Lack of Cashiers in Stores These Days

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Is anyone else frustrated by the lack of manned cashiers these days at major stores? I just left Home Depot and about $600 in merchandise (including a roto-tiller) behind that I never got to purchase because there was only ONE manned cash register on a busy Saturday afternoon. All the rest were self-checkouts and the stuff I was buying was not the kind of things I wanted to self-checkout (heavy equipment, etc.) Someone at the front of the line was buying about a quarter semi-truck load worth of lumber (about 6 carrier loads of lumber) and they were moving some one piece at a time to another cart, etc. and it looked like they might be there an hour. After 15-20 minutes, I got sick of the situation and went to customer service and they were like, "sorry about that" but indicated they would or could not open another register even though some of their employees were just sitting or wandering around. At one point there were over a dozen people lined up behind that cash register. Some left and other tried self-checkout out of frustration. I spent an hour shopping for the items. I did not feel like waiting another hour in line while it got later and later outside because they could not bother to open another checkout.

I realize we're in a recession in the U.S. right now, but it seems stores would rather lose hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in sales than pay for an extra cashier or two on a busy day like a Saturday afternoon. Some stores have a policy of opening another register if more than 5 people are in line, etc. I guess Home Depot isn't one of them. I'll be moving my business to Lowes (even though it's a longer drive) in the future, at least until they do something stupid too. Customer service is just going down the toilet these days.

 

[toolbox]

I hear you!

And they always seem to do this when it's a public holiday or some time of the year when there is a big event on. Example yesterday i finished work and went to do the weekly shopping, i estimate about 30 minutes waiting in line to be served. Meanwhile queues of people are starting to form. Having said that i noticed several employees there talking about there weekend plans and how they felt sick because they drank to much the night before, and the fact they were chewing gum including the checkout people. Now that is big no no?

A lot of people were just leaving there trollies and walking out.

 

[Decrepit]

Without competition, this will happen.

Why would they try to employ more people, or more competent ones when people will shop there without it?

They'll complain, but they'll keep trying as hard as they can to give a bad company their money.

Until people vote with their wallet and drive further down the road to Lowe's, or even further over to the local hardware store, it's not going to change.

The world has become fixated on price and not value. People will put up with bad service for convenience or lower prices. It's going to take something revolutionary to change that, especially with the economy as awesome as it is.

 

[NC MacGuy]

Home Depot has been setting up that model long before the recession - at least 3-4 years ago here anyway.

 

[Sehnsucht]

I work at Walmart, which needless to say has enough money to hire every single person in the US full time and pay them $100 (one hundred dollars) per hour. Which makes me wonder why the hell they don't just hire 50 new people and pay them $8 per hour.

Maybe they don't hire enough people, but I've often wondered if it's just that cashiering SUCKS epically, and is probably one of the worst jobs out there. I did it for probably 4 months and it almost killed me...the monotony, the bitchy people, the slimy raw meat, the mile-long lines...ugh. Easily worth $20/hr. for what one has to endure. (I was making $7.40)

Incidentally, the times when more staff are needed most also happen to be the times they're in the middle of a "hiring freeze."

 

[ziggyonice]

Back during my freshmen year in college I was a cashier for a grocery store. Never again. Never.

I managed to survive about a year of pet peeves I'd never knew I'd develop. Now that I'm out of there, each time I go grocery shopping, that experience comes to mind.

Let's just put it this way: when it says 10 items or less, I'll be damned if I ever go in with 11!

 

[bruinsrme]

I work at Walmart, which needless to say has enough money to hire every single person in the US full time and pay them $100 (one hundred dollars) per hour. Which makes me wonder why the hell they don't just hire 50 new people and pay them $8 per hour.

