Safeway removes self checkout in Bend, OR

[storewanderer]

Guess they are still at it on removing self checkouts.

http://www.bendbulletin.com/business/47 ... rive-store

Always fun to read the reader comments.

I call BS on the system not being compatible. Winn Dixie has the same system and they have self checkout.

[SoCalShopper1023]

The removal of Self Checkouts is a trend that Albertsons LLC started back in 2011, and has continued to do with the stores they have acquired from Supervalu and now Safeway. Two of my local Vons stores also had their self-checkouts removed recently, and a lot of customers have not been very happy about it including myself. Now I'm forced to wait in their notoriously long lines just to purchase 1 gallon of milk, when I would have normally just gone to self checkout and be done in half the time.

[BatteryMill]

That's too bad... I would be the one person who appreciates self-checkouts. They work well for me most of the time.

Also, speaking in meta-fashion, shouldn't this belong in the Northwest, Rockies, & Alaska USA board? This is just somewhat of a heads-up.

[storewanderer]

I am wondering who exactly is happy by the removal of self checkouts from these stores? I see complaints about it all over the Internet as they remove the self checkouts from the higher traffic Safeway locations.

Is this just a self-serving move by Albertsons that their management is making? Customer be damned; someone in upper management does not like self checkouts so even if the hundreds of customers a day who used the self checkouts liked them, they are to be removed. So what if those customers now have to wait a few minutes to buy a single item that they previously could have gotten from self checkout without a wait.

Between this and the elimination of Three's a Crowd (signs all gone in NorCal), it is becoming very questionable to be what kind of front end standards this combined company has. It really seems like they do not value the customer's time.

The key is to properly staff the stores. Removing self checkout is not the answer. If customers feel forced to use self checkout (such as when certain Kroger divisions only have self checkout open late at night) then that is a major problem and needs to be addressed. But offering customers the option of self checkout or properly staffed full service checkouts is the key to satisfying everyone and also having an efficient front end operation.

[arizonaguy]

I shop at Fry's and Target regularly. If I have a few items, I prefer to use the self checkout. If I have a cartful of items, it's almost always faster to use a staffed checkout. Luckily, I have the option at those stores.

I've waited for several minutes at an Albertsons and a Safeway store with just a few items due to the lack of self checkout. It's one of my biggest complaints about Costco in Arizona (as they don't have self checkout here even at their busiest stores) yet in other regions Costco does have self checkout.

[storewanderer]

As many stores as I go into, I don't often buy much at any one place. So for me using self checkout is a huge time saver under most circumstances. I find when I have to stand and wait in a line (and the majority of the time this waiting in line thing is at Safeway) for a few minutes, I become impatient.

Another store I often go to where there is no self checkout is Whole Foods. They have 4 little express lanes (configuration is sort of like self checkouts would be) on the end near prepared foods and usually all 4 of them are open during busy times and the wait time ends up being less than a minute because they are processing a ton of small orders, often do not require bagging, and move very fast. So the lack of self checkout there is not an issue for me because they properly manage their front end and wait time at this particular Whole Foods location to check out is routinely minimal.

I heard Costco's self checkout experiment failed and they will not roll it out to additional stores. They seemed to have found it did not work well in high volume locations and I suspect theft was a factor. They said it worked well in medium volume locations but that profile did not fit most of their locations so additional roll outs were unlikely.

Like Ikea, like Kmart, self checkout does not work for every retailer. But I am a firm believer that self checkout is a necessary thing for a grocery store. Sort of like an ATM for a bank.

[SamSpade]

Another store I often go to where there is no self checkout is Whole Foods. They have 4 little express lanes (configuration is sort of like self checkouts would be) on the end near prepared foods and usually all 4 of them are open during busy times and the wait time ends up being less than a minute because they are processing a ton of small orders, often do not require bagging, and move very fast. So the lack of self checkout there is not an issue for me because they properly manage their front end and wait time at this particular Whole Foods location to check out is routinely minimal.

New Seasons Market has added this at many of their locations as well (mainly urban stores, where customers are doing light shopping rather than a basket trip). It seems to work OK with proper staffing. When the nearest store to me first opened, a "friendly" clerk was in those lanes and didn't seem to understand the idea was speed of service, not overfriendlyness. She's since quit or been moved off express.

The beef I have with ABS is that theirs seem to be staffed by the customer service center counter clerk and no one else. When I was at United in Amarillo, similar slow movement through these express lanes. If they bring this to the downtown Portland Safeway, it will be disaster. There are already lines a lot of the time for the self check and the express lanes clerks are fast, but their lanes are also busy at certain times. All one has to do is compare the Lloyd Center Safeway (no self checkout) to the stores in the Pearl District or Downtown/University to see the contrast.

[klkla]

I am wondering who exactly is happy by the removal of self checkouts from these stores? I see complaints about it all over the Internet as they remove the self checkouts from the higher traffic Safeway locations.

The problem with self checkout is that it increases shrink (theft). That's the only reason some companies do not use it and some are removing them.

In order to offer self-checkout you have to increase prices to compensate for the higher shrink.

[mbz321]

I heard Costco's self checkout experiment failed and they will not roll it out to additional stores. They seemed to have found it did not work well in high volume locations and I suspect theft was a factor. They said it worked well in medium volume locations but that profile did not fit most of their locations so additional roll outs were unlikely.

A big problem with the self-checkout at Costco was from what I understand, there was no method to prevent sharing of membership cards. Since Costco makes most of its profits from membership sales, this was obviously a big issue for them, and they also want to encourage big shopping orders, not someone just coming in for a chicken and zipping out. Sam's just introduced some kind of 'Scan 'n Go' app where you scan items as you shop..I really wish this is something Costco would implement but technology wise, Costco is way behind (still using AS-400 system for inventory from the 80's, and they still have yet to take ''Chip' cards, despite having the readers for almost a year now). BJ's stores seem fine with the Self-Checkout (in fact, most of the time they may only have a few staffed lanes open), but they are nowhere near as high of volume stores as a Costco, nor do they rely so much on membership fees.


Back to Safeway/Alberstons (or Acme in my area), many seem upset that the Self-Checkout lanes are or have went away, especially in more urban locations that Acme took over from the A&P brands, where people may not buy a cartload of groceries once a week. They added manned express checkout areas which are supposed to be staffed at all times, but it doesn't really seem to be the case based on complaints that I see.

[storewanderer]

If Safeway was having trouble with shrink at self checkout then they should have gone for a better program to monitor the self checkouts. Flat out removing the machines except in very high shrink locations does not make sense. I am not sure how many Safeways are in high shrink type locations but I don't think it is many. Kroger does self checkout in a successful manner but they do it with an eye on shrink too; very few Food 4 Less Stores have self checkout and I think we know the reason. I notice the Food 4 Less locations also have forced entry/exit gates and sometimes have security stationed at the doors.

There are some other issues with self checkout that are legitimate. They become very slow with bag bans. They cannot process alcohol in California so this causes some confusion (most people know now, but tourists still don't).