Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

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Re: Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

Post by ClownLoach »

An interesting update to what I've seen happening at Lowe's and Home Depot. Lowe's is plowing ahead with their new self checkouts which are really excellent, and nearly every Lowe's I've visited in SoCal now has at least 8 new self checkouts and a reduction to only 3 remaining regular registers.

Last night in Vista, CA I saw a new change to this. All signage stating the words "Self Checkout" has been removed from the front end. The already new lighted signs above the self checkouts were changed out. The only word used is "Checkout" on these units. Nothing else had changed; there was still nobody on the 3 traditional checkout lanes and was still an associate supervising the self checks but did not interact. The store was pretty dead due to a surprise rainstorm. It is rather entertaining to see that they have so intentionally removed anything with the phrase "Self Checkout" from the store, yet since these remodels and equipment upgrades the stores operate for the most part with 100% self check. It's a massive improvement for Lowe's once they get the new equipment in place; I've yet to wait in a line because they have all 8 self checks available with two associates supervising on the busy times, and they reduce it to 4 self checks when it is slow. They seem to make sure they have one employee always there per 4 registers and a "floater" who can come from the return desk to man one of the 3 traditional checkouts if a large or complicated order comes up (the associate will radio for that cashier who will come up and ring the difficult order on a regular register without turning on the light and starting a new line). What's great about this is they used to never have more than one employee at the customer service desk which also handles order pickups, now there are always 2 there unless one has to handle a big checkout order then they are pulled away for a few minutes. But generally it is not only faster to get in and out with a purchase now it is also faster to make returns. They're running the same number of employees but have them in the right places now.

Meanwhile Home Depot with their "assisted" checkout was inconsistent and chaotic all December. I think their intention is to have a deliberately unpredictable experience to get rid of the professional shoplifters who under ring themselves. They have at least one employee per two self checkouts, but sometimes they do the entire transaction for you and other times they just point at the machine and leave you alone. There isn't really any consistency and I've seen them ring me up on the self check with two items but then walked up with bags of nuts and bolts visible (which require manual entry by an employee) and they pointed me to a register and walked away. But they have not used all their self checkouts at any store piloting this "assisted checkout" model that I have visited in December and as a result I've had to wait in line each time. It's like they've become a reverse of Lowe's. Before Lowe's had one staffed register and two self checks, at least one of which was always broken. Now Lowe's has at least 4 open self checks or 8 open during prime time and weekends with zero waiting. Home Depot has 8 or 10 self checks but has barricades in front of 4 to 6 at any time, only uses 4 regardless of traffic in store, and generally takes much longer to get in and out of now.
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Re: Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

Post by storewanderer »

In the Reno area the Home Depot process hasn't changed at all. The signs still say self checkout and sometimes they pay attention and sometimes they don't, basically the same experience as always. Lowe's has still only put new self checkouts into one location. It will be interesting to see if the shrink moves over to Lowe's that Home Depot thinks it was experiencing through self checkouts in your region. Hopefully Lowe's newer units have better deterrents built in and that will not happen.

Home Depot employees are really good at greeting and smiling. That seems to be where it ends. I recently went in with a broken part and asked for help finding one, since I am not very able to locate products myself inside Home Depot. The employee was really upbeat and confident and told me it was a "custom part" and not sold in the store and had some random website he referred me to saying to check that. I did not quite do that but did go to Home Depot's website and eventually was able to find the item and then find the aisle location/bay in the store myself and found the item. I was going to find the employee again and let him know I found the item but decided to just be happy they had what I needed (since they usually don't) and move on.
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Re: Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

Post by veteran+ »

Home Depot employees in greater L.A. are just the opposite.

