Target "Self Checkout Hours" 11 AM to 7 PM

[storewanderer]

Zero training investment these days. From what I hear that is a hallmark of the current CEO, gutting of training/development programs. Target used to run quality leadership development programs for potential promotions (although they were always hesitant to promote from within, especially Store Managers). Now they have eliminated the requirements for a 4 year degree to be a Manager, probably a good change considering how many experienced candidates would be excluded. But they seem to have eliminated all training and development which is why we see less effective leadership in their stores and the vast inconsistency in execution that was never this bad prior to the current CEO. They basically have the new employees sit and watch online training and made a new POS system that is touch screen and styled like a phone app to require less training. They're hired and on a checkout, alone, before the end of the first shift.

For the self checkout staffing, they never should have had only one person supervising a large bank of self checks as they spend all their time helping, overrides, etc. and zero time preventing theft. I've noticed that now there are two people at my local store for self checkout plus the Asset Protection person in a neon yellow vest is nearby. Seems to be 2 people for 6 self checkouts and now the line doesn't wander and block traffic, someone is watching and someone is helping. Seems like an improvement there. But the sales floor is a disaster area probably because they were dependent on taking three or four cashiers off the front end so everyone could recover and restock at a leisurely pace. Now that isn't an option so the place is a mess. Even found several endcaps mostly empty with pages of new price tags sitting on the shelf, someone obviously didn't finish the job and just left it there. Target standards usually demand no empty endcaps so I'm sure someone would be in big trouble if a visitor showed up. Problem is Target announces all the visits so upper management doesn't see the reality their customers do.

That seems to be a retail thing in general as far as lack of training goes and trying to come up with new systems that are "more intuitive" and require less/no training.

Last week in Sparks they had all 12 self checkouts open and had 2 employees there plus one uniformed asset protection standing in the middle of the two banks looking. This worked well. But I've found Target needs minimal intervention on self checkout.

Last week in Reno the employee who was sitting down watching seemed to think a couple of people were stealing/tag switching (I watched them, didn't see this...) and was talking into a handheld device (may have been a walkie) about it to someone, but I watched the customers just leave after paying and nobody did anything to them. The employee never approached their self checkout or offered help, never even got up. Half of the self checkouts had no bags, I walked past one because it had a huge wet spill on it, just lousy execution and a mess with an employee who didn't care and management who is absent.

I wonder also if a more effective self checkout approach would be to open every other self checkout (vs. having 6 all right next to each other open then having then other 6 right next to each other closed). I say this because if you have people more spread out, it is easier for the employees standing at a distance (or the cameras) to watch what is going on. If it is 1 employee per 3 self checkouts this could work.

I have a Safeway here with 6 self checkouts in a bullcage. It was designed for 4 self checkouts but they squeezed 6 into the same space. They got rid of shopping baskets because they all got stolen or broken or something or wanted to display merchandise where they were placed by the door or something. So now these self checkouts at any given time have 3-5 customers with carts there. They are usually self checkout only at night after 6 or 7 PM. This is a store that probably does $850k+++ per week so this is not a slow store. The employee watching can't see ANYTHING. Doesn't even know when people need help, then have to fight their way through a mess of people and carts to get to a machine to help people. The space is too tight and was made worse by the lack of hand baskets. I can only imagine the theft they have in their self checkout.

I've also noticed in Wal Mart's front end remodels they seem to be better spacing apart the self checkouts making them easier to watch from a distance.

[Brian Lutz]

After several visits it seems to me the Target I shop at (Greensboro Lawndale) does pretty consistently keep at least three regular checkstands open, although this is a store with only four self checkout lanes (plus one in the "snack bar" area.) One thing I've noticed about this store is that I can't recall ever seeing all of the self checkouts open at once, it seems like there's always at least one unavailable for one reason or another. One of the other stores in town (New Garden Road) had a recent remodel that added more self checkout lanes (a "Bullpen" style area with 8 stations), but I don't go there often enough to know what the situation at that store is like.

[ClownLoach]

Zero training investment these days. From what I hear that is a hallmark of the current CEO, gutting of training/development programs. Target used to run quality leadership development programs for potential promotions (although they were always hesitant to promote from within, especially Store Managers). Now they have eliminated the requirements for a 4 year degree to be a Manager, probably a good change considering how many experienced candidates would be excluded. But they seem to have eliminated all training and development which is why we see less effective leadership in their stores and the vast inconsistency in execution that was never this bad prior to the current CEO. They basically have the new employees sit and watch online training and made a new POS system that is touch screen and styled like a phone app to require less training. They're hired and on a checkout, alone, before the end of the first shift.

For the self checkout staffing, they never should have had only one person supervising a large bank of self checks as they spend all their time helping, overrides, etc. and zero time preventing theft. I've noticed that now there are two people at my local store for self checkout plus the Asset Protection person in a neon yellow vest is nearby. Seems to be 2 people for 6 self checkouts and now the line doesn't wander and block traffic, someone is watching and someone is helping. Seems like an improvement there. But the sales floor is a disaster area probably because they were dependent on taking three or four cashiers off the front end so everyone could recover and restock at a leisurely pace. Now that isn't an option so the place is a mess. Even found several endcaps mostly empty with pages of new price tags sitting on the shelf, someone obviously didn't finish the job and just left it there. Target standards usually demand no empty endcaps so I'm sure someone would be in big trouble if a visitor showed up. Problem is Target announces all the visits so upper management doesn't see the reality their customers do.

I've also noticed in Wal Mart's front end remodels they seem to be better spacing apart the self checkouts making them easier to watch from a distance.

I looked at both the one new build store (Elsinore) and the new prototype remodel (Temecula). I think Elsinore has a better handle on the front end setup with a bank of about ten self checkouts, then a block of regular checkout lanes in the middle, and then another block of self checkouts. They're spread out with that large new bagging area and the employee can easily supervise. The new prototype might be too spread out, again about 16 self checkouts on each side with single queue line, and then two small pods of 4 regular check stands that are in the middle of each bank of self checkouts. I don't think the cashier on the lane can see anything happening on the self checkout, and the lane blocks the view. It's great from a customer experience if you like self checkout as they have effectively used different counter and kiosk shapes to make small, medium and large basket size self check lanes. But I think it's awful for the customer who needs a regular lane to wait in line twice.