Volume 2 No. 3. “Are you being served?”

What I am about to discuss is something that has become part of our daily lives over the last decade or so. It is something we face in a growing number of retail situations….whether we like it or not. Upon observation, I would guess most of us think to ourselves, “Oh no. Not here, too!” But then we look around for options, don’t see many (or any!), shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh well, it will probably be faster.” But will it?

In case you haven’t already guessed, I’m talking about Self Service “options” we face in a growing number of retail situations. Thanks to our friend, the bar code (no, NOT how you are supposed to behave when you go out for drinks! The other code.), self service is being sold to us as the wave of the future; the high speed bullet train version of buying everything from a loaf of bread, bottle of shampoo or sheet of plywood.

Back in the early 1980’s (maybe sooner?) slowly but surely, almost everything you could buy was anointed with an SKU – Stock Keeping Unit, a short hand version of what you were purchasing that was then translated into a bar code that a scanner could read. How convenient! As long as the mechanism that kept track of the price associated with that SKU was kept up to date, “What could go wrong?!”

( I hope, at this point, most of you are impulsively replying with a strongly sarcastic, “Right?!”)

Again, in our haste to get on with our lives, we tend to take for granted that stuff is ringing up at the correct price. Besides, nothing has a price tag anymore, so who knows what the price is supposed to be anyway? I try to make a point to look over my receipt when I get home to see if anything looks out of whack. (Which reminds me, I still need to go back to Stop & Shop to fix something that rang up wrong 10 days ago.) I usually don’t find anything, but somebody has to try and keep these places honest, right? Besides, they are just doing this to “Help keep our Prices Low” (Really?)

CVS seems to be an early adopter of new technology to help “speed up our shopping experience.” Who hasn’t experienced the typical hospitality of their local CVS when you are ready to pay for your stuff, look around and discover there is no-Body there. All you see are the blinking lights of the self service kiosk trying to entice you to give it a try. I am often in CVS now-a-days for work and can barely remember a time when someone DIDN’T need help at the self checkout. (“Someone will be with you momentarily!”) This of course, eventually occupies the one and only cashier who appears out of no where to address the problem with this wonderful time saving device. This, of course, means they are not waiting on us “old-timers” who still insist on some human interaction.

The latest innovation at CVS is at the pharmacy counter. Have you seen this? Now there are 3 or 4 tablets propped up across the counter that require the customer to key in all their information before anyone actually waits on you. Basically, we are being asked to do their work so ONE cashier (Pharmacy Tech) can “wait on” 4 people at once! Naturally, an older customer like myself, will have to be reminded to do something to satisfy the multiple requirements to successfully complete the transaction – and meet all the legal necessities that are being electronically recorded. Gotta prevent legal liability at all costs.

In conclusion, in case you haven’t already figured out what I am getting at – all of this “innovation” has very little to do with speed of service and everything to do with cutting staff and increasing profits, while we obediently do their work for them. By trying to pass this all off as a means to speed up our shopping experience, goes to show you how corporate retailers underestimate our intelligence to gleefully increase their bottom lines. Just look at the success of places like Trader Joe’s and Market Basket for a better solution. How fast do they ring you up with no sign of self service anywhere? A year or so ago, I would have included Aldi’s in this group with their super fast scanning cashiers but, sadly, they too have succumbed to the self service juggernaut.

In general, I appreciate any human interaction I can get my hands on. (That sounds bad, but you know what I mean.) When I am in the grocery store, I see an increasing number of people who feel the same way. For some people (many elderly), this may be the only human interaction they have all day – having a conversation with the dog or cat when they get home doesn’t count! Making conversation with a cashier is becoming a lost art.

As long as we continue to allow ourselves to be herded toward these de-humanizing systems, they will only become more prevalent. Next time , when you can, insist on being waited on by a human being – even if it might take a little longer (probably not). You might even talk to someone who makes your day!