angelweave

May 10, 2004

Design Flaw


I'm at the grocery store yesterday (Schnuck's - the one at which I refuse to buy meat now), and because I had only a couple of items, I decided to use self-checkout.

I have a six-pack of Black Cherry Propel and 3 cans of Hunt's Tomato Paste. I set my purse by the plastic bags (offered so that consumers can self bag their self-checked out goods). The "attendant" yaps at me that the purse is on the scale and is throwing off the computer. I yap back, "where does it go?"

She points to the left of the contraption. There's a metal shelf affixed there.

I don't know about you, ladies, but I'm happy to leave a can of corn or some tic tacs out of my line of sight for a few moments while I'm completing a transaction, but my purse is one big other story. No can do.

Not likely to use self-checkout at that store again.

(I think the only reasons we still go is that it's very close to home and offers cheap cat food and cheap cat litter.)

hln

Posted by hln at May 10, 2004 12:13 PM | Anecdote | TrackBack
Comments

Wow - what a racket the grocery stores have going! You get to check and bag your own food. Do they charge you less if you do that? If so I hadn't heard about it. So, basically you get to shop for the food and then do all the work and still pay for a cashier too. Yeah, gotta love it.

Posted by: Teresa at May 11, 2004 08:11 AM

Question: How do you know that you're an Angelweave fan?

Answer: When Heather says "the one at which I refuse to buy meat now", you think OH YEAH, stay away from THAT meat counter.

Posted by: Blackfive at May 11, 2004 09:22 PM

Well actually, the bagging area is one big weighing scale. It is the primary security feature. The #1 way we know if someone is trying to rip off the store is by weight of each item and putting those items in the bagging area. Since your purse doesn't scan, no one knows if you put cat food in the bag or 20 pounds of filet mignon. So instead of charging more money because of stealing, they have the minor inconveniance of having to put the purse some place else.

Posted by: Ham at September 17, 2004 09:30 PM