Cid
Proper break this time
Seriously?
The end of scab tills
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Seriously?
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
The diamond trade has a lot to answer for
Yes, seriously. Supermarkets don’t care about long queues, so long as those queues don’t interfere with people being able to shop, and so long as the queues don’t become so long that they act as a meaningful disincentive to shop there (bearing in mind that most people don’t have lots of choice where to shop, and supermarkets are all acting in the same way anyway). If you have to wait 30 minutes to exit, that doesn’t constrain their system so long as those issues are dealt with.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
It means they have to buy more trolleys/baskets than they might otherwise have needed.
Cid
Proper break this time
They're cheaper.
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
think asda tills don't (or didn't) - although i don't go there very often.
not sure if this was some sort of security thing, or whether they don't / didn't trust their staff to be able to count...
If you really want me to put my soc-psych hat on, I’d probably wibble on about the internalisation of market thinking, such that acts taken by the supermarket to improve its own profitability are emotionally experienced by the consumer as good for them too.
But nobody wants that, so let’s stick with the hard microeconomics of the supermarket itself.
But nobody wants that, so let’s stick with the hard microeconomics of the supermarket itself.
Cid
Proper break this time
Exactly. You contend that there was a point in time where tills ran a different weighing system. I dunno if I remember this, but whatever. What I imagine happened is that someone looked at the theft statistics for stores where this was being rolled out and said 'look, these scab tills are great, but we're seeing a 4% increase in lost inventory'. They will then have rolled out changes at various stores that they think might work. Maybe the till designers adjusted software on feedback. The details are the details. They then rolled these changes out to some stores, checked their stats, maybe did some qualitative feedback using secret shoppers/staff surveys etc and decided that any negative effects outweighed the positives. Or e.g that that the saving represented one till's worth of throughput and it was more efficient to change that rather than anything else.
Right. Which returns me to my point, which is that the supermarket doesn’t care that my “journey” through the supermarket has been compromised by their decision. It doesn’t matter to them that my queuing time has been increased. The machine-operated tills can become less and less efficient as queue-processing devices — less efficient even than staffed tills — and that’s totally fine from the supermarket’s perspective.
Cid
Proper break this time
“Efficiency” is relative to the purpose you are trying to achieve <cough>. For some shops, e.g yours (or a city centre 'local' supermarket), queue time is more important than other shops, e.g Lidl, where keeping costs low is more important. As I keep saying it is just a component in a system. It operates relative to other components and relative to the goals of the supermarket.
Happy Tree
maagilises metsas
See when the queue extends into an aisle and no-one leaves a gap for people to pass through? Cunts. If I'm in the queue I always leave a gap, hoping that the people behind will follow my example. They never do. They all shuffle up to close the gap again. Why do I bother? Not a brain cell between them. We need a big red box painted on the ground to tell people not to wait there, like for car junctions.
Cid
Proper break this time
I don't think I've argued otherwise.
PTK
Paul Kegan
OK.
I am going to do an experiment next time I patronise Mr S's Supermarket.
I will press "my own bag" button, and see it if allows me to place my back pack on the device.
I had always assumed the question was asking how many carrier bags I wanted to buy. There was nothing on the screen to tell me that my assumption was wrong.
I am going to do an experiment next time I patronise Mr S's Supermarket.
I will press "my own bag" button, and see it if allows me to place my back pack on the device.
I had always assumed the question was asking how many carrier bags I wanted to buy. There was nothing on the screen to tell me that my assumption was wrong.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
I think they do care, as it could impact their bottom line.
I used to shop at Aldi and Lidl, as they're right next door to each other, and one might have something the other doesn't. Lidl always open another checkout when the queue reaches two or three beyond the end of the travellator. Aldi don't do this (or didn't at the time), and my last experience in Aldi resulted in me leaving my trolley in the middle of the aisle and walking out, as the queue was about 15 deep, and I'm fucked if I was waiting that long for things I could have bought in Lidl but without the wait.
What you're queueing for it also important. Idiots queueing for the latest iPhone will gladly queue for three days longer than someone who had to go back to the shop because they forgot to buy cat treats.
Queue time definitely matters. I'm sure there must be studies on the subject.
Puddy_Tat
santa paws, do you ever come to the ghetto?
i wonder with some shops if there's an element of psychology in being under-staffed / long queues / people feeling that's worth it for the stuff there being (or appearing to be) cheap? some shops do (or used to) make a thing of being 'no frills'
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Absolutely. It's the other way round generally for me, I won't go to Lidl as I know I'll be waiting longer. If I need other stuff I'll go to Asda over Tesco as there is a separate check out for scan as you shop, which makes the whole thing much faster.
Leafster
.
At the other end of the scale there's shops like Waitrose who seem to go out of their way to show their customer service is worth the added cost.
I usually shop at Waitrose and have an App on my phone. So the scab-till experience is very different to what I've read on this thread.
I pick up a trolley on my way in and dump my bags in it. I open the App and it recognises which shop I'm in. I use the App to scan the items that I then pack in my bags. I walk up to the self-service tills, point my phone at the barcode on the screen and pay. I walk out.
From time to time, I'll then receive an email asking me what my shopping experience was like. I sometimes, complete the survey but only if I've had a problem finding something in the shop.
I've had the store manager contact me about my feedback and offering freebies on my next visit.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Yup. This is the future. Other supermarkets do it as well. Better then a stupid checkout that quibbles with you about 0.5g.
The only time it doesn't go smooth is you get selected by the machine for a random "quality check" where the poor staff have to unpack your bags.
Leafster
.
Even with the occasional re-scan they only ever seem to do a random handful of items so they don't need to unpack all the bags.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
That might have worked before the advent of the internet, when people realised the Aldi and Lidl brothers were Billionaires. I'm not sure it'd work these days, unless the shop was extremely cheap.
You must live somewhere posh, where "one for you, one for me" wouldn't be a thing
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
Yes. The item at the bottom.
That might have worked before the advent of the internet, when people realised the Aldi and Lidl brothers were Billionaires. I'm not sure it'd work these days, unless the shop was extremely cheap.
You must live somewhere posh, where "one for you, one for me" wouldn't be a thing
Dunno. They exist in Tameside, Manchester where I live.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
I lived in Tameside, Manchester for 25 years. It must have got posher since the trams went inYes. The item at the bottom.
Dunno. They exist in Tameside, Manchester where I live.
UnderOpenSky
baseline neural therapy
I lived in Tameside, Manchester for 25 years. It must have got posher since the trams went in
It really hasn't. Many words could be used to describe Ashton, but posh or on the up are not some of them.
But I'm very close to the hills and house prices are reasonable.
Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
‘posh’ is a subjective word
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
emanymton
A cat politely sat on the flaming gardener.
So you are saying you went to a posh school.There are some relatively posh parts of Ashton
I went to school in Ashton
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