Maybe they don't hire enough people, but I've often wondered if it's just that cashiering SUCKS epically, and is probably one of the worst jobs out there. I did it for probably 4 months and it almost killed me...the monotony, the bitchy people, the slimy raw meat, the mile-long lines...ugh. Easily worth $20/hr. for what one has to endure. (I was making $7.40)

Incidentally, the times when more staff are needed most also happen to be the times they're in the middle of a "hiring freeze."

just because someone is getting $8 or $10 or $15 an hours doesn't mean doesn't cost Wal mart that. Between taxes and insurance it is far more than an hourly wage. Not that, that excuses the lack of cashiers but the upper bean counters say that saves money. If they say so but personally I stopped going to a market around me because their lines are always 5+ people deep.

But this poster is correct, its a very demanding and repetitive job dealig with some of the rudest freaking people in the world. No matter how bitchy I am when I go to the store or say mcdonalds I try to put myself in their position and at least try to be nice. It's not the employees fault for the greed of the few.

 

[neutrino23]

That's what happens when you aim for the lowest price, there is no money left for overhead. By contrast, Japan retail has fairly high prices but the service is fantastic.

I recall a bakery in Shinjuku station that had about a dozen young ladies behind the counter waiting on customers. They were literally standing shoulder to shoulder. There was no room for another sales clerk and they were all busy.

The clerks are well trained as well. I could go to Takashimaya department store in Ginza and ask any sales lady about any product in the store. Instead of getting "That's not in my area" she'd think for a second and then tell me right where it was. Fantastic.

By contrast my friend and I were shopping at a large department store a few years back. We were amazed at how empty it was. We literally had to walk around for quite a while to find someone to take our money. But the price was good.

 

[CorvusCamenarum]

Just the other day I was in Target. 50 people waiting to check out, 32 registers, only 3 were open.

The sad thing is that it's still infinitely better than going to Sprawl-Mart.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Back during my freshmen year in college I was a cashier for a grocery store. Never again. Never.

I managed to survive about a year of pet peeves I'd never knew I'd develop. Now that I'm out of there, each time I go grocery shopping, that experience comes to mind.

Let's just put it this way: when it says 10 items or less, I'll be damned if I ever go in with 11!

I hear you there.

My sr year of HS and first 2 years of college I worked at grocery store as well. The job I hated the most was cashier. (I liked stocking the best fewest number of stupid customers)

Cashier get treated like crap by the customers. They are the people the customer blames for everything, like if an item is out of stock, or something rings up wrong. Sorry mam I can not give you $200+ with draw from you debit card ect.

Express lane people would come in with cart full of items and argue with you.... I hated that job.

Remember the cashier can do very little in control of prices or anything else. Also NEVER piss off the cashier because the last thing you want them to do is go by the book to the letter. Most of them do not care if you go home happy or not. It is a degrading boring job.

My personal favorit was when Alison hit houston and everything was flood people complained about the line or things being out of stock. At first it was because we had long line and 3 registers open but mind you we only had 4 people in the entire store their. Later on we had all 7 open and lines at least 7 deep. That day sucked. 8.5 hours no break no lunch.

 

[Sun Baked]

Just the other day I was in Target. 50 people waiting to check out, 32 registers, only 3 were open.

The sad thing is that it's still infinitely better than going to Sprawl-Mart.

Even though in our area the Wal-Mart self-check lines are few and far between, at least they staff the busy stores with enough people that it is rare to see more than 5 people in a line.

I however did like the new Super Walmarts with self checkout lines numbering 10, and only 2 open at the far end of the store, and 3 other cash registers open on busy days.

Of course with stores like Wally World and Home Despot, the managers tend to count coup with the number of stats they can beat ... if sales per employee hour are where their bonus is at, them by god they'll beat it even if people leave in droves with carts full left behind.

 

[OutThere]

I've had this problem at various places...surely it increases margins when you make the customers wait instead of paying more people to help them, and nobody wants to drop everything and leave when they get in line with all the stuff they've just spent time picking out.

I love the family owned TrueValue hardware store/lumberyard in my area. The staff really knows what they're talking about and they'll remember you (gasp!). Checkout for the drive-thru lumber wharehouse is separate from the hardware department, so you're never stuck behind that guy who's buying 12 different kinds of 4x4s and is carrying them all through the checkout like at Lowes. Floorwalkers will also step behind extra checkout counters as needed, which is really nice.