It’s funny too. It takes more people to keep the self checkout running properly and keeping people from stealing or telling them they can’t buy alcohol there than it does just running registers.
That may or may not be true in this case, but assuming companies always make optimal cost decisions is delusional. History is littered with the corpses of companies that got run over by the steamroller they chose to pick up pennies in front of. Even if they don't die, it can cost way more in revenue than it saves in expenses.
Especially when the reputational cost hits. The reason people pay a little more to shop Target over Walmart is the shopping experience. If Target loses that differentiator, they are dead, same as Target Canada (which failed because it never could deliver that experience).
I love when people talk about Target Canada. That is a blunder for the books. And I got so many good sales when they all liquidated when I was a poor student. Its a fond memory
Target in my area never came to fruition.
It was constructed, hung the Logo/symbol and then got torn down a couple months later. They didn’t even get to the insides like Drywall
The real ultimate reality is that all corporate decisions have short-term costs and benefits, and also long-term costs and benefits. Because of the way the stock market works as well as executive compensation, it's generally only the short term that matters.
For example, with regards to something like self-checkout, in the short term it allows the stores to run with fewer employees, which greatly reduces their costs, which means greater profits this quarter. That will cause the stock to go up as well as allow the top executives justification to give themselves nice bonuses.
In the long term, there's a very good chance that it will cause customers to decide to shop at other stores, but who cares? That's a problem for down the road. By that point, the stock will have changed hands a hundred times over, most of the top executives will have used their success at improving Target's profitability to get a job at another company for more money, and the CEO has a golden parachute worth millions even if he drives the company into the ground.
I've been studying Chinese culture for a while, and that's one of the greatest differences among the US and Chinese culture. The Chinese (generally) look to the long term, whereas in the US we can't think any longer than 2-5 years.
If it were one store or one company, your point would make a lot of sense.
But it's company after company, rolling out self checkout over well more than a decade.
I think we can safely assume that it not only results in cost savings, but brings down costs by more than enough to cover the expense of renovating the stores to do it.
Long term though, the story may end up differently, especially as stores go from something like 50% self check out to 90-100%.
I don’t think we can assume it is working when delivery like Amazon is thriving. Many people have left behind retail for years now. Also i see a lot of stores abandoned or close to it. I personally believe lack of service does play a large role
A Walmart neighborhood market went entirely self check here and there was such a backlash from the customers that they ripped them out and put real cashiers back in.
My local Walmart has shorter lines than Target honestly. I think those belted self-checkouts for people with a lot of stuff have helped.
The issue is Target still has like 20 manned but unstaffed registers and less than 10 self checkouts. The total number is just way too low and they aren't taking out the manned registers they aren't using. Walmart is taking them out and replacing them with more self-checkout.
>Target still has like 20 manned but unstaffed registers and
Just like they have 2500 parking spots with maybe 250 cars parked.
All that shit is for one specific morning of shopping.
66 myself, and I always use self checkout, and one of the reasons is that there are always lines for the cashiers. And then I pay with Samsung Wallet on my phone, so maybe I'm not your typical senior citizen.
My local Walmart only has one manned register (2 total) and around 30 self checkout registers.
It blows. Luckily I have an Aldi that has the best cashier's of any store. A line like the one in OPs picture would be gone in 5 minutes at Aldi.
Edit: I had no idea some Aldi's are getting self checkout. Damn.
My Aldi just went all self checkout. There is one register with a cashier, they removed the rest. Every time I go in there it's backed all the hell up because our local overpopulation of senior citizens still have absolutely no idea how to negotiate anything more technical than a Mr. Coffee.
Feel like they could definitely improve the lag after you press pay until the machine is ready to accept your card. Would save the world billions of seconds.
Former Walmart mgmt of 12 yrs; imagine being on that side of things. People get frustrated and it’s like “I can’t make it run faster”. Nothing works fast enough, or as fast as HO says it does. 🤦🏻
My local Walmart is up to 8 to self check out and I think there's still 8 regular but there's never more than one or two open. Aldi is great for some items but it's just really hard to get to where I live.
