Text 21784, 94 rader
Skriven 2009-03-11 07:40:00 av Glen Jamieson
     Kommentar till en text av Hap Newsom
Ärende: COMPUTERIZED CHECK 90311
================================
 -=> Quoting Hap Newsom to Dave Sacerdote <=-

 -> DSh> I refuse to use computerized checkouts.
 -> HN> I also refuse to use them...because there's 
 -> HN> no benefit to me. 
 -> 
 -> HN> and they get me to do their
 -> HN> work for them. 
 -> 
 -> Supermarkets already operate on razor-thin margins.  I
 -> can't imagine that there is much cash savings in offering
 -> self-service checkouts, especially because - as I noted
 -> earlier - they augment, rather than replace, employee-operated
 -> checkout lanes.
 -> 
 HN> If there weren't cash savings in offering the
 HN> service...they would not be offering it. As you
 HN> pointed out they already run on razor thin margins.

That is the most pertinent point!  If it didn't save the store money,
the service would not be offered.  Anything which transfers some of the
labour costs from the paid staff to the customer will save money.

In May, supermarket plastic bags will be phased out here, so everyone
will be expected to use their own bags or buy re-usable fabric store
bags. People are getting used to them already.  I have been using my
own bag for years, and either the checkout girl or I pack the goods
into it.  No problems.

 HN> And as you have pointed out before, they have
 HN> no qualms about cutting a corner here and there
 HN> to augment that margin. Here Fred Meyer was sued
 HN> for selling meat by weight....but they were weighing
 HN> the meat and the packaging together..so they were 
 HN> selling packaging to you at meat prices. Cost em a
 HN> bunch of money in settlement, and even more in 
 HN> good will as folks refused to buy meat there unless
 HN> it was reweighed  in front of them.

That I find difficult to understand.  I normally buy meat by weight
from the local Taliban traders' butcher, and it is put in a lightweight
plastic bag before being weighed.  That only weighs a gram or less, so
its cost is inconsequential.  Much better than having my meat put on a
bloody, uncooled scale!  The butcher then scribbles the price on the
bag with texta, and his brother at the cash register enters it
accordingly when I pay.

 -> HN> I don't use ATM's either, I need 

 HN> Because that's the way I want to do
 HN> it. I don't like ATM's don't like the additional
 HN> charges, don't like pin numbers and don't like
 HN> standing out in the open waiting for money 
 HN> to fall out of a machine. Here in Washington
 HN> more muggings are happening at ATM's than
 HN> almost any other location.

I use ATMs a lot, particularly when travelling, to get money in the
currency of the country.  I can still remember my pin number (g).
There is a cost, but I am prepared to pay that for the convenience.  So
far I have never been mugged, but I do choose my time and place.  Some
places in Europe have the ATMs in a locked room which can only be
opened by inserting a credit card in a slot.  In Manila most banks have
a security guard outside the bank, by the ATM room.

Another way of getting money here is from the supermarket, as the girl
asks, "Money out?" when the customer uses a credit or debit card to pay
for goods, and then she gives out the required amount of cash with the
receipt.  Very convenient and at no extra cost.
 
 -> Just out of curiosity, do you only go to full-service 
 -> gas pumps?  Because that is a TRUE example of a self-
 -> service option that does indeed cost jobs.
 -> 
 HN> The nearest full service gas station is over
 HN> 200 miles away....in Oregon, where it's against
 HN> the law to pump your own gas. I'd wager that 
 HN> in Washington state, you could not find 3 
 HN> full service gas stations. You would have a 
 HN> hard time finding free air or water at one 
 HN> too. In fact I don't think I've seen a gas
 HN> station with a work bay and car hoist
 HN> in several years.  Now they're all "mini marts".
 HN> Most don't even have a bathroom. 

Good points.  These days you are expected to clean your own windscreen
as well as fill the tank.   BTW, we don't have to pump fuel any more,
using that big lever on the side of the bowser, as we have these
new-fangled electric pumps.  Much easier!   (G)

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