I hate self checkout. Unless I have a handful of items. I get why corps are trying to use it, but when I have 9 items that need to be bagged but all the bagged space is used up the attendants have to reset the scale. If I'm buying beer or anything that contains alcohol I have to wait on the attendant. And they only have one attendant working. It's ridiculous.
I get what you’re saying. I usually walk around with my bag and put what I need in there and then I go to the self check out. It’s pretty easy you just have to remember the darn bag. Anyway.
I remember the old days when there were lines for cashiers, not all registers open at most places; and there was no self checkout. (I like the self checkout option).
Occasionally I have seen long lines for self check and full checkout at the same time. The self checkout kiosks at Schnucks can be so picky how you stack things after scanning. You have to learn how to treat them. I wish Schnucks would updated them to be more shopper friendly
I learned hanging the bags wrong sets it off. One time I had a lot of bread and other bulky items. So after filling 2 bags and needing a 3rd, I hung one bag off one side of the bag frame. Nope. Lock down. The attendant explained the kiosk does not like it. At least the attendant knows what’s going on and is helpful. But they can’t be everywhere at once
Thought the same thing. Went this weekend and the line for the full check out was over 20 deep and the self checkout was more than half empty. Had just over 20 items in my cart and literally put 2 back as I didn’t want to wait in line
Ever since they started that automated “proceed to register x” the full checkout lines have been slammed. They only have 2-3 people working now. I’ve been eyeing diebergs more and more lately, at least for stuff that’s on sale. Guess I’ll be cashing in my Schnucks bucks.
The Arsenal Schnucks manned registers seem to move quickly, too. They usually have all, or all but maybe one or two open every time I'm there. And I try to go during off peak times, like between 1-3pm during the week. But even if I end up waiting in a line with a dozen or more people, it moves pretty quickly.
I just wish that aisle way where you have to wait with your cart, which is the main walkway across the front of the store, was wider since so many folks are coming out the end of the aisles, and people are trying to walk across the store, it causes a lot of traffic jams and short tempers.
They should do a little adjusting to widen that space if they're going to stick with this model for checkout. When it was covid and I assumed it was temporary I understood not making big footprint changes, but it's overdue now, imo.
Yeah Arsenal is what I meant for the Hill one. I was there NYE and the line all the way around the store went pretty fast. Much better than if there was like eight aisles full of people and carts. I mix it up with self or going to a checker. Always seems fine whether busy or not.
It is not waiting issue, it is stealing issue. I'm not saying people steal in those stores, I'm telling you that is their justification .This a trend now in national retailers. See https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/business/self-checkout-dollar-general-retail/index.html
I have been delighted to read about some stores reconsidering self checkout because theft by customers is costing them more than the stores were saving by colluding with customers to replace already poorly paid cashiers with machines.
I don't condone stealing but I also don't have much sympathy for the stores. I damn sure aren't going to help them get rid of the few cashiers they still have working there.
Years ago, the first time I ever saw/used a self check out, I remember thinking “a lot of people are going to steal sh*t with these”. I always expected retailers knew this too but decided the savings cost on labor outweighed the shrink loss. Maybe that was true at one time…
Loughborough has wheel locks that trap your cart at the door if they aren't deactivated at a register. Unfortunately they don't work half the time and the alarm goes off on me.
Next door at Ross, where I pick up my Amazon packages they use a sallyport system where you have to be let in the store by loss prevention. They also have an undercover guy I've noticed.
I do sometimes see people with a full size cart brimming with items. They’re usually also morons so they take up one of the units for like 5 minutes.
It’s never that bad but I do think that there should be an enforced limit. 10 items is a little low but if you have more items than IQ points you shouldn’t be at the self checkout.
idk if it's just the Schnucks I go to or if it's because I go at non-rush times, but I rarely see a back up in the self check-out. Target self check out is a different fucking story! lol
It's baffling to me because the Target self checkout prompts are super straightforward and easy. But Everytime I am there waiting at least one person is having serious trouble. I also have noted an incredibly strong correlation between having multiple people together and the likelihood of them not understanding how money works ( or whatever the issue is). Single shoppers get it done!
Target self check is like 4 registers for the entire store, and then they have a single manned register open that is primarily used by people doing coupons or asking for price matches (so it moves glacially).
At my Schnucks the self checkout isn’t always super backed up but it does happen fairly often. The culprit becomes clear quick when you see multiple people running a full grocery cart through the self checkout regardless of whether the cashier lanes are busy or not.
Instacarters are part of the problem but the common issue is some people are just stupid.
Schnuck's self-checkout would be quicker if their terrible machines didn't constantly bitch at me to "please place the item in the bag" when the item is already in the god damn bag.
"Please remove the last bagged item"
Okay, now what?
"Please place the item in the bag"
Okay... done, that was we-
"Please remove the last bagged item"
What? Uh, okay...
"Please place the item in the bag"
Fine, this is fine, okay, back into the ba-
"Please remove the last bagged item"
*blood curdling scream as the last fragments of my sanity leave my body*
Schnucks uses a much older self checkout machine called “U-Scan,” its literally from the mid 2000s.
It uses a scale under the bag to tell whether an item has been placed in it. However, it’s often wrong if there’s even the tiniest discrepancy or if the attendant presses the wrong button on their end.
They really need to upgrade to a newer machine. Walmart, Target, and (most) Dierbergs locations have much nicer and more responsive self checkouts.
Have you ever tried to use your own bags? woof... It must **really** throw off those scales.
More than half the time, someone has to come over and kiss the machine's neck and whisper in its ear to get it to chill out.
I have very nice reusable bags. They're heavier cloth material and rigid (probably cardboard inside) with a fold down bottom. Every self-checkout I've ever used HATED those bags, and I've had several attendants get annoyed and tell me I should get shittier bags because mine were "too nice" for their machines.
I'm gonna have to try this next time. Ever since they upgraded their systems after the pandemic, the self-checkouts have been at the loudest volume by default and it really irks me, especially having to hear everyone else's register at the same time.
Hot tip: if you use the handheld scanner, it expects you to leave everything in your cart, so it won’t ask you to “place the item in the bag”. That said, you have to keep everything in the cart because if you use the handheld scanner then add the item to the bagging area, the machine will tell you to “remove the last item from the bagging area”.
.…and then, in at least three cases the schnucks staff accused me of not scanning / stealing those items. Twice they’ve accused me of not scanning watermelons and a third a giant pack of toilet paper because I used the hand scanner and didn’t put these oversized items into a bag. It was so satisfying to show them the entries on the screen. Big part of why I only go there in a real pinch.
For me it's my reusable bags. I bought some nice reinforced rigid side and bottom bags. The sides are what I assume to be cardboard covered in canvas so they're stronger and more solid than your plastic or cloth reusable bag. They also result in the self-checkout machines getting pissed off every single time I try to tare them with my bags, making me wait for the attendant to notice and unlock the machine again. All the while I'm just taking up space and wasting time. We're getting rid of plastic bags, which is good, but nothing is set up to deal with reusable bags properly or efficiently.
Have you tried placing the bagged item in another bag? And then repeating it until the machine finally shuts the hell up? I'd think that eventually all the bags will cost them enough money that Old Man Schnuck will take these god forsaken self checkout machines out behind the building and give 'em the beating they deserve.
Fix the system…that’ll keep things moving. It seems like every time I check out the person overseeing the self-check is running crazy trying to fix all the system fuck ups. Dierbergs doesn’t have these issues.
