Archived Self Check Outs: Why Target Missed the Big Read Ball

[SnorlaxTM]

We got ours recently, I'm of mixed opinion generally leaning negative because I don't trust guests for shit.

Why?

• First week we had so many people too stupid to hit finish and pay if they even got that far walk out without completing transactions. According to AP we easily had $1000+ in theft because people were too stupid/prideful.
• Speaking of pride, it's amazing how long some people will stand there in silence. It was a slow day and I decided to start a stopwatch on this one guest to see how long she'd wait there before asking for help. At ten minutes in I caved, came over and tapped finish and pay for her.
• ALL THE COUPON FRAUD
• Hi want to use Cartwheel? Oh oops that transaction froze the register, time for a reboot. Try another one or a checklane? Ooops there's another one down because it didn't like your cartwheel.
• Literally nobody is trained on it outside of 7 cashiers, 2 GSTLs and maybe 1 GSA.
• They don't get wiped don't by any of those people. Literally those things are crusty when I get there and take a couple of minutes scrubbing the machines down. And the bags will be out, no one bothers to keep them full. Coupons overflowing all over the place. Reshop errywhere.
• "Only GSAs, GSTLs and LODs can open these up to add change or change receipt paper" they tell the cashiers, so we wait ages for GSA/GSTL to do the fifty other things that need doing first. Give us the key dammit, they have enough on their plate.
• We were down two for about a week because they suddenly decided to stop accepting TM #s from everyone in the store. Supposedly they'd been MySupport'd/CSC contacted but according to scuttlebutt, that didn't happen until like two days before they were fixed.

And to think our DTL insists we will end up replacing our other EXPRESS lanes with these bringing us to 8... Yeah I don't think I'd hold a pleasant conversation with my DTL.

 

[Redzee]

People as cashiers. If it ain't broke don't fix it. It ain't broke. Ask yourselves how many corporate policies are not tm friendly?
Cut hours, lost benefits, skeleton crews? Just sayin'.

 

[PassinTime]

And to think our DTL insists we will end up replacing our other EXPRESS lanes with these bringing us to 8... Yeah I don't think I'd hold a pleasant conversation with my DTL.

If that happens, how many lanes will you have left fir cashiers???

 

[redeye58]

Thing is, these were already in the pipeline long before the $9/minimum & payroll has been steadily chopped since AE rolled out.
The naysayers tell us that we don't deserve that pay, that what we do isn't rocket science & a high-schooler could do it so Target, et al shouldn't need to invest in their employees for such menial work.
Add that to a clientele that treats us like losers but gets outraged when that kid who's only been here for five months can't answer all their tech questions.
Either pay/invest in your employees so your customers get stellar service & the business retains the best & brightest or see how low you can go until your earnings are dropping like flies.
Either way, you get what you pay for.

 

[LogisticsFox]

-No center console for a cashier to monitor all 4 SCOs at once.

-The SCO's are "behind" the cashiers. Without a designated attendant, often guests have to yell for help because everyone has their backs turned from the SCOs.

-No one is scheduled to monitor the SCOs.

-A typical Target transaction is complex. Guests will always have trouble with coupons, mobile coupons, apps, cartwheel, and prices adjustments.

-Guest service (aka VIBE) is now dust in the wind and directly contradicts what we're expected and coached to do as a cashier.

-ZERO opportunity to educate about RedCards or cartwheel, yet no adjustments have been made to RedCard goals for the portion of guests going through SCOs.

You 100% hit the nail on the head.. If they had SOME kind of console/control beyond jumping in front of the guests, things would be 100% better. I used to work for Kroger and I could watch 10 units since they had the podium.. They also had a handheld device that made it a breeze to manage AND mingle with guests. Granted, Kroger doesn't have nearly the same level of store card push (only had to read a sentence of the script if there was a prompt.

 

[SnorlaxTM]

If that happens, how many lanes will you have left fir cashiers???

We're a large store so we'll have 24 at least, but that's not counting the sheer amount that don't work or that's being used as the base of operations.

 

[Bosch]

They're getting ahead of the curve by cutting labor costs since there is such a huge push for a $15 minimum wage, which has already taken effect in several markets.