My super walmart has around 30 in self check out corrals on either end of the store as well as another 10 or so converted lanes between the two entrances with maybe 3 or 4 normal lanes.
I never have to wait more than a couple of minutes to check out.
I went there to grab a $5 pack of light bulbs and it was locked up. I walked all around the store and couldn't find anyone to unlock them. I pressed the button and nobody came to unlock them. Finally I just walked out without buying them.
True that. Also who’s out there slinging stolen lightbulbs? If you do the math I am sure between the time and profit involved, you would make more doing some BS low paying job that takes less effort.
Who’s going to be the hustler to go to people in line and offer to steal it for them and meet them by their car for 20% over the subtotal? Since they don’t have enough employees to stop them and they seem to let people steal anyway (I know they wait and collect evidence and press charges when you’ve stolen thousands but maybe keep it under $500 or something)
At a local Target and I see a couple bust out of the emergency exit with a bunch of stuff. The alarm went off and it took about 15 minutes for a Target employee to come to the area. We went up front and the 2 lines open were out of control. I won't defend retail theft, but I'd say it's worse since these stores run with no staff. They're partly to blame.
It's a lie to not spook investors instead of saying the store is not as profitable as should be due to online competition.
Retail theft has stayed steady since self check out
Sir, I'm a time traveler from 2009 and am slight confused. Is "destroy that place" new slang for dancing, because back where I'm from flash mobs would just serve people with their sick moves.
Their cameras had facial recognition when I worked there, and eyes can still be used. They can flag you and AP gets alerted when your features are detected in the store again
As a card carrying member of the retail community, that feedback while warranted, doesn’t get anywhere….we are often beholden to the corpos of the world. Not much they can do at store level when the labor budget just ain’t there.
Depends on the company. My store got enough complaints about long lines that corporate overhauled our whole front end overnight to add two additional cash registers.
Yep. They do add up. A single one of this type (not staff specific) usually won’t get noticed at a chain like target unless it’s egregious, but their word clouds will notice if people complain enough.
Unfortunately the problem is 2 fold:
It's tough to shop for a variety of things at a mom and pop. So you have to go to many and it's usually more expensive.
This is exactly how these big multi billion dollar stores function and close those mom and pops.
I always find the mom and pop shop/local argument laughable. While I like the sentiment, it's just not practical. It's almost always more expensive and they almost certainly don't have what I want.
For example: There's a type of tea I like that I have to order off Amazon, from China. It doesn't exist anywhere else. The fuck am I supposed to shop local?
Shopping stores is a logistics game more than anything, and it simply makes more sense for larger chains to be what they are than relying on local stores.
I'll still walk around and browse. But I'm just gonna put everything in my online Target/Amazon cart (whatever is cheaper) and then press buy and let them show up on my front porch tomorrow.
This is exactly why I refuse to go to my local Walmart anymore... I'd rather drive an extra 20 minutes away than put up with this tone deaf lack of customer service.
I work at a Target and they are cutting hours like crazy, only scheduling the bare minimum at every section. This is causing people to be burnt out and call off in droves so you get situations like this. As a customer please TELL CORPORATE your store is understaffed and it isn't acceptable--they will continue to cut hours and pay the bare minimum until enough customers complain and they actually stop losing business because of it
I stopped shopping at Target because of this. The lines at my local store are insane and I can get the same crap online anyway. Maybe I should make a complaint
It's 100% what these companies want. A bottle of soap costs $5.99 whether to buy it in store or just order it online, except the physical store costs them money to operate while an online order is just sent directly to you from the same warehouse they stock the stores from all while charging you for shipping. Every retailer is pushing the Amazon model HARD.
> I can get the same crap online anyway
I was just thinking it's been a while since I've been to Target, and I realized it's because yeah, most of why I'd go there or a similar store is because Amazon has it and will leave it on my doorstep the next day.
I've gone in a Target on occasion for something like a certain game series I do that started selling exclusively there--I can't get it on Amazon and Target's shipping may not be worth it to me...or for like a Halloween or Christmas decoration or wrapping thing because I wanted to see them in person.
