What were Coles and Woolworths thinking when they brought in self-service checkouts in their supermarkets? Is it any surprise they are now trialling the number of items that shoppers can scan? It won’t be heaped baskets of goodies for shoppers for much longer, at least not while trial checkouts are operating and the revised process evaluated.
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Both Coles and Woolworths insist that self-service checkouts are more convenient for shoppers than waiting in queues. The more likely reason is it saves on the wages bill and provides bigger profits, while at the same time shifting the workload back onto the customer to check out their own goods.
Whoever devised this self-service checkout system clearly had not thought through the likelihood that supermarket outlets would attract a particular type of shopper, one who would take a perverse pleasure in tricking the self-service registers, not enter correct data, and leave various items out of the mix as they add up their costs. Self-service supermarket giants have become faceless and depersonalised. Removing employees at the checkout enables no one to be answerable to anyone.
“Recent research undertaken by the ANU found that up to one-third of shoppers give themselves a ‘discount’ when scanning their own goods.” (Matt Holden, 2017)
How could these companies be so trusting, so naive, that they didn’t anticipate that people would cheat the system if they believed they could get away with it? The result is that honest shoppers are paying for the thefts.
Theft should never be tolerated in any situation.
A cost analysis is urgently needed – how much is lost through theft every week via the self-service registers versus re-employment of cashiers, which means a higher wage bill. An interesting dilemma for supermarkets.
When our children turned 15, each of them worked after school in a supermarket. The bosses were tough trainers - a good thing as our teenagers were taught how to deal with every customer type imaginable.
The CV provided by their employers helped our children find casual work in Melbourne for years while they completed further studies. They were never fazed by customers, as they already had those three years of after-school job experience.
I sometimes watch as customers busily work the self-service area, conscientiously scanning and packing their own shopping.
Do they realise they are helping supermarkets’ profit margins by doing the work cashiers previously performed, and shareholders are rewarded with more generous returns?
It begs the question about senior secondary and university students who have always found casual jobs in the past in supermarkets. Today it must be difficult to find that part-time work. Some are still employed but not in the numbers before self-service was introduced.
Secondary and university students have always had a place in supermarkets. They are bright and eager to work for money. It’s a win-win situation, paid minimal wages but with each side benefiting from the system.
It is equally obvious that if checkouts return there will be more employment for other locals to work during the day and evenings, if only on a casual basis, and hopefully some in more permanent positions.
I still wait my turn patiently in the queue at the cashier outlet. It is less stressful than following all those instructions at the self-service post.
ANNIE YOUNG