Once the wage hits $15 and half the people on this board lose their jobs to self checkouts, I'm sure people will be singing a different tune 😉

Honestly Target does pretty good customer service even now, they have one of the best return policies, and are usually pretty flexible with making exceptions for customers (vibe). I wouldn't go as far as saying Target doesn't care about customers.

A $15min doesn't kill jobs. What it does do is make customers demand better service. Which is not what they will get.

How do I know it doesn't kill jobs? I live in one of those cities, light still on people still working. A fleet of SCO's will never replace humans. Why? A human is faster.

 

[Firefox]

We've had our self checkouts for about two months at this point, and I'm actually kinda glad that we have them. They can be annoying to troubleshoot, but it seems like as long as there is someone scheduled to operate and monitor the self checkouts everything is able to run smoothly. Closing them can be a bit of a long process, but if you budget your time wisely and close them early, then it's not too big of a deal. Also, during a rush, one person is able to get 4 people (assuming they have only a few items) out much faster than they could if they were on a register, which is very helpful.

Plus, I love being able to just hop over to self checkout during my break and not worry about having to go through a register. Maybe I'm just in the minority though.

 

[Retail Girl]

Is there someone actually scheduled to watch them all the time? I would figure they would just make the GSAs take care of them and let them go to hell when the GSA is speed weaving/assisting a cashier/getting carts/covering guest services/on break.

 

[Onizuka]

We got ours recently, I'm of mixed opinion generally leaning negative because I don't trust guests for shit.

Why?

• First week we had so many people too stupid to hit finish and pay if they even got that far walk out without completing transactions. According to AP we easily had $1000+ in theft because people were too stupid/prideful.
• Speaking of pride, it's amazing how long some people will stand there in silence. It was a slow day and I decided to start a stopwatch on this one guest to see how long she'd wait there before asking for help. At ten minutes in I caved, came over and tapped finish and pay for her.
• ALL THE COUPON FRAUD
• Hi want to use Cartwheel? Oh oops that transaction froze the register, time for a reboot. Try another one or a checklane? Ooops there's another one down because it didn't like your cartwheel.
• Literally nobody is trained on it outside of 7 cashiers, 2 GSTLs and maybe 1 GSA.
• They don't get wiped don't by any of those people. Literally those things are crusty when I get there and take a couple of minutes scrubbing the machines down. And the bags will be out, no one bothers to keep them full. Coupons overflowing all over the place. Reshop errywhere.
• "Only GSAs, GSTLs and LODs can open these up to add change or change receipt paper" they tell the cashiers, so we wait ages for GSA/GSTL to do the fifty other things that need doing first. Give us the key dammit, they have enough on their plate.
• We were down two for about a week because they suddenly decided to stop accepting TM #s from everyone in the store. Supposedly they'd been MySupport'd/CSC contacted but according to scuttlebutt, that didn't happen until like two days before they were fixed.

And to think our DTL insists we will end up replacing our other EXPRESS lanes with these bringing us to 8... Yeah I don't think I'd hold a pleasant conversation with my DTL.

I have never related to a post on this board more than this one!! This post is 100% spot on. My store got SCO in June and somehow I became the go-to person to run it. Even though we've had SCO for awhile we still have cashiers that have no clue how to run them. Most of the time we don't have enough people to have someone dedicated to run them so they often look like crap, with bags and coupon paper and reshop strewn all over the place. I used to have to call a GSA/GSTL when I had coin issues but my GSTL trusts me with the keys so when I run them I have them with me. I'm still not too good at fixing the coin and bill issues since no one really taught me anything about it so I've learned through trial and error. It drives me nuts when I see other people over there because none of them bother to clean up or replenish bags.

For SCO to be truly effective, there should be a dedicated person over there at all times. A hand vacuum and cleaning supplies should be readily available to keep them clean. Bags, receipt paper, and coupon paper also need to be available, as well as a weekly ad for helping guests. The overseer should have a walkie to alert the GSA/GSTL if there are issues with the coins and bills. The overseer should be watching to make sure guests are not walking about without paying or trying to conceal merchandise to steal. Everyone that works the front end should be trained on how to fix common issues with the SCO and how to use assist mode. Unfortunately my store hasn't done a very good job with any of this so SCO hasn't been as efficient as it could be. I was constantly being asked to watch SCO because the GSAs and GSTLs knew I could run it smoothly. It's definitely not good for people who get overwhelmed easily because there are times when all 4 SCOs need attending to and guests are calling for your help left and right.

