Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
I hate the fact that supermarkets are staffed with disinterested, witless 15 and 16-year olds around here.
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My local supermarket is a Trader Joe's (which I believe is a unit of Aldi these days.)
No conveyor belt to move items to a cashier. There are a cluster of cashier stations identified by number, and an employee to track which is free and direct the next shopper in line to a free station. You go to the cashier, the cashier takes your items from the shopping cart and bags them you pay with cash, debit, or credit card, and exit with your bags. Another employee grabs your cart and places it with the other empties. Unlike other supermarkets, which did use belts to convey items to the clerks, who were in a line across the entrance, TJs takes pains to have enough manned stations to handle the volume, so the wait tends to be minimal.
I was a bit surprised the first time I shopped there, but it appears to work for them. TJs occupies a space formerly occupied by a Food Emporium (A unit of A&P) that had a more traditional approach, and there was a Gristede's (another local chain) diagonally across the block. There were a couple of other local chains with outlets in the area on earlier years, and TJs is Last Man Standing. (They occupy the basement of a high rise apartment building, and there are several other high-rise apartment/coop/condo units within a few blocks, so they don't lack for customers.)
Other large retailers have gone to a hybrid approach. There are checkout clerks, but there are also self-service stations, where you can scan, bag, and then pay with credit or debit card and not have to deal with a human being. There will be an employee by the self-service stations to assist those who need it. It's fairly popular among shoppers who want to select, purchase and leave quickly.
(The checkout clerks aren't the problem. Being in line behind someone more focused on their cell conversation than actually paying for their merchandise, and holding everyone else up, gets wearing fast. I'd give a fair amount for a pocket jammer to use in such cases.)
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Dennis