Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

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Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by Super S »

I went to a Costco in Vancouver, WA yesterday which recently added self-checkouts. What I saw was troubling. First, this particular location was usually well-staffed at the front end and lines moved pretty quickly. This time, nearly every checkout was backed up in to the aisles, and people were avoiding the self-checkouts and cramming into the fewer checkstands available. I had a smaller order so decided to try the self-checkouts. This is not a good setup. You have to place ALL of the contents of your cart on a large metal tray after scanning (I guess with a scale) and there are no boxes available at the self-checkouts. This is not a good setup for the typically large Costco purchases, where there is a cashier and anotehr person loading the cart. An attendant came over and signed the receipt, then it took more time for me to reload my cart as there are no boxes available. Then on the way out, the attendant paid much closer scrutiny to the special blue receipt from the self checkouts, possibly looking at every item to make sure quantities were correct etc.

I am not impressed with how they have set this up. You either get to wait in a long line that looks like the day before Thanksgiving, or use a self-checkout not properly designed for this type of store. They might work for small purchases, but this is Costco. I try to go during less crowded times, but I can't recall a time where I have seen such a congested front end at Costco.

I am going to shift toward making more trips to the less crowded Warrenton location, but if long, slow lines become the norm I am not sure I will be renewing my Costco membership.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by babs »

Super S wrote: July 9th, 2021, 8:45 am I went to a Costco in Vancouver, WA yesterday which recently added self-checkouts. What I saw was troubling. First, this particular location was usually well-staffed at the front end and lines moved pretty quickly. This time, nearly every checkout was backed up in to the aisles, and people were avoiding the self-checkouts and cramming into the fewer checkstands available. I had a smaller order so decided to try the self-checkouts. This is not a good setup. You have to place ALL of the contents of your cart on a large metal tray after scanning (I guess with a scale) and there are no boxes available at the self-checkouts. This is not a good setup for the typically large Costco purchases, where there is a cashier and anotehr person loading the cart. An attendant came over and signed the receipt, then it took more time for me to reload my cart as there are no boxes available. Then on the way out, the attendant paid much closer scrutiny to the special blue receipt from the self checkouts, possibly looking at every item to make sure quantities were correct etc.

I am not impressed with how they have set this up. You either get to wait in a long line that looks like the day before Thanksgiving, or use a self-checkout not properly designed for this type of store. They might work for small purchases, but this is Costco. I try to go during less crowded times, but I can't recall a time where I have seen such a congested front end at Costco.

I am going to shift toward making more trips to the less crowded Warrenton location, but if long, slow lines become the norm I am not sure I will be renewing my Costco membership.
I actually like the self checkout option at Costco. I think it's well executed, the interface is super simple and the roving employees are actively offering to scan large items in your cart. I think the employees are a lot more attentive than those at others stores, with WinCo being the worst. I'm in and out of Costco faster now than ever before. Now, I haven't noticed if they have cut cashiers or not. However, some of it could be perception. In the store I go to the staffed checkstands have shifted to one side more so the lines do appear longer as many stand in the one visible checkstand off the main aisle. Anyway, IMO I think it's working.qell.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by storewanderer »

This doesn't sound great. The Sam's Club self checkout has no weight scale, just a scanner gun, a screen, and a counter. You can scan everything from your cart. When you go to the exit, the exit employee will scan your receipt then "audit" the cart and basically scan almost every item in your cart and compare that to what is on the receipt.

The process of using the Sam's self checkout itself is very easy- you couldn't ask for any easier since you can scan everything right in the cart. But the exit process is more tedious. It still seems faster than unloading your cart at a regular checkstand then having it reloaded again after you pay and still going through some degree of "exit check" as you leave.

Also what do you mean by an attendant coming over and "signed the receipt?"
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by Alpha8472 »

Sam's Club self checkout is really easy, but the cashier at the regular checkstand kept offering me free gift cards if I renewed or upgraded my membership.

Costco has hand held scanners at self checkout. If you use the handheld it does not ask you to place the item on the machine to weigh that item.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by arizonaguy »

Alpha8472 wrote: July 9th, 2021, 7:27 pm Sam's Club self checkout is really easy, but the cashier at the regular checkstand kept offering me free gift cards if I renewed or upgraded my membership.

