Published In The Great North Arrow, November 1, 2023: Self Check-out
- jim Young
“There’s more to business than just business” - The Young Family General Store motto.
Recently I used a self check-out for the first time. It was not by choice as the only till that accomodated a cashier was closed.
My wife and I were standing in line at Value Village in North Bay, watching other customers at the self check-outs struggling to check themselves out. And we waited as they finally made their purchases, slowly advancing the line one customer at a time.
In addition to the one full-serve check-out that was closed, there were 6 self check-outs available of which only 3 were open. Yes they even had those numbers that light up on the poles at each self check-out to indicate which ones were open and which ones were closed.
I couldn’t help but wonder “If they are self check-outs anyway, why wouldn’t they have them ALL open ALL of the time?”
With a company that is so calloused they would lay off employees to save a few bucks by opening self check-outs in the first place, I could only imagine they were also too cheap to put up the float required to operate all of the check-outs simultaneously. Except only a few of them even accepted cash.
My wife and I pondered abandoning our single purchase in the shopping cart and leaving, but decided to stick it out a while longer.
When we finally advanced to the front of the line, with the line growing behind us, an employee came up to us to ask if we were paying by cash or card.
“I will pay whichever way will get us out of here the fastest,” I replied and she led me to the closest check-out that required payment by credit or debit card.
Typically this is where I would ask for assistance, but the employee unlocked my check-out (turning the lighted number above us on) then quickly moved onto the next. Directing the next customer in line (who was not paying by cash) to come forward, she continued over to the next set of check-outs repeating her performance.
Of the 6 check-outs, only 2 of them that were already opened, would accept payment by cash. The other 4 check-outs could be paid by card only. (I think we can see the direction Value Village in North Bay is taking with regards to cash payments, but that’s an issue for another article.)
My earlier assumption that these remaining check-outs were perhaps closed because they didn’t have a cash float was quickly dashed.
Now came the moment of truth. As I stood looking at the machine in front of me I had to decide if I would play ball or abandon my purchase there.
“What the hell?” I thought, “let’s give it a go.” My transaction was quick, easy and painless. The check-outs at Value Village do not have weigh scales as a safety check to ensure the item I am scanning is actually the item I have at the till. It was an open boxed item that would easily have allowed me to toss a few extra smaller items in with it if I was that type of person.
Had I arrived at the till with several items there would have been nothing to prevent me from accidentally forgetting to scan a few of them as the attendant was busy helping others on the other row of check-outs.
Has Value Village perhaps calculated their shrinkage of inventory will be offset by the wages they will save in laying off employees? If so, have they also weighed those numbers against the cost of unemployment in the community?
A good friend of mine from south of the border told me “Target… and Walmart are losing way more to theft than Costco… and Trader Joe’s who don’t use self check-out. (Actually some Costco’s in Canada do use self check-out now.) Target1 is closing 10 stores due to massive shrinkage.”
We left Value Village with our purchase vowing to never again return to that store. It’s not like Value Village has anything I can’t get at any number of used goods stores. Hell… I can go to a garage sale for these types of purchases!
That same day, we visited Home Depot in North Bay which is largely self check-out. However, from our experience whenever a cashier has not been available to help us, the attendant overseeing the self check-out will proactively come to our aid and check us out without even asking us if we would like to use the self check-out option.
In a world of banality it’s nice to see employees sharp enough to quickly deduce that there was a reason we were in the full-serve check-out section and not insult our intelligence by asking the obvious.
Both cashiers that served us that day (1 male and 1 female, not that that should make a difference,) were extremely courteous and efficient, engaging us with friendly conversation. Why wouldn’t I want that kind of friendly service wherever I shop?
To the managers of Home Depot (or any store) you should know this is the kind of service that draws me to your establishment, reinforces the notion that I am spending my money wisely and has me looking forward to coming back.
This is what you gotta do if you want me as your customer. If I don’t want the personal touch I will sit at home and spend my money on Amazon or Temu.
As more and more businesses are moving towards the trend of self check-out my only recommendation to them would be, “Keep your self check-outs if you like as an option for those that prefer it but don’t replace full-serve check-outs for those that don’t. But if I notice an increase in your prices to cover your increased losses to shrinkage, even your friendliest cashier won’t be able to keep me coming back for long.
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1 An article I read recently indicated Target was actually closing their stores due to increased violence as well as shrinkage. This article also claimed a portion of the theft included “organized shoplifting”, “smash and grab” and “flash mob” thefts without specifically mentioning “self check-outs”.
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