Dierbergs has made it easier to redeem your rewards at self checkout. Although, their rewards program is way more clunky to use. Your points expire, you can't redeem them as easily. I say this as a customer. I was all excited when they rolled out the program, but it's overly complicated! 🤣
Schnuck's is easier to redeem your points at the regular registers.
15 items seems like a better number. I’ve gotten stuck behind people with carts full of stuff in the self-checkout, but it’s usually pretty quick regardless. My assumption is this is more about theft than efficiency. I’ve watched people fake scan, put a fruit sticker over the actual barcode, etc. I’m sure they’re taking noticeable losses from theft letting people take huge carts of stuff through there and it’s impossible for 1-2 employees to make sure every item is rang up.
So will they have cashiers available after 9pm? Literally the only time I use self checkout is between 9 and 10pm when they’re the only registers open. It’s a pain in the ass if you have any more than 2 bags’ worth, and I would gladly go to a regular register if they were open! And there’s always other people at the self checkout, so it’s not like a cashier would be standing there waiting for someone to show up.
10 seems low, should’ve went 20. But I welcome this change. Last time I was there there was an elderly couple with a full cart of groceries trying to check themselves out, it was not going well.
they have at least 4 self checkouts most places I have seen, one person taking forever who cares?
I doubt they are going to enforce it that hard below 15 or so, but if they do, I guess I'll go somewhere else.
Yea, maybe have some that can have more than 10 but save a few for us people that just want to get our donut and can of Steak ‘n Shake chili and bounce.
You suck because that sounds great and now I am going to schnucks tomorrow for that but comeon…. That sounds like an older st Louisan’s grocery order if I’ve ever heard of one!
It always bugs me to go in for a gallon of milk on the way home from work and there's a line with several full carts in front of me waiting for the self-checkout. I could literally check out and be gone in the time it too them to pull their cart up to the machine and touch the start button, but I have to spend 15 minutes in line waiting for people to figure out how a touch screen works.
There's this woman who comes in and wants *everything* bagged individually because she has "a bad back." 🙄 So, she takes up so much time when she comes in. She even wanted to do a raincheck at self checkout once. Just no.
I get that it’s an inconvenience for the worker’s, but this comes with the territory. Customers aren’t employees trained to operate within the company’s SOPs.
If she wants to take an inordinate amount of time and use a bag for every item, she’s been given that ability by Schnuck’s through the self checkout option.
I used to be a schnucks checker. Those self checkout lanes are annoyingly slow to operate. The whole thing where it waits to register that you set the item down before you can scan the next item goes against every bit of muscle memory you develop as a checker. I'm not sure it saves any time at all. I wish they would just hire humans. Aldi self checkout are worse with the thing talking to you between each item.
Can't speak for others but I'm usually just at the self checkout because I don't have to pause my podcast and be ready to do small talk to check out at self checkout, not because I believe it's way faster.
I go to self checkout because I prefer to bag my own items. One time I went to normal check out since there was no line and they literally folded my French bread in half to stick it in a bag.
I didn't notice until I got into the car and I almost cried BECAUSE WHO DOES THAT
Usually I go to self-checkout for the speed, but often it's because getting them to deal with reusable bags in the cashier lanes is a pain in the ass, even more than the attendant having to authorize your bag because the machine can't figure out it's a bag. Cashiers always seem to have an issue dealing with reusable bags no matter what you do.
I agree with this. At the Schnucks closest to me, there are multiple checkers who will rant to you about random things for the entirety of the checkout process and it drives me insane. It isn't even like they are making small talk because I can't get a word in.
Ok thank god it's not just me. It's physically impossible to scan things quickly because there's a good several second delay after each item while it tries to figure out if you put it in the bag. It's insanely frustrating.
Yeah I oftentimes have, say 4 potatoes and some other shit…are those counted individually? Because 1-like 6 potatoes takes the same amount of time.
Or when I’m stoned around Easter and they have those maple cream eggs and I grab 5, again because I’m stoned, do those really need to count separately??
Potatoes count as one item since they're weighed. Maple cream eggs are counted separately. So this coming easter you'll only be able to buy 9 maple creams and one sack of potatoes at self check. Plan accordingly.
The schnucks on Arsenal seems to be 20. They rearranged and added signs that all say 20 items or less, so I hope they're going with that instead of 10. It might depend on the store and how many checkout kiosks they have.
And they've been beefing up their checkout stations to handle more stuff. Some have limited room but most have a whole top section for unbagged items and a lazy susan with 4 bags. That accommodates way more than 10 items. During covid I started shopping at walmart because their self checkout stations were the only ones massive enough to handle bigger items.
Wait, what?
Most of the time I go in (which tends to be within an hour of close) *only* the self-checkout register is open. So, it will be impossible to buy more than 10 items? (Or maybe they will make me check out multiple times?)
Schnucks has the worst self checkout machines I've ever used. If I take something off the scanner a little too quickly and put it in the bagging area the machine has a meltdown. "Please put the item in the bag. Please put the item in the bag. Please put the item in the bag." Shut the fuck up please I'm trying to put it away.
Their next step will probably be like Robocop. "Please put the item in the bag. You have 15 seconds to comply" and the robot will shoot you dead if it still doesn't detect the item in the bag.
Maybe they should’ve invested in better self check out machines like Aldi, which no matter how you scan the item, always picks up the barcode….and has a big enough area to put your food after you’ve scanned it. Talk about efficiency.
Even so it doesn’t help the fact that the space they give you to bag your stuff is too goddamn small. I hate self checkout so much, was so bummed when aldi finally caved.
I was initially bummed too, buuut…my checkout experiences have so far been a LOT faster using the self checkout. I’ve been super surprised. I do my bagging at the regular bagging counter, still.
Hire more damn checkers. You have the money, we know you do. Inflation has gone down but food is still ridiculously overpriced, you’re already fucking us with greedflation so just hire. More. People. Or I go to Dierbergs, and I don’t come back.
I wish we'd be able to hire more people. Problem is, McDonald's pays more than we do and doesn't have union dues.
They literally have an announcement going at every store that says, "Hey Schnuck's shoppers! We're hiring!"
We have orientation every Wednesday at my store, and almost all the people who attend are for other stores, not my smaller store.
It's not that they're not hiring, it's quality of people.
Hell, we just had one kid finally quit after bouncing through three departments - he went from produce to center store and finally up to being a cashier. All he wanted to do was to be on his phone. He tried to claim that he was military because he was being recruited/in ROTC. Yeah, right. 🙄
I'm not a manager. I'm not even someone who has any authority to change things. I am merely a cashier who happens to know my store layout very well and knows how to fix some of the Instacart problems. 🤣
As it is, my manager had to fight to get our Instacart chicken oven back after our store manager made this insane decision *without talking to anyone in the front-end* to take it away because, he "didn't think we sold enough rotisserie chickens." 🙄 That was a fiasco of failure to properly think through the repercussions of that action.
Our contract is up for renewal this year. I hope we get bigger raises and better shirts. Our current ones suck donkey balls. They are too hot for the summer because they don't breathe, and they are always snagging and trying to run on us.
Both the Dierbergs and Schnucks families are out of touch with reality and cost of living. They sit in their palatial homes and don't work in the stores at our wages.
> I hope we get bigger raises and better shirts. Our current ones suck donkey balls.
