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Wasn't computerization supposed to take care of this?

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  • Wasn't computerization supposed to take care of this?

    I don't rightly know whether this goes with Cursing Out Coworkers, so it's here instead. Some time ago we went computerized on our shelf labels, so supposedly it's easier and more efficient than having people wander up and down the aisles physically taking down the old shelf labels and putting up new ones.

    Had a customer come through my line the other day with six of those wax-coated boxes of broth ... four chicken, two veg. I rang them through.

    Customer: "No, the chicken is $1.29 each." They were ringing in at $1.49 each.

    Me: "Oh crap. Hang on a minute."

    I called Grocery, who said they'd go check on it. A few minutes he comes back.

    "Um, yeah, they're $1.49 but the shelf label says $1.29. But, uh, that special ended in February ...."

    Me: "WHAT??" I could hardly yell at the guy in Grocery so I just laughed. He sounded pretty embarrassed as it was. "Um, yeah, it ended in February but the wrong label is still up."

    Me: "Okay, well, thank you."

    The customer got one box for free and the rest at the sale price -- our usual practice in these cases.
    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
    ~ Mr Hero

  • #2
    Technology has made a lot of promises that didn't come true. Sometimes, it's made things worse, or just created new problems.
    Customers should always be served . . . to the nearest great white.

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    • #3
      I used to think it was a good thing to have the computerized shelf labels but after dealing with the technology my company chooses I'll stick with the monotony of taking down and putting up tags.
      I would have a nice day, but I have other things to do.

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      • #4
        Those e-tags were the bane of my existence when they brought them in during my days working in a grocery store. There were too many times when they wouldn't properly update so you'd have to hope you could do them manually...but then we only had one scan gun that had the right program, and half the time it didn't work either! So, we'd try to print out paper labels instead, only find out that the tags we needed to print weren't available! Sure, we could print out huge sale signs, but not the usual list of tags we used to get the night before the prices were to change.

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        • #5
          March 25 ... they still haven't fixed this. Had another customer come through with the same items and the same WRONG price was still coming up.



          Customer again got one free and the rest at the WRONG sale price ....

          If this happens again, I swear, they're gonna get two for free. And then three. And then ...
          Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
          ~ Mr Hero

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          • #6
            This is like the result of poor database design, poor database management, a glitch updating your stores signs, or some combination thereof. If the home office peeps haven’t noticed by now, they never will. At least until the next time the price for that item needs to change. You’d have to submit a support ticket (or whatever the appropriate channel is) to get this resolved.

            We didn’t have electronic price tags when I worked at the bent staple, but the paper signs were computer generated and pulled the information from a central database. I don’t recall ever having individual items with the wrong price, but many times the database update for our store would fail to go through, causing that weeks sale prices not to print. Even better was when this also affected the registers.
            "We guard the souls in heaven; we don't horse-trade them!" Samandrial in Supernatural

            RIP Plaidman.

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            • #7
              E-tags have been suggested at my store, but I can name a few reasons why we don't have them:

              --our wifi (even the internal network for the Telxon guns) is shit. It wouldn't be able to handle that much data at once.
              --if we're mad about SC's tearing the price tags off the shelf now, think of what would happen...
              --the head file clerk can't even process/sort some of the existing changes properly as-is. Having to do it over the network would probably make her head explode.

              Not that having the printed tags come in is much better (errors abounded this week, and it's become sadly too common for an occasional shipment to get "left" at the DC and not arrive until two hours before we're supposed to start putting them up). Nothing like being halfway through an aisle and suddenly being told "wait, don't put X tags up"...or worse, thinking you've finished and then being told you have to go back and take Y, Z and C down. Crap like that is why we don't finish when SM thinks we should.
              "I am quite confident that I do exist."
              "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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              • #8
                I found that the e-tags were really difficult to pull off their special tracks. I actually carried around a flat head screwdriver so I could pop them off. But if I had a complete planogram reset it was a pain the ass because I had to remove ALL those stupid tags, move stuff around according to the plano, and then hope that I could fit the tags in place. We had two different sizes, and the ones we usually had the most of weren't the ones I actually needed. Ugh.

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