1606 replies to this topic

[Cats4Hire]

I save money cooking my own meals and whatever restaurant owner doesn't keep fire the chef and keep his wages. Judging by the amount of employees Co-op has at once compared with other gas stations I don't think any specific gas jockeys got laid off either, just got shifted to running the convenience store so while I am doing that job they just got moved. Wal Mart still has no employees wandering around to open the gaming cabinets or to unlock the damn razors because apparently someone who would spend 20 minutes tracking down an employee to get a razor wouldn't attack people (or whatever reason they locked them up for) which can only lead me to believe they just fired the cashiers. 

[Cats4Hire]

Just realized that "save money" comment may sound like I just want a discount. I was arguing cooking my own food opposed to going to a restaurant isn't comparable to using a self-checkout or a normal one. If I cook my own food it's cheaper, I can make the food exactly how I want it, I don't need to wait for the overworked waiter to come back before I can get up from the table when I'm done, etc. The closest thing is there's not usually a line for self-checkout but every time I've gone into Wal Mart's express next to them I'm out the same time someone who went into self-checkout is so it's probably longer.

[spanky123]

I never got the appeal of self-checkout. Why should I do a cashier's job for free while the company fires them and keeps the money they would have been paid? I don't run into the garage at Canadian Tire and change my own oil and replace the washer fluid then go pay them for what I used.

 

At Walmart as an example, the wait for self-checkout is rarely more than 2-3 minutes, a cashier 5 - 10.

[Mike K.]

Just realized that "save money" comment may sound like I just want a discount. I was arguing cooking my own food opposed to going to a restaurant isn't comparable to using a self-checkout or a normal one. If I cook my own food it's cheaper, I can make the food exactly how I want it, I don't need to wait for the overworked waiter to come back before I can get up from the table when I'm done, etc. The closest thing is there's not usually a line for self-checkout but every time I've gone into Wal Mart's express next to them I'm out the same time someone who went into self-checkout is so it's probably longer.

 

So with checkouts shifting to machines, your grocery bill will ultimately be cheaper, and more individuals will be in the labour pool to alleviate situations where waiters/waitresses are overworked.

[Nparker]

So with checkouts shifting to machines, your grocery bill will ultimately be cheaper...

       

[catfluff]

Yeah I used to get suckered in by this line too, as in "come on honey we'll stop in quickly for just a few items". And without fail it seems we drop $200 minimum, usually more, each time we/I get pulled into that black retail vortex. Never fails. Every. Single. Time.

It should be renamed 'Impulse' instead of Costco.

[DustMagnet]

I never got the appeal of self-checkout. Why should I do a cashier's job for free while the company fires them and keeps the money they would have been paid? I don't run into the garage at Canadian Tire and change my own oil and replace the washer fluid then go pay them for what I used.

 

Some people would love this though, because they want to do their own work but don't have the garage/shop to do it in.  I guess there are no perfect analogies.  And it always comes down to car analogies.   

Self-checkout is more like self-serve gas pumping (what with the cars again).  At first it was novel - and slightly cheaper.  Now full-serve are almost completely gone (usually - but not always - existing only through government mandate).

 

That's the thing - if you did save money (even a token amount) by using the self-checkout then (enough) people would swarm it.  The, "Why should I do the cashier's job?" question would disappear. 

I'm sure when self-serve gas pumps appeared there were folks who swore they would never use them and drive out of their way to get full-serve.  It didn't stop anything.

 

I think the current attraction to self-checkout is the hope that it's faster.  Kind of like when the ATM first appeared - RBC's slogan was literally "Why Stand In Line?".  I think about this when I am standing in line to use the ATM...

[Mike K.]

Automation is cheaper. You might not see it immediately, but the cost of the machine is a one-time investment plus maintenance. This is why the feds are so worried and want to introduce new taxes for automation in order to make up for losses to social services coffers paid via wages.

[pennymurphy2000]

Did they take tills out to do it?

It looks like they took out 2 regular tills to add in the 6 self check out. I thought I heard an employee say in order to use the self check out your total couldn't be more than 100 bucks. 

[DustMagnet]

Sure, but it's the visibility that is key to acceptance.

 

Right now you can check-out yourself or have a cashier it for you at no upfront cost difference.  Therefore the visible difference is you have to do the scanning yourself.  That's seen as a negative.  You could charge a premium for cashier service - if you want to get lynched.  Or... you could offer a discount for self-service.  Who doesn't want to save a buck?

Your nuanced economic argument is an educated sell to the consumers' perception.

[DustMagnet]

It looks like they took out 2 regular tills to add in the 6 self check out. I thought I heard an employee say in order to use the self check out your total couldn't be more than 100 bucks. 

 

Makes sense.  Don't current self-checkout setups lend themselves - implicitly or explicitly* - to the Express Lane model?

 

* I have seen signs to this effect on some.

[Midnightly]

But you pump your own gas and cook your own meals. Isn’t that taking away work from gas jockeys and cooks at restaurants?

 

 

pfft i've never pumped my own gas... i go to the few full serve places they have in town, it costs the same and i get my windows cleaned in the same process.. most co-ops up along the island have a full serve for the same price as self serve..

[Mike K.]

There you go. But you don’t tip?

[LJ]

^You tip the guy/gal that pumps gas?

[sdwright.vic]

I am kinda tired of tip jars in places they don't belong.

[Bob Fugger]

^You tip the guy/gal that pumps gas?

 

You don't?  Savage.

[lanforod]

^ I suspect Co-op gas jockeys and the guy who sits behind the counter at Petro-Can make the same amount of money. Why should the Co-op one get a tip for doing his job? Perhaps if he goes above and beyond?

 

Back when full serve was more common, it was typical to only tip station attendants in full serve if the price for full serve was the same as self serve (and there was a self serve option). Co-ops don't do self serve, right?

[DustMagnet]

Co-ops don't do self serve, right?

 

They have both.

[lanforod]

^ okay. I don't have a co-op membership as the one by me in Royal Oak is way too busy to bother with. I'm not gonna wait in line every 2 weeks to fill-up.

[Matt R.]

CoOp here is self serve only, unless you need purple gas - then they come and unlock it.

Matt.