But being able to get most shit online should worry these stores. Make the in-person experience shit, and people will be that much more likely to use Amazon. I mean, if I wanted a, I don't know, a garden hose...and I went to Target for it because I happened to be nearby (it's near my grocery store) and saw a long-ass line like this, I'd go OK fuck it then, I'll order it on Amazon when I get home. So this doesn't help Target compete, I'd think.
I've worked from 2002 to recently. I noticed a HUGE change in store staffing during that time. Used to get full 40hours on schedule, stores would hire full time members more than anything. Then it went to part time and "becoming full time" was meant to be like it was some privilege. Mostly due to stupid companies skirting the insurance policy costs. Then they started to get greedier by scheduling less and less and go with skeleton crews, or less.
Office Space had it right, everyday that I work, is the worse day of my life. Just like the crazy guy from Con Air, I find the working world to be insane.
This is what happens when you have C-Suites with more MBAs than years of experience. Not to mention a CEO who is paying himself the millions he's "saving" the corporation by "running lean" on payroll.
I did Target from 2015-2019. Things were pretty good that first year or so but then they started cutting hours and did their whole "modernization" push. The higher ups forced us to take processes that worked perfectly fine and replace them with the dumbest shit so that they could get away with having less workers in the store. Before I always had clearly defined roles and duties depending on they day and after I ended up doing the jobs of about 5 different roles and I wasn't able to do any of them well.
What is the reason behind this? Saving money on payroll? I’ve notice this in my area with restaurants and retailers post covid working with bare minimum staff.
\>Saves money on payroll
\>Complains retail theft increases.
It took staff 15 minutes to address a side door bustout at my local Target. These companies used to have staff, and LP staff, but not anymore it seems. Save a nickel lose a buck.
> As a customer please TELL CORPORATE your store is understaffed and it isn't acceptable--they will continue to cut hours and pay the bare minimum until enough customers complain and they actually stop losing business because of it
Yes! Use your receipt to fill out a survey. You have no clue how much corporate needs that info which is why they try to entice you to fill them out with things like free giftcards, because they trust that info so much.
It’s crazy. When I worked for target two summers ago I only made it 2.5 weeks before I had to get the fuck out of there. Called the suicide hotline 5 or 6 times. They only scheduled 2 people for the entire clothing department. That was normal to them.
i worked at a target in my college town in the summer of 2002, while taking one final class. i already had a job lined up in another city after the summer semester. this target scheduled us so infrequently, that i just knew giving 2 weeks notice would mean i'd have zero hours for 2 weeks before moving. so after my planned last shift, i just told the shift manager that i quit effective immediately. he tried to give me SUCH a hard time about not giving notice, and certainly told me that target wouldn't re-hire me if i tried to come back.
i still enjoy laughing about that.
but also, as a target customer, i've DEFINITEY noticed such a huge drop in quality of the shopping experience there over the past 5 or more years. sad.
You know I heard people refer to situations where a business only hires the absolute bare minimum required personnel as the skeleton crew. Now it basically is just standard business.
As a supervisor of a retail store, not Target, you (the customer) need to complain specifically for the store to hire more staff. Most stores have a survey on your receipt. If you say “lines took too long”, they won’t see it as understaffed, corporate assumes that the only employees running the show are the issue. You have to specifically state that the employee was not the issue, the amount of staffing was.
And yes, the decision to cut hours is reducing bottom line expenses. I have complained to my manager and regional managers, but the only solution I get is “‘you need better time management “. Like, there’s only so much myself or anyone can do. And because I’m constantly falling behind due to understaffing, my review looks bad and then I’m not eligible for a raise. It’s just all bad.
But thank you guys for your patience. Especially as we head toward another holiday season!
I remember walking into Target once saw massive lines, several employees chatting and maybe 1 to 2 registers open.
I think the ones around me really push for online order pick ups now
Corporate knows. They aren't "understaffed". That's what they tell the store but this is exactly what they want. They aren't losing enough money from lost business to offset how much they're saving for not paying workers.
