Screw that. I love self checkout because I don’t have to talk to the mutants that they hire to run the checkout lines. It’s not DIY. It’s technology, like what we sell. The more people that are comfortable with self checkout, the more people won’t be afraid of smart homes.

I have turned down employees, at the Waterford’s BJ’s, who try to direct me to the self check out lines. And now I am in an union, I am more driven to use the cashiers.

KOT

Today the provincial government banned visits to long term nursing homes.

I go to a specific grocery store mainly because they have no self check out. That and their pre packed sushi rolls are to die for 😁

Our local Food Lion grocery has no self check out. Fact is, here lately, they have given up on the 12 items or less express lane.

Apparently in their zeal to buy a two year supply of TP, most have forgotten how to read ;-)

The most efficient supermarket checkout that I’ve seen is at a local Aldi Market. On first blush the whole setup seemed crude. One must insert a Quarter into a slot in order to release a shopping cart that is then taken inside the store. The checkout stations are small, with very little counter space and there is zero exit counter space. The register person simply drops scanned items into a waiting shopping cart with no attempt to bag anything. After checkout is complete the customer leaves their empty cart at the register and moves the loaded cart to an optional bagging area. It is assumed that the customer brings bags, but bags are available for purchase. On exit from the store, the Quarter is returned as a cart is returned to the queue.

Overall throughput is very high. It’s also the only checkout that I’ve seen where the cashier is given a stool. This seemed civilized.

I have mixed feelings about self checkout. The machines are clumsy, not very smart, throughput is low, but the waiting queue is usually shorter because multiple stations can be crammed into the space required by a single full checkout.

Was at a local grocery store on Friday. Is there some sort of Zombie invasion coming?
People are stupid. One of the girls working here was telling me about people stocking up on meat that will expire in less than 7 days (this is one of those discount grocers, I would never buy meat from). Sure you can freeze it, but the stuff here is not packaged to survive in a freezer very long. Most of it is kind of gross to begin with.
As for projects, I would think someone already into a build is not going to stop unless they were relying on what they had in the markets.
New projects that may not have started yet, might get a delay until all this blows over and things get back to normal.
If you have concerns for getting through the next couple of weeks / month, here is an idea.
With people being told to self isolate and stay home for a few weeks, you could always offer the C19 home service call. Go and give everything a once over, replace batteries, tweek the picture, tune the theatre whatever you can think of.
Might not be a lot of money, but better than nothing coming in. And it puts you back into homes you may not have been in for awhile to look at what upgrades might be worth suggesting.
I don't think many of our clients are living pay cheque to pay cheque. They might not be in the mood to spend $20k right now, but a small service call fee and possibly a few grand in upgrades could be extracted.

The main store I go to used to have a '15 Items Or Less' sign, which was removed a couple of years ago. They also used to have a 'Speed Zone' sign...........

People think the rules don't apply to them, so they just go on their merry effing way with too much in the cart, drive too fast, don't bother to stop at red lights (I have seen some amazingly stupid cases of that lately and it's only a matter of time before I witness a major crash, IMO).

If they would train the cashiers better, they would have more satisfied customers but right now, being surrounded by people I don't know isn't something I want to do, especially since I heard that two people with COVID-19 live about 3 miles from me and may have shopped at the same place I go to.

If you still have mom & pop grocery stores, consider yourself lucky- most of ours are long gone.

To give an example of bad employees (I have no idea of her level of training), I bought a bottle sparkling water that sells for $10/liter bottle along with the other items and when I scanned it, the tax was too high, but it corrects itself when more bottles are purchased. I told one of the 'floaters' who go around opening the bags (not sure why they think this is needed, but OK), refill the bag racks, refill/un-jam the receipt tape, etc that the tax was wrong and she just mumbled "Oh, uh, that's not my area...." and she walked away. What the hell happened to "I don't know, let me get someone for you to talk to"?

It's not just them coming out, it's also people coming in. They don't want the chance of infection coming into their home.
I did a service call yesterday (had to replace a projection lamp on a Sony - guy put 7300 hours on it in 3 years). Anyway, customer was in another part of the house and left the doors closed the entire time. I came in, did what I needed and left. They left sanitizer wipes for me to use anywhere I touched. The only reason I was allowed into the house at all, is because the customer trust me to follow their desires in quick, minimum contact, and cleanup.

I think this hits the nail on the head.

It seems like people think they have the right to do whatever the hell they want, when they want, and everyone else be damned.


The worst case of running a red light I've seen, is the idiot that was behind me a few weeks ago. I stopped for the brilliant RED LIGHT, and this brain damaged ass uses the turn lane to go around me and through the intersection.



Regards ALDI. They generally have one cashier unless there's a rather unusual amount of people shopping. In that case, they will open a second lane.

No two ways about it, their system works the best of any that I've seen.

I first went to an ALDI in Germany and was impressed. Small stores, with pretty much everything you need with a very limited brand selection. No 20 brands of potato chips, etc, etc. I go there all the time.

ALDI is also CASH only....

I was at an intersection and saw exactly what you described- went into the left turn, slowed and blew through the light. Another time, two idiots seemed to be racing and ran the light without slowing at all. This shit is pissing me off.

They opened a new store 50' from a Kroger-owned store at the end of January and they not only take cards, they had what I thought was an unusual amount of name-brand goods.

Back to Coronavirus...

This morning we are seeing reports that our town has a confirmed case. The person is an employee of the faith based international relief charity based in our town. The person self quarantined upon returning home 9 days ago, but has apparently had contact with others too.

"Oh, uh, that's not my area...." and she walked away. What the hell happened to "I don't know, let me get someone for you to talk to"?

Its called millennial syndrome. She doesn't get a trophy for helping with sales tax issues.