Self Check Outs

[storewanderer]

and 90% of the time for Grocery Outlet since they don't have as much PLU entry product and often have baggers.

My Grocery Outlet has stopped bagging altogether, at least when you bring your own bags. The last two times I shopped there they just shoved my items down to the end of the counter and started ringing up the next person. And since their checkout areas are not built for this process, it doesn't work well.

Some store employees do not want to touch customer bags due to sanitation concerns. This only started during COVID, now by this point in time pretty much every store has told employees they have to bag for customers, and if a store is still refusing I'd suggest talking to store management to find out what is going on. I am not sure if there is any guidance from Grocery Outlet corporate on this topic but suspect there is and suspect that a store refusing to bag in customer reusable bags is not compliant.

Some employees wear gloves due to this "must bag for customers in customer's bags" thing. Look at the gloves of those employees and you won't want those employees touching your bag...

[ClownLoach]

Can validate that the Temecula Stater Bros remodel is complete, and absolutely beautiful store that is completely new inside. The entire original 90s Albertsons layout is removed, they constructed and relocated bakery and deli. They did not install self checkout but instead the 4 new tiny express checkouts. So it looks like they're moving away from it already after including in their last two years of full remodels, light remodels, and new builds.

[storewanderer]

Can validate that the Temecula Stater Bros remodel is complete, and absolutely beautiful store that is completely new inside. The entire original 90s Albertsons layout is removed, they constructed and relocated bakery and deli. They did not install self checkout but instead the 4 new tiny express checkouts. So it looks like they're moving away from it already after including in their last two years of full remodels, light remodels, and new builds.

A mistake in my opinion but if they can staff front end with efficient employees then it may work out for them.

[ClownLoach]

Can validate that the Temecula Stater Bros remodel is complete, and absolutely beautiful store that is completely new inside. The entire original 90s Albertsons layout is removed, they constructed and relocated bakery and deli. They did not install self checkout but instead the 4 new tiny express checkouts. So it looks like they're moving away from it already after including in their last two years of full remodels, light remodels, and new builds.

A mistake in my opinion but if they can staff front end with efficient employees then it may work out for them.

Agreed. The new and remodeled SB stores were doing an excellent job of supervising and managing the self checkout. The top competitor is the Flagship tier Walmart next block over, and the large retiree customer base is furious about the 36 self checkouts and the fact you must wait in two lines to get a full service register. So I wonder if this is a intentional competitive reaction to be full service only for this specific store.

[brendenmoney]

Can validate that the Temecula Stater Bros remodel is complete, and absolutely beautiful store that is completely new inside. The entire original 90s Albertsons layout is removed, they constructed and relocated bakery and deli. They did not install self checkout but instead the 4 new tiny express checkouts. So it looks like they're moving away from it already after including in their last two years of full remodels, light remodels, and new builds.

A mistake in my opinion but if they can staff front end with efficient employees then it may work out for them.

Agreed. The new and remodeled SB stores were doing an excellent job of supervising and managing the self checkout. The top competitor is the Flagship tier Walmart next block over, and the large retiree customer base is furious about the 36 self checkouts and the fact you must wait in two lines to get a full service register. So I wonder if this is a intentional competitive reaction to be full service only for this specific store.

If there is any company that can efficiently run a full-service check out, it is Stater. The Riverside store I previously mentioned that added self-checkout as part of it's remodel is close to UC Riverside, so I imagine the self-checkout added to that store is meant to appeal to students. The same might apply to their Oceanside store, where self-checkout is available for beach-goers who want to run in and quickly grab a few items. Based on this, Stater may be adding in self-checkout on a case by case basis. As for the newly remodeled store in Temecula, I imagine their full-service checkout must have worked well enough that Stater chose to keep it the way it is. When Albertsons chose to remove self-checkout in a major chunk of their Southern California stores at the end of 2016 (which Albertsons reversed this decision in 2019), they aimed for including self-checkout in stores that had higher concentrations of quicker smaller purchases, mainly in college, beach, and other high traffic communities. Stater is likely following this same tactic.

