Courtesy clerks (baggers) - Y or N?

[BillyGr]

To this point, I also think self checkouts should be "card only" and the "no liquor sales at self checkout" rule is helpful so the self checkout attendant is not tied up as often. I see a lot of thefts happen at self checkouts when the attendant is distracted doing a liquor sale.

Also having them as "card only" helps track the customer who is conducting the transaction.

No reason that they can't take cash. They still know who is using them as the stores have their own cards that you scan (to get sale prices, electronic coupons or whatever). I guess someone could use one without that, but they would be pretty stupid to do so and not get any of the lower prices or deals.
I think most places here would allow liquor (but that is only beer or similar things, as only liquor stores have wine & hard liquor items in NY), they also often ask for an attendant for other items (like cold medicine most recently that I was getting), but that is probably a requirement from above rather than a store choice.

[storewanderer]

In CA the self checkouts cannot sell alcohol, it is a state law. I find in CA Stores this enables the cashiers to be much more focused on watching what is going on vs. approving liquor all shift. I used to think not allowing liquor sales at self checkout was a problem, but in reality it is better from a loss prevention standpoint. Liquor accounts for 80%+ of the "wait for attendant" alerts at self checkouts. Any time the attendant turns their back to approve a liquor sale, customers at other lanes can be doing something fraudulent, undetected, and know it.

As far as cashless goes that is just for tracking purposes. Not all stores have the loyalty card. Giant Eagle does not let you use their self checkout unless you scan a loyalty card to activate the machine. I did find some OH area code+ 555-1212 and 867-5309 worked though, so I was able to use their self checkouts despite not getting a loyalty card from them.

[BillyGr]

In CA the self-checkouts cannot sell alcohol, it is a state law. I find in CA Stores this enables the cashiers to be much more focused on watching what is going on vs. approving liquor all shift. I used to think not allowing liquor sales at self-checkout was a problem, but in reality, it is better from a loss prevention standpoint. Liquor accounts for 80%+ of the "wait for attendant" alerts at self-checkouts. Any time the attendant turns their back to approve a liquor sale, customers at other lanes can be doing something fraudulent, undetected, and know it.

As far as cashless goes that is just for tracking purposes. Not all stores have the loyalty card. Giant Eagle does not let you use their self-checkout unless you scan a loyalty card to activate the machine. I did find some OH area code+ 555-1212 and 867-5309 worked though, so I was able to use their self-checkouts despite not getting a loyalty card from them.

Makes sense that it is a state law, since I can't say I've seen it anywhere otherwise (that is, the stores didn't make it a rule on their own, though they certainly could choose to do so).

Also, not sure I ever saw a store that required a card to use self-checkout (even in the chains that have them, which is pretty much all the ones locally, save one, but that one has a program for rewards and e-coupons, so many use a phone # anyway for those, which would give the same information).

The only one that did require a card for something was Stop & Shop, but that was only for the hand-held scanners that they offered (long before phones & apps that some stores have now) to scan as you shop. It assigned you a scanner to take, so that was how they connected things (since you'd scan the card again at the checkout to pay).

Kind of interesting that it is Giant Eagle that did that, as I found one time travelling that they also offer for their gas stations that if you have and scan a store card, you can pump gas then pay (for cash) inside after, while otherwise you would have to prepay. I had gotten such a card (seem to have collected one from just about any store that has them as we travelled over the years), so didn't try your phone# thought, but it makes sense that someone probably registered those types of numbers to avoid giving a real one at some point

[buckguy]

In visiting my hometown and parents, it always threw me when the local independent had baggers. However, the other day we were at Albertsons and yes, all their checkstands also had baggers. Makes you wonder about some of the divisions where they pulled out self check (yes, now largely returned due to customer feedback/preference) ... maybe the office suite thought they had this kind of labor in stores to speed register transactions.

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In the good old days, ALL supermarkets had courtesy clerks/baggers - Albertsons, Safeway, Kroger, A&P - it was essential to the operation to keep the customer happy. Someone handled your groceries from the farm to your car, essentially.

Then the 70's and 80's happened, and folks were looking to save money. Around this time, many operators experimented with a no-frills supermarket - Barney's (Kroger), Pak N Save (Safeway), WEO (A&P) and more. They did away with the position. They then moved this change to their mainline stores when folks didn't miss it. But the little old lady did. She still goes to the independent who couldn't afford to migrate the format. So they continue. I very well remember Kroger having baggers into the 80s.

Of course no Walmart stores have this position, and many have fewer staffed check stands than ever (though this market also has a surprisingly good number of them).

Walmart was not originally a supermarket, they were originally a discount store with variety store roots. Their ultimate goal was originally to lower prices. Since they have dominated most markets, they charge what they can get away with now.

One thing that helped with that a number of years ago was the warehouse type stores - they knew that they wouldn't have people packing groceries, so they made the checkout with TWO counters past the cashier. That way, your order went onto one side, if you hadn't finished packing by the time payment was taken, you could continue packing on that side while the next customer was being rung up and their items went onto the other side (had a piece that flipped to block one belt/counter and send items to the other), so it didn't hold up the next person in line while you finished packing your purchases.

I don't know about all Warehouse format stores, but Brookshire Grocery's Super 1 Foods division took all of these out in favor of a carousel checker bag situation. The customer still carries out to their car with no assistance. They were a pain for maintenance, with three belts to break instead of one.

Goes back way further than warehouse stores. I’ve talked to people who worked as checkers before then and stores kept threatening to eliminate the “stockboy” positions that did the bagging and have cashiers do everything. There were checkstand prototypes for this going back to the 60s.

[Brian Lutz]

Also, not sure I ever saw a store that required a card to use self-checkout (even in the chains that have them, which is pretty much all the ones locally, save one, but that one has a program for rewards and e-coupons, so many use a phone # anyway for those, which would give the same information).

Costco requires it, but that's no different from any other purchases there.

[storewanderer]

Also, not sure I ever saw a store that required a card to use self-checkout (even in the chains that have them, which is pretty much all the ones locally, save one, but that one has a program for rewards and e-coupons, so many use a phone # anyway for those, which would give the same information).

Costco requires it, but that's no different from any other purchases there.

Giant Eagle is the only store I've ever seen that required a loyalty card for self checkout use.

Even the Giant Eagle owned upscale format they run in Indianapolis, did not have this policy. It was just the "Giant Eagle" branded stores.