Kohl's Self Pickup

Predicting the demise of Sears & Kmart since 2017!
Alpha8472
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Kohl's Self Pickup

Post by Alpha8472 »

Now customers with online orders can use the app and find a bin to pick up their online order. There is no need to wait in line. You just walk up and grab your item from one of the many bins.
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Re: Kohl's Self Pickup

Post by storewanderer »

Office Depot has had self pick up informally guarded by the copy department for years. It worked at some locations but there was theft at others.
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Re: Kohl's Self Pickup

Post by J-Man »

As I posted in another thread, Kohl's "temporarily paused" their curbside pickup service last month (with no advance warning.) And this change does nothing to serve people who do not want to go into stores. I don't know of any other major retailer that has eliminated curbside pickup.
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Re: Kohl's Self Pickup

Post by Brian Lutz »

Home Depot stores have added "lockers" (similar to the Amazon pickup ones) for small order pickup, and I'm surprised more stores haven't adopted that approach. That works well for a screwdriver or a drill, somewhat less so when you order 6 50-pound bags of rocks, so the usefulness can be limited...
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Re: Kohl's Self Pickup

Post by storewanderer »

Brian Lutz wrote: August 10th, 2022, 11:15 pm Home Depot stores have added "lockers" (similar to the Amazon pickup ones) for small order pickup, and I'm surprised more stores haven't adopted that approach. That works well for a screwdriver or a drill, somewhat less so when you order 6 50-pound bags of rocks, so the usefulness can be limited...
There are photos online of what Kohls is doing. They are taking floor space somewhere in the store and setting up little racks with little plastic bins (look like they can barely fit a standard grocery bag). Each bin is numbered. You enter a code onto your phone when you arrive (probably the store number) and then your phone will tell you what bin your purchase is in and you will go get it. The bins are all open, exposed, nothing is locked. There is more security in picking up a $5.55 Little Caesar's Pizza from their locker.

Kohl's should have made a deal with Wal Mart to buy those pick up towers they decommissioned. At least those were secure and didn't just have everyone's orders out in the open for anyone to see and take.
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Re: Kohl's Self Pickup

Post by Alpha8472 »

Back in the 80s or 90s Sears had phones on the wall where you could order items from the mail order catalog and have them sent to the store for pickup. The items would be stored in a self serve pickup area which was a maze and only you knew the correctly marked cubby hole to pick it up. That was when people were more honest.
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Re: Kohl's Self Pickup

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: August 11th, 2022, 1:11 am Back in the 80s or 90s Sears had phones on the wall where you could order items from the mail order catalog and have them sent to the store for pickup. The items would be stored in a self serve pickup area which was a maze and only you knew the correctly marked cubby hole to pick it up. That was when people were more honest.
I remember that. This was for pick up of catalog orders. You first went to a kiosk and then it would print out a slip to tell you what cubby hole your order would be in. I remember the room they had the cubby shelves in was down a hallway and not in the public area of the store. I recall it in the old Sears in Reno (they relocated around 1995, so this was before that) and at the time it seemed really high tech. Sears discontinued that cubby set up I think when they closed down their catalog operation.

Kohl's has indeed reinvented the wheel. Not only does the atmosphere and merchandising feel like Sears but they are even bringing back Sears programs like this from 30 years ago. The only difference is Kohl's doesn't even provide a kiosk for you to figure out what cubby to go to. It is up to you to use your cell phone for that.
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Re: Kohl's Self Pickup

Post by mbz321 »

I tried this system for the first time last night, picking up a pair of shoes I ordered online and while convenient, it just felt very odd. The area was crammed behind the Amazon counter and blocked up with a lot of shipping boxes and other stuff...I felt like I was walking in a stock room. I was expecting a locker-type system but everything is just out in the open, although all the orders are in standard, plastic shopping bags so you can't see what is in them upon a quick glance (is this a 'new' procedure?). I entered a code on a sign into the pickup page and it told me what bin to grab my shoes and off I went. A dishonest person however, could pretty much grab someone elses order as there were no checks or verification done by an employee.

That being said, it's been a few years since I even stepped into a Kohl's, and the store overall appeared to be in good shape.
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Re: Kohl's Self Pickup

Post by storewanderer »

The Kohls in my area have closed the Amazon counter and now all Amazon transactions go through customer service. This is going to be a hot mess in late December/early January.
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Re: Kohl's Self Pickup

Post by Super S »

I needed something in a hard to find size and found a Kohl's store that had what I needed, so I decided to try the store pick-up, which was actually this Self Pick-up option.

I don't like how a phone is basically REQUIRED for this (Other stores allow you to use a copy of an email with ID for pick-up)

The process was straightforward and easy, and I got what I needed, but I had two concerns.

First, nothing is locked up, and, because I am in the land of bag fees, nothing is bagged. It's just stuck in the bins. Not even any paperwork. Everything is out in the open, so anybody can look in and see what's in the bins. And somebody could easily stick something into their own bag.

Second, there is no employee in the area of the store monitoring this. (Is the person doing Amazon returns a Kohl's or Amazon employee?) So no way to verify if an inventory tag was deactivated, no bag, and no receipt, and one set of unlocked doors where they have removed registers. I see a potential for theft if they aren't careful. Maybe they have loss prevention watching, but I don't know.

This was at a store in the Portland area, which has seen a few recent store closures where theft was a factor. I don't see anything preventing a random person from walking up, snooping through the bins, grabbing something, and walking out the door. They need to step up the security a little bit.
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