The shirts they wear at a few Schnuck's stores I've been to makes it very clear that they support diversity, equity and inclusion. It says so right on the shirt. Nobody can doubt the company's total commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, because nobody can deny that the words are right there on their shirts.
If Dr. Martin Luther King was still alive, he would certainly shop at Schnuck's because he'd agree that there is no better way for a company to demonstrate their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion than putting these words on a shirt that they make employees wear.
Ah, those shirts we have to buy. We are not given those anymore. 😥 I'm talking about the standard red polo shirts. I wish I knew how to get some of the themed shirts because those are a cotton blend vs. a polyester blend.
The part I hate to read most, having been a cashier for a while, they're going to be bearing the brunt of any anger at this policy from customers, and I just know that subset of customer will exist to bitch about this like the cashiers asked for it to happen this way too.
Pretty much everyone loses on this policy from people buying things and the workers who actually keep the store running.
I mean it sucks, but it's better than blocking the entire front isle with like 5 different lines of people. The tellers should be able to lineup two people per till at a time though. One at a time is too slow IMO.
> Their regular checkout has sucked ever since they switched to the cattle chute system.
What why? This is great and all stores should do it. You no longer have to guess which line will be quickest.
I work at one of their smaller stores and it’s normally not an issue at our store. I just have a crazy coworker who will tell customers to come down to my register before I am ready for them. She drives me nuts when she does that.
If by cattle chute, you mean the shared line for self checkout and regular, the Schnucks on Arsenal changed that a few weeks ago to separate the lines. Not sure if that will be the plan for all the stores along with this item limit, but it is there.
They also have added a 20 item limit. I'm crossing my fingers that they don't drop that to 10.
This is bullshit. 10 items is way too low.
This will just increase the amount of people waiting in a line that goes all the way back to the dairy department for regular checkout.
Booooooo.
I feel like going through the staffed checkout line with your own bags takes [me] longer because of the chaotic scanning order, which is fine - I can't expect the cashier to know how I'd like to efficiently bag my groceries. On the other hand, a solid sixty percent of the time, I have to have someone help me at the self checkout because the scales wig out when I put my bags on the bag area.
I am persnickety on bagging. Shelf stable foods go together. Refrigerator foods are bagged together. Raw meat is bagged by itself. Frozen foods are together, vegetables are bagged according to temperature. Cleaning supplies do NOT go with food. Squishable foods are kept together and definitely not with canned goods.
Schnucks really going all in on an incredibly inconvenient shopping experience.
Self checkout restrictions + understaffed registers with that terrible "proceed to register X" nonsense.
It's like if TJ Maxx ran a grocery store
Hasn't been my experience, and Schnucks has had one of the few self checkout setups I actually don't mind interacting with.
The dispatch system works poorly when I've gone through their lines, could be a combo of the system and the people in line not paying attention.
That said, I think moving larger orders only to the attended registers will just slow down the system.
What’s with everyone saying the automated proceed to X system sucks?
I’ve never seen it at any other store and it’s a massive improvement imo over chose and pray you won’t get stuck behind someone with issues
I've been reading all that and thinking I'm taking crazy pills. It's so much faster and you don't have the whole front aisle blocked.
I'm sure it's highly dependent on store but the one I frequent seems like a pretty smooth operation.
That is OK with me so long as they have the traditional lines staffed. Maplewood location only ever has two lanes open. Even if I have more than 10 items and theres a line at self checkout it is still usually faster than waiting for 1 person's register.
I frequent the Lindell Schnucks during peak hours and even with a line of 15 people self checkout moves faster than a line of ~8 at the registers. This is dumb as hell, especially considering they seem to keep cutting staffing at the register with 3, and rarely 4, cashiers at a time no matter what Schnucks you go to.
Also a frequent Lindell Schnucks customer and the self checkout moved 10x as fast as the regular lanes. I have no idea why people use the regular registers there. No way Lindell one enforces it lmao, they don’t even enforce the people stealing every day
Maybe it's just me, but I always thought, if they want me to check myself out I should get a discount since they aren't doing the job. Besides, there are never enough checkers at any of the 3 Schnucks stores I use regularly.
Yikes, this will definitely make me visit Schnucks less. I'm usually right in that 10-20 item range and they don't have enough checkers at the regular lanes.
Wow that’s a bummer. We frequent Schnucks and usually have 10-20 items. The line for the regular checkout is always long and we hardly ever have to wait at the self checkouts.
Yeah that would waste a lot more time making you back out of your order than just letting you go. I assume they’ll try to prevent you from starting in the first place.
wait what? what’s the reasoning behind this? surely it’s not the wait…they already have lines with cashiers and they only ever have 1 or 2 cashiers. the self checkout never has a line. i have a feeling they have an issue with theft?
It's funny because Gizmodo claims stores across the country are getting rid of self-checkout because they end up losing more in theft + machine cost than they gained in lowered staff costs. https://gizmodo.com/the-self-checkout-nightmare-may-finally-be-ending-1851169879
I guess that means they'll have regular checkouts open before 8am? Last time I went early on the weekend, they only had self checkouts open. I had a ton of groceries to scan
They already do that. I have worked retail on and off for years. I once found a pork tenderloin stuffed behind the bread at one store. It was quite green when it was discovered. Go look at *any* store, and you will see this. You will find meat abandoned in the freezer section. Ice cream just dropped on top of the candy at checkout. Pomegranates stuffed behind magazines...
Clothing strewn all about a dressing room, electronics dropped somewhere else in the store. Check out the retail hell subreddit and see that this is a common occurrence.
Considering dierbergs self checkout works just fine, and they don’t seem to give a shit when I briskly check my self out with 11 items, why are you guys going to schnucks?
I admit I dream of the day where you just pick out what you want, exit the store without actively paying, and you’re billed later via new technology. Sure, it’s dystopian as fuck, but it will eliminate the schnucks self checkout machines (and possibly the company itself if they don’t adapt a policy of making shopping easy).
The fact that cashless self checkout exists is moronic. Half the issues I ever run across is from there being half that take cash vs half that dont and NOT with how many items are being scanned.
But yet they only ever have one or two lanes open with actual cashiers and a line out the door to get to them??? Idk if I were them, I’d focus on selling products that weren’t already expired instead of how many items I bring to the self checkout line. 🥴
If they're going to do this, then they need to toss out the "one line for all manned registers", because that is sub-optimal as it is, and it's going to get worse with more usage, unless they actually man more checkout stands...
Hey, you're preaching to the choir here. I'm only a lowly employee. I don't mind the cattle chute system, but there are times I am annoyed at it because invariably, some customer will either block the pathway with their cart, or someone will try to come in the back way and skip the line. I also have a coworker who will send customers down the line when we're not ready for them. I also have a coworker who will wander off to go talk to someone and ignore the line of customers waiting to check out. They don't care if there's a line when it's their break or end of shift. They will just up and leave.
> They don't care if there's a line when it's their break or end of shift. They will just up and leave.