Not friendly and not smiling.
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Re: Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

Post by buckguy »

The whole self-check at the home improvement store thing never made any sense to me. Too many oddly sized and shaped objects for it to work, esp. if its the only option. To the extent that they save on labor, it's probably a nickel &* dime economy.
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Re: Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

Post by storewanderer »

buckguy wrote: January 21st, 2023, 7:20 pm The whole self-check at the home improvement store thing never made any sense to me. Too many oddly sized and shaped objects for it to work, esp. if its the only option. To the extent that they save on labor, it's probably a nickel &* dime economy.
Having self checkout as the only option is where these stores failed with the concept. Self checkout should have been there in a small kiosk style for the casual repair customer who ran in for a couple of items to do a quick repair at home. Not for the large transaction, garden items, lumber, etc.
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Re: Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: January 21st, 2023, 11:13 pm
buckguy wrote: January 21st, 2023, 7:20 pm The whole self-check at the home improvement store thing never made any sense to me. Too many oddly sized and shaped objects for it to work, esp. if its the only option. To the extent that they save on labor, it's probably a nickel &* dime economy.
Having self checkout as the only option is where these stores failed with the concept. Self checkout should have been there in a small kiosk style for the casual repair customer who ran in for a couple of items to do a quick repair at home. Not for the large transaction, garden items, lumber, etc.
At least the Home Depot ones are not too bad for larger items, since they are just a hand scanner and don't require items be on any particular place.

Thus, it is fairly easy to scan items as they sit in (or on) the cart, and you don't need to be able to access each item (if there are multiples of the same thing).
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Re: Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

Post by cjd »

Lowe’s here now has four self checkouts I think, still a huge improvement as before there were only two, that were often closed. I haven’t noticed any decrease in regular checkouts, but at most two are ever open.
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Re: Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

Post by cjd »

BillyGr wrote: January 22nd, 2023, 10:46 am
storewanderer wrote: January 21st, 2023, 11:13 pm
buckguy wrote: January 21st, 2023, 7:20 pm The whole self-check at the home improvement store thing never made any sense to me. Too many oddly sized and shaped objects for it to work, esp. if its the only option. To the extent that they save on labor, it's probably a nickel &* dime economy.
Having self checkout as the only option is where these stores failed with the concept. Self checkout should have been there in a small kiosk style for the casual repair customer who ran in for a couple of items to do a quick repair at home. Not for the large transaction, garden items, lumber, etc.
At least the Home Depot ones are not too bad for larger items, since they are just a hand scanner and don't require items be on any particular place.

Thus, it is fairly easy to scan items as they sit in (or on) the cart, and you don't need to be able to access each item (if there are multiples of the same thing).
It was much harder before. I remember once trying to buy a piece of mounding and the checkout kept saying “please place item in bag” over and over. I finally banged it in the bottom of the bag and it took it.
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Re: Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

Post by Super S »

cjd wrote: January 28th, 2023, 5:07 am
BillyGr wrote: January 22nd, 2023, 10:46 am
storewanderer wrote: January 21st, 2023, 11:13 pm

Having self checkout as the only option is where these stores failed with the concept. Self checkout should have been there in a small kiosk style for the casual repair customer who ran in for a couple of items to do a quick repair at home. Not for the large transaction, garden items, lumber, etc.
At least the Home Depot ones are not too bad for larger items, since they are just a hand scanner and don't require items be on any particular place.

Thus, it is fairly easy to scan items as they sit in (or on) the cart, and you don't need to be able to access each item (if there are multiples of the same thing).
It was much harder before. I remember once trying to buy a piece of mounding and the checkout kept saying “please place item in bag” over and over. I finally banged it in the bottom of the bag and it took it.
I remember well one trip to Lowe's, when there were no checkouts open on the lumber end or garden end, and no regular checkouts open, watching as somebody was trying to drag a piece of plywood over the self checkout scanner. At the time there weren't any scan guns at the self checkouts, and whoever was manning the self checkouts was nowhere to be found. This, combined with the self-checkouts asking if you wanted to buy extended warranties on small items such as light switches, kept me away from Lowe's for a long time. Staffing has improved more recently, but I still think Home Depot has a better overall experience.
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Re: Self Checkout - Home Depot vs Lowes

Post by storewanderer »

I went to Home Depot. Pod of 4 self checkouts (lights still say self checkout). 3 employees present there watching things very closely. No regular registers were open except one down at "pro" door.
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