Handheld Scanners in Supermarkets - and Audits

A while back, there was a post to a thread asking how supermarkets are preventing shoplifting with those new handheld scanners. Chains like Royal Ahold's Shop & Shop, Giant, and Tops, as well as other chains such as Bloom's and Giant Eagle have rolled out systems such as Scan It! With such a system, you use your supermarket shoppers card to release a handheld scanner at the entrance. Then, you scan and bag as you shop. The scanners have a wireless data link to try to get you to buy more things, depending upon what area of the store you are in. When you are finished, you pay at a manned or self service checkout lane.
 
Well, the answer to the question of how they keep people honest is printed in a brochure I found at a Stop & Shop in Connecticut: Random Audits.
 
*The SCAN IT! system will randomly select orders for review. Those reviews insure system accuracy and that all items have been properly scanned.
*Notification of cashier assistance will appear when the checkout barcode is scanned.
*If selected, an associate will assist you.
*During the audit, the associate will help you check out quickly by re-scanning your items.
*By accepting the SCAN IT! terms and conditions, on your first trip you agree to allow Stop&Shop to randomly audit your order.
*You also agree to scan each and every item you intend to purchase. For any item that will not scan, you agree to separate and identify those items and bring them to the attention of the associate at checkout.
 
Terms & Conditions
 
*The full list of Terms and Conditions will be displayed for your acceptance on your first shopping trip.
*Copies of the Terms and Conditions can be found at the Service Desk.
 
Since these scanners have a wireless capability, presumably people monitoring the video cameras can get an idea if you are scanning a small bottle of Tabasco and placing a large bottle in the bag.
 
Most of the time I go into a Stop & Shop, I don't see any of the scanners removed from the board. After reading that brochure, I wouldn't use it. After I spent all that time bagging the stuff, to have someone want to do it all over again would make the total shopping time even greater than present methods.

I'm a customer. I refuse to do their work and then pay them for the prvilege. They can take their self-scan stuff and shove it.

Michael Hoffman


I'm a customer. I refuse to do their work and then pay them for the prvilege. They can take their self-scan stuff and shove it.

Your reply made me think of this...




They get me in and out of store faster, I am not rushed to pack my bags as the cashier shoves stuff down the belt at me, and I know exactly what things cost before they hit the cart. All upside to me. 

Out of about 50 trips to the store since they made these things available, I have been audited once. They took just a few items from my bag, checked to be sure I had scanned them and I was on my way. It took about 2 minutes.

I love these things. I no longer have to deal with the bored, disinterested, employees who always crushed my fruit and bread.

While we don't have the hand-held things mentioned, we do have aisle after aisle of self-scan checkouts. I won't use them under any circumstances. Perhaps we're a little luckier around here. I've never run into a "bored disinterested"  cashier at a supermarket here. I have, often, at Super Stop & Shop stores in Connecticut, but not here -- and I do love those Super Stop & Shop stores. I wish we had them.

Michael Hoffman


While we don't have the hand-held things mentioned, we do have aisle after aisle of self-scan checkouts. I won't use them under any circumstances. Perhaps we're a little luckier around here. I've never run into a "bored disinterested"  cashier at a supermarket here. I have, often, at Super Stop & Shop stores in Connecticut, but not here -- and I do love those Super Stop & Shop stores. I wish we had them.

I didn't like those self scan check-outs either, as they took longer than having a cashier do it. These new ones sit in a small holder on my cart, and I scan each item as I put them in bags in the cart. When I am done shopping, I scan an "end of order" thing at the checkout, pay, and I am gone. Much faster.

As for the employee thing, you are fortunate! While some of the older employees are good, most of the younger ones barely acknowledge your presence.

One of the "perks" at Costco is that they have enough help to not only unload our cart (90% of the time), but also box and reload the cart after checkout. That really is a good thing for us!

At the regular grocery stores in this area we unload the cart, then they process it and bag it and reload the bags into a cart ....except for Walmart where the checker only scans and bags your stuff and you must load your cart at the finish of the scanning process. Both Walmart and Krogers have the self-scanners, but I do not choose to use them.

I too refuse to use the self scanners.

I guess we are fortunate in this area to have the silver bullet for self-check-out and bored cashiers: Wegmans.    None of their stores have the self-check-out lanes, but there are plenty of express lanes: 8 items and fewer or 15 items and fewer (and they are even marked grammatically correctly with the word "fewer," not the word "less").  As for the boredom / disinterest quotient, it seems to be extremely low with all the cashiers I have ever seen.  Tops does have the self-check-out lanes, but most of the time you can also find a regular lane open as well.  It would be interesting to try the handheld scanner if it comes to any stores here.

Quite often I change my mind about something in my cart  and either put it back or exchange it for a different size, brand etc. Don't know how that would work out.

i was at tops yesterday and the lines were long.as i was looking for a line to get in a manager told me self checkouts were clear.i asked if if i get a discount for doing it myself in front of everyone,you had to see his face drop with that question.it was very funny.

Some of the big chains like EDEKA, NETTO, and PLUS tried to launch this over here in Germany, it was not assumed by the customers, so they quit.

This is just more unemployment, a further more anonymous customer, "Service" is the matter over here, you are served by a friendly saleswoman, with a smile, for your fresh meat, your cheese, or just one lousy bread roll...

Customer friendliness, thats what it is all about..., if I buy my eggs on the local weekly market, I get them sought out by hand, not already in a box, with a smile from the saleswoman, and she even says "Thank You!".


Michael