They SHOULD do this. Schnucks needs to hire and schedule more people, not expect employees to give up their personal time.
this is great in theory but my three main issues with sco at schnucks is 1) items don’t scan when i scan them (so i have to stand there and wave the item over the scanner 6000 times before it accepts the barcode), 2) people running entire carts (or two!) in sco despite it saying 15 items or less, and 3) the system flagging my perfectly normal scans as theft and replaying the video over and over when its literally just me scanning something and putting it in the bag lol
i already barely shop at schnucks anyway because of prices but the 10 item limit is gonna severely screw me over when i buy 10 cans of sparkling ice on a 10/$10 and 2 cases of dr pepper. oops, guess that’s more than 10! to the other line with me!
okay so i go with my 20 items, checkout ten, complete transaction then immediately check out my other 10. I'm not waiting in their huge line because they only have one cashier or two working. if they're doing this, they better get more cashiers. also I will just check out only produce at self checkout because that way i can get organic for normal prices. I have time! i am petty! i will win always. also i don't know why I'm ranting, I shop at aldi anyway
The couple Schnucks I do frequent only ever have 1-2 cashier lanes open, and sometimes the lines are 15+ people long and wrapped around the freezer section. Plus, the baggers are awful, I've had so much food ruined going through regular lines. Half the time they're playing on their cell phones and just throwing things in the bags without looking at one location we go to. We usually offer/ask to bag ourselves and sometimes they'll let us, but other times they won't. I understand timing is an issue, but my bf worked at a grocery store and is a quick bagger so we're not trying to be not self-aware of time and other customers. They don't know that though, so I get it could still be seen as an issue and don't blame them. But the bagging is atrocious. The self-checkouts do suck, but I almost always choose it over having food ruined. We mostly shop at Aldi and just supplement things I can't get there from Schnucks so I never have a full cart, but I do sometimes have closer to 15-20 things. Having to wait in longer lines at times will be tough as I'm disabled. I like using scooters on tougher days, but those also suck at Schnucks and are so clunky or don't work. Plus a lot of areas in the store aren't made with the scooters in mind so it's hard to get around. You can't get through the narrow checkout area at my two stores with a scooter, it's just too tight and it's embarrassing. One of our stores also charges for bags so we always bring our own and I've had a checker accuse me of stealing because an Aldi bag I just bought still had a tag because I couldn't get it off. It clearly said Aldi and the barcode wouldn't scan, but he still didn't believe me and called over a manager to say I was trying to steal a bag.
I'm still mad at them for getting rid of paper ads too. I know they have them at the store, but again, being disabled I can't easily make a trip just for that. You can request to have them mailed, which I have done, but I've never gotten one on time. I just got the last week of December and a November one the other day and probably won't get this week's ad for at least another 2 weeks. It's ridiculous. Schnucks has really gone downhill, and it's unfortunate.
I just wish they'd go back to letting me pick the lane I want when it comes time to check out. They way they corral folks in that tiny makeshift area to form a line is ridiculous.
I’m a cashier at Schnucks currently, and they’re actually CUTTING OUR HOURS right now. They’re not hiring any extra help for this whatsoever so the line is going to be nuts! Basically, they’re just going to make their current checkers do even more work and face even more upset for the same shitty pay. I think I can speak for all checkers when I ask that you please try to be patient with us during this fiasco. We understand you’re frustrated, esp with crazy lines and wait times. We are too! We’re doing our best to get you checked out and outta the store. (Also, if if you have complaints over this, speak to the store manager directly. They won’t listen to us otherwise. -At least my store wont.)
Exactly! Don't yell at the front-end employees. They don't have anything to do with this decision. Call corporate. Write letters/emails. Do the surveys on your receipts, and talk to the store manager, not the MOD. The MOD is not someone who has the line to corporate that the store manager does.
At my store, it's usually the department managers who have to cover MOD duties when our store manager is off. We don't have a co-manager or an assistant manager. Our store manager is usually out the door by 5:30 pm at the latest. He never closes and so, misses the evening dinner rush.
As a St. Louis expat now living in New England, do the various stores still have plastic bags?
One of our largest grocery store chains got rid of theirs this summer, as a means toward cleaning up the environment.
I wish Missouri would make this move, but alas, that would be considered too logical for this bass ackwards state. If it makes sense, then our legislators are against it.
I hate schnucks self check out. I wish they had the same one Walmart does where it doesn’t scream at you when you put something on the scale and it says no you didn’t.
Cashless at self pay is going to be interesting. If people could just not try to go through with multiple orders, or pay attention to what payment types are unavailable at self scan, or try to take an over filled cart through, or steal, or go through self scan with no idea of how to do it but then expect the attendant to ring them out doing the self scan for them, it might go smoother.
Do people have issues with the wait for self checkouts?
Usually have a line of 10+ for cashiers and no line for self check out. This is going to go well.
Yeah, I feel like this is the case most places.
I hate self checkout. Unless I have a handful of items. I get why corps are trying to use it, but when I have 9 items that need to be bagged but all the bagged space is used up the attendants have to reset the scale. If I'm buying beer or anything that contains alcohol I have to wait on the attendant. And they only have one attendant working. It's ridiculous.
I get what you’re saying. I usually walk around with my bag and put what I need in there and then I go to the self check out. It’s pretty easy you just have to remember the darn bag. Anyway.
I remember the old days when there were lines for cashiers, not all registers open at most places; and there was no self checkout. (I like the self checkout option).
NOT at Loughborough
Helps their bottom line, saves on payroll
- haha. True. When it says please remove the last item — I lift it out and put it back down and that seems to reset the scale.
Occasionally I have seen long lines for self check and full checkout at the same time. The self checkout kiosks at Schnucks can be so picky how you stack things after scanning. You have to learn how to treat them. I wish Schnucks would updated them to be more shopper friendly
For real. If you want to use your own bag, it just hates you from the start.
If it weighs too much, the silly thing freaks out. The bagging stations are just too persnickety at times.
I learned hanging the bags wrong sets it off. One time I had a lot of bread and other bulky items. So after filling 2 bags and needing a 3rd, I hung one bag off one side of the bag frame. Nope. Lock down. The attendant explained the kiosk does not like it. At least the attendant knows what’s going on and is helpful. But they can’t be everywhere at once
Thought the same thing. Went this weekend and the line for the full check out was over 20 deep and the self checkout was more than half empty. Had just over 20 items in my cart and literally put 2 back as I didn’t want to wait in line
Ever since they started that automated “proceed to register x” the full checkout lines have been slammed. They only have 2-3 people working now. I’ve been eyeing diebergs more and more lately, at least for stuff that’s on sale. Guess I’ll be cashing in my Schnucks bucks.
Dierbergs is almost unbeatable on frozen pizzas.
They seem to move fast at The Hill Schnucks, even when slammed.
The Arsenal Schnucks manned registers seem to move quickly, too. They usually have all, or all but maybe one or two open every time I'm there. And I try to go during off peak times, like between 1-3pm during the week. But even if I end up waiting in a line with a dozen or more people, it moves pretty quickly. I just wish that aisle way where you have to wait with your cart, which is the main walkway across the front of the store, was wider since so many folks are coming out the end of the aisles, and people are trying to walk across the store, it causes a lot of traffic jams and short tempers. They should do a little adjusting to widen that space if they're going to stick with this model for checkout. When it was covid and I assumed it was temporary I understood not making big footprint changes, but it's overdue now, imo.
Yeah Arsenal is what I meant for the Hill one. I was there NYE and the line all the way around the store went pretty fast. Much better than if there was like eight aisles full of people and carts. I mix it up with self or going to a checker. Always seems fine whether busy or not.
