Self-checkout Machines at Shoppers Drug Mart
Image source: https://goo.gl/s3Ybd7
Written by Danielle Chan
Self-checkout has been a substantial trend over the years for retail stores in Canada. Many customers have had mixed reactions to the increasing self-checkout machines in stores. Some are scared for the future of cashiers, frightened that companies will cut their jobs. Others expressed their support for systems like self-checkout as we step into a more and more technology surrounded world.
According to recent CBC News a cashier working at a Shoppers Drug Mart retail store in Ontario revealed that employees were being pressured to push customers to pay via the self-checkout machines provided in stores. The cashier him/herself had said that he/she feels terrible for “pushing people to do something they don't want to do.” Employees at the store where the cashier worked were told by the head office to “pull out all the stops” in order to get more customers to use the machines and to “[lead] them directly to self-checkout” when customers were ready to pay for their goods. Debit or credit cardholders were ordered to use the self-checkout machines. The majority of customers were not happy with being “forced” to use the self-checkout machines and would have preferred to pay through the cashier lane, or at least have the option to choose their way of payment.
A shopper, by the name Nancy McCurdy,who was “forced” to use the machines at Shoppers Drug Mart in London, Ontario expressed her dissatisfaction with having to do self-checkout. She says that she walks with the help of a cane and has a hard time hearing, so having to find a place to put her cane and her purse plus packing the stuff herself is too much. Moreover, she hates how the machines “talk to you and [she] can't figure out what they're saying.” Other similar problems have occurred to other customers.
People of different age groups have different views on the self-checkout system. Elders mostly see it as a downside to shopping while teenagers and older adults see it as quick and effective due to being more familiarized with technology through daily use. This trend of increasing utilization of self-checkout machines is inevitable as technology advances and is further corporated into our world as time goes by.
Self-checkout has been a substantial trend over the years for retail stores in Canada. Many customers have had mixed reactions to the increasing self-checkout machines in stores. Some are scared for the future of cashiers, frightened that companies will cut their jobs. Others expressed their support for systems like self-checkout as we step into a more and more technology surrounded world.
According to recent CBC News a cashier working at a Shoppers Drug Mart retail store in Ontario revealed that employees were being pressured to push customers to pay via the self-checkout machines provided in stores. The cashier him/herself had said that he/she feels terrible for “pushing people to do something they don't want to do.” Employees at the store where the cashier worked were told by the head office to “pull out all the stops” in order to get more customers to use the machines and to “[lead] them directly to self-checkout” when customers were ready to pay for their goods. Debit or credit cardholders were ordered to use the self-checkout machines. The majority of customers were not happy with being “forced” to use the self-checkout machines and would have preferred to pay through the cashier lane, or at least have the option to choose their way of payment.
A shopper, by the name Nancy McCurdy,who was “forced” to use the machines at Shoppers Drug Mart in London, Ontario expressed her dissatisfaction with having to do self-checkout. She says that she walks with the help of a cane and has a hard time hearing, so having to find a place to put her cane and her purse plus packing the stuff herself is too much. Moreover, she hates how the machines “talk to you and [she] can't figure out what they're saying.” Other similar problems have occurred to other customers.
People of different age groups have different views on the self-checkout system. Elders mostly see it as a downside to shopping while teenagers and older adults see it as quick and effective due to being more familiarized with technology through daily use. This trend of increasing utilization of self-checkout machines is inevitable as technology advances and is further corporated into our world as time goes by.
Works cited
- Some Shoppers Drug Mart staff say they're 'fed up' with pressure to push self-checkout | CBC News. (2019, March 24). Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/self-checkout-shoppers-drug-mart-zehrs-loblaw-1.5067618
- Superstore, Shoppers Drug Mart customers say they were forced to use self-checkout | CBC News. (2019, March 17). Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/shoppers-drug-mart-superstore-self-checkout-loblaws-1.5056800
- MacKinnon, A. (2019, March 14). Grant Park Shoppers Drug Mart urged customers to use self-checkout rather than cashiers. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/5044898/grant-park-shoppers-drug-mart-allegedly-urged-customers-to-use-self-checkout-rather-than-cashiers/