Costco has hand held scanners at self checkout. If you use the handheld it does not ask you to place the item on the machine to weigh that item.
None of the Costco locations near me have hand held scanners. They all have the grocery store type self checkout machines with the scale / scanner that a barcode has to be placed on top of and then a metal scale that the items need to be placed on after they are scanned. The only hand held scanners at Costco stores near me are ones that employees use to scan items.

Costco has my least favorite self checkout setup of any retailer. Even Safeway has hand held scanners that regular customers can use.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by Super S »

babs wrote: July 9th, 2021, 3:29 pm
I actually like the self checkout option at Costco. I think it's well executed, the interface is super simple and the roving employees are actively offering to scan large items in your cart. I think the employees are a lot more attentive than those at others stores, with WinCo being the worst. I'm in and out of Costco faster now than ever before. Now, I haven't noticed if they have cut cashiers or not. However, some of it could be perception. In the store I go to the staffed checkstands have shifted to one side more so the lines do appear longer as many stand in the one visible checkstand off the main aisle. Anyway, IMO I think it's working.qell.
It's not just perception. ALL of the regular checkstands were open, and every single one of them had lines backed up into the aisles, possibly due to funneling the same amount of customers through fewer checkstands. This was one of the better staffed Costco locations in the past and lines were reasonable. It's clear that customers aren't embracing the self-checkouts.

storewanderer wrote: July 9th, 2021, 4:52 pm
Also what do you mean by an attendant coming over and "signed the receipt?"
The attendant came over and signed initials on the receipt as I was reloading my cart.
arizonaguy wrote: July 9th, 2021, 7:59 pm

None of the Costco locations near me have hand held scanners. They all have the grocery store type self checkout machines with the scale / scanner that a barcode has to be placed on top of and then a metal scale that the items need to be placed on after they are scanned. The only hand held scanners at Costco stores near me are ones that employees use to scan items.

Costco has my least favorite self checkout setup of any retailer. Even Safeway has hand held scanners that regular customers can use.
.

I did not see any hand held scanners available to use. EVERYTHING had to go on the scale which is clearly not designed for large orders.

It's hard to justify paying a membership fee at a store when they are making changes like this. I can go to any number of Walmart locations and experience a lousy checkout experience without paying a membership fee. And I am starting to see some of the items I buy at Costco popping up at other stores for similar prices when I factor in travel time to/from the nearest Costco stores. I will give it some time, but when the cost savings is minimal and the experience becomes frustrating, these will be factors the next time the renewal notice arrives.

I don't oppose self-checkouts entirely. In fact, at some stores such as WinCo, where you have to bag your own purchases anyway, I prefer them over the regular checkouts. But they just don't work with large items. I do recall a time at Lowe's where I saw somebody trying to drag a sheet of plywood across the scanner and there was no attendant to be found.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: July 10th, 2021, 9:36 am The attendant came over and signed initials on the receipt as I was reloading my cart.
Is this a standard/corporate mandated procedure? Or something the store's lost prevention (they sound lost making up a procedure like this) came up with? What happens if someone has one item and quickly escapes the self checkout area without the attendant coming over and initialing the receipt?
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by babs »

storewanderer wrote: July 10th, 2021, 1:46 pm
Super S wrote: July 10th, 2021, 9:36 am The attendant came over and signed initials on the receipt as I was reloading my cart.
Is this a standard/corporate mandated procedure? Or something the store's lost prevention (they sound lost making up a procedure like this) came up with? What happens if someone has one item and quickly escapes the self checkout area without the attendant coming over and initialing the receipt?
This is a store level decision. At the Tigard store they don't check your receipt. At the Portland airport store, they do. It's a double check myo make sure you scanned everything. No big deal for a store that operates on 15% margins.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by babs »

Super S wrote: July 10th, 2021, 9:36 am
babs wrote: July 9th, 2021, 3:29 pm
I actually like the self checkout option at Costco. I think it's well executed, the interface is super simple and the roving employees are actively offering to scan large items in your cart. I think the employees are a lot more attentive than those at others stores, with WinCo being the worst. I'm in and out of Costco faster now than ever before. Now, I haven't noticed if they have cut cashiers or not. However, some of it could be perception. In the store I go to the staffed checkstands have shifted to one side more so the lines do appear longer as many stand in the one visible checkstand off the main aisle. Anyway, IMO I think it's working.qell.
It's not just perception. ALL of the regular checkstands were open, and every single one of them had lines backed up into the aisles, possibly due to funneling the same amount of customers through fewer checkstands. This was one of the better staffed Costco locations in the past and lines were reasonable. It's clear that customers aren't embracing the self-checkouts.

storewanderer wrote: July 9th, 2021, 4:52 pm
Also what do you mean by an attendant coming over and "signed the receipt?"
The attendant came over and signed initials on the receipt as I was reloading my cart.
arizonaguy wrote: July 9th, 2021, 7:59 pm

None of the Costco locations near me have hand held scanners. They all have the grocery store type self checkout machines with the scale / scanner that a barcode has to be placed on top of and then a metal scale that the items need to be placed on after they are scanned. The only hand held scanners at Costco stores near me are ones that employees use to scan items.