[storewanderer]

A mistake in my opinion but if they can staff front end with efficient employees then it may work out for them.

Agreed. The new and remodeled SB stores were doing an excellent job of supervising and managing the self checkout. The top competitor is the Flagship tier Walmart next block over, and the large retiree customer base is furious about the 36 self checkouts and the fact you must wait in two lines to get a full service register. So I wonder if this is a intentional competitive reaction to be full service only for this specific store.

If there is any company that can efficiently run a full-service check out, it is Stater. The Riverside store I previously mentioned that added self-checkout as part of it's remodel is close to UC Riverside, so I imagine the self-checkout added to that store is meant to appeal to students. The same might apply to their Oceanside store, where self-checkout is available for beach-goers who want to run in and quickly grab a few items. Based on this, Stater may be adding in self-checkout on a case by case basis. As for the newly remodeled store in Temecula, I imagine their full-service checkout must have worked well enough that Stater chose to keep it the way it is. When Albertsons chose to remove self-checkout in a major chunk of their Southern California stores at the end of 2016 (which Albertsons reversed this decision in 2019), they aimed for including self-checkout in stores that had higher concentrations of quicker smaller purchases, mainly in college, beach, and other high traffic communities. Stater is likely following this same tactic.

Albertsons removal of self checkout in 2016 was a much different time. The units removed were NCR units that just didn't work all that well. NorCal didn't remove many self checkouts (only store I saw remove them was Sparks, NV but supposedly there were others). At that point in time few Targets had self checkout and if they did they only had 4 of them, Kroger was already big on self checkout, Wal Mart was expanding it slowly... where I am going is they had the wrong system in place (NCR), needed to do the POS upgrades to start accepting Chip cards, and customers were not yet as used to self checkout as they are today. It was a real big problem Albertsons was desperately trying to upgrade its POS systems (the "updated" Safeway systems they decided to go with chainwide- 95% of Safeway was still on the "old" Safeway system at the time of merger but the pre-merger Safeway had "updated" a few stores to the current system) to get them accepting chip cards, and the NCR self checkout would not interface with the updated POS systems/would not accept chip cards. I don't know why the Safeway system had so much trouble with that as a lot of other chains updated old systems to accept Chip cards during that time period (took a while but they did it). So the situation Albertsons was in, back in 2016, was if they kept self checkout in a store, it meant not doing the upgrade to accept Chip cards... which meant they had all credit card fraud liability "on them" due to still running swipe cards. SoCal had major problems with cloned cards/card skimming and there was serious liability (Ralphs had already switched to accepting Chip cards at that time; same with Wal Mart, Target, etc.) involved in not upgrading the card processing. So they really had no choice but to ditch self checkout and do the register upgrades to accept Chip cards at that time.

I think the first Toshiba self checkout I saw at Safeway was in 2017 in NorCal and it replaced some NCRs. That division as I mentioned did very few self checkout removals but came up with the solution to switch to Toshiba self checkouts. OR/WA also did very few self checkout removals at the Safeway banner and kept NCRs around in a surprising number of cases.

Random Safeway locations throughout Safeway kept NCR self checkouts well into 2019 and the funny thing was at some point they actually did make it so those accepted Chip Cards and could interface with the "upgraded" Safeway POS systems but it was not until they had already rolled the upgraded systems out chainwide and had already put Toshiba self checkouts in their best stores... I wonder if any Albertsons/Safeway units still have NCR self checkouts or all finally got the far superior better Toshiba units.

[ClownLoach]

It seems that almost overnight there has become a massive movement in these stores to self regulate around a 15 item limit. I wonder if they are going to fight the proposed law by claiming they're already limiting items and increasing supervision. The law idea is stupid and outrageous, and if passed I hope all the retailers sue over it. The law is also comically redundant as it outlaws self checkout alcohol purchasing which is already illegal and on those grounds alone the law could theoretically be tossed. The below was seen in San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange County shops this week all primarily in "good" areas I would expect to be low shrink stores.

