Just out of interest, how is "items per minute" measured? Does it include the payment process or does the clock stop between the last items of customer A and the first item of customer B?

Here in Italy I'm regularly confused by the pace of the cashiers. Sure, they talk and smile a lot, but even at their best they take over a second to draw an item over their desk in a manner that it detects the item. Back in germany I usually went to a shop where they managed to deal with 2 to 3 items a second. They have really well trained personell that works like machines. Combined with electronic payment with less than 10 seconds from the last item to getting the receipt taking part in the process is really stunning from an Operations Research point of view - if you had time to think about it while hurrying to keep up with the pace of the cashier.

Vain

Quote from Vain :

Just out of interest, how is "items per minute" measured? Does it include the payment process or does the clock stop between the last items of customer A and the first item of customer B?

If I remember correctly it's from the start of the transaction (1st item scanned) to the moment the checkoput operator hits sub total.

Although other shops may record another way

It probably varies according to a few things:

If a particular scanner is crap, it'll be more efficient to scan each item slower than have to scan it quickly 2 or 3 times in order for it to register.

If the items you're buying are a strange shape, then scanning them can be a pain. They can wiggle the item around to try and cover a large area in the hope that somewhere in there it'll give the all-hallowed beep of glory.

And the staff themselves. If they're new they'll probably scan slower. If it's the end of a long day they'll probably scan slower. If they've just been told they have another shift to work at the end of this one, they'll probably scan slower. If you ask them for the sum of 4 plus 1 they'll probably scan slower*.

* Although this may just be Tesco staff.

On the topic of being asked for ID, we use the "Think 25" policy, which can be annoying for the odd customer, but its a pretty idiot proof way of ensuring a 16 year old isn't going to walk out the shop with booze. The penalties for sale assistants, and retailers are quite substantial. And when you have the same people walking in day after day its not really much hassle.

And carrier bags, we charge 2p for a disposable carrier bag, to encourage people to put a value on them and re-use them. It works, we give away less than half what we were 12 months ago. And the money goes in the charity tin, in front of the customer, not in the till. Had nothing but positive comments so far. This would only work in a small shop though (2 tills, 800-900 customers a day).

And scan rates, we don't actively monitor them, but as we have 4 different machines for types of transactions (lotto, paypoint etc), its not relevant. There's a lot more to shoving customers through the till and out the door than whether you can scan 4 or 6 bars of confectionery in 10 seconds.

I am the assistant manager in a newsagents though, so no doubt have a different perspective.

The items per minute, in my opinion, doesnt really work well.

For instance, you have an old pensioner down my checkout, we need to go the same pace as the customer so they dont get overloaded at the other end of the checkout. So if that means doing only 10 items per minute just to make the customer feel more welcome and put less pressure on them, i will only do 10 items per minute.

However, if you have someone in a rush, you just rush it through like hell lol.

But the items per minute is calculated from the time the first item is scanned, we have 'pop up' messages ssaying "Think 21, is customer over 18? Born before *date here*", that does not include the time of items per minute. For example, im under 18, so i need to get authorisation for alcohol, which sometimes can take a while....

Quote from RacerAsh3 :

For example, im under 18, so i need to get authorisation for alcohol, which sometimes can take a while....

Yeah that pissed me off as well.. we had these buttons and it was SUPPOSED to go to the supervisors headset, but it never worked. I just got used to shouting over, which wasn't a problem apart from with one lady who worked from 5am till about 2pm, who'd never respond when I called her. So in the end I just sold it without asking... if you ain't caught......

I wouldn't mind stacking shelves or being a supervisor, or I guess working on checkouts when I'm 18 in a couple of weeks..

You need to be 18 to be a checkout supervisor/runner at sainsburys.

I sometimes work on Fresh Foods as overtime, gives you a bit of variation which is nice

One place that annoys me; Wal-Mart. That place is weird!!! It always has weird people EVERYWHERE, and they have some pretty weird stuff there. Wal-Mart is like where people like to kill time there; it sometime's even creeps me out when I am walking in there. Also, everytime I go in, there are always screaming kids!:irked: It's mindboggling. :eye-poppi

Quote from The Very End :

Jamie, why don't you tell the staff managed at that place, since you have worked there before? People like that in the box really makes me angry sometimes.

Because the managers don't like me there.. As I said I used to work there, I'd wake up literally 5 minutes late and miss my train by literally 10 seconds. Then I'd be an hour late, they gave me loads of chances to be fair but obviously things like that happen.

Now I have a bike it wouldn't be a problem as I could simply ride at 31mph instead of 29, you see my point Tor.


Btw, I WANT YOUR BABIES..

Quote from GrIp DrIvEr :

One place that annoys me; Wal-Mart. That place is weird!!! It always has weird people EVERYWHERE, and they have some pretty weird stuff there. Wal-Mart is like where people like to kill time there; it sometime's even creeps me out when I am walking in there. Also, everytime I go in, there are always screaming kids!:irked: It's mindboggling. :eye-poppi

I don't have any problems with Wal-Mart here. People always seem to be willing to help, and I haven't seen any weirdos as well. I also like Sam's Club. But I usually go to another supermarket which has wider range of products.

Grip Driver, where do you live that Walmart folks are so bad? They are just normal stressed out workers around here, nothing out of the ordinary. Mostly they are older folks just trying to make ends meet.

Was at Walmart just yesterday and WOW, best looking cashier I've seen in quite some time.

Was it the checkout girl from "Jizz In My Pants" video? :jawdrop: Mighty finee. /manhoe