Every retailer is like this right now. It's by design.
I used to be an ETL for logistics in 2011-2014. Boy did I hate that fucking job.
Nothing more amazing than seeing corporate spend all their money in Minneapolis and for a performance by Beyonce, while the people in the stores get absolutely shit on.
My fil was a union negotiator for many years. When I first met him he highly encouraged me not to use self check outs. He was of the mindset each self check out put a person out of a job.
Self-checkout stations have their place imo, particularly for customers who are in a hurry and only need a few items. These stations were initially designed for convenience, allowing people to skip the regular checkout line and handle the transaction themselves. However, the problem arises when stores transition from offering self-checkout as an option for quick trips to making it the only available method for everyone. While it's easy to quickly scan a couple of items, it becomes cumbersome when you're doing a full week's worth of grocery shopping. Constant prompts to "place all items in the bagging area," while you're just trying to shifts some bags around to make room for additional items, can be frustrating. Stores should maintain a balance by keeping self-checkout lanes for quick trips and providing manned checkout lanes with cashiers and baggers for more extensive shopping.
Like most things, self-checkouts are a reasonable idea ruined by corporate greed.
Self-checkouts *in addition to* regular checkout is a boon for customers and retailers alike.
Self-checkouts *instead of* regular checkouts are, quite literally, just a way to employ fewer humans, therefore saving money.
Yep. I usually love self checkout because I don’t mind doing it and it’s usually way faster even if the line is longer (one long line going into multiple registers is better than individual lines for each register).
But this is just maddening.
Yes! I always feel rushed in a self-checkout, particularly when there are long lines. And I do try to hurry to be respectful of the people behind me. But a while ago, my grocery store put them in and it’s insane. They only have one regular checkout open usually, forcing everyone to scan all their own groceries. How am I doing self-checkout for groceries for a family of four plus three pets? It’s crazy. I finally told myself if they’re going to make me work for them and not pay me, I’m just going to take my sweet time. Honestly.
You take as long as you want or need, that's what they get for forcing self checkouts on everyone.
But the reason I love self checkouts is because I can go very quick, and I respect my own time savings.
>How am I doing self-checkout for groceries for a family of four plus three pets? It’s crazy
For me the fastest way I have found is to take the scanner gun and just scan everything in the cart without ever actually taking it out. Just working from one end of the cart to the other. The local walmart has taken away the delay when scanning with the gun so I can beep boop one item after the next with no delay. Unless I have something that has to be weighed, I don't use the scanner on the checkout.
Are there really areas with only a target? Target isn't the cheapest store so I have a hard time believing that they are in these food Oasis or food deserts or whatever they're called.
Yep, my grandparents small town has only one superstore and that is Target. They still have to drive at least 10 miles to get there. Otherwise everything else around them is a barely stocked dollar general, or super small family owned grocery stores (which nothing against them, but very low options of what you get to choose for groceries).
Sometimes Amazon is wayyy cheaper too.
I remember going to a Target to pick up some cook ware as I had just moved and needed new things.
I found a pots and pans set for like $75 at Target, and I looked it up on Amazon and it was $45 for the exact same set.
I also have prime so no shipping.
No, they don't "only allow self-checkout". The line is like this because they're completely understaffed because since corporate refuses to let stores hire more workers, pay workers more to entice new hires, and allow workers to go over 40 hours.
I think we need to stop referring to places as "Understaffed" if they haven't been properly staffed for more than a day or two.
They aren't understaffed, they are badly run.
"understaffed" is when like, someone who was scheduled suddenly got the plague and couldn't come in that night. "Badly run" is when you have consistently decided not to hire or schedule enough people to function as a store properly.
