I Get It

One of the most expensive parts of running a biz, any biz is the payroll — hiring, training and paying worker bees is expensive. And then there’re those pesky benefits— no small piece of the keeping-good-staff puzzle. I'm talkin' about contributions to health insurance, disability insurance, paid vaca, holidays and sick days. Maybe even a 401k and tuition reimbursement too.

Ka-CHING!

You can’t get around having worker bees OR can you?

From NBC News:

While Albertsons and many shoppers may find self-checkout technology dehumanizing, it can reduce wait times, save on labor costs and make maximum use of limited retail floor space, said analyst Richa Gupta of technology research firm VDC Research Group.
~~snip~~
“When you speak with retailers, even now in this economy, they're having trouble staffing their stores," said Lee Holman, lead retail analyst with technology advisory firm IHL, who has studied self-checkouts for 10 years. "It's real tough to claim that they are installing self-checkouts because they're looking to get rid of jobs."

Oh PUH-leese! Yes, it is hard to find good people and always has been, even in dandy economic times. Still, there's a lot of smart, eager to work folk out there who need jobs. Learn how to look for them, how to recognize those fine potential employees. Then TRAIN them!

If you don’t provide real guidance and solid education what possible hope do either of you have in succeeding? When I say "training" and "solid education" I'm NOT talking about the so-called "mentoring" which so many companies tout. That mentoring almost always translates into watch this very busy employee work and hope they've time to provide clear, in depth explanations of what they're doing and why.

Chances of success without smart, solid training? Little to none.

Also too — hiring and creating a good team IS hard. It IS expensive. That’s one of the costs of doing business. Breaks of the game, pals. You can’t tell me that wickedly profitable Trader Joe’s, with it’s ultra competent staff, from managers to cashiers to stock boys and girls, is some sort of outlier. They're doing something very right.

In a world rocked by layoffs, cutbacks, corporate scandals, and labor unrest--particularly in retailing--Trader Joe's has long adhered to the philosophy that happy employees make for happy customers. Happy customers spend more and visit the store more frequently. This attitude is rare in the retail industry at large, where employees are often seen as expendable.

Here in Quincy, CVS, Stop & Shop and Lowe’s, amongst others, have installed these theoretical self checkout machines but haven’t gotten rid of all the regular check outs. They stand unattended — ghosts of work environments past, taunting me with the company's ultra penurious, short sighted biz model.
I'm always tempted to use the machines mostly because I hate waiting in line. Also, some days I'm just not up to the task of simple social exchanges — smiling at the cashier, handing over my customer loyalty card and going through the "I'm deaf so I don't understand what you're saying. Please speak slowly and I'll try to read your lips" spiel. The inevitable tech fail drives me nuts. I feel like Charlie Brown with Lucy and the football.

What will these retailers ever do if and when those godawful auto check outs ever work all on their own? At this point they’re most def NOT replacing human clerks. I don’t think I’ve ever used one of these without needing intervention from an employee.

How much is payroll up/down or customer satisfaction up/down with these suckers in place?

If ALL retailers install these things AND they actually function, how, with identical goods available at so many different shops, will customers be retained. What's the plan?

For that matter, I only mention it but, poor folk need to buy toothpaste, cereal and caulk too. If those min wage retail clerk gigs have all been replaced by machines, how can we afford to shop anywhere? Aren't they eliminating a fair portion of their customer base?

This is clearly the future — far fewer real, honest-to-Bast people working the registers and more wonky machines.

Low and relatively low wage workers — we're expendable.

From the dreaded, right wing USA Today:

Theft — intentional or not — is up to five times higher with self checkout than when cashiers are working, says Malay Kundu, founder of Stoplift Checkout Vision Systems, which sells store video analytic software.

Self checkout lanes can reduce labor costs and improve customer service, especially for quick shopping trips. But they can backfire if shoppers have problems scanning their items, says Kurt Jetta of consumer analytics company TABS.

I only mention it but I love grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s and my local hippy groovy grocer/apothecary and not just because they carry what I need. I spend my spondoolucks there because they’ve awesome, friendly, competent, real live helpful worker bees.