Gimmicks that just aren't useful or time saving.
This week I visited my local supermarket to find a change. As I walked in I found that a new area had been set up. It piqued my interest. I pushed my empty trolley over to it and noticed the hand held scanners.
My local supermarket had finally embraced the scan your own shopping craze. I have been in other supermarkets that have this but I have never decided to have a go. Today was different I was up for the challenge.
I walked over to shop assistant, "Jeanette", I said, for that, according to her name tag was her name, "Jeanette, show me how this works, I'm up for a go."
Jeanette, surprised that I had addressed her by her name, enthusiastically showed me how it all worked getting me registered, scanning my clubcard and handing me apologetically a leaflet detailing the terms and conditions. I thanked her and set off enthusiastically into the supermarket aisles.
It was not long until my enthusiasm waned. The point of the scan and pack is that you scan your shopping and then pack it straight in the bag, there's a clue in the name. However, this first assumes you have bags and second that you don't mind your fruit and veg being at the bottom of the bag getting squashed by everything else.
I soon discovered a problem. The bags I had with me would not be big enough for my shop. I needed to buy a new bag. I then spent most of the shop repacking my bags to ensure grapes, eggs and bread to name just a few items where not squashed by tins of beans or cans of diet cherry coke.
The scanning was generally not a problem but it had to be remembered and the bar code located before the shopping could be packed, checkout assistants are quicker. Some items could not be scanned and had to be kept separate from the other shopping. Fruit and vegetables had to weighed, stickers printed and then the stickers scanned, again checkout assistants are quicker.
At the end of the shopping experience it was time to pay. A separate aisle. No queue choice bonus. But then as luck would have it I was chosen as a random sample. This meant that half of my shopping was taken out and scanned and checked against my receipt. It felt like I was being stopped at Customs as they rifle through you dirty holiday underwear...
So did it save me time? No. Did it save the shop time or money? I doubt it. Will I be doing it again? No, not in the foreseeable future.
My local supermarket had finally embraced the scan your own shopping craze. I have been in other supermarkets that have this but I have never decided to have a go. Today was different I was up for the challenge.
I walked over to shop assistant, "Jeanette", I said, for that, according to her name tag was her name, "Jeanette, show me how this works, I'm up for a go."
Jeanette, surprised that I had addressed her by her name, enthusiastically showed me how it all worked getting me registered, scanning my clubcard and handing me apologetically a leaflet detailing the terms and conditions. I thanked her and set off enthusiastically into the supermarket aisles.
It was not long until my enthusiasm waned. The point of the scan and pack is that you scan your shopping and then pack it straight in the bag, there's a clue in the name. However, this first assumes you have bags and second that you don't mind your fruit and veg being at the bottom of the bag getting squashed by everything else.
I soon discovered a problem. The bags I had with me would not be big enough for my shop. I needed to buy a new bag. I then spent most of the shop repacking my bags to ensure grapes, eggs and bread to name just a few items where not squashed by tins of beans or cans of diet cherry coke.
The scanning was generally not a problem but it had to be remembered and the bar code located before the shopping could be packed, checkout assistants are quicker. Some items could not be scanned and had to be kept separate from the other shopping. Fruit and vegetables had to weighed, stickers printed and then the stickers scanned, again checkout assistants are quicker.
At the end of the shopping experience it was time to pay. A separate aisle. No queue choice bonus. But then as luck would have it I was chosen as a random sample. This meant that half of my shopping was taken out and scanned and checked against my receipt. It felt like I was being stopped at Customs as they rifle through you dirty holiday underwear...
So did it save me time? No. Did it save the shop time or money? I doubt it. Will I be doing it again? No, not in the foreseeable future.
Posted with Blogsy
Comments
Post a Comment