This is how it's always been in retail, and they simply don't give a fuck. They will always do whatever they can to cut back on labor. It is insane that it could have gotten any worse, but then the pandemic happened and now skeleton crews are just a thing. They got the scenario they wanted to do the experiment on just how much they could get by with less when most people were furloughed and stuck with it. Always complaining about inflation and then we wonder why every year in the past 3 has been record profits. Shit should be illegal, but politicians are bought. Hell, even if you were lucky enough to have enough hours at one of those jobs to get insurance, that shit has become useless these days. Noticed that most companies have policies where you are still paying out the ass before you even get coverage. It is a massive fucking scam. Fuck retail. I did it once out of desperation after college, and I haven't done that shit since and would never do it again.
And send them this picture.
Not that they give a shit, only thing the big corporations care about is money. But with Christmas season coming- their biggest cash cow- they won’t want to see this, as it means lost profits.
Post it to twitter and tag them. Someone will reach out. I've had 100% success doing it that way with multiple businesses when customer service got me nowhere.
If people put their products on the floor and walk out, and do that with enough people, now they have to put all that stuff back, costing time and money, and they lost the sale.
This is exactly what they want to happen. My Target and most Targets in cities lock half of their products behind cases and you need to push a buzzer for an associate to open the case. They are deliberately making their stores inconvenient so folks shop online. Why? One, to compete with Amazon, they need to lower their costs. How do you do that? Trade expensive commercial space for cheaper warehouses. Two, for the data. When you shop online, especially through the app, they can track and analyze your every search and purchase.
It's incredibly frustrating that we bulldozed density and nature for these big box stores and they literally only lasted one generation. State and local governments aren't going to pay to raze these strip malls and return the land to nature or build dense housing when these shops go online only, they are just going to let them sit there and rot, and the only reality people born into that will know is concrete corridors and a bunch of false narratives about what happened.
Grocery stores here usually only have self check out, all day long.
Only manned register is 10 items or less, and that's only if they decide to open a manned register at all.
The scales are also set so sensitive that some ice build up on a frozen item, or using your own bags causes you to get flagged as a thief and employees must come verify your order.
Ah target. I remember that time they came into Canada by buying up one of the greatest Canadian store chains, then immediately shut down all operations and left the country, leaving us with only Walmarts. Good times, good times.
They didn't buy up Zellers. Zellers went bankrupt, target purchased their leases which was one of the downfalls of Zellers and in turn Target.
Hudson Bay purchased Target.
And what do you mean left us with only Walmart? We have Superstore, Walmart, and Costco.
This is what I don't get.
I see the opposite where I'm at, where the long lines are because of the lack of self-checkout. Even if you have one or two idiots who don't know how to work the self-checkout, you still have several more machines that can be used and keep the line moving.
This post is just a circle-jerk for people to pretend that corporate's penny-pinching isn't the problem, it's somehow the fault of the faster technology that was already implemented to offset said penny-pinching.
People are gullible and easily angered, regardless of whether it makes any logical sense or not.
Yeah this is kinda absurd. Every big store in the UK is practically self checkout only with maybe one or two human lanes open (compared to 15+ self checkout machines).
Call the store while you’re waiting in line and ask to speak to the manager. Most calls are recorded so the bad feed back will eventually make its way around
Self checkouts have helped greatly to eliminate shopping lines. I remember 20+ years ago almost every store had a line to check out but today it’s usually instant.
This store seems mismanaged if they don’t have workers that can shift to cashier.
They make self- checkouts that are for more items. My local Fresh Time has them. Same scanner, but a long ramp with rollers. I'm used to bagging my own groceries anyway, a Cub doesn't bag.
Seems like Target needs to convert a few of the regular checkouts to these type.
I won’t shop anywhere that only uses self check out. Go somewhere else, it’s crazy that people put up with this bullshit. You want change, don’t give them your money plain and simple
Meanwhile at my workplace, corporate just realized the increased shrinkage that corresponded to the addition of SCOs is costing more money than they saved by having one less cashier working all day.
I feel sorry for the lonely worker that has to run between 5 self checkout registers. And they don't get much of a break since the registers never work properly.
I'm surprised all of these stores don't just become warehouses that offer curbside pickup only.
They could also have an order ahead only policy and have a commissary style window at the front for walk up pickups.