 

[Firefox]

Is there someone actually scheduled to watch them all the time? I would figure they would just make the GSAs take care of them and let them go to hell when the GSA is speed weaving/assisting a cashier/getting carts/covering guest services/on break.

My ETL-GE has made sure that we have at least one person always available on the schedule for the Self Checkout. We've been using the "Guest Service Training" work center for them. If we're swamped, then we'll pull the person watching SCO and the GSA will watch the SCO's, but that's usually all I've had to do unless I've been close enough to help a guest or we were really short-staffed. We've also made sure that at least 80% of our cashiers have at least a passing familarity with the self-checkout, so that we can pull almost anyone to cover a break or something.

 

[Retail Girl]

Too many of our cashiers have no problem solving skills. Most of them we wouldn't train for guest services...I can't imagine them to be able to help out too much with SCO when they can barely handle their own transactions if something goes a bit off.

Yeah...so basically a cashier calls off, the person designated for SCO gets moved to the register and the GSA gets to deal with it. As it is, we don't have a guest service person until 9:30/10am and only have one cashier until 10am on weekdays. There's no way they would add people to cover the SCOs. If SCO can't run themselves, our store will be in trouble. May I be gone by then.

 

[daninnj]

Am I the only one who looks forward to NPC's polls and tags? 😀

 

[greatteam]

Our RedCard goal is in the hundreds. We usually surpassed it by 20-30 every week. Usually get 15-20 a day

Until we got these.

Now we get 3-5 a day and are currently missing goal by 103.

Awesome job.

 

[NPC]

Am I the only one who looks forward to NPC's polls and tags? 😀

Thank you! Though I don't know what the fuck was wrong with me when I wrote this. It's plagued with typos. But I already asked for one to be fixed...so I don't feel like asking for more help. Lol. Whoopsie again! Oh well, it's funny.

 

[NPC]

Fixed

Thank you! Though I didn't even see the other OTHER typo. Bah! I guess I was low on caffeine when I wrote this. Lol!

 

[NPC]

The local Albertsons' in my area have begun getting rid of their SCOs. This was one of the main reasons I still bothered going there. I used to love SCOs, however, I had previous experience with these machines, and grocery stores typically have someone there constantly attending to the machines. So it was a pleasant experience, usually.

Despite the fact that stores had constant supervision on SCOs, and a center console, and none of the copious amounts of apps or coupons like Target does, the SCOs are STILL considered slower and less efficient than a normal checkout with a cashier. So Target is basically taking the already failing system, and crippling it even more. I hate how Target has incorporated these into the front end. In my store, we lost two lanes for this.

 

[NPC]

We got ours recently, I'm of mixed opinion generally leaning negative because I don't trust guests for shit.

Why?

• First week we had so many people too stupid to hit finish and pay if they even got that far walk out without completing transactions. According to AP we easily had $1000+ in theft because people were too stupid/prideful.
• Speaking of pride, it's amazing how long some people will stand there in silence. It was a slow day and I decided to start a stopwatch on this one guest to see how long she'd wait there before asking for help. At ten minutes in I caved, came over and tapped finish and pay for her.
• ALL THE COUPON FRAUD
• Hi want to use Cartwheel? Oh oops that transaction froze the register, time for a reboot. Try another one or a checklane? Ooops there's another one down because it didn't like your cartwheel.
• Literally nobody is trained on it outside of 7 cashiers, 2 GSTLs and maybe 1 GSA.
• They don't get wiped don't by any of those people. Literally those things are crusty when I get there and take a couple of minutes scrubbing the machines down. And the bags will be out, no one bothers to keep them full. Coupons overflowing all over the place. Reshop errywhere.
• "Only GSAs, GSTLs and LODs can open these up to add change or change receipt paper" they tell the cashiers, so we wait ages for GSA/GSTL to do the fifty other things that need doing first. Give us the key dammit, they have enough on their plate.
• We were down two for about a week because they suddenly decided to stop accepting TM #s from everyone in the store. Supposedly they'd been MySupport'd/CSC contacted but according to scuttlebutt, that didn't happen until like two days before they were fixed.

And to think our DTL insists we will end up replacing our other EXPRESS lanes with these bringing us to 8... Yeah I don't think I'd hold a pleasant conversation with my DTL.

