Law of Unintended Consequences Strikes Grocers

netbuzz writes "The law of unintended consequences is taking a chomp out of grocery chain profits as more stores transition from human clerks to self-service checkout technology, thus reducing the time shoppers spend in line and under the temptation of impulse items. That's the upshot of research being released tomorrow by IHL Consulting Group in Franklin, Tenn., which provides market analysis to the retail industry and its IT vendors."

Comments

Re:My statistical sampling of "one" matches theirs

[indifferent children]

All of the Home Depots that I've seen in Florida have a separate "Contractor Check-Out". If you are buying 50 pieces of lumber, they probably won't ask to see your 1099 to make sure that you are a contractor. Look into it.

Re:My statistical sampling of "one" matches theirs

[zentinal]

Stop & Shop here in New England has exactly that. You have to prove that you could successfully use the system, including having your purchases quickly double checked by a human, before you could use the system unsupervised.

You scan as you shop. Checkout consists of placing your scanner into the holster. Relatively painless. I wish more stores had it. My local Hannaford's doesn't.

I do agree, however, that shoppers should get a discount for using the system, because we're saving the store labor costs.

Re:My statistical sampling of "one" matches theirs

[LunaticTippy]

Who do you think pays for processing? Surely not your bank! Do a web search for "debit card processing fee rate" or something and you'll find a vast array of bad deals aimed at small businesses. Debit cards are generally cheaper than credit cards, but you'll always pay a per-transaction and a percentage. Big chain stores negotiate down to a floor around $.15+1.5% and for smaller stores you can easily double that.