The local Walmart tried self-check stands for a year but the combination of scales that couldn't be kept working and the undereducated who constantly needed help using them (cancelling out much of the payroll cost savings) ended that experiment.
― The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Monday, 28 March 2011 16:23 (thirteen years ago) link
Walmart cracks me up because their express lanes are for "25 Items or Less".
It should be "…or Fewer", but I'm not even going to get started on that right now.
― http://tinyurl.com/vroooo0ooooom (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 28 March 2011 16:25 (thirteen years ago) link
the aldi they just put up here is smack dab in the absolute worst part of town.
― Get me two meatball sandwiches Utah! TWO! (thebingo), Monday, 28 March 2011 16:27 (thirteen years ago) link
People in a hurry = worst of the savages. You're alive, you have the privilege of shopping in a grocery store with fresh food and all, maybe take a klonopin before you go shop or something
― blank, Monday, 28 March 2011 16:33 (thirteen years ago) link
every Aldi I've seen has been in cracktown xp
― (;,;) (rip van wanko), Monday, 28 March 2011 16:37 (thirteen years ago) link
I admire any chain that gives the worst parts of town an actual grocery store to shop in.
― The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Monday, 28 March 2011 16:43 (thirteen years ago) link
lol i must live in the worst part of town
― Aerosol, Monday, 28 March 2011 16:47 (thirteen years ago) link
xps: I miss the hell out of my WalMart. I would have thought given the working-class skew to my neighborhood that there would have been a Wal-Mart less than a 30-minute drive away, but no. There's a K-Mart, which is like a Wal-Mart but the merchandise tends to be seriously substandard. Then there's a Target not far away which is great, but that's not a Wal-Mart either.
― kkvgz, Monday, 28 March 2011 16:49 (thirteen years ago) link
Ours still has them but I have the feeling they'll be gone soon. In the defense of the undereducated, they are not very intuitive and are a big hassle if you're buying a lot of fruits or vegetables. Plus, it seems like it would be pretty easy to cheat them.
― frogbs, Monday, 28 March 2011 16:50 (thirteen years ago) link
This is usually my favorite part of shopping at Kroger on Saturday:
EMPLOYEE: Attention, everybody! We have three stations open with no waiting in our self-service aisle!CUSTOMERS: [continue to stare straight ahead.]
― http://tinyurl.com/vroooo0ooooom (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 28 March 2011 16:54 (thirteen years ago) link
xpost -- oh yeah, I could always make note of the PLU# of a cheaper variety of apples or whatever and take the Bentonville billionaires for a few cents per trip
― The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Monday, 28 March 2011 16:58 (thirteen years ago) link
so you stole from the market
― they call him (remy bean), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:01 (thirteen years ago) link
the aldi here is in the projects.
― Get me two meatball sandwiches Utah! TWO! (thebingo), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:02 (thirteen years ago) link
oh wait, I got my verb tense wrong -- I meant to say "I could have made note..."
― The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:03 (thirteen years ago) link
haha, okay. i just thought it seemed out of character.
― they call him (remy bean), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:05 (thirteen years ago) link
::whistles tunelessly, walks to car with apples::
― The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:06 (thirteen years ago) link
macintosh under your hat
― they call him (remy bean), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:08 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.phlmetropolis.com/2011/02/by-roz-warren-bagging-your.php
― buzza, Monday, 28 March 2011 17:09 (thirteen years ago) link
At the stores I go to, either a bagger is expected at the end of the lane, or there will be a bagging apparatus on a carousel right next to the register, so that the cashier can easily bag the items during the scanning process.
This. There's a metal thing that keeps the bag open, the cashier scans it and it goes straight in the bag. What the fuck happens at other places, everything is scanned and put to the side, and then bagged?
xpost
Er, the point about self scan is you can put pretty much *anything* though for the cheapest weight price, not saving a couple of cents on some apples.
― RuPaul Weller (S-), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:10 (thirteen years ago) link
Well, I was never that bold -- or, er, I would never have been that bold.
― The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Co-sign to other posts upthread, staff at our grocery store don't like you to bag your own groceries, and a bagger will usually come over and take it off your hands. They have floaters who rotate around for that purpose.
I don't use the self-checkout unless I'm shopping late at night and only have a tub of icecream, or if the lines are crazy and I only have one or 2 items. I don't want to give the supermarket corporation the impression that I would prefer one of those machines over their staff...because I like the kids who work at our grocery store and I don't want them put out of jobs because I'm in a 'hurry'.
Plus self-checkouts are a total trap -- because most of the people going through it are MORANS who try to check whole carts of groceries, have no idea what they're doing and make it 900 times slower than going through the checkout.
― VegemiteGrrl, Monday, 28 March 2011 17:27 (thirteen years ago) link
people who decry minor quotidian inconveniences on the internet
― tangelo amour (elmo argonaut), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:31 (thirteen years ago) link
and much as I love Trader Joe's cheap snack foods, I don't love it enough to go there because the whole experience is about as annoying as shopping can possibly be for me. too crowded, parking lots invariably suck ass, carts are spindly and annoying, too crowded, too crowded and too crowded
― VegemiteGrrl, Monday, 28 March 2011 17:31 (thirteen years ago) link
too much unhealthy food masquerading as nutritious
― they call him (remy bean), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:32 (thirteen years ago) link
people who take meaningless hassles personally
― tangelo amour (elmo argonaut), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:34 (thirteen years ago) link
this is why i have just have the help do the shopping for me
― Aerosol, Monday, 28 March 2011 17:35 (thirteen years ago) link
oh god i hate the impatient behind-you-in-line key-jangling impatient sighers
― they call him (remy bean), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:36 (thirteen years ago) link
i also hate that i used the word impatient twice
if I ever heard someone doing that I'd turn around and call them on their shit
― corey, Monday, 28 March 2011 17:36 (thirteen years ago) link
I hate the impatient dick-ahead-of-me who berates the cashier. I never, ever do this sort of thing, but one guy in front of me was so irrationally dickish that I just blurted out, "Knock it off, asshole." He didn't say anything, and the cashier mouthed "Thank you" to me.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Monday, 28 March 2011 17:38 (thirteen years ago) link
Line waiting behavior is an execellent litmus test for pesronality. I once called off a date after the girl got pissed off at the cashier who didn't have her brand of cigarettes.
