"Peter Pan" wrote in message
...


I wonder if that also means 3 to 6 less people in line with
coupons/checks/not enuf money and sending things back etc. I kind of like
em


There are solutions for that, other than machines. One of our local stores
has experimented with a no-nonsense cashier line during the busy late
afternoon hours when people are shopping on the way home from work. Rules:
No coupons, no paper checks, no food stamps, no price questions, no special
problems of any kind. If you disagree with the scanned price, the item's
removed from your order. You can take it to the customer service desk and
deal with it. And, cash only. Green cash money.

On a typical day, the line of customers was almost 100% men. No old ladies
ready to do battle with the current newspaper circular in their hands. I'm
not sure why the store stopped the experiment, although I suspect it was
because the scan error rate is already pretty much zero.

Contrast this with an interesting experience I had at WM one night around 11
PM. Two cashiers open, and I was #2 in line. Ahead of me, 4 women were
buying a huge load of groceries. One tried to pay with plastic, but it
wasn't approved. She opened her purse and pulled out a 3" thick stack of
credit cards held together with a rubber band. After trying 5-6 of them, one
of her friends began doing the same. All four women tried various cards, to
no avail. Some of the cards had just a few dollars on them, which surprised
the women as if they didn't own the cards and had no knowledge as to the
status of the accounts.

The line behind me had grown to about a dozen customers, as had the line at
the other cashier. Meanwhile, a guy paced back and forth watching the scene
and doing nothing. He turned out to be the manager, as I found out when I
suggested to the cashier that she call the manager. He wandered over,
looking disinterested. I suggested that he might want to open a 3rd register
himself because the lines were now so long that they reached back into the
merchandise aisles. His response: "Managers aren't supposed to operate the
registers". I walked away from my cart, leaving it in front of him. When I
drove by the entrance, the four credit card thieves were leaving without
their groceries.

A real store would've moved those women out of the line, and perhaps even
called the police. Not WM, though. As far as they're concerned, their
customers' time is worthless.