OT. NO cashiers at Wally World

[micky]

I have been able to read but not post for about 18 hours. First time this happened.

At the Safeway (part of Albertsons). the machine is constantly saying , Please put the food in the bagging area.

And that's really backwards because it's food I scanned. They should be more concerned that I put food in the bag that I didn't scan. Well maybe it notices that too, but the first warning happens for no good reason I have to wait while someine comes to turn it off. And they are used to complaints about this.

[micky]

Normally I go to the cashier, but since the virus I have the opposite problem. The market I go to opened up at 6 but the self-checkout was't open when I left at 6:45. I had to go to the cashier, Marta. I called and the manager said he'd get it open by 6, but by next time, the store opened at 5 and it wasn't open at 5:40. Still, Marta the cashier was the only person I was anywhere near either morning so other than getting the food delivered, it was the best I could do. I've had food delivered twice and it works well but it's easier to get all I want in person.

[micky]

Most of them also don't know you can put the credit card in the machine before the total is done, and it does the validation then and just waits for the total. In fact they dont' even get the card out of hteir wallet or the wallet out of the purse until the total is done.

There was a sign at each aisle in one store for a while but it didn't seem to have much effect.

Now I go at 5 or 6 in the morning and even if I have to use a cashier, there's no one in front of me.

[micky]

Oh, yeah. Especially if they have to call someone with a key.

[rbowman]

I did that recently and it only cost me a buck to get her and her groceries out of my life. One of the few charities I give money to is the local food bank. I figured it was just another dollar and I got off cheap. When the food bank comes begging they're looking for two or three hundred bux.

[gfretwell]

Just keep putting stuff on the tray until it shuts up ;)

[gfretwell]

I have paid for people's excess groceries a number of times too. Same as you, it is worth a couple bucks to get them on their way. I always give money to the Harry Chapin food bank here when they are doing a drive. It is at the supermarket so it is easy.

[Cindy Hamilton]

The bagging area has a scale. It's connected to a computer that (AIUI) knows how much everything weighs, even canned goods, etc. So you can't scan one can and put two in the bag, for example.

The self-scan computer is programmed to wait until the scanned item is placed in the bagging area before allowing you to scan another item.

There may or may not be a button on the user interface that says "Skip bagging this item", so you don't have to put bulky or heavy items in the bagging area--you can just leave them in the cart.

Cindy Hamilton

[Ed Pawlowski]

After a Harry Chapin concert he was signing book and T shirts all for raising money for his charity. Wife and I waited on the side until the crowd thinned out, meantime talking to a woman also waiting. When most were gone, she said, "lets go now and I'll introduce you to my husband? Nice end to a fun concert. That was about 1978 or so and my kids still have the books we bought.

[gfretwell]

The problem is some things don't weigh enough to make the scale happy like an envelope of taco seasoning. Sometimes just tapping the scale with your finger will get it going again.

[Cindy Hamilton]

I always slam-dunk those sorts of things down into the bag.

Greeting cards are somewhat challenging.

Cindy Hamilton

[FromTheRafters]

[e-mail] laid this down on his screen :

That's what I do. I also talk back to the machine just for kicks.

[Rod Speed]

One of our supermarket chains used to do it like that but now doesn’t weigh the packaged stuff anymore, just the bags of loose fruit and veg.

So its easy to get charged for two when you accidentally scan the one item twice.

[gfretwell]

His dad was my next door neighbor until he died.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Yes, that's why you didn't get a birthday card from me. I got frustrated and left it behind.

[micky]

There isn't

For each of the four bagging statilns there are two bag holders. I sort the food into one of the twho bags, but one bag at each station is just mounted on a shelf, no scale underneath. This compounds the problem iirc.

Maybe I''ll take pictues the next time.

[micky]

I tried that a couple times. I'll try it again.

[T]

1+

But the other stores have plexiglass panel up and you can't hear what they say anymore, so very cold.

[Wade Garrett]

Buy your greeting cards at the dollar store where they're 50 cents or a dollar, rather than the full retail/MSRP that the the supermarket charges!

[gfretwell]

Actually that doesn't help. They already sold you the card, the machine just doesn't believe you put it in the bag yet. Throw something else in there and shut the machine up. A steak might be too heavy tho. ;-)