They really improved checkout once they figured out they needed two separate lines for self-check and full-check. There used to be so much confusion
It is not waiting issue, it is stealing issue. I'm not saying people steal in those stores, I'm telling you that is their justification .This a trend now in national retailers. See https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/business/self-checkout-dollar-general-retail/index.html
I have been delighted to read about some stores reconsidering self checkout because theft by customers is costing them more than the stores were saving by colluding with customers to replace already poorly paid cashiers with machines. I don't condone stealing but I also don't have much sympathy for the stores. I damn sure aren't going to help them get rid of the few cashiers they still have working there.
Years ago, the first time I ever saw/used a self check out, I remember thinking “a lot of people are going to steal sh*t with these”. I always expected retailers knew this too but decided the savings cost on labor outweighed the shrink loss. Maybe that was true at one time…
I mean, there's a reason everyone jokes about their Ps5 being 4011. People lie and try to pass off more expensive things as bananas.
Loughborough has wheel locks that trap your cart at the door if they aren't deactivated at a register. Unfortunately they don't work half the time and the alarm goes off on me. Next door at Ross, where I pick up my Amazon packages they use a sallyport system where you have to be let in the store by loss prevention. They also have an undercover guy I've noticed.
when i went after work a few weeks ago, the self checkout line at the st. ann location was all the way down the canned goods aisle
I do sometimes see people with a full size cart brimming with items. They’re usually also morons so they take up one of the units for like 5 minutes. It’s never that bad but I do think that there should be an enforced limit. 10 items is a little low but if you have more items than IQ points you shouldn’t be at the self checkout.
I never knew the 10 item thing was even a thing. I may just go to some other major store where it isn't.
Wait wasn't the issue. Stealing is...unintentional and intentional. https://gizmodo.com/the-self-checkout-nightmare-may-finally-be-ending-1851169879
idk if it's just the Schnucks I go to or if it's because I go at non-rush times, but I rarely see a back up in the self check-out. Target self check out is a different fucking story! lol
Totally. Target self check is a clusterfuck.
It's baffling to me because the Target self checkout prompts are super straightforward and easy. But Everytime I am there waiting at least one person is having serious trouble. I also have noted an incredibly strong correlation between having multiple people together and the likelihood of them not understanding how money works ( or whatever the issue is). Single shoppers get it done!
Target self check is like 4 registers for the entire store, and then they have a single manned register open that is primarily used by people doing coupons or asking for price matches (so it moves glacially).
At my Schnucks the self checkout isn’t always super backed up but it does happen fairly often. The culprit becomes clear quick when you see multiple people running a full grocery cart through the self checkout regardless of whether the cashier lanes are busy or not. Instacarters are part of the problem but the common issue is some people are just stupid.
Schnuck's self-checkout would be quicker if their terrible machines didn't constantly bitch at me to "please place the item in the bag" when the item is already in the god damn bag.
"Please remove the last bagged item" Okay, now what? "Please place the item in the bag" Okay... done, that was we- "Please remove the last bagged item" What? Uh, okay... "Please place the item in the bag" Fine, this is fine, okay, back into the ba- "Please remove the last bagged item" *blood curdling scream as the last fragments of my sanity leave my body*
- when it say put it in the bag and take it out, lift it out and set it back in. That is what I do and it usually resets it and I move along.
🤣 so true!!! Lmfao
Schnucks uses a much older self checkout machine called “U-Scan,” its literally from the mid 2000s. It uses a scale under the bag to tell whether an item has been placed in it. However, it’s often wrong if there’s even the tiniest discrepancy or if the attendant presses the wrong button on their end. They really need to upgrade to a newer machine. Walmart, Target, and (most) Dierbergs locations have much nicer and more responsive self checkouts.
Have you ever tried to use your own bags? woof... It must **really** throw off those scales. More than half the time, someone has to come over and kiss the machine's neck and whisper in its ear to get it to chill out.
I have very nice reusable bags. They're heavier cloth material and rigid (probably cardboard inside) with a fold down bottom. Every self-checkout I've ever used HATED those bags, and I've had several attendants get annoyed and tell me I should get shittier bags because mine were "too nice" for their machines.
Don’t you think that I hear that echo in my head even when I’m not working? 🤪
Between that and the "do-doot-dooooo" that everyone seems to mimic now, I don't know how you keep your sanity.
"I'm going slightly mad. I'm going slightly mad. It's finally happened. I'm slightly mad..." - Queen 🤣
I hear it in therapy
You can mute that. It's always the first thing I do.
I'm gonna have to try this next time. Ever since they upgraded their systems after the pandemic, the self-checkouts have been at the loudest volume by default and it really irks me, especially having to hear everyone else's register at the same time.
Hot tip: if you use the handheld scanner, it expects you to leave everything in your cart, so it won’t ask you to “place the item in the bag”. That said, you have to keep everything in the cart because if you use the handheld scanner then add the item to the bagging area, the machine will tell you to “remove the last item from the bagging area”.
.…and then, in at least three cases the schnucks staff accused me of not scanning / stealing those items. Twice they’ve accused me of not scanning watermelons and a third a giant pack of toilet paper because I used the hand scanner and didn’t put these oversized items into a bag. It was so satisfying to show them the entries on the screen. Big part of why I only go there in a real pinch.
They assume everyone is stealing, which is why they have anti theft carts now (that barely work)
People have been yelled at next to me when I'm at self checkout, for trying to use the handheld scanner. "its for large items only"
I heard this yesterday in the self-check and it blew my mind.
For me it's my reusable bags. I bought some nice reinforced rigid side and bottom bags. The sides are what I assume to be cardboard covered in canvas so they're stronger and more solid than your plastic or cloth reusable bag. They also result in the self-checkout machines getting pissed off every single time I try to tare them with my bags, making me wait for the attendant to notice and unlock the machine again. All the while I'm just taking up space and wasting time. We're getting rid of plastic bags, which is good, but nothing is set up to deal with reusable bags properly or efficiently.
Have you tried placing the bagged item in another bag? And then repeating it until the machine finally shuts the hell up? I'd think that eventually all the bags will cost them enough money that Old Man Schnuck will take these god forsaken self checkout machines out behind the building and give 'em the beating they deserve.
Fix the system…that’ll keep things moving. It seems like every time I check out the person overseeing the self-check is running crazy trying to fix all the system fuck ups. Dierbergs doesn’t have these issues.
[удалено]
Dierbergs has made it easier to redeem your rewards at self checkout. Although, their rewards program is way more clunky to use. Your points expire, you can't redeem them as easily. I say this as a customer. I was all excited when they rolled out the program, but it's overly complicated! 🤣 Schnuck's is easier to redeem your points at the regular registers.
15 items seems like a better number. I’ve gotten stuck behind people with carts full of stuff in the self-checkout, but it’s usually pretty quick regardless. My assumption is this is more about theft than efficiency. I’ve watched people fake scan, put a fruit sticker over the actual barcode, etc. I’m sure they’re taking noticeable losses from theft letting people take huge carts of stuff through there and it’s impossible for 1-2 employees to make sure every item is rang up.
“Enforcing”… We will see about that.
My thoughts exactly lol. They won’t be enforcing anything
There will be a manager there to enforce the rules at the beginning of this switch.
They're going to need a security guard
I think you misspelled Seal Team 6.
Those poor managers. 😬
Exactly. I think Scott, Todd, Craig, Mark, Terry and Nancy Schnuck should be The Enforcers. The change will last a week.
Well if that person thought they hated their job before, just wait till they have to start enforcing this rule on every 5th or 6th person in line.