Omg that pisses me off to no end. I can't even hide my embarrassment when this happens. There's no explanation I can possibly give the guest to make it "okay." It's simply a case of, "Well of course it doesn't work, I am so sorry this is happening to you, here I'll take you to an actual check stand and get you out of here in 30 seconds, compared to the 10 minutes it took to check yourself out, only to have the FUCKING thing freeze on you over something as simple as Cartwheel." The SCOs have been a huge thorn in our side at my store.

All of Target's technology sucks. I cringe every time I have to explain to a guest why they can't use a chip card to pay their Target card bill, because the system thinks it's a credit card. I cringe when I have to reboot the Price Match app or the MyGo app on my iPad, 10 times, because it keeps force closing, or not loading. I hate it. I love technology, I hate cumbersome technology that doesn't work.

 

[NPC]

Is there someone actually scheduled to watch them all the time? I would figure they would just make the GSAs take care of them and let them go to hell when the GSA is speed weaving/assisting a cashier/getting carts/covering guest services/on break.

I've been told they're supposed to have someone scheduled there, but that doesn't happen usually for my store. It's usually solely the responsibility of the GSA/GSTL. I hate covering their breaks, because I find myself torn apart between 4-5 different areas or tasks sometimes. It's extremely stressful when you have two cashiers with their blinkers on, calling for back up, helping a guest with some inane bullshit problem at Guest Service, giving Food Ave some change, and then dealing with 3 red lights at the SCOs....all at once. I'll never accept the GSA position because of this. Not work the raise.

 

[PassinTime]

Our RedCard goal is in the hundreds. We usually surpassed it by 20-30 every week. Usually get 15-20 a day

Until we got these.

Now we get 3-5 a day and are currently missing goal by 103.

Awesome job.

OMG, in the hundreds! Our store goal isn't even as high as the 103 that you guys were short!

 

[Barcode]

Reminder to ALL posters, if you have a grievance with a poster/thread, please use the REPORT feature to address the issue, do not take it upon yourself to police the thread yourself.

 

[redeye58]

Target cutting hours/positions is something every business goes through -- they find ways to lower costs and improve efficiency which makes their business run more smoothly, and net greater profits. Even with reduced hours at my last store we were still able to achieve our goals and the store ran smoothly.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...
That's a good one......oh, wait....You were serious?

 

[Bosch]

We got ours recently, I'm of mixed opinion generally leaning negative because I don't trust guests for shit.

Why?

• First week we had so many people too stupid to hit finish and pay if they even got that far walk out without completing transactions. According to AP we easily had $1000+ in theft because people were too stupid/prideful.
• Speaking of pride, it's amazing how long some people will stand there in silence. It was a slow day and I decided to start a stopwatch on this one guest to see how long she'd wait there before asking for help. At ten minutes in I caved, came over and tapped finish and pay for her.
• ALL THE COUPON FRAUD
• Hi want to use Cartwheel? Oh oops that transaction froze the register, time for a reboot. Try another one or a checklane? Ooops there's another one down because it didn't like your cartwheel.
• Literally nobody is trained on it outside of 7 cashiers, 2 GSTLs and maybe 1 GSA.
• They don't get wiped don't by any of those people. Literally those things are crusty when I get there and take a couple of minutes scrubbing the machines down. And the bags will be out, no one bothers to keep them full. Coupons overflowing all over the place. Reshop errywhere.
• "Only GSAs, GSTLs and LODs can open these up to add change or change receipt paper" they tell the cashiers, so we wait ages for GSA/GSTL to do the fifty other things that need doing first. Give us the key dammit, they have enough on their plate.
• We were down two for about a week because they suddenly decided to stop accepting TM #s from everyone in the store. Supposedly they'd been MySupport'd/CSC contacted but according to scuttlebutt, that didn't happen until like two days before they were fixed.

And to think our DTL insists we will end up replacing our other EXPRESS lanes with these bringing us to 8... Yeah I don't think I'd hold a pleasant conversation with my DTL.

Oh what we get to look forward to.

Anyone been through a black Friday with these?

 

[redeye58]

Oh what we get to look forward to.

Anyone been through a black Friday with these?

😱

 

[RhettB]

Coupon fraud, meet self check out.