One very nice thing about the strange layout around here is that it allows for some interesting angles on the front end that I wouldn't normally get! That giant beam makes it feel like the checkouts are in a completely different space from the rest of the store, which is a rather odd look. It's pretty impressive to see two of the three regular checkouts open at the same time -- I can't remember the last time my local store had more than one open, and a couple weeks ago they only had self-checkout open when I went there, the first time I've ever seen that at any Safeway. (Safeway normally defaults to having one regular register open and self checkout closed at slow times, but this was absolutely not a slow time -- it was a Saturday afternoon and the line stretched quite a ways into the store -- and I assume the people in charge realized how much of a disaster closing self checkout would have been with that many customers.)
Huh, I've never seen our Randall's stores without at least one manned register open. Kroger is a different story, of course! I would guess that if Randall's was really short-staffed, hopefully not on a Saturday!, they would close the self-checkouts and keep a manned register open. So many people here buy beer, especially on Saturdays, that the staff would have to check IDs. Then there are issues with coupons and such. It seems that it might be quicker to just use the manned checkouts. Well, anyway, fortunately this is not a problem I expect Randall's to have!
ReplyDeleteEven Kroger has been better with staffing lately. The local union and Kroger came to a new labor agreement recently so maybe that explains the increased staffing at Kroger here recently.
Yeah, I was shocked -- I've never seen Safeway go without a regular checkout open! And this is a store that doesn't staff the customer service counter either, so people really had no choice but self checkout even with complicated purchases. Plus, only two of the eight self checkout machines take cash at this point, something that confuses people at the best of times (two are smaller new machines that don't have cash components installed at all, and four are older ones where the cash part has been semi-permanently disabled).
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