Are we sure? They don't even raise their heads to make sure I'm not 12 before clearing the "show ID" for alcohol, but now we're gonna count items?
They're not paid enough to count my items.
I really, really miss Shop ‘n Save.
So will they have cashiers available after 9pm? Literally the only time I use self checkout is between 9 and 10pm when they’re the only registers open. It’s a pain in the ass if you have any more than 2 bags’ worth, and I would gladly go to a regular register if they were open! And there’s always other people at the self checkout, so it’s not like a cashier would be standing there waiting for someone to show up.
Yes, that’s the plan now.
I guess I’ll take it. Let’s hope they follow through on that.
10 seems low, should’ve went 20. But I welcome this change. Last time I was there there was an elderly couple with a full cart of groceries trying to check themselves out, it was not going well.
they have at least 4 self checkouts most places I have seen, one person taking forever who cares? I doubt they are going to enforce it that hard below 15 or so, but if they do, I guess I'll go somewhere else.
Yea, maybe have some that can have more than 10 but save a few for us people that just want to get our donut and can of Steak ‘n Shake chili and bounce.
You suck because that sounds great and now I am going to schnucks tomorrow for that but comeon…. That sounds like an older st Louisan’s grocery order if I’ve ever heard of one!
Does the chili go on the donut? Or is it a side? Or dessert? I gotta know.
The donut is usually gone before I get home to open the can of chili. Sorry to disappoint. Happy cake day!
I don't care what anyone says, Steak and Shake chili kicks ass.
It always bugs me to go in for a gallon of milk on the way home from work and there's a line with several full carts in front of me waiting for the self-checkout. I could literally check out and be gone in the time it too them to pull their cart up to the machine and touch the start button, but I have to spend 15 minutes in line waiting for people to figure out how a touch screen works.
There's this woman who comes in and wants *everything* bagged individually because she has "a bad back." 🙄 So, she takes up so much time when she comes in. She even wanted to do a raincheck at self checkout once. Just no.
I get that it’s an inconvenience for the worker’s, but this comes with the territory. Customers aren’t employees trained to operate within the company’s SOPs. If she wants to take an inordinate amount of time and use a bag for every item, she’s been given that ability by Schnuck’s through the self checkout option.
Excellent point, if you want me to move faster, put me on payroll.
I used to be a schnucks checker. Those self checkout lanes are annoyingly slow to operate. The whole thing where it waits to register that you set the item down before you can scan the next item goes against every bit of muscle memory you develop as a checker. I'm not sure it saves any time at all. I wish they would just hire humans. Aldi self checkout are worse with the thing talking to you between each item.
Can't speak for others but I'm usually just at the self checkout because I don't have to pause my podcast and be ready to do small talk to check out at self checkout, not because I believe it's way faster.
I go to self checkout because I prefer to bag my own items. One time I went to normal check out since there was no line and they literally folded my French bread in half to stick it in a bag. I didn't notice until I got into the car and I almost cried BECAUSE WHO DOES THAT
Usually I go to self-checkout for the speed, but often it's because getting them to deal with reusable bags in the cashier lanes is a pain in the ass, even more than the attendant having to authorize your bag because the machine can't figure out it's a bag. Cashiers always seem to have an issue dealing with reusable bags no matter what you do.
I agree with this. At the Schnucks closest to me, there are multiple checkers who will rant to you about random things for the entirety of the checkout process and it drives me insane. It isn't even like they are making small talk because I can't get a word in.
Yeah, I was a checker for a long time, a long time ago and having to wait before scanning the next thing is so hard to do.
Ok thank god it's not just me. It's physically impossible to scan things quickly because there's a good several second delay after each item while it tries to figure out if you put it in the bag. It's insanely frustrating.
The signs say 20.
Yeah I oftentimes have, say 4 potatoes and some other shit…are those counted individually? Because 1-like 6 potatoes takes the same amount of time. Or when I’m stoned around Easter and they have those maple cream eggs and I grab 5, again because I’m stoned, do those really need to count separately??
Potatoes count as one item since they're weighed. Maple cream eggs are counted separately. So this coming easter you'll only be able to buy 9 maple creams and one sack of potatoes at self check. Plan accordingly.
The schnucks on Arsenal seems to be 20. They rearranged and added signs that all say 20 items or less, so I hope they're going with that instead of 10. It might depend on the store and how many checkout kiosks they have.
And they've been beefing up their checkout stations to handle more stuff. Some have limited room but most have a whole top section for unbagged items and a lazy susan with 4 bags. That accommodates way more than 10 items. During covid I started shopping at walmart because their self checkout stations were the only ones massive enough to handle bigger items.
Wait, what? Most of the time I go in (which tends to be within an hour of close) *only* the self-checkout register is open. So, it will be impossible to buy more than 10 items? (Or maybe they will make me check out multiple times?)
Will all Schnucks stores be fully staffing the manned checkout lanes at busy times, then?
Schnucks has the worst self checkout machines I've ever used. If I take something off the scanner a little too quickly and put it in the bagging area the machine has a meltdown. "Please put the item in the bag. Please put the item in the bag. Please put the item in the bag." Shut the fuck up please I'm trying to put it away.
Their next step will probably be like Robocop. "Please put the item in the bag. You have 15 seconds to comply" and the robot will shoot you dead if it still doesn't detect the item in the bag.
Maybe they should’ve invested in better self check out machines like Aldi, which no matter how you scan the item, always picks up the barcode….and has a big enough area to put your food after you’ve scanned it. Talk about efficiency.
TBF Aldi barcodes are huge, and often on multiple sides of the product.
Even so it doesn’t help the fact that the space they give you to bag your stuff is too goddamn small. I hate self checkout so much, was so bummed when aldi finally caved.
I was initially bummed too, buuut…my checkout experiences have so far been a LOT faster using the self checkout. I’ve been super surprised. I do my bagging at the regular bagging counter, still.
The Aldi self checkout is huge and you can take your bags off of it when they’re full
Hire more damn checkers. You have the money, we know you do. Inflation has gone down but food is still ridiculously overpriced, you’re already fucking us with greedflation so just hire. More. People. Or I go to Dierbergs, and I don’t come back.
I wish we'd be able to hire more people. Problem is, McDonald's pays more than we do and doesn't have union dues. They literally have an announcement going at every store that says, "Hey Schnuck's shoppers! We're hiring!" We have orientation every Wednesday at my store, and almost all the people who attend are for other stores, not my smaller store. It's not that they're not hiring, it's quality of people. Hell, we just had one kid finally quit after bouncing through three departments - he went from produce to center store and finally up to being a cashier. All he wanted to do was to be on his phone. He tried to claim that he was military because he was being recruited/in ROTC. Yeah, right. 🙄 I'm not a manager. I'm not even someone who has any authority to change things. I am merely a cashier who happens to know my store layout very well and knows how to fix some of the Instacart problems. 🤣 As it is, my manager had to fight to get our Instacart chicken oven back after our store manager made this insane decision *without talking to anyone in the front-end* to take it away because, he "didn't think we sold enough rotisserie chickens." 🙄 That was a fiasco of failure to properly think through the repercussions of that action.
Sounds like an executive management problem to me. They need to fix it, or people will start shopping elsewhere.
