Supermarket checkouts and longer queues, what happened, and why ?

[Justin Smith]

Why did they also get rid of the packing tables?

 

You literally paid for your shopping and bunged it all back into your trolley or basket and packed it at your leisure at a row of tables about 5 feet away from the end of the checkout.

 

Excellent point.

There is a bit of an irony here, because Netto (RIP > ASDA.....), long derided as being down market, has both checkouts with movable dividers and packing tables !

[Justin Smith]

To anyone who has ever been to a supermarket before, and planned their time accordingly, very little stress is involved .

 

Not sure I agree with you there. I admit I don`t like Qing at the best of times, but supermarket Qs are the worst, no sorry, the worst Qs are at bars if a bad barman/barmaid is incapable of noticing who has been waiting the longest. But I digress, Qing at supermarkets can be very stressful and annoying, because there`s only ever one Q for each checkout. So you can join one Q then find that the one next door is moving twice as fast and someone who joined the Qs a few minutes after you, has walked out first. That upsets me, partly because I admit I`m impatient, but more so because I`m an idealist and it`s not bleedin` fair !

Worse is when you`ve been Qing for what seems like ages and are half way towards the checkout, then a till opens next door, and people behind you in your Q rush to the front of it. That really p*****s me off.

 

If you double the packing area you halve the number of checkouts and double the length of the queue. Most supermarkets now have >75% of their staff till trained so more and smaller checkouts should be more efficient, unfortunately the continuing reduction in staffing levels negates that to some degree. But that is a consequence of keeping prices as low as they are.

 

But I don`t actually think the checkouts with movable dividers are that much smaller. And in any case, it`s evidence that the supermarkets don`t value my time, that`s arrogance, as well as bad serice.

Edited May 7, 2011 by Justin Smith

[alchresearch]

I love how women just stand in the queue waiting. Then when its their turn they start to pack the shopping. But when the checkout person tells them the total, the concept of paying seems completely alien to them, like they never expected to pay - because their purse is never out and the debit card is never to hand.

[Mecky]

I love how women just stand in the queue waiting. Then when its their turn they start to pack the shopping. But when the checkout person tells them the total, the concept of paying seems completely alien to them, like they never expected to pay - because their purse is never out and the debit card is never to hand.

 

And they have to count the exact amount of change in the most possible coinage.

 

I think dividers were taken away because people used to steal other peoplea' goods after they had been paid for.

[Obelix]

I think dividers were taken away because people used to steal other peoplea' goods after they had been paid for.

 

That does ring a bell - I'm sure I heard that as the reason as well.

 

Fine Fare (remember them?) used to have the swinging barrier thing, after they closed down and I started shopping at ASDA they had the barrier but they must have been removed about six months later. End results for a couple of weeks was a huge queue length and frantic recruiting of new cashiers. That must have been twenty odd years ago now though.

[taxman]

Netto still has the dividers.

[Longcol]

I think dividers were taken away because people used to steal other peoplea' goods after they had been paid for.

 

Also I think because people started buying more stuff (and bigger packages) from the supermarkets and so the "packing area" simply not big enough to accommodate more than one trolley load.

[Darth Vader]

Sundays tend to be the busiest days of the week.

 

 

You can shop at 2am, but you will quite likely find that there are no checkout staff, and your only option is to use the self-service checkout.

 

Not on a Sunday, as far as I'm aware.

 

I think those dividers have been scrapped because of security - it's easy for someone to put some of your items in their bags whilst your concentrating on filling your own. Also, there is a tendency for customers to want/expect more privacy these days, hence why they now have signs telling you where to queue from at the post office, away from the bays etc.

 

What I think is disgusting is that you have to scan all your own shopping at Tesco after about 10.00pm. They should either pay up for checkout staff, give me a reduction on my shop, or shut up shop.

[Darth Vader]

I love how women just stand in the queue waiting. Then when its their turn they start to pack the shopping. But when the checkout person tells them the total, the concept of paying seems completely alien to them, like they never expected to pay - because their purse is never out and the debit card is never to hand.

 

Yeah, men never do this, do they?

[Gram?]

Netto still has the dividers.

 

Are you actually admitting to shopping at Netto?