I'm pretty much full time SCO monitor at my store. We got the new software and UI last month. Some things I think are improvements: 1. Fresh look, 2. Ability for TM to go to Store Mode and have all the functions of a regular register, 3. Smoother operation, 4. Probably fewer software related freezes ( although we still almost always have 1 of our 4 registers with a bag over its screen, usually because of a communication problem between the register and the card reader), 5. when there is some hangup, I'm usually able to go back and suspend transaction so I can bring it up at another register, 6. When it runs out of tens, it comes up with Try Again screen, which you can use to often get the rest of the change disbursed. There may be some other plusses but none pop to mind right now.
There are definitely some minuses, though, in my opinion: 1. The new UI doesn t have Start button on the screen like the old one did and I'm amazed at the number of guests at my store, come up to a register and can't figure out how to start a transaction, so they stare at the screen for a while, then start pushing the place on the screen where it clearly says "Scan item to begin", and then start to leave the register, at which point I'll usually have noticed their problem and get over to tell them to just scanning, 2. It doesn't give the guest the ability to ask for a gift receipt, instead requiring a TM to switch the register to Store Mode to request one (or scan the receipt from a completed transaction and input the VCD to generate one, 3. It doesn't provide an option for Spanish language directions, which in my store was a frequently used feature in the old UI, 4. When a guest is paying by cash, the "Balance Due" message at the top of the screen doesn't change to reflect what cash they have put in, so they have to compare the balance due message to the "amount paid" message to calculate how much more they need to pay (I know this is a sort of petty complaint, but it makes you wonder why such a simple user friendly function couldn't have been included, especially since the Balance Due amount does go down when a guest uses a gift card as partial payment, 5. It seems like there are far more frequent double scans with the new system.
So those are a few of my reactions after a month or so with the new system. But now I have to go to my biggest issue: There is no longer an "Unexpected item in the bagging area" alert. I'm a real AP hawk and I've done really well at having Non-AP recoveries at SCO. The bagging alert feature often helped. With that feature gone, I try to keep an even closer eye on arm movements and scan beeps, but I'm sure I've missed some push-outs that I might otherwise have spotted, although I've still stopped a few since the change. There were a lot of ways in which the bagging alert system was a nuisance, both for guests and for TMs, but it did serve an important AP function.
I really enjoy being an SCO monitor, although the machines themselves drive me crazy, because a lot of my activity involves helping a guest at the registers and part of it involves an AP function. My verdict is still out on how the new software, on balance, supports those roles.
