Handcuffs deployed successfully

by Brandon Mayer

Big box retail shopping in this country has nearly come full circle. Remember the days of great customer service at big box chain stores? Neither do I… but at least it used to be possible to check out in a timely manner and talk to an actual human.

Store owners have gradually made cuts to save costs. First, it was cuts to the level of service provided –bagging your own items at some stores, for example. Next, cuts were made to the number of cashiers working. This meant waiting in longer lineups, but the benefit of interacting with and being served by an actual human was still there.

A relatively recent next step was the introduction of self-checkout lanes. These were a significant hit to customer service. As I have mentioned in the Times before, there is one particular Kemptville Mall store that I won’t shop in anymore because self-checkout is the only option. The selfcheckout machine weighs every item in an attempt to prevent stealing. However, if something falls off the mammoth pile of items that the customer is forced to stack in a one-square-foot space, the computer will not allow you to place it back in the pile without a code being entered by a store employee, or without scanning it again and paying for it twice (no thanks!). It’s complicated for me – I can’t imagine how older people and those who are challenged by technology feel.

The other perhaps unintended issue in that particular store is that the selfcheckouts talk – loudly – and in an effort to escape the annoying repetitive robot voice which can be heard throughout the store, customers are surely desperate to pick up only the essentials and get the heck out of the store. I trust there is no “browsing” and impulse buying happening in the aisles which must impart a hit to the store’s bottom line. Not to mention the fact that because items must be weighed in a small space at self-checkout, there is actually a limit to how much can be purchased without inconveniencing oneself. In hindsight, the analogy “shooting yourself in the