Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

klkla
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by klkla »

At my Costco they installed them in the middle of the checkstand bank which seems odd to me. But, there is a benefit. Customers have to enter through the front corner and then generally finish shopping on the other side of the store. The line at self-checkout always seems to be longer which causes a visual block of the checkstands on the side of the entrance. Now I know to backtrack over there and the lines are always shorter on that side of self-checkout.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by veteran+ »

Always great to have an inside look into a situation.

:idea:
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

Costco has been looking to build in the Albany area but the project has been tied up in litigation for some time now. Last week, the developer got a favorable court ruling that moved things along a bit but still far from actual construction. When it was first announced they were on the way, my first reaction was "it's about damned time" and I'm sure I wasn't alone. After reading some of the comments here in regards to SCO and store conditions in general, now I'm not so sure I even want to look the place over if and when it does come to fruition.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by rwsandiego »

I wouldn't avoid Costco based on its self-checkout implementation. At my local store (Arcadia Crossing [44th St and Thomas] in Phoenix), the SCO attendant has a handheld scanner and comes running when a customer appears to be in need of assistance. In my focus group of one, the following issues have arisen:
  • Many people who use self-checkout don't know how to use it. The same issue occurs at Safeway, Fry's, Sprouts, and Whole Foods.
  • Customers don't use common sense. If you are buying pallets of items or a very large item, don't use the self-checkout. Again, this occurs at other stores.
  • The mobile version of the membership card does not always scan. That's Costco's problem and they need to solve it
I can't speak for areas other than Phoenix (current home) and San Diego (former home), but long Costco checkout lines are nothing new. For the twenty one years I've been a member the lines have always been long. That's to be expected at a high-volume store.

As an aside, when I was a little kid in the 1970's supermarkets had long lines. The local Jewel had at least twelve checkstands, all would be open on Saturday, and there were always lines. Dominick's and the myriad independents had the same. National and A&P always had short lines, but that was because they had few customers. Wouldn't you know it they eventually pulled out of the market.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by storewanderer »

babs wrote: July 10th, 2021, 6:32 pm
They don't have handheld scanners for the public but everytime I have been there, there are 2 or 3 attendants walking around scanning things. They even offered to scan everything in my cart. No need to put those item on the scale. It's the best execution of self checkout anywhere. Beats Safeway where they put the grumpiest employees at self checkout who would rather be texting their friends than helping anyone out. And good luck getting their Just 4 You prices to scan.

Also Costco's sales are up 15% year over year so that might be contributing to longer lines.
I have been shopping Safeway considerably more often the past two months due to the Raleys ONE fiasco and the new store opening near me, and heavily utilizing the app and related pricing games to bring their pricing down to levels I am willing to pay. I have had so far 1 (in about 50) transactions with a pricing issue. I have not had one transaction where the self checkout needs assistance. I am actually shocked that these promotions are coming up correctly.

There is no way this Costco system that now we are hearing multiple stores have implemented (but does not appear to be corporate policy) where you need an attendant at self checkout to "sign the receipt" then subject the transaction to another "check" at the door makes any sense. Is this some kind of accountability thing? If the customer doesn't scan an item, do they blame the self check attendant who initialed the receipt (their cashiers get a notation if a receipt check at the door detects unscanned merchandise, which I fully understand as it is the cashier's job to scan everything)?

Why not station a third employee to check the receipt before the actual check at the door? They could call it the mid-line check. Maybe they can draw a smiley face and write "just one more check left for you- we're almost done" on the receipt. Maybe the mid-line check could do a quick count of the number of items scanned and make sure that matches the number of items in the cart. Then if someone forgot to scan something, they could throw them back over to the checkout right then and there. Then they can save the door check to make sure the actual line items scanned on the receipt accurately reflect what is in the cart.

I also question the psychology of this. As a customer if I go to Costco and go through the regular checkstand and then go through the receipt check at the exit, I feel as if this process is to ensure Costco employees do their job properly (charge me for all items I am taking out of the store). However if I go through self checkout and then I have the self checkout attendant inspecting that I scanned all items and initialing the receipt, then I am subject to another check at the door to inspect that I scanned all items, I am starting to feel like Costco thinks I am trying to pull one over on them when I used the self checkout. Also at this point I am wasting my time interacting with multiple Costco employees at front end/exit yet I had to do all the work of checking myself out. I may as well just go to a regular checkout. Sorry, but two checks is just overkill. I can go for one check, but not two.