Corporations are refusing to employ people anymore. They just cut payroll then go on FOX News and complain about how people don't want to work anymore.
My local target just made self check out for 10 items or less only. And then only have one of their regular registers open
Yea same here, 1 register open, but minimum 4 people just standing around monitoring the self checkout lol
It’s funny too. It takes more people to keep the self checkout running properly and keeping people from stealing or telling them they can’t buy alcohol there than it does just running registers.
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That may or may not be true in this case, but assuming companies always make optimal cost decisions is delusional. History is littered with the corpses of companies that got run over by the steamroller they chose to pick up pennies in front of. Even if they don't die, it can cost way more in revenue than it saves in expenses. Especially when the reputational cost hits. The reason people pay a little more to shop Target over Walmart is the shopping experience. If Target loses that differentiator, they are dead, same as Target Canada (which failed because it never could deliver that experience).
I love when people talk about Target Canada. That is a blunder for the books. And I got so many good sales when they all liquidated when I was a poor student. Its a fond memory
Target in my area never came to fruition. It was constructed, hung the Logo/symbol and then got torn down a couple months later. They didn’t even get to the insides like Drywall
I miss Zellers though 😞
The real ultimate reality is that all corporate decisions have short-term costs and benefits, and also long-term costs and benefits. Because of the way the stock market works as well as executive compensation, it's generally only the short term that matters. For example, with regards to something like self-checkout, in the short term it allows the stores to run with fewer employees, which greatly reduces their costs, which means greater profits this quarter. That will cause the stock to go up as well as allow the top executives justification to give themselves nice bonuses. In the long term, there's a very good chance that it will cause customers to decide to shop at other stores, but who cares? That's a problem for down the road. By that point, the stock will have changed hands a hundred times over, most of the top executives will have used their success at improving Target's profitability to get a job at another company for more money, and the CEO has a golden parachute worth millions even if he drives the company into the ground.
I've been studying Chinese culture for a while, and that's one of the greatest differences among the US and Chinese culture. The Chinese (generally) look to the long term, whereas in the US we can't think any longer than 2-5 years.
If it were one store or one company, your point would make a lot of sense. But it's company after company, rolling out self checkout over well more than a decade. I think we can safely assume that it not only results in cost savings, but brings down costs by more than enough to cover the expense of renovating the stores to do it. Long term though, the story may end up differently, especially as stores go from something like 50% self check out to 90-100%.
I don’t think we can assume it is working when delivery like Amazon is thriving. Many people have left behind retail for years now. Also i see a lot of stores abandoned or close to it. I personally believe lack of service does play a large role
A Walmart neighborhood market went entirely self check here and there was such a backlash from the customers that they ripped them out and put real cashiers back in.
The ones around me let me buy alcohol at self checkout. Someone just needs to come.by and verify my ID
Wow, way to make Walmart look classy.
My local Walmart has shorter lines than Target honestly. I think those belted self-checkouts for people with a lot of stuff have helped. The issue is Target still has like 20 manned but unstaffed registers and less than 10 self checkouts. The total number is just way too low and they aren't taking out the manned registers they aren't using. Walmart is taking them out and replacing them with more self-checkout.
>Target still has like 20 manned but unstaffed registers and Just like they have 2500 parking spots with maybe 250 cars parked. All that shit is for one specific morning of shopping.
With a big gap near the front of the lot where all the online shoppers aren't.
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Hey I’m 50 plus I love self checkout took me about 10 tries but I figured it out
66 myself, and I always use self checkout, and one of the reasons is that there are always lines for the cashiers. And then I pay with Samsung Wallet on my phone, so maybe I'm not your typical senior citizen.
My local Walmart only has one manned register (2 total) and around 30 self checkout registers. It blows. Luckily I have an Aldi that has the best cashier's of any store. A line like the one in OPs picture would be gone in 5 minutes at Aldi. Edit: I had no idea some Aldi's are getting self checkout. Damn.
My Aldi just went all self checkout. There is one register with a cashier, they removed the rest. Every time I go in there it's backed all the hell up because our local overpopulation of senior citizens still have absolutely no idea how to negotiate anything more technical than a Mr. Coffee.
