Hello, everyone. I read about and briefly discussed this on another thread and I wanted to go into more detail here. One thing that really bothers me is when I go to a big store and there's dozens of check-out lanes but only a small number are open, even if it's a busy day. Why do stores do this? It seems to me that they could benefit by hiring more employees to man these extra check-out lanes. I think it would even be good for business. Would you shop somewhere where the check-out lines are all short? It would create badly needed jobs in this terrible economy and I think they'd make money so why not? What are your thoughts?
I hate it when store is equipped with a ton of checkout lanes but only two are staffed...I think that long lines are definitely hurting the bottom lines of a lot of companies. And, while I understand that it costs money to have staff onsight to provide the checkout service, more and more companies are installing self check out devices. These machines don't cost any extra money to operate in terms of labor costs, but often they are left closed...this is frustrating to me. It seems as though big businesses just can't get out of their own way.
I really hate it when they do this, but what is even more annoying for me is when you have to get something from the locked case. They always seem to have no one around to open those cases and you are spending ten to fifteen minutes waiting for someone to come and unlock the case. Then it is like you have annoyed the person for doing their job!
I think you're underestimating how much it costs a company to interview, vet, hire, train and trust employees to work in a store, much less on a cash register. On top of that, a store will never have enough employees to satisfy the average customer. If the employee isn't right there at your beck and call, you're going to wonder where everyone is. They have budget a schedule and there is no way that they are going to have 20 lines manned with employees at all times or even during what appears to be the "busy times."
I see what you're saying, Sugarhill, but I think the first poster had a good idea. Why not use more self-checkout lanes then? You can have the same staff and more open lanes. It wouldn't create more jobs like I orginally suggested but it would probably make things more convienent for customers.
The big box stores have all those lanes so they can provide super service when they first open. They want to impress shoppers during the grand opening. After that, labor costs eat into profits, so minimal lanes are open. During Christmas they also will have more lanes open, but the rest of the year good customer service costs too much. I think people just need to realize that multinational corporations don't care about their customers or their employees. The only thing that matters is this quarter's profits.
Things will work out by themselves. If, say, store A has too many customers who are unhappy with too few checkout counters that are manned, then those customers will go to store B. When that happens, store A will not have any more problems with customer who are unhappy with too few counters being manned. The remaining customers at store A will be happy. They will tell their friends about store A. More people will come to shop at store A. In the meantime, store B will start having the same problems like store A. Then the unhappy customers at store B will go to store A. Back at store A, as more and more people come to shop, they will face the problem of not having enough checkout counters being manned. And the whole cycle begins again.
Big corporations are always tight with money and anytime it can save them some they take the opportunity. I see it all the time a store that is understaffed and I see people just waiting in long lines. The store could easily get someone to fill those positions, but they choose not to hire new employees. I went into Walmart one time and it took me 45 minutes of waiting in line before it was my turn. After that I never returned to that store again.
I don't doubt that it costs a company quite a bit to interview, vet, hire, and train employees. I also don't doubt that this expense will make a huge dent in a big company's bottom line, especially when you consider that most likely, all the employees involved with interviewing, vetting, and training a newbie are themselves horribly underpaid.
I think when times are hard the first cuts made by a large company are always employees - mainly because a drop in the wages budget looks good on paper and satisfies banks/shareholders and the like who may have a vested interest in the company. When I see an understaffed shop I always feel sorry for the staff- who are often expected to do the job of 2/3 people to compensate. My mum worked in a large supermarket on the deli - when she started in 2005 there were 14 staff members on this area, when she left in April, there were just 5 and yet the deli was no smaller. She was run off her foot all day, every day doing multiple jobs that would ordinarily have kept four people busy.
The worst place I have had this consistently happen was at the post office in the town we used to live in! Home Depot is another store nearby that is notorious for this. As far as the rest of the stores in our ares, I think Victor Leigh is right. They all seem to go through this in cycles.
Because people glitch the self-checkout lines. They do things like enter in the wrong numbers when scanning produce so they can get it for cheaper. It has become a big enough problem that some stores are pulling them altogether.
Background checks cost money and so does replacing things that are stolen or catching someone short-changing the register or having to deal with issues that crop up from shoddy customer service.
A lot of people are pointing out the issues with understaffing. I was wondering if there are any ways to get around that? Maybe by joining a union or some obscure law that no one ever brings up? It seems to be that forcing employees to do the jobs of multiple people for the same amount of pay might be something that labor unions don't appreciate. Are there any "big box unions"?
Yes it is quite frustrating, especially when the store is Walmart. Our Walmart used to do this all the time, they would literally have 1 maybe 2 lines open and the line of customers would be at least 10 people long. People would leave their stuff in the middle of the isles and walk out quite often. They really didn't learn from it either.
I always experience exactly what you are talking about. Right across the street from me is a Wal-greens and no matter when I go in there, morning, afternoon or evening, there is always a line. The store itself is not even that busy, it's just that they have one or maybe two people working the registers. Things would go a lot smoother if they just hired extra staff to take on all of the other customers. It's a shame.
Labor costs are an expense that multinational corporations would rather do without. Maximum profits every quarter are the only thing they care about. Customer service is a marketing ploy; they don't actually c are whether customers are inconvenienced. These mega-stores are not owned by local people who have a vested interest in the community. It's like the old Lily Tomlin routine about ATT. "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the phone company."
I don't think the problem of having 3 registers manned in a store with 14 registers is going to change, so my way of dealing with it is to go to Walmart at 6AM when they open. I have at least 2 hours before people really start coming in , in droves. So I can usually walk directly up to the register with no line ,or a small line at 6AM.
The thing that bothers me the most is when you go into a store that has built 20 or so checkout lines and they never have all of them open. I mean never, not even during the holidays. Why build that many checkout lanes to begin with? I would prefer that they took that money to build the extra checkout lines and put that into staff. And then there are the times where there are only 2 lines open and 20 employees standing around looking at the 50 people in the two lines. But that is for another topic thread.
It is hard to get the right balance of employees to customers in a retail situation. The store can try to have more people on hand for the busy time and if more people come in when they are under staffed it is hard for the staff and the consumer. When the store has too many people on the clock and no money coming in people are sent home to stop the store from losing more money. Some times I go into Wal-Mart knowing it will be a long wait to get checked out I just deal with, other times when I really can not wait I am at the store when the doors open. Make the adjustments if him can.