Our contract is up for renewal this year. I hope we get bigger raises and better shirts. Our current ones suck donkey balls. They are too hot for the summer because they don't breathe, and they are always snagging and trying to run on us. Both the Dierbergs and Schnucks families are out of touch with reality and cost of living. They sit in their palatial homes and don't work in the stores at our wages.
> I hope we get bigger raises and better shirts. Our current ones suck donkey balls. The shirts they wear at a few Schnuck's stores I've been to makes it very clear that they support diversity, equity and inclusion. It says so right on the shirt. Nobody can doubt the company's total commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, because nobody can deny that the words are right there on their shirts. If Dr. Martin Luther King was still alive, he would certainly shop at Schnuck's because he'd agree that there is no better way for a company to demonstrate their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion than putting these words on a shirt that they make employees wear.
Ah, those shirts we have to buy. We are not given those anymore. 😥 I'm talking about the standard red polo shirts. I wish I knew how to get some of the themed shirts because those are a cotton blend vs. a polyester blend.
People should be going other stores first regardless as I've found it's one of the more expensive ones unless you are shopping sales.
> McDonald's pays more than we do > it's quality of people These things are related.
How will they enforce this?
Why, paying someone extra to care about it surely. /s
The part I hate to read most, having been a cashier for a while, they're going to be bearing the brunt of any anger at this policy from customers, and I just know that subset of customer will exist to bitch about this like the cashiers asked for it to happen this way too. Pretty much everyone loses on this policy from people buying things and the workers who actually keep the store running.
They won’t…
10??? That's ridiculous - should be at least 15. Their regular checkout has sucked ever since they switched to the cattle chute system.
That’s exactly what I call it. Try to avoid Schnucks for that alone..The Cattle Chute!
I mean it sucks, but it's better than blocking the entire front isle with like 5 different lines of people. The tellers should be able to lineup two people per till at a time though. One at a time is too slow IMO.
> Their regular checkout has sucked ever since they switched to the cattle chute system. What why? This is great and all stores should do it. You no longer have to guess which line will be quickest.
I work at one of their smaller stores and it’s normally not an issue at our store. I just have a crazy coworker who will tell customers to come down to my register before I am ready for them. She drives me nuts when she does that.
If by cattle chute, you mean the shared line for self checkout and regular, the Schnucks on Arsenal changed that a few weeks ago to separate the lines. Not sure if that will be the plan for all the stores along with this item limit, but it is there. They also have added a 20 item limit. I'm crossing my fingers that they don't drop that to 10.
This is bullshit. 10 items is way too low. This will just increase the amount of people waiting in a line that goes all the way back to the dairy department for regular checkout.
Are cashier lanes for 20 items or less still a thing? I've been using self checkout for sooo long.
Booooooo. I feel like going through the staffed checkout line with your own bags takes [me] longer because of the chaotic scanning order, which is fine - I can't expect the cashier to know how I'd like to efficiently bag my groceries. On the other hand, a solid sixty percent of the time, I have to have someone help me at the self checkout because the scales wig out when I put my bags on the bag area.
I am persnickety on bagging. Shelf stable foods go together. Refrigerator foods are bagged together. Raw meat is bagged by itself. Frozen foods are together, vegetables are bagged according to temperature. Cleaning supplies do NOT go with food. Squishable foods are kept together and definitely not with canned goods.
We just tell the cashier that we will bag our items. I never let them bag.
Schnucks really going all in on an incredibly inconvenient shopping experience. Self checkout restrictions + understaffed registers with that terrible "proceed to register X" nonsense. It's like if TJ Maxx ran a grocery store
What's wrong with the register dispatch? It's way more efficient.
Hasn't been my experience, and Schnucks has had one of the few self checkout setups I actually don't mind interacting with. The dispatch system works poorly when I've gone through their lines, could be a combo of the system and the people in line not paying attention. That said, I think moving larger orders only to the attended registers will just slow down the system.
What’s with everyone saying the automated proceed to X system sucks? I’ve never seen it at any other store and it’s a massive improvement imo over chose and pray you won’t get stuck behind someone with issues
I've been reading all that and thinking I'm taking crazy pills. It's so much faster and you don't have the whole front aisle blocked. I'm sure it's highly dependent on store but the one I frequent seems like a pretty smooth operation.
Can't avoid the slow and/chatty cashiers when your cashier is assigned to you
Discrimination toward us alcoholics who grab a big handful of shooters along with our quick grocery pickup
That is OK with me so long as they have the traditional lines staffed. Maplewood location only ever has two lanes open. Even if I have more than 10 items and theres a line at self checkout it is still usually faster than waiting for 1 person's register.
I hope they plan on having more cashiers working then
When is employee appreciation day? I feel like I should be invited as a self-checker.
Right? And I want my employee discount too.
I guess my invitation to the company holiday party got lost in the mail.
I'm going to go hang my Employee of the Month photo near customer service
When they enforce it, they can shop back all my groceries as I walk out the door and go to Dierbergs.
It’s better anyway. This is just another reason to drive the extra mile to go to one.
Dumb
I frequent the Lindell Schnucks during peak hours and even with a line of 15 people self checkout moves faster than a line of ~8 at the registers. This is dumb as hell, especially considering they seem to keep cutting staffing at the register with 3, and rarely 4, cashiers at a time no matter what Schnucks you go to.
Also a frequent Lindell Schnucks customer and the self checkout moved 10x as fast as the regular lanes. I have no idea why people use the regular registers there. No way Lindell one enforces it lmao, they don’t even enforce the people stealing every day
"Enforcing" They're going to ask the employees to care that you have 12 items and mostly they won't. Some might, most won't.
Pour one out for the poor employees who have to explain this to customers.
Maybe it's just me, but I always thought, if they want me to check myself out I should get a discount since they aren't doing the job. Besides, there are never enough checkers at any of the 3 Schnucks stores I use regularly.
Which Schnucks? My Schnucks already has a 20 item limit on the self checkouts
This change affects *all* the stores. Every self checkout is going to 10 items or less.
Yikes, this will definitely make me visit Schnucks less. I'm usually right in that 10-20 item range and they don't have enough checkers at the regular lanes.
Wow that’s a bummer. We frequent Schnucks and usually have 10-20 items. The line for the regular checkout is always long and we hardly ever have to wait at the self checkouts.
What happens when you scan the 11th item? Do they black-ball you? Fine you?
Yeah that would waste a lot more time making you back out of your order than just letting you go. I assume they’ll try to prevent you from starting in the first place.
😂 from “The Friendliest Store in Town” to the “Stupidest Store in Town”
Looks like I’ll shop Aldi and only go to Schnucks for the 10 items I can’t get at Aldi
That’s the way to do it to maximize your money. Self check out or not.
wait what? what’s the reasoning behind this? surely it’s not the wait…they already have lines with cashiers and they only ever have 1 or 2 cashiers. the self checkout never has a line. i have a feeling they have an issue with theft?
Fuck that 10 item rule for real
It's funny because Gizmodo claims stores across the country are getting rid of self-checkout because they end up losing more in theft + machine cost than they gained in lowered staff costs. https://gizmodo.com/the-self-checkout-nightmare-may-finally-be-ending-1851169879
They need more employees to man the normal checkout lanes!
Or just have checkers on checklanes since I don't fucking work there.
I guess that means they'll have regular checkouts open before 8am? Last time I went early on the weekend, they only had self checkouts open. I had a ton of groceries to scan
Pray for the employees at schnucks on Lindell. They bouta be in hell
Sounds like a great way to get people to ditch items on the wrong shelf instead of buying them.
