The Price of Self-Checkout
There seems to be a growing trend that ordering merchandise online from a local store is cheaper than buying it in person at the store. For example, last year I needed a fan. I went to the website of a local store which will remain nameless. I will say it’s logo is a target. I found a fan online I liked, was in stock at the local store, and cost $47. I went to the store, found the fan, and took it to the self-checkout register. Stores use self-checkout so they only need one employee for every 10 registers. I scanned the fan and it said $60 on the screen. I sought help from the one employee, but she was busy helping a drunk shopper, who was buying more alcohol. Buying alcohol is a no-no for self-checkout. Being drunk must have affected her hearing as the employee was yelling at her loudly telling her to go get in line where there is one employee per register. Apparently one employee with 10 registers can’t check IDs for all the drunk shoppers.
She then came over to me in a too cheerful manner for having just inhaled alcohol fumes from the breath of a lush. I asked why my fan cost so much in-store. She said “Oh, the online price is cheaper.” She explained that if I order it online, I pay online, someone gets my order, and then I go to order pick up register, show my ID, and they get my order. I tried to make sense of this. If I come to the store, get a cart, walk to the back of the store, get the fan, bring it in front of the store, get in line for self-checkout, scan it, and pay, they are going to charge me more?! Seems I’m doing all the work and saving them the time and money, but I have to pay more. Besides, that employee getting my items could instead be helping the young woman trying to help 10 shoppers at once in the self checkout area. I grabbed my fan, took it back to the shelf at the back of the store. I asked the nearest associate where the alcohol was, got a bottle of whiskey, and went to the self-checkout line.
To read about the history of self-checkouts and why they are here to stay Click Here.
