Sorry, CVS, I Don’t Do Cashier Work for Free
Yes, I know CVS paid a bundle to tear out their cash registers and replace them with self-service check-out stations so customers would have the convenience (cough, sputter, eye-roll) of checking-out all their own items, but I for one will not be jumping on the CVS customer-as-cashier bandwagon in New York City.
Number one, their new self-service machines slow everything down. With so many disparate devices cobbled together at the check-out stations, they don’t work so hot together. Some stop in mid transaction, and customers have to cool their heels waiting for CVS employees to materialize from where ever they hide out to fix the glitches. And some out and out refuse to do their stuff. At two nearby CVS stores, each has one totally kaput self check-out.
Number two, by the time I hit my CVS store, I’m finally finito with my errands and am loaded down with shopping bags from other stores so I’m in no mood to deal with the pain-in-the-neck chore of self check-out. To free my hands for the task, I have to drop my shopping bags on the floor (where, being plastic, they immediately flop over and spill contents in every direction (which is not even to DISCUSS the floor bacteria situation). Then comes all the rooting through pocket and purse for eyeglasses to locate barcodes and punch in numbers. I should also add I get plenty of daily exercise, so I have zero need for the additional exercise of schlepping items (some big, awkward and heavy) from basket to bar code to shopping bag, while squinting for bar codes and feeding credit cards, coupons and cash into different talking slots.
Crankiness aside, I resent doing the same work as a cashier and not getting paid for it. I don’t like working for free. And if CVS expects me to do the exact same work as a cashier and receive zero payment, what other free labor do they have in store for me further down the line? Stocking shelves? Slicing cartons open, steam-cleaning floors?
At least CVS hasn’t abolished cashiers altogether. As Yet. Each store still employs at least one cashier for renegade shoppers like myself who by-pass all the self check-out malarkey. I over-heard one of those teenage cashiers express disapproval of CVS customers who refused to change their old ways, move with the times and use the self check-outs. Clearly A dream customer for today’s hard-line corporations, this young cashier actually sees self-service check-out as a progressive move — not as an aggressive maneuver to slash payroll costs and increase company profits. What’s your opinion on this CVS move?
More in the shopping world:
Ugh. I fear this is the wave of the future though. I’m so depressed about what’s going in the USA that I’ve been reading early US history to get a sense of perspective. I’m at the point where Lewis & Clark just reached the estuary at the mouth of the Columbia river in Oregon, viewing the Pacific Ocean with much joy. I must tell you that in reading post-revolutionary history up to the Jackson election we can relax a bit. Really. Things were WAY worse at that point.
Oct.05, 2010 | 10:26 pmOne of the most cheering things I ever did was drive across this country. When I stood on the Oregon Trail and looked around at all that gorgeous space, it was a great feeling to realize so much of the US was still wide open and cleanly untouched. It’s funny, I live in New York and love it and yet nature is what more or less restores me.
Oct.05, 2010 | 11:02 pmI don’t mind self-checkout in principle, but the ones rolled out here in Australia have some short-comings:
* not enough room before and after the scanner, so its hard to organise the items as you take them from the trolley, scan them and bag them, and put them back into a trolley.
* I don’t know the PIN of my chip CC, so I still sign – which requires someone come over a authorise the payment
Aside from these minor hassles, I resent the cost saving flowing to the supermarket company bottom line, rather than passing on to the customer. Although I suspect once the self-service has been around for a while they may add an extra “service fee” for providing cashier service.
The situation is a bit like when the gas stations became self-service – no more “fill ‘er up, and check the oil” these days…
Oct.06, 2010 | 9:08 pmWelcome to my first Australian visitor!
I may be a bit more cynical in that I would NEVER imagine a corporation these days passing a cost savings on to their consumers rather than adding it to their bottom line.
I guess it’s hard at the moment not to feel cynical about corporations with all the damage they’ve lately been doing to the environment. First BP in the Gulf and yesterday that appalling red sludge pouring through Hungary.
And I think you’re right about that service fee eventually coming for homo sapien cashier service.
Oct.06, 2010 | 10:38 pmI hate that change and it has not shown up in my CVS yet but I know that I will not be using it because I am sure the coupons will get messed up.
The cashiers (sorry don’t call us baggers because we don’t BAG) have started acting like they get charged per bag or something. When they do put my items in a bag they try to stuff things in until they reach the top. Honestly it does not take a degree to know that you cannot put 12 cans of milk in one flimsy plastic bag. They don’t lift a finger to help you put the items in the cart and some try to get away with not bagging items at all. What is THAT about? If I wanted to bag and cart my own groceries I would go through the self checkout!!!!
Oct.07, 2010 | 12:15 pmHave a feeling CVS cashiers get orders from above about stuffing as much as possible into shopping bags. Their bags are also the tiniest in the neighborhood — which may save THEM money, but cancel out their usefulness to me. They’re now too small to line my kitchen garbage can.
Oct.07, 2010 | 12:31 pmWe happen to have extremely nice cashiers at my local CVS. It infuriates me that–in the middle of our country’s worst recession, when people most need jobs–CVS is replacing people with machines.
Oct.07, 2010 | 4:17 pmAs far as I know CVS is the first store in NYC to fire their cashiers. Except for a lot of complaining, I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of a serious protest about it. And with none forthcoming — stand back. The rest of the stores here will pile in with the pink slips. It’s scary to wonder where these fired employees will be going…or not going…
Oct.07, 2010 | 4:31 pm