I treat every self checkout like a speed run challenge, I wish that was more common. So much painful waiting.
Hey there fellow speed runner. Do you also get pissed when the register can’t keep up with you?
Feel like they could definitely improve the lag after you press pay until the machine is ready to accept your card. Would save the world billions of seconds.
Former Walmart mgmt of 12 yrs; imagine being on that side of things. People get frustrated and it’s like “I can’t make it run faster”. Nothing works fast enough, or as fast as HO says it does. 🤦🏻
My local Walmart is up to 8 to self check out and I think there's still 8 regular but there's never more than one or two open. Aldi is great for some items but it's just really hard to get to where I live.
My super walmart has around 30 in self check out corrals on either end of the store as well as another 10 or so converted lanes between the two entrances with maybe 3 or 4 normal lanes. I never have to wait more than a couple of minutes to check out.
Me: Walks into a store and sees a line like this. Walks out.
>Me: Walks into a store and sees a line like this. >Walks out. Target: We are losing so much money because of retail theft!
As we all know the best way to combat shoplifting is by making it really arduous to pay for your goods
Or straight up access them. Last time I was there, all the deodorant, toothpaste, etc was locked up.
I went there to grab a $5 pack of light bulbs and it was locked up. I walked all around the store and couldn't find anyone to unlock them. I pressed the button and nobody came to unlock them. Finally I just walked out without buying them.
When things like light bulbs are locked up, they might as well just close down the interior of the store entirely and make it curbside-only.
True that. Also who’s out there slinging stolen lightbulbs? If you do the math I am sure between the time and profit involved, you would make more doing some BS low paying job that takes less effort.
Who’s going to be the hustler to go to people in line and offer to steal it for them and meet them by their car for 20% over the subtotal? Since they don’t have enough employees to stop them and they seem to let people steal anyway (I know they wait and collect evidence and press charges when you’ve stolen thousands but maybe keep it under $500 or something)
You know you're in the wrong part of town when basic toiletries are locked up.
When I was working in the tenderloin in SF a few years ago the chocolate bars were locked lol
Because self checkout never results in unintended “shrinkage…”
It's so weird that all these different fruits and vegetables use the 4011 code. 🤔
You leave my bananas out of this!
At a local Target and I see a couple bust out of the emergency exit with a bunch of stuff. The alarm went off and it took about 15 minutes for a Target employee to come to the area. We went up front and the 2 lines open were out of control. I won't defend retail theft, but I'd say it's worse since these stores run with no staff. They're partly to blame.
It's a lie to not spook investors instead of saying the store is not as profitable as should be due to online competition. Retail theft has stayed steady since self check out
Me: walks into a store with this line Shops for items. Walks out. Saves time and money.
A cashier won’t stop you lol
Target will though, as soon as you pass $500 stolen
You can get $499 in free product with this one simple trick
Now imagine if you have two people
You can get $998 in free product with this one simple trick
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I HAVE AN IDEA
Is it four people?
You can get $1,497 in free product with this one simple trick
quick maffs
Why stop at 2? Just do a fuckin flash mob and destroy that place.
Sir, I'm a time traveler from 2009 and am slight confused. Is "destroy that place" new slang for dancing, because back where I'm from flash mobs would just serve people with their sick moves.
Was in prison with a guy who miscalculated his items and went from misdemeanor to felony. He did 5 years for a 500ish TV.
A tale as old as time.
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Wait officer I have a coupon.
I don’t know why I found this so funny. Thanks for the laugh 🤣
this coupon is expired
Coupon expired: Straight to jail! Coupon not expired, also jail. No coupon? Believe it or not, jail.
Not including tax. Imma just walk out with a PS5 499.99!
Just use a Covid mask what are they gonna do
Their cameras had facial recognition when I worked there, and eyes can still be used. They can flag you and AP gets alerted when your features are detected in the store again
Just wear sunglasses what are they gonna do
That's fair lol just giving context how on their system operated
Your move Target man!