I made fun of Roundys Stores I went to back in WI a decade ago for having signs at self checkout "please show your receipt to self checkout attendant for verification." I have no clue what the process was because nobody was following the policy and everyone just took their items/receipt and left and the employees did not ask to see any receipts. But this Costco thing of initialing the receipt sounds like that.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by storewanderer »

klkla wrote: July 10th, 2021, 11:30 pm At my Costco they installed them in the middle of the checkstand bank which seems odd to me. But, there is a benefit. Customers have to enter through the front corner and then generally finish shopping on the other side of the store. The line at self-checkout always seems to be longer which causes a visual block of the checkstands on the side of the entrance. Now I know to backtrack over there and the lines are always shorter on that side of self-checkout.
I have seen this somewhere... but I can't think of where.

I wonder what the reasoning is for installing them in the middle vs. at the end.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by mjhale »

rwsandiego wrote: July 11th, 2021, 11:32 am I wouldn't avoid Costco based on its self-checkout implementation. At my local store (Arcadia Crossing [44th St and Thomas] in Phoenix), the SCO attendant has a handheld scanner and comes running when a customer appears to be in need of assistance. In my focus group of one, the following issues have arisen:
  • Many people who use self-checkout don't know how to use it. The same issue occurs at Safeway, Fry's, Sprouts, and Whole Foods.
  • Customers don't use common sense. If you are buying pallets of items or a very large item, don't use the self-checkout. Again, this occurs at other stores.
  • The mobile version of the membership card does not always scan. That's Costco's problem and they need to solve it
The caution here to Costco is to what degree they implement self-checkout. When self-checkout was installed in the stores near where I live there was a decrease in the amount of staffed cash registers. It didn't happen immediately but it did happen over time. Early mornings and evening seem to be the times when you could enter a store around me and have no staffed cash register lines open. I'm not sure that Costco could significantly reduce staff cash registers and get away with it given their volumes and the amount of large items that they sell. Your first list item affects self-checkout all the time. People are clueless sometimes and I wonder how they even got to the store in the first place LOL! But your second item could really bungle up the works at Costco if they don't keep a handle on self checkout with people to help if there are problems along the way.

On your third list item, turn the brightness up all the way on your cell phone when barcodes on the screen will not scan. When the brightness is down lower the scanner can't tell the difference between the grayish background and the actual black lines that make up the barcode. I've noticed that a few of the of the store apps I use automatically turn up the brightness to max when I bring up the barcode for the loyalty program to scan.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by mjhale »

arizonaguy wrote: July 9th, 2021, 7:59 pm Even Safeway has hand held scanners that regular customers can use.
Lucky you... None of the Safeway stores have handheld scanners in the DC area. I wish they did. Makes it way easier to scan and leave big or heavy items in the card - TP, paper towels, milk, etc. Then again Safeway has never really been on the cutting edge around here. They got better when Albertsons first got them. But now they are back to their usual inconsistent, high priced ways.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by storewanderer »

mjhale wrote: July 11th, 2021, 1:55 pm
arizonaguy wrote: July 9th, 2021, 7:59 pm Even Safeway has hand held scanners that regular customers can use.
Lucky you... None of the Safeway stores have handheld scanners in the DC area. I wish they did. Makes it way easier to scan and leave big or heavy items in the card - TP, paper towels, milk, etc. Then again Safeway has never really been on the cutting edge around here. They got better when Albertsons first got them. But now they are back to their usual inconsistent, high priced ways.
Costco- absolutely needs to have hand held scanners on the self checkout for customers to use. Just like Sam's Club. At Sam's Club, the self checkout has ONLY a handheld scanner (no other scanner). Costco just needed to go look at Sam's Club to figure out how to do a self checkout. Might be about the only thing Sam's Club actually does better than Costco. And Sam's is doing it a lot more efficiently than Costco too. I don't think this is as much about Sam's having some sort of breakthrough ideas as it is Costco completely mucking up the process with misconfigured software, missing hardware, and then random stores topping it off with absurd policies of "self checkout attendant needing to initial the receipt."

I've never seen any hand scanners on Safeway self checkouts and this includes the new less than two month old store I shop in. I may be missing them, as I have not had a need to use one...
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by babs »

mjhale wrote: July 11th, 2021, 1:55 pm
arizonaguy wrote: July 9th, 2021, 7:59 pm Even Safeway has hand held scanners that regular customers can use.
Lucky you... None of the Safeway stores have handheld scanners in the DC area. I wish they did. Makes it way easier to scan and leave big or heavy items in the card - TP, paper towels, milk, etc. Then again Safeway has never really been on the cutting edge around here. They got better when Albertsons first got them. But now they are back to their usual inconsistent, high priced ways.
I haven't seen a handheld scanner at any Safeway or Albertsons I've been to in Oregon, Washington or California.
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