The sign style used in the pharmacy is the most obvious connection between this store and the other Proto-Lifestyle 2.x variations I've found; I also found
this picture (sadly lacking any context) showing a very similar style of sign in what appears to otherwise be an ordinary Proto-Lifestyle store. The pharmacy also features an oval sign (on a brown background this time), along with yet another Quality Selection sign (I really wish they would have customized those signs to each individual department rather than using the same thing over and over and over again); the pharmacy counter itself isn't out of the ordinary at all apart from the massive amount of locked cases all around it. (The title is a snarky reference to the lack of staffing in Washington Safeways that leads to the help buttons hardly ever being answered and constant calls of "assistance needed at the premium liquor cabinet" being a frequent thing at most stores; my local Safeway has completely given up and has posted hand-written signs telling people that they have to ask the cashier when checking out, which is probably why the one regular checkout that's ever open always has such a long and slow-moving line. California Safeways seem to have much better staffing levels, so I doubt it's actually an issue at this store.)
Those PA messages and locked cases really aren't a thing here in Houston at Randall's and Kroger stores. Maybe these things exist in a few stores, but most of them don't have them and none that I shop at regularly have them. Even the inner-city Kroger I did The Year of Kroger post about this month doesn't have these for most things. Most stores here do have baby formula and a few other things locked up, but it really isn't that much compared to what we see even here.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I'm not even sure how these locked cases work. If someone wanted toothpaste from here, would the Safeway person give it to them and the customer would checkout with it along with the rest of their purchases? Or do they have to checkout for the toothpaste immediately? If it is the former, couldn't someone shoplift the goods anyway? Maybe the shoplifting would be limited to one item instead of the whole rack, but I'm not really sure if this really does much to help the cause.
I know that Kroger here does put some medications and such in plastic lock boxes which have to be opened by a clerk at the checkout. This seems like a reasonable way to handle things as the shopper can pick their items and it really isn't a hassle at all if one uses a manned checkout. It would probably be a minor inconvenience at a self-checkout though.
Well, anyway, the staffing situation at Washington Safeways sounds pretty bad. I wonder why there is such a difference there than elsewhere on the west coast. Some Randall's stores don't keep more than one manned checkout open, but aside from that, I wouldn't say there is a staffing problem. It's a bit harder to say with Kroger. Kroger has manned checkout problems, but aside from that, I don't know if there are staffing problems. Kroger's attention to details have been lacking for quite some time so I really don't know if I can blame that on staffing. I'm sure Kroger is stingy on staffing though just as they are stingy on a lot of things and that is the case just about everywhere where there are Kroger stores it seems!
This store definitely has far more locked cases than I'm used to seeing, maybe even the most I've ever seen, but some other San Francisco stores have a ton too. Most Washington Safeways just have locked cases for the hard liquor (even my local one, which seems to have a real shoplifting problem... which is probably in part due to its staffing problem) or maybe the entire liquor department; ones that have a massive problem tend to go with the Walmart/Kroger approach of walling off the liquor and/or health and beauty/cleaning supplies departments and giving them their own dedicated register, but that probably would have been difficult to implement in this store.
DeleteI don't know exactly how it works since I've never bought anything out of a locked case at Safeway, but what I have seen happen with people buying alcohol out of the cases at Safeway is that the employee will take the bottle with them and the customer gets it when they go to check out (somehow... maybe they have to check out at the customer service counter or something).
I have seen those locked boxes at Kroger (and Walmart too). Seems like someone could just take the box with them and break it open later (I'm sure it would set off the security system, but it seems like the security systems are always going off these days, especially since Safeway and Kroger introduced carts that will lock and set it off if you don't go through the checkout line in a way it likes).
Yeah, I'm not sure what the issue is with our Safeways. Even the ones in Eastern Washington (which is still the Seattle Division) seem to have somewhat better staffing, though it's still worse than in other states. And I'm probably biased since my local Safeway has the worst staffing of any full-size Safeway I've ever visited! I'm guessing Safeway just isn't willing to pay enough to compete with other employers in a place like Seattle -- even other grocery stores (including Kroger) don't seem to have as much of an issue.