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This trend to lower cost has downsides. My local Home Depot has become horrible to visit. Last time I was there I had to wait 40 minutes for a piece of hose to
by TaylorAlexander 7y ago
This trend to lower cost has downsides. My local Home Depot has become horrible to visit. Last time I was there I had to wait 40 minutes for a piece of hose to be cut from a reel. Workers in an adjacent aisle said they weren’t authorized to cut the hose, and the one worker on shift who was authorized was apparently busy. Once someone called for him it took ~15 minutes for him to arrive followed by 15 minutes of him helping the one guy there before me. So ~30 minutes later he cut my 4 foot length of hose, then discovered there was no SKU to scan for by-the-foot measurement. Another ten minutes passed of him radioing for a SKU to give me on a slip of paper. I felt like I should not have bothered, apparently the workers are all overworked or not permitted to help.
Meanwhile at my local ACE hardware store they manage to have everything I need in a MUCH smaller building, but they always have someone on hand if any help is needed.
So I’d rather the shop cut costs in other ways, like use smaller buildings and narrower aisles to save on rent. I like people.
- tanakachen 7y agoMaybe I’m an isolated case but I NEVER use self-checkout at Home Depot. The reason is simple: if Home Depot believes it can lower costs by not hiring as many cashiers, then I should get a discount by using the self-checkout. Without such a discount I always insist a human cashier checks me out. Why should I do extra work for Home Depot?
- p1necone 7y agoSelf checkouts benefit you too. At least in supermarkets I always go for the self checkouts because the line moves way faster than a regular one.
- tanakachen 7y agoThat is true it saves time
- bronco21016 7y agoI used to feel the same way until I began focusing on my diet and purchased more produce. Self checkout is a nightmare for produce. They rarely have a bar code which leads to a mystical hunt through the usually horribly slow UI. Compare that to a person who has done it so many times they have the code memorized for your apples and they can just punch it in quickly and keep going. And don’t even get me started with how excruciatingly painful it is when suddenly all of the machines need assistance and the one attendant can’t be in 6 places at once.
- buildzr 7y agoIf you use the codes for your most common items this gets quick, some stores even post a sheet with a list of common produce codes, with stuff like apples and bananas they're often labeled even.
- ceejayoz 7y agoThis is a solved problem. Our grocery store (Wegmans) has labelmaker scales in the produce department, and the four or five digit code right next to the produce items. You bag it, weigh it, and label it yourself. Speeds up the human checkouts, too.
- bronco21016 7y agoThis sounds like an excellent solution and perhaps I should let someone know at my local Kroger. Maybe its just something I've overlooked while shopping. Either way, I have a young child now so we mostly just use ClickList.
- behrlich 7y agoMy grocery store has smart scales that let you print a barcode for produce that you can scan at the self checkout line. At the scale you can just search for the product by name (e.g. “apples” will suggest “honey crisp apples”). There are definitely still issues if you need assistance. The ratio of self checkout lines to attendants is 8/1 when the store is busy.
- 7y ago
- bbrazil 7y agoThat works until there's ~only self-checkouts, then it gets slow again. There's a knack to using them, and unless you have a generous number of them (I know of only two local stores that do), you end up getting stuck while the single staff member assigned to the self-checkouts assists customers having issues. Plus it's not unusual for a significant number of them to be out of order, not accepting credit cards, only accepting credit cards, or just being generally temperamental.
- p1necone 7y ago> That works until there's ~only self-checkouts, then it gets slow again. I don't know about that - self checkouts are both more space-dense and require far less staff to support so each individual store could support way more customers. Replacing human workers with robots should be considered a good thing, it's a problem with our system of economics, not with the companies increasing their level of automation.
- function_seven 7y agoI consider the checkout stands to be the modern equivalent of elevators. Elevators used to require an operator to ask you for your floor, to manage the queue of calls, and determine an optimal order of trips up and down the shaft. Then elevators got smarter and people now directly interface with the system. With checkouts, it looks the same. I have a few pieces of hardware I want to buy. I can either stand in line and wait until someone scans them for me and tells me the total, or I can just scan them myself and pay. It usually much faster to go through the self-checkout (especially with Home Depot's new set up. Just a handheld scanner and a huge touchscreen). For those times that it isn't (either a line of people, or unusual items that need special handling), then I'll go with the regular checkout. To me, the extra work is in waiting for someone else to do what I can do faster and easier. This is similar to how gas pumping works in Oregon and New Jersey. No thanks, I'll pump my own gas please.
- shreygineer 7y agoIn all fairness, not having to get out and pump your own gas when it's either a) super cold outside or b) super hot outside is very convenient. also, as a former new jerseyian, the attendants are usually pretty fast and waiting for gas to be filled is not much slower than it has been pumping it by myself in other states. That being said, I do agree that direct interface is a lot faster in most scenarios (like elevators, self-checkout). I think the most important factor is, does it reduce inconvenience or does it add "nice-to-haves". The former will always guarantee a fast adoption
- AnthonyMouse 7y ago> In all fairness, not having to get out and pump your own gas when it's either a) super cold outside or b) super hot outside is very convenient. During the gradual demise of full service gas stations in the other states, there was a period when one or two of the pumps were designated full service and if you pulled up in front of them the attendant would pump your gas, in exchange for a premium of around $0.20/gallon to cover the extra wages and benefits and insurance risk etc. The reason they discontinued it wasn't that the gas stations minded selling the service, it was that approximately nobody opted to pay extra when given the choice. Which is why they only really survive today where it's required by law -- there is no law in the other states prohibiting it, there just aren't enough people who actually want it to justify having it.
- dclusin 7y agoIt's one line feeding 4-6 self-serve registers instead of one line feeding one register. I think most people would prefer shorter time in checkout vs. having someone else scan their goods for them. It's not like the checkout process is some herculean task that is only doable by trained professionals.
- reaperducer 7y agoI agree. I never use self check out. For the reasons you state, plus I don't want to contribute to some low skill person losing the only job they'll ever be able to hold. I'm not so self-important to think that I can't stand in line at a checkout for three minutes.
- lucb1e 7y agoDo you also litter to support low skilled people to be able to pick up your trash in service of the municipality (or whoever pays for that in the USA)?
- lucb1e 7y agoBy that logic you should litter because nobody pays you to use trash bins. The exact argument you use, I use as an example of American stupidity (or perhaps you'd call it an American viewpoint). You want faster self check out or not? You want them to be able to lower prices across the board? No? Alrighty, keep ruining it for everyone out of some misguided righteousness that you should be paid for it.
- dgzl 7y agoI wonder if it has anything to do with rising minimum wage?
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- trophycase 7y agoFar more to do with the decreasing costs of automation than minimum wage. These jobs will be automated, depressing wages only delays the inevitable.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y agoJust cut it yourself.
- Stratoscope 7y agoWhich they don't let you do, perhaps for "insurance" reasons, and if you do it, you won't have a slip with a code on it to check out with.
- Cerium 7y agoA couple times in a hurry when I can't get any help, I've cut it myself and taken a picture of the sku on the shelf. That seemed to get me through checkout.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y agoThis is a company that pisses on its customers. Why bother doing business with them at all?
- Stratoscope 7y agoI don't suppose that was East Palo Alto Home Depot, and either Menlo Park Hardware or Hassett Hardware in Palo Alto? Those two Ace Hardware stores are amazing! They have so much stuff in such a small place, and always have helpful people.
- TaylorAlexander 7y agoI’m on the coast. Home Depot in Daly City and Ace in Pacifica or Hasset Hardware in Half Moon Bay. Similar breed of shops and well stocked!