The side entrance is right at the dividing point between the clothing and general merchandise sections, and features its own pair of checkouts. Very unusually for Fred Meyer, there are no self checkouts over here! There aren't very many places where Fred Meyer provides regular checkouts only -- the opposite situation is more common -- and this seems to hold true across most of Kroger.
Ha, I wish we had Krogers here which only had regular checkouts like this Fred Meyer has with at least one of the entrances. In addition to digital coupons that I use at Kroger (and Randal's), Kroger has started to mail me paper coupons in the regular mail as well. They are good coupons for things I usually buy. It's probably a good strategy by Kroger to keep customers coming back for things they usually buy. Anyway, using those coupons at the self-register is a real pain. You have to wait for the attendant to come over and process the coupon. If there is any issue with the coupon, which is not infrequent because there is a known bug with Kroger's produce coupons that causes it to not scan correctly, the attendants usually don't have the skill and/or authority to fix it quickly like the manned checkout clerks do (they're usually aware of the issue with the coupons).
ReplyDeleteLong story short, in addition to my usual reservations with self-checkouts, the manned checkouts are just much more efficient for coupon users. This Fred Meyer setup would be beneficial, but then I don't know Fred Meyer, or QFC for that matter, even mail out paper coupons.