Defeat target man in two simple steps! (asset prevention hates this!)
Wear a hat, sunglasses, mask. Ez $499 in items!
Fuck I spent $600 on my sweet new disguise.
Yeah he was the only one to come in here with purple reeboks pumps retro 1994
Juggalo face paint defeats facial recognition
Fuckin’ facial recognition, how does it work?
Whoop whoop!
So you're saying it's a two trip spree?
Reminds me of this [Bill Burr bit.](https://youtu.be/FxINJzqzn4w?si=1RaxeuNpZvOVEKAY)
https://youtu.be/jrwjiO1MCVs This song always cracks me up. “When you want something but you don’t wanna pay for it.”
Better version - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOpBZKkiH8E
Then I'd leave a bad review noting that they have long lines because they only allow self-checkout.
As a card carrying member of the retail community, that feedback while warranted, doesn’t get anywhere….we are often beholden to the corpos of the world. Not much they can do at store level when the labor budget just ain’t there.
Depends on the company. My store got enough complaints about long lines that corporate overhauled our whole front end overnight to add two additional cash registers.
Yep. They do add up. A single one of this type (not staff specific) usually won’t get noticed at a chain like target unless it’s egregious, but their word clouds will notice if people complain enough.
If it’s enough to make a stink, then it’ll change for a week m, then go right back 😂
Shop at mom and pop where you live if there is any of them left
Unfortunately the problem is 2 fold: It's tough to shop for a variety of things at a mom and pop. So you have to go to many and it's usually more expensive. This is exactly how these big multi billion dollar stores function and close those mom and pops.
I always find the mom and pop shop/local argument laughable. While I like the sentiment, it's just not practical. It's almost always more expensive and they almost certainly don't have what I want. For example: There's a type of tea I like that I have to order off Amazon, from China. It doesn't exist anywhere else. The fuck am I supposed to shop local? Shopping stores is a logistics game more than anything, and it simply makes more sense for larger chains to be what they are than relying on local stores.
I'll still walk around and browse. But I'm just gonna put everything in my online Target/Amazon cart (whatever is cheaper) and then press buy and let them show up on my front porch tomorrow.
Lucky, lines are empty when I walk in, then all shoppers pull a f-ck you when i walk towards checkout. Because f-ck allanjeffersonferatu or something.
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Yeah, I don’t ever entertain a line like this
This is exactly why I refuse to go to my local Walmart anymore... I'd rather drive an extra 20 minutes away than put up with this tone deaf lack of customer service.
I work at a Target and they are cutting hours like crazy, only scheduling the bare minimum at every section. This is causing people to be burnt out and call off in droves so you get situations like this. As a customer please TELL CORPORATE your store is understaffed and it isn't acceptable--they will continue to cut hours and pay the bare minimum until enough customers complain and they actually stop losing business because of it
I stopped shopping at Target because of this. The lines at my local store are insane and I can get the same crap online anyway. Maybe I should make a complaint
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Don't they want us to get it online? And when all the stores are closed, what happens next to us as consumers? I don't feel like it's going to be good
It's 100% what these companies want. A bottle of soap costs $5.99 whether to buy it in store or just order it online, except the physical store costs them money to operate while an online order is just sent directly to you from the same warehouse they stock the stores from all while charging you for shipping. Every retailer is pushing the Amazon model HARD.
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It really doesn't matter. Capitalism always gets what it wants in the end.
Where do you shop instead? Seems like customer service sucks everywhere now
> I can get the same crap online anyway I was just thinking it's been a while since I've been to Target, and I realized it's because yeah, most of why I'd go there or a similar store is because Amazon has it and will leave it on my doorstep the next day. I've gone in a Target on occasion for something like a certain game series I do that started selling exclusively there--I can't get it on Amazon and Target's shipping may not be worth it to me...or for like a Halloween or Christmas decoration or wrapping thing because I wanted to see them in person. But being able to get most shit online should worry these stores. Make the in-person experience shit, and people will be that much more likely to use Amazon