OT-ish B&Q automated checkout

[Jethro_uk]

Which sounds like a recipe for a vicious spiral ...

One mall near to us has over 1 in 4 units empty. Presumably they have to recover the same money from fewer tenants, so put the rents up for them. They can't afford and move (or go under).

Rinse and repeat.

Really it's (Kingfisher in Redditch) a microcosm of the country.

Since 2005:

Alders - went bust. Of a 3 storey unit, ground floor (finally) let to Primark. 1st and basement unlet. Woolworths - went bust. Unit was empty for 2 years before Superdrug moved in.

Unlet (presently empty) units Jessops - gone Past Times - gone Millets -gone Peacocks - gone T.J. Hughes (2 storey unit) - gone Julian Graves - gone. Textiles direct - gone Clarks - closed that branch

Plus another 6 or 7 units that have been unused for years

All that's left are card shops, and mobile phone shops ....

[Jethro_uk]

Not universally. Occasionally I have seen price per *Kg* for one item against price per gram. Now to you and I it's a trivial issue. But given the average standard of public mental arithmetic ...

[polygonum]

As far as I know Julian Graves got taken over by Holland & Barrett - and our one became a body-builders muscle-milk-powder-and-supplement shop (can't remember branding but think they are subsidiary of H&B).

[Jethro_uk]

Also, you have (what I call) "the Kwik Fit factor". This is the holy grail for any retailer, as it means you have implanted the *impression* in the public psyche, that you are the cheapest. At which point, they stop looking at your prices.

I first heard of this 20 years ago. A tyre fitter near us would charge

20% less than Kwik Fit. But locals first port of call was Kwik Fit "because they're cheapest".

We bought a 3lb joint of meat from a local butchers Saturday, then had to go to Sainsburys. Mrs made a point of looking for a similar cut in the meat aisle, and it was about 15% dearer ....

[Jethro_uk]

The stores argument would be the "discount" is delivered as a cost saving on the goods.

[polygonum]

Ah Venison. Mmmm.

[polygonum]

That could make sense - but if you go to a manned till, they are not making that saving in order to increase their profits, sorry, reduce prices.

[Jethro_uk]

Ah, well there was already a H&B in the mall.

Of course now Orange and T mobile have merged, do we really need as many EE shops ?

[Jethro_uk]

No, it was top rump beef (I'm sure I am ignoring some sarcasm somewhere ;) ).

[Jethro_uk]

There's also the delicate - probably highly confidential - issue of shrinkage via the unmanned tills. It would be illuminating to know what level of theft management considered acceptable when implementing the self-service system.

If you can save £x by losing some staff, and the loss from theft is a lower figure ...

[polygonum]

We've still got the original H&B as well!

I have absolutely lost count of mobile phone shops. Including, as you say, EE who are next door to EE...

[polygonum]

No sarcasm at all. Just the (very?) obvious pun of it being deerer.... :-(

Apologies.

[polygonum]

One of the reasons I dislike the automatic ones is that responsibility for mistakes lands on customer. And when you are rushing to get things scanned, etc., and hating the experience, I feel it is far more likely I would inadvertently walk out with something not scanned.

[Jethro_uk]

I had this kinda "candid camera" idea, of calling up the managing agents for the mall, and enquiring about vacant units, as I am launching a new kind of store ... a combined discount shoe, card and mobile phone shop.

One of the vacant units has a sign up now ... "Coming soon: Rachels cupcakes and cafe".

It's next door to a Druckers :(

You have to wonder who pitched *that* business plan.

[Jethro_uk]

OUT ! NOW !

[Jethro_uk]

I don't have any religious objection to self service. But I'm old enough to be immune to the "ooh, let's play with the toys" aspect of it.

Personally they are slower, and impractical for a full shop, and unless you are walking by and there is a vacant one ready for use, they are marginal for small (less than 5 item) purchases. It's quite amusing/ depressing (depending on how much you care about human intelligence) to waltz through a quiet checkout, whilst a queue of patient shoppers wait for the next self-service till.

There's definitely some slightly less-than-obvious issues at play with supermarket queues. My wife tends to plump for checkouts which look like there's not too much on the belt. Myself, I would rather wait a second for a crowded belt to become free with only one customer in front, than have half an empty belt with 3 customers in front. That's because in my experience, the overhead of queueing is predicated far more on number of customers than number of items.

I also avoid queuing behind any single older ladies ;)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not really possible, unless you put the item in your pocket rather than shopping bag.

[polygonum]

I doubt you have ever watched me use such a till?

It is entirely possible. Maybe I do not use it in the same way you do.

[Nightjar]

On 15/04/2013 14:56, Jethro_uk wrote: ...

Employee theft is a greater source of shrinkage in supermarkets than shoplifting, so getting rid of staff ought to reduce shrinkage.

Colin Bignell

[Nightjar]

On 15/04/2013 15:24, Jethro_uk wrote: ...

Why is there this recent obsession with cupcakes?

I presume that Druckers is in competition with a cupcake shop and cafe. I've never heard of them.

Either somebody thinks there is business enough for two, or thinks they can put the other out of business. We have lost a good baker to competition from Greggs (who stopped offering the things they had undercut after the baker had gone) and a locally run pizza shop to competition from Dominoes.

Colin Bignell