Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

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Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

Post by storewanderer »

I was in the Granite Bay, CA Safeway and was surprised to see brand new self checkouts installed (this store previously had the NCR Self Checkouts like the rest of Safeway/Albertsons always had). This store had just installed IBM/Toshiba self checkouts with the same interface as Kroger self checkouts. It was identical to the set up seen at Kroger for the past 20 years right down to the IBM/Toshiba receipt printer detached from the main unit that prints off the receipt. Same interface, same everything. So this is clearly compatible with their new register systems since it is from the same hardware vendor. Chip cards are processed.

It is interesting to me they are switching self checkout vendors, but the fact they even did it tells me they have not given up entirely on self checkout. Hopefully this is some sort of test and it will go well and they can bring self checkout back to the various stores where it was removed. Self checkout was never actually removed from Granite Bay save for an overnight machine swap out.

What is odd is down at Vons in San Diego some stores had new NCR self checkouts installed recently that were working with the new IBM/Toshiba registers and had Chip Card acceptance.
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Re: Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

Post by Alpha8472 »

I saw these new machines in a Safeway in Walnut Creek last night. Sadly, they turn them off at night and they only have one cashier open.

The Safeway in the next city of Pleasant Hill has NCR self checkouts and the new chip card readers. There are 2 different versions of the NCR self checkouts. The newest version of the NCR self checkouts is compatible with the chip card readers and the Pleasant Hill Safeway kept them.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on February 12th, 2017, 5:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

Post by architect »

These same machines have also been installed in the Tom Thumb at Preston/Forest in Dallas (six of them to be exact). I used one of these a couple of weeks ago, and in my experience, it worked quite smoothly.

Side note, in DFW, the majority of Tom Thumb locations are removing self checkouts, outside of high-traffic locations. As a result, wait times at most locations have become ridiculous due to not having enough cashiers.
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Re: Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

Post by storewanderer »

I believe we will see them adding the self checkouts back to some of the locations assuming these new machines work out okay for them (which I think they will).

I wonder if "removing self checkouts" was just a way to get out of some kind of binding/exclusive contract with NCR... Ikea, Home Depot, and Kmart didn't have very good luck with NCR self checkout in the United States either... and Wal Mart is using that IBM/Toshiba self checkout up in Canada (uses NCR in the US), kind of makes you wonder what their plans are in the US.

I think this company is going to start making better decisions going forward. They really have to... pressure is on to get that IPO done. And they will need to have a couple good years after the IPO in order for the holders to really cash in.
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Re: Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

Post by Alpha8472 »

Those NCR Self checkouts are terrible. I was at Target and the line for the self checkouts was so long. Two of the machines were not working. One had to be opened up by an employee who was desperately trying to fix it. The other one was beyond hope and has been out of service for a long time. The remaining machines kept giving an error such as "unexpected item in bagging area." The weighing system is so sensitive that it freezes up if you move the items around in the bagging area. I had the same problem with these NCR machines at Safeway. I had to remove a bunch of reusable plastic bags from the bagging area.

IBM is probably a better choice. However, it could be worse. Just look at the terrible self checkout machines at CVS! Those things are confusing and look like a patched together mess.
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Re: Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

Post by arizonaguy »

Alpha8472 wrote:Those NCR Self checkouts are terrible. I was at Target and the line for the self checkouts was so long. Two of the machines were not working. One had to be opened up by an employee who was desperately trying to fix it. The other one was beyond hope and has been out of service for a long time. The remaining machines kept giving an error such as "unexpected item in bagging area." The weighing system is so sensitive that it freezes up if you move the items around in the bagging area. I had the same problem with these NCR machines at Safeway. I had to remove a bunch of reusable plastic bags from the bagging area.

IBM is probably a better choice. However, it could be worse. Just look at the terrible self checkout machines at CVS! Those things are confusing and look like a patched together mess.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I was at a Fry's Marketplace (Kroger) the other day and they have some brand new Fujitsu self checkouts. Fastest self checkout experience I have ever had.
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Re: Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

Post by storewanderer »

"On the opposite side of the spectrum, I was at a Fry's Marketplace (Kroger) the other day and they have some brand new Fujitsu self checkouts. Fastest self checkout experience I have ever had."

This is the same software that Safeway has put into a few stores as noted above. Also this is the same software CVS has (albeit CVS uses a much older version...). Wal Mart also uses that software in Canada.
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Re: Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

Post by architect »

arizonaguy wrote:
Alpha8472 wrote:Those NCR Self checkouts are terrible. I was at Target and the line for the self checkouts was so long. Two of the machines were not working. One had to be opened up by an employee who was desperately trying to fix it. The other one was beyond hope and has been out of service for a long time. The remaining machines kept giving an error such as "unexpected item in bagging area." The weighing system is so sensitive that it freezes up if you move the items around in the bagging area. I had the same problem with these NCR machines at Safeway. I had to remove a bunch of reusable plastic bags from the bagging area.

IBM is probably a better choice. However, it could be worse. Just look at the terrible self checkout machines at CVS! Those things are confusing and look like a patched together mess.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I was at a Fry's Marketplace (Kroger) the other day and they have some brand new Fujitsu self checkouts. Fastest self checkout experience I have ever had.
Many of the DFW Kroger stores have also switched the these Fujitsu checkouts. They work great for the most part, but if anything, tend to glitch up when processing credit cards. Overall, a very nice upgrade though.
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Re: Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

Post by pseudo3d »

Alpha8472 wrote:Those NCR Self checkouts are terrible. I was at Target and the line for the self checkouts was so long. Two of the machines were not working. One had to be opened up by an employee who was desperately trying to fix it. The other one was beyond hope and has been out of service for a long time. The remaining machines kept giving an error such as "unexpected item in bagging area." The weighing system is so sensitive that it freezes up if you move the items around in the bagging area. I had the same problem with these NCR machines at Safeway. I had to remove a bunch of reusable plastic bags from the bagging area.

IBM is probably a better choice. However, it could be worse. Just look at the terrible self checkout machines at CVS! Those things are confusing and look like a patched together mess.
NCR machines (like at Walmart) are obnoxious. I actually once was able to print out an access code out of one that an employee had left in the employee-access mode, but I threw it away because I didn't want to be accused of theft (it would, if no one noticed, helped override the obnoxious errors by myself, but that's a risk I couldn't take).

The CVS machines are weird and made me jump through a bunch of hoops to check out a single package of snack cakes. I think I ended up taking my purchases to the register.
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Re: Safeway adding IBM/Toshiba self checkout

Post by submariner »

They're easy to hate on, but don't forget how much better they've gotten since the original Fujitsu (née Optimal) U-Scan kiosks started showing up back at the turn of the century

(editor's royal decree: "turn of the century" now refers to the transition from 1999 to 2000)
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