to the shelf and see the POS screen...I can see it now "No, you can change it; see there's a button right there that says 'corrections'!"*SC reaches for screen, gets hand slapped away, runs to complain*

Not to mention fighting through the crowds with an ipad...they will get bumped, dropped and stepped on. Is the company going to pay for ergonomic secure holders? (I have a chest-harness rig for my tablet, but no way am I bringing it to work and I don't think it would fit the new ipads anyway)

[EricKei]

The local Kroger recently got self-scam units...And I don't just mean SCO's; they actually took out 2 normal registers and doubled the total number of SCO units, even though I've almost never seen the original 6 all occupied simultaneously when shopping there. Nope, I'm talking about those little hand-held units that allow shoppers to go through the store and scan in their items as they put them into the cart. They have several kiosks where you can grab as many (translucent) plastic bags as you like so you can bag stuff as you go. Also, to buy weighed produce, you have to weigh it up yourself in the produce section while following a very specific procedure/order of actions.

...I cannot anticipate this going catastrophically wrong in any possible way, shape or form.

...Wait. Shit. Is my sarcasm showing?

[Tama]

Where I work they already want us helping guests, which cuts productivity as it is...I can't imagine having to check people out as well!

It's like they think the stockers don't do anything useful anyway, sure, they can do more! Wait, why is productivity down?

[Dreamstalker]

Precisely. Technically, the grocery team has three arms: Stocker (inventory focused), Storyteller (customer focused) and Market Associate which blends the two. This split was relatively recent; until this past spring there were only Stockers who were expected to know and do everything (how I was trained/trained myself). C is a Market Associate and keeps whining about how he has to do stock as well; he was hired just before the division, so technically he's a Stocker under the old rubric of "do everything". This will be his first holiday season

So many logistical things that should be in place seeing as we've been existing for nearly two years...I'm seeing a giant disconnect between the company view of how things "should" be done (the way it's done overseas) and what actually works stateside. The company seems resistant to involve any technology that makes worker bees' lives easier (we need to be able to check stock levels in real time, our existing inventory system is a nightmare as every item is showing as negative on-hand*, etc)

First thing I'm going to ask in this training is: have the other stores been using/proven them before now? (I suspect the answer will be no)

* I suspect that after inventory, everything was reset to zero and received shipments aren't being entered properly.