― they call him (remy bean), Monday, 28 March 2011 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Pro tip: just avoid the line with the elderly shoppers. They are slower and you know they'll be paying by check.
― Moodles, Monday, 28 March 2011 17:42 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't think you can pay by cheque any more here. It's like we live in different countries or something.
― trishyb, Monday, 28 March 2011 17:43 (thirteen years ago) link
I avoid the self-service stations since they trigger what may be my only social -- I don't want to say panic attack, but it's something like that.
With the checkout lanes, you get into Aisle 1 or Aisle 2 or Aisle 10. If your line is slow, you're stuck. But at the self-service kiosks, you've got these four stations grouped together and no one is really sure who gets to go next. Half of the people are waiting, bank-style, for "the next available station" while some customers are trying to line up at individual stations.
Some stores manage this better than others, but when it's out of hand, I start to lose it.
― http://tinyurl.com/vroooo0ooooom (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 28 March 2011 18:13 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.freshdirect.com/media/editorial/site_access/images/FDlogo.gif
― (;,;) (rip van wanko), Monday, 28 March 2011 18:16 (thirteen years ago) link
Trader Joe's is owned by Aldi, FYI.
― jaymc, Monday, 28 March 2011 18:17 (thirteen years ago) link
it was bought by one of the aldi brothers but it is an entirely different operation separate from the aldi north american chain
― buzza, Monday, 28 March 2011 18:30 (thirteen years ago) link
What the fuck happens at other places, everything is scanned and put to the side, and then bagged?
Yeah, in some places it's exactly like this!!
Anyway, there have def been NYC scandals where stores were having baggers work for little or no wages, and only being paid in tips. Pretty sure it's not legal to do that, but whatever they're getting paid, tipping still isn't unusual here, and management sure as HELL doesn't discourage tipping because there are tip-buckets right there on the counters.
So maybe it's just different in other places. MAYBE. You all are still disgusting irredeemables.
― go peddle your bullshit somewhere else sister (Laurel), Monday, 28 March 2011 19:12 (thirteen years ago) link
one of the grocery stores i go to has baggers, also has a sign saying, 'please do not tip the baggers'
― goole, Monday, 28 March 2011 19:14 (thirteen years ago) link
you know what's awesome is that Boston-area Super Stop & Shops have handheld scanners which you can use if you have a S&S card that allow you to scan and bag your groceries as you go, and then just scan you S&S card at the checkout counter
POOF all your shit pulled up at once, then you pay and GTFO, I kind of refuse to shop anywhere else now
― 'lol u stuck with me now watch this ass expand, joeks on u' (DJP), Monday, 28 March 2011 19:21 (thirteen years ago) link
that is so civilized!
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Monday, 28 March 2011 19:24 (thirteen years ago) link
they prob body-scan you on the way out tho
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Monday, 28 March 2011 19:25 (thirteen years ago) link
probably a nudist supermarket
― VegemiteGrrl, Monday, 28 March 2011 19:27 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't use the self-checkout unless I'm shopping late at night and only have a tub of icecream,
they keep the self-checkout open late at night? they don't do that where i live, probably due to theft potential
― sarahel, Monday, 28 March 2011 19:36 (thirteen years ago) link
when self-checkouts first got going here they were full of loopholes and bugs - so many people got so much free stuff. i was a poor student; it was a sweet time. that was also before bags cost 5c each. and before the body scans.
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Monday, 28 March 2011 19:39 (thirteen years ago) link
boston u so nude
― obliquity of the ecliptic (rrrobyn), Monday, 28 March 2011 19:40 (thirteen years ago) link
the 24 hour Safeway here between 11pm and 3am is really enlightening in terms of the true base nature of humanity.
― sarahel, Monday, 28 March 2011 19:40 (thirteen years ago) link
I try to get my shopping off the checkout area and leave within a few seconds of getting my change and it really pisses me off when someone is sighing and rolling their eyes and barging into me even within that short time. (Especially since checkout staff like to give you yr change in the least conducive arrangement to putting it in your wallet, it seems.)
Last week I was paying by card (again, I try to pay by cash, but I can't always - this shop is in an area with no cash machines) and I'd just typed in the first digit of my PIN and the woman behind me decided to barge past and drive her trolley RIGHT into me, even though all her shopping was still waiting on the conveyor. I'm p. easily startled because the spell of PIN-typing was broken and I completely could not remember the other digits, thereby holding her up a hell of a lot more than if she'd just waited. Felt pretty fucking dumb though.
― dimension hatris (a passing spacecadet), Monday, 28 March 2011 19:48 (thirteen years ago) link
We have Aldi
Ek. I went to one recently for the first time in my life. (This is weird, cause most of my friends tend to shop there.) Guess I am a snob. It's freaking depressing there. No wonder we have a song here "Crap from the Aldi" in Flemish though).
― Nathalie (stevienixed), Monday, 28 March 2011 19:57 (thirteen years ago) link
It's freaking depressing there.
Is it 'cause there's no music? I actually like being able to shop somewhere and not hear fucking "Drops of Jupiter"
― corey, Monday, 28 March 2011 20:01 (thirteen years ago) link