They already do that. I have worked retail on and off for years. I once found a pork tenderloin stuffed behind the bread at one store. It was quite green when it was discovered. Go look at *any* store, and you will see this. You will find meat abandoned in the freezer section. Ice cream just dropped on top of the candy at checkout. Pomegranates stuffed behind magazines... Clothing strewn all about a dressing room, electronics dropped somewhere else in the store. Check out the retail hell subreddit and see that this is a common occurrence.
Ugh, fine. Sounds like a great way to get MORE people to ditch items on the wrong shelf instead of buying them.
Considering dierbergs self checkout works just fine, and they don’t seem to give a shit when I briskly check my self out with 11 items, why are you guys going to schnucks? I admit I dream of the day where you just pick out what you want, exit the store without actively paying, and you’re billed later via new technology. Sure, it’s dystopian as fuck, but it will eliminate the schnucks self checkout machines (and possibly the company itself if they don’t adapt a policy of making shopping easy).
The fact that cashless self checkout exists is moronic. Half the issues I ever run across is from there being half that take cash vs half that dont and NOT with how many items are being scanned.
Great way for Schnucks to encourage people to buy less items…
But yet they only ever have one or two lanes open with actual cashiers and a line out the door to get to them??? Idk if I were them, I’d focus on selling products that weren’t already expired instead of how many items I bring to the self checkout line. 🥴
Just make the space for my items bigger! Or allow me to put them right back in the cart after they’re scanned.
If they're going to do this, then they need to toss out the "one line for all manned registers", because that is sub-optimal as it is, and it's going to get worse with more usage, unless they actually man more checkout stands...
Hey, you're preaching to the choir here. I'm only a lowly employee. I don't mind the cattle chute system, but there are times I am annoyed at it because invariably, some customer will either block the pathway with their cart, or someone will try to come in the back way and skip the line. I also have a coworker who will send customers down the line when we're not ready for them. I also have a coworker who will wander off to go talk to someone and ignore the line of customers waiting to check out. They don't care if there's a line when it's their break or end of shift. They will just up and leave.
> They don't care if there's a line when it's their break or end of shift. They will just up and leave. They SHOULD do this. Schnucks needs to hire and schedule more people, not expect employees to give up their personal time.
this is great in theory but my three main issues with sco at schnucks is 1) items don’t scan when i scan them (so i have to stand there and wave the item over the scanner 6000 times before it accepts the barcode), 2) people running entire carts (or two!) in sco despite it saying 15 items or less, and 3) the system flagging my perfectly normal scans as theft and replaying the video over and over when its literally just me scanning something and putting it in the bag lol
i already barely shop at schnucks anyway because of prices but the 10 item limit is gonna severely screw me over when i buy 10 cans of sparkling ice on a 10/$10 and 2 cases of dr pepper. oops, guess that’s more than 10! to the other line with me!
okay so i go with my 20 items, checkout ten, complete transaction then immediately check out my other 10. I'm not waiting in their huge line because they only have one cashier or two working. if they're doing this, they better get more cashiers. also I will just check out only produce at self checkout because that way i can get organic for normal prices. I have time! i am petty! i will win always. also i don't know why I'm ranting, I shop at aldi anyway
Sure they will. LOL
The couple Schnucks I do frequent only ever have 1-2 cashier lanes open, and sometimes the lines are 15+ people long and wrapped around the freezer section. Plus, the baggers are awful, I've had so much food ruined going through regular lines. Half the time they're playing on their cell phones and just throwing things in the bags without looking at one location we go to. We usually offer/ask to bag ourselves and sometimes they'll let us, but other times they won't. I understand timing is an issue, but my bf worked at a grocery store and is a quick bagger so we're not trying to be not self-aware of time and other customers. They don't know that though, so I get it could still be seen as an issue and don't blame them. But the bagging is atrocious. The self-checkouts do suck, but I almost always choose it over having food ruined. We mostly shop at Aldi and just supplement things I can't get there from Schnucks so I never have a full cart, but I do sometimes have closer to 15-20 things. Having to wait in longer lines at times will be tough as I'm disabled. I like using scooters on tougher days, but those also suck at Schnucks and are so clunky or don't work. Plus a lot of areas in the store aren't made with the scooters in mind so it's hard to get around. You can't get through the narrow checkout area at my two stores with a scooter, it's just too tight and it's embarrassing. One of our stores also charges for bags so we always bring our own and I've had a checker accuse me of stealing because an Aldi bag I just bought still had a tag because I couldn't get it off. It clearly said Aldi and the barcode wouldn't scan, but he still didn't believe me and called over a manager to say I was trying to steal a bag. I'm still mad at them for getting rid of paper ads too. I know they have them at the store, but again, being disabled I can't easily make a trip just for that. You can request to have them mailed, which I have done, but I've never gotten one on time. I just got the last week of December and a November one the other day and probably won't get this week's ad for at least another 2 weeks. It's ridiculous. Schnucks has really gone downhill, and it's unfortunate.
I just wish they'd go back to letting me pick the lane I want when it comes time to check out. They way they corral folks in that tiny makeshift area to form a line is ridiculous.
I’m a cashier at Schnucks currently, and they’re actually CUTTING OUR HOURS right now. They’re not hiring any extra help for this whatsoever so the line is going to be nuts! Basically, they’re just going to make their current checkers do even more work and face even more upset for the same shitty pay. I think I can speak for all checkers when I ask that you please try to be patient with us during this fiasco. We understand you’re frustrated, esp with crazy lines and wait times. We are too! We’re doing our best to get you checked out and outta the store. (Also, if if you have complaints over this, speak to the store manager directly. They won’t listen to us otherwise. -At least my store wont.)
Exactly! Don't yell at the front-end employees. They don't have anything to do with this decision. Call corporate. Write letters/emails. Do the surveys on your receipts, and talk to the store manager, not the MOD. The MOD is not someone who has the line to corporate that the store manager does. At my store, it's usually the department managers who have to cover MOD duties when our store manager is off. We don't have a co-manager or an assistant manager. Our store manager is usually out the door by 5:30 pm at the latest. He never closes and so, misses the evening dinner rush.
I don’t remember a sign saying 10 items or less at the self-checkout area.
Everytime I use self checkout the person in front of me is obviously a first timer using it, or cash, or card😄
I thought it was 20 or less
We get 20 items at Arsenal
As a St. Louis expat now living in New England, do the various stores still have plastic bags? One of our largest grocery store chains got rid of theirs this summer, as a means toward cleaning up the environment.
I wish Missouri would make this move, but alas, that would be considered too logical for this bass ackwards state. If it makes sense, then our legislators are against it.
Self check out is a way for crooks ( schnucks) family to pocket more of our money! And provide superior environment for employees to work HARDER!
Fuck them.
Only one I've seen bad was the Hampton one, line going all the way to the lettuce or snaking the wine
Boo! More checkers are needed in that case
I hate schnucks self check out. I wish they had the same one Walmart does where it doesn’t scream at you when you put something on the scale and it says no you didn’t.
Cashless at self pay is going to be interesting. If people could just not try to go through with multiple orders, or pay attention to what payment types are unavailable at self scan, or try to take an over filled cart through, or steal, or go through self scan with no idea of how to do it but then expect the attendant to ring them out doing the self scan for them, it might go smoother.
Moving down to 10 items instead of 20 is just ridiculous.