I don't know who all reads my blog these days (especially with my having been gone for several weeks), but here's a question I'd like to ask:
If you live in an area where the grocery stores have self-service checkout lines (you scan, you bag), do you like them?
I LOATHE the self-service lanes. And I am generally not a person itching for those moments of human contact with the cashier. But it always seems to take me twice as long to get through one of the self-service lanes as it would if I had a competent person doing the scanning and bagging for me. And always, always, there's some kind of bollix-up where the machine doesn't believe I've just bagged my last purchase, or it thinks I'm trying to pull some kind of a fast one on it, and it clamps down and says "Get cashier assistance."
I always walk out of the grocery in a bad mood when I have to use the self-service lanes. (I usually WON'T use them, but today my choice was wait on line for perhaps 15 minutes for the single cashier lane open - on a Saturday! - or do it myself). I wouldn't be so irritated if we saw some benefit from the self-service lanes, say a 2% discount on the price of our orders. Because you KNOW the groceries are using it as a cost-cutting move - either firing cashiers or, more likely, just not replacing them as they quit.
Driving home today, monumentally cranky (because I ALSO forgot a critical ingredient in something I have to make for a potluck tomorrow), I found myself wondering if the next step is having us butcher our own meat, or pick our own fruits and vegetables.
3 comments:
Hi, Erica--
I have been reading your blog for a while (anonymously) and enjoy it very much. I kept checking while you were gone and want to say welcome back. I've opened an account with Blogger so I can comment and don't have to lurk anymore.
In my area only a few grocery stores, one of the warehouse stores, and Home Depot have self-service lines. If I have just a few items I don't mind using it but it takes some getting used to. I'll take one of the self-service lines over a surly cashier any day. I live in NJ where surliness seems to be a job qualification for cashiers.
I enjoy your contributions to the Knitlist--thoughtful, non-inflammatory, informative, non-confrontational--all qualities that seem to be needed on that list lately.
Enough from me. I do enjoy reading about your life and your knitting. Thanks for posting.
Anne in NJ
I had them when I was in grad school in the South. I used them for one reason: I had to walk about half an hour to and from the grocery store, and I could put my backpack on the bagging area, wait the moment that it took for the person to see I wasn't stealing something and clear the machine, and then pack my groceries in my backpack with the large, heavy things on the bottom, the frozen things to keep the perishables cool, and the fragile things on top. If I went through the lines, everything would nomally get packed into lots of separate plastic bags and I'd have to redo the whole thing. Also, sometimes they'd scan the store copy of the discount card for me if I'd forgotten it. If I were just buying one thing, I'd go in the service lines.
Now, without a car and with only Whole Foods in walking distance (which I dearly love, but is just too expensive for everyday use), I use Peapod, which has a bajillion bags, but at least they carry everything upstairs.
(My knitting blog is actually here: http://homepage.mac.com/nikandre/iblog/index.html )
I read your blog regularly and I'm glad you're back. I hate those self-service lines too, they haven't caught on at my regular grocery store thank GOD so I don't have to deal with them much, but sometimes I have to go to an unfamiliar store out of town. I resent that these stores have done away with customer service and then have the nerve to tell us doing our own checkout is a "convenience."
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