Costco has my least favorite self checkout setup of any retailer. Even Safeway has hand held scanners that regular customers can use.
.

I did not see any hand held scanners available to use. EVERYTHING had to go on the scale which is clearly not designed for large orders.

It's hard to justify paying a membership fee at a store when they are making changes like this. I can go to any number of Walmart locations and experience a lousy checkout experience without paying a membership fee. And I am starting to see some of the items I buy at Costco popping up at other stores for similar prices when I factor in travel time to/from the nearest Costco stores. I will give it some time, but when the cost savings is minimal and the experience becomes frustrating, these will be factors the next time the renewal notice arrives.

I don't oppose self-checkouts entirely. In fact, at some stores such as WinCo, where you have to bag your own purchases anyway, I prefer them over the regular checkouts. But they just don't work with large items. I do recall a time at Lowe's where I saw somebody trying to drag a sheet of plywood across the scanner and there was no attendant to be found.
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.
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Re: Costco installing self-checkouts at more locations

Post by mbz321 »

storewanderer wrote: July 10th, 2021, 1:46 pm
Super S wrote: July 10th, 2021, 9:36 am The attendant came over and signed initials on the receipt as I was reloading my cart.
Is this a standard/corporate mandated procedure? Or something the store's lost prevention (they sound lost making up a procedure like this) came up with? What happens if someone has one item and quickly escapes the self checkout area without the attendant coming over and initialing the receipt?
Costco employee here (that once in a while oversees the Self Checkouts)...seems to be a store-level decision. In my location, we only initial employee receipts (which does make sense as some employees buy something from the Deli to eat for lunch, so nobody is otherwise checking their purchases if using SCO if they don't leave the building with anything). That being said and what others have touched on, the whole system is atrocious. I posted this mini-rant on another retail site, but since it fits in the discussion:
It's like Costco looked at what every other stores had and ordered something worse. They are very user-unfriendly. I'd say 1/2 the people don't understand they need to scan their card on the scanner [I actually helped with this recently by putting unauthorized labels I made with a label maker on the machines...so far, no higher-ups have removed them!] not the credit card reader to start. We don't leave the scan guns out for the members to use so the attendant (me) needs to jump around between 6 SCO's to scan their 'heavy items' (and sadly pretty much everyone coming through has cases of bottled water and crap in their cart). I have to 'link' my scan gun to each SCO and there is always a noticeable lag in linking and scanning their items. Members try coming through with carts loaded up and all we can gently do is suggest they go to a regular lane. The amount of space on the scale makes big orders a PITA. Costco has a thing against signs, so we don't have any 'limit' signs, nor signs that we don't take the paper executive reward or Citi checks there, and the font that says 'Electronic Payments Only' is only high on the ceiling sign in like a size 2 font. The scales frequently go out of whack (from idiots putting heavy stuff on them when it says not to and it might take a while for a tech to come out). Also a lot of products have multiple bar codes on them (ie. individual bar codes on cans of tuna or a 2 pack of apple juice), and those codes aren't programmed in the computer, so often the wrong ones get scanned leading an attendant to come over to point out the right barcode. That and there is no enforcement on card sharing unless you catch someone with a problem with 'their' card (which is silly as Costco makes most of the money from memberships, so this just seems backwards). There's probably another half dozen pitfalls I've failed to mention but that's all I can remember right now. (That being said, I use them as I don't usually buy more than 2 or 3 small items and it's great for when I shop on a break).
And might I add I heard corporate wants 40% of all front end transactions to go through the SCO's. This has led to a lot of locations sort of 'cheating' by actually having a cashier staffed at each one and they have just become glorified express lanes, which Costco could have easily created if they wanted to without spending a dime (or a few bucks on some Express Lane signs)!
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