Do you just want us out of the store or what?

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Bad customer service is on the rise, and I really don't know why O.o

I was saying in my previous topic about the douchebag couriers, bad customer service and hunting for new glasses, I've not really had any bad customer service up until now, but over the last few months, I've noticed a lot of instances of CS suckiness. As someone who works in retail myself, I'm generally quite forgiving, don't have ridiculously high standards and certainly try my best not to act like a sucky customer, so I don't know why this is on the rise. But it seems to be.

The subject of this topic is our local Tesco. My mum generally prefers our local Asda (part of the Walmart group, for you Americans), but as prices rise, although Asda remains cheaper most of the time, its worth to check out competitors. While Tesco is generally the more expensive, they do some good deals, some of their products are cheaper, and of course, it sometimes pays to have a Clubcard (like we do- and being as I just spent a lot of money in their opticians recently, I'm sure I've racked up a good amount of points recently).

(I want to reiterate that the service I've recieved in the opticians has been pretty good; we're talking about the checkouts).

You don't tend to get baggers in the UK. You do it yourself with a little help from the cashier. My mum has been complaining about the poor service for a while, but the other day she told me how several times recently, she's done a full weekly shop...and the cashier has sped everything through as though he/she has somewhere to be, and never helps with the bagging. Now, when you consider that the customer is trying to pack things so the heavy stuff is at the bottom, light, fragile items on top etc and trying to fit as much into a bag without it bursting, having a rapid torrent of items being shoved at you continuously is very unhelpful. And not going to make you pack faster.

But a lot of them seem to be doing it. A lot of them are youngsters, possibly not long out of college or school, but even the adults are doing it.

Mum deliberately packed at the slowest rate she could manage last week, just to annoy the cashier

I myself, have recieved somewhat lackidaisical assistance myself. I recently bought Sucker Punch on DVD there because it was only £9.99 and I LOVE that movie. When swishing it lazily through a device to remove a non-existant security thingy, the cashier actually RIPPED the plastic on the case that keeps the sleeve in place. I know its a bit picky, but she essentially damaged the casing, and in my crazy eyes, the product. I am going to rectify this by swapping it with a case of a DVD I don't like but I couldn't help but think that it was very careless!

And today, I was also met with "shoving your items at you as fast as you can with no consideration for how fast you can physically pack". I did as my mum did, and the cashier just stared at me awkwardly, as though wondering why my stuff hadn't magically walked into my shopping bag without my touching it.

I just think this is plain rude. I know conveyor belts ARE in use, but customers don't want to be treated as though they are ON them!

Also, I NEVER try to rush a customer out of my queue if they are still packing and putting their purse away. I would feel much better if the old lady at my till takes an extra moment or two to make sure her things are packed away neatly and her purse is secure and safe in her handbag BEFORE she left my shop.

[Teskeria]

Part of it is they are being forced to have a ring tender of a certain amount to keep their job. (at least here in the states). So they are supposed to ring things through extremely fast.

[Marmalady]

Little Rabbit, I don't know what part of the UK you are from, but I usually use Tesco and at the one I go to, I'm always asked if I want any help in packing (if I'm still unloading the cart at the time, I say yes then take over when everything's on the belt). The cashiers can vary a bit in cheerfulness, but they all ask if I want them to start packing, and I'm not a little old lady (not yet)

[Android Kaeli]

Some places do have a ring timer set so that the cashiers HAVE to be on or near that set time, so that they don't get in trouble with the bosses. 'Cause if the bosses have to explain to THEIR bosses why Cashier X doesn't have a low ring time over Cashier W, then the bosses have to come down on someone.

I don't like ring times myself, but I AM fast on the checkouts for other reasons.

[fireheart]

Quoth Teskeria

Part of it is they are being forced to have a ring tender of a certain amount to keep their job. (at least here in the states). So they are supposed to ring things through extremely fast.

It also depends on the place.

Places like ALDI, you bag everything yourself, so the scan rate is ridiculously fast.

My company is set at 16IPM, although my average is around 14-15.

[Gerrinson]

Quoth fireheart

It also depends on the place.

Places like ALDI, you bag everything yourself, so the scan rate is ridiculously fast.

My company is set at 16IPM, although my average is around 14-15.

16 items per minute? Wow. They treat you guys nice. When I worked as a cashier it was 30 IPM here in the states. Any lower than that in a month was a write up. Three write ups in a year and you're fired.

[RayvenQ]

Quoth fireheart

It also depends on the place.

Places like ALDI, you bag everything yourself, so the scan rate is ridiculously fast.

My company is set at 16IPM, although my average is around 14-15.

Here at least, at my local Aldi, there are no scanners, the people on the tills type in the codes for the items all by hand, at least, they did last time i went and boy, are they fast.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Quoth Marmalady

Little Rabbit, I don't know what part of the UK you are from, but I usually use Tesco and at the one I go to, I'm always asked if I want any help in packing (if I'm still unloading the cart at the time, I say yes then take over when everything's on the belt). The cashiers can vary a bit in cheerfulness, but they all ask if I want them to start packing, and I'm not a little old lady (not yet)

Well, funny you say that, Marmalady, I had to pop into the Tesco Metro in the precinct where I work (not the big one that was the subject of my bitching) today. I bought some milk, a pack of wipes and a Fudge bar. It was reasonably busy, not mad, but good and steady, and the cashier packed my bag for me and popped the reciept in. I didn't ask him to pack and being as I had so little, intended to do so myself, but he just seemed to feel that it was polite to do so, so I thanked him Funnily enough, this little Tesco Metro has pretty good service, as I think many of the shops in this precinct do. Its actually well known for being in an "impoverished" part of town, and was recently on the BBC news for having 37% of its units vacant, although new stores have just opened; but everyone knows each other here, and its got a sort of community spirit.

I'm thinking perhaps that at this big Tesco branch on the other side of town, perhaps the training has been a bit...lax <.< What you described is what I normally experience in the local Asda.

Its strange how in chain stores, the service can vary between one branch and another, but I guess its down to different management.

[thehuckster]

At least where I am in the states, baggers are similarly being more and more sparse. I'll see them at peak times, but even then it's often just for one lucky checkout line. The whole bagger position seems to be on its way out, although it's been this way for a long time.

Sometimes I don't mind, but only when I'm in the express checkout where I have only a handful of items. It's frustrating when the cashier, as you say, is scanning at a rapid rate, and isn't even keeping in mind the order products should be scanned in in order to efficiently bag them so heavier items are on the bottom.

That being said, my girlfriend has a system in place where she simply pre-organizes the products on the belt before they're even scanned. Some cashiers even express their appreciation for that kind of thoughtfulness, and it definitely helps the whole flow of bagging on the other end.

I do wish supermarkets get more baggers, though. If anything, it helps increase high-school jobs although I understand it increases the operating costs at the supermarket.

[Andara Bledin]

A note on scanning order: For the most part, the checker will scan things in the general order they're placed on the belt.

If you want certain things scanned first, then it's in everybody's best interests to put those things out before the stuff you want bagged last. I've been doing it that way for the last four years, at least.

^-.-^