Walmart two days ago had updated the signage on every self checkout to "15 item limit". Even the big units that can handle a whole cart load and multiple bags which is an incredible waste. A few were labeled for spark drivers. One Walmart+ lane walled off had a customer ringing a full basket and she had a employee basically standing right in front of her basket supervising. That lane was not labeled with a item limit.

Target has the signs and I need to double check but I think they made the bold move of removing the entire bank of self checkouts from the non-food side of my local SuperTarget. I am 99% sure they had self checks at both doors of that store, around 4 on the GM side and a corral of about 8 on the grocery side. As usual signs posted but employee standing around ignoring everything. I have heard that they are testing programming of the self checks to lock at the payment screen once over 15 items and require a employee override with the intention of verifying the order. Seems like a bad idea to me for reasons I won't explain.

Ralphs also has posted a limit of 15 items on store printed signs. Every other self checkout was off and there was a employee actively marching around in a circle checking on each customer.

The Albertsons I visited in Upland had 15 item limit signs on their self checkouts that appeared to be corporate designed graphics printed on a color printer. Had a employee standing there watching while chatting to the cashier next register. (Really bad employee culture in that pretty newly remodeled store, too bad).

Winco has erected a ugly 10 foot tall, 12+ foot wide plastic barricade that looks like it was made out of sign holders and old COVID shields to wall the entire self checkout area. Looks like something you'd expect from Walmart. Ugly store made signs say limit 15 items. There is a small opening on the side and an employee stationed on a stool inspecting carts before allowing entry to the self checkouts. There is a second employee at the exit. I am unsure if this is designed to prevent cart run out theft as the exit door is straight ahead and the easiest/widest path was through self checkout for such theft activities, but they don't block closed full serve lanes.

I don't have a Stater here with self checkout or I would check there. Noticeably the newly remodeled Temecula Stater did not get self checkout but instead has four tiny kiosk sized express checkout stands. The new Smart and Final is all full service.

[storewanderer]

Not seeing item limits in NorCal much on these self checkouts.

I've seen one Wal Mart with a 20 item limit but they already removed all of their horrible store made signs they had posted about it... there is another Wal Mart who put signs up that said 15 items or less on all of the self checkouts and those are right above the lights for them and obviously corporate made. Both of these Wal Marts would be part of a Sacramento market and I'd consider one moderate shrink and one low shrink.

I've seen a few Targets with the 10 item limit signs but not many.

I've never seen an item limit on any Kroger or Safeway self checkout... that is VERY disappointing to hear Kroger is enforcing an item limit at Ralphs. This is probably a local decision and hopefully it gets reversed. They have weight sensors (most Safeway/Albertsons have weight sensors OFF but some do have them ON... you never know...) on the self checkouts at Kroger...

WinCo has always run the item limit from day one but most of the ones I go to have 7 self checkouts and one employee watching out there on the floor- totally glued to the monitor station (sitting in a chair). Loss prevention is also watching from the camera room though, in the case of WinCo.

No item limits on Raleys or Save Mart self checkout but they are so awful to use (NCR) that you probably don't want to do more than 10 items.

The Marketon in Reno has 4 self checkouts and only operates 2 at once. They have 2-3 people watching you as you use them. There is also a funny little set of cones at the entry set up so in order to exit the store you have to walk basically all the way across the front end then do a "u turn" to walk back and out the door; there is always a guy in a suit standing there at the cones (that is part of their security department). Since they are strange with produce codes I usually need help on self checkout and they aren't very helpful when you actually need help- like they seem annoyed by it. The codes on the produce don't match the code they use. Last week they had a bunch of 4401 White Peaches according to the stickers on the peaches so I used that code. But the code they needed you to use to get the 1.25/lb sale was 4037 (small yellow peach code). To be fair if you typed "peach" on the self checkout the only available picture to select was for that 4037 small yellow peach but I typically go by the sticker... They have a big video monitor hanging above the self checkouts that shows images of everyone scanning items- all visible as you wait in line to use self checkout. They have signs posted in English and Spanish saying you must scan all items to avoid any "complications or legal proceedings." I really like the self checkout but I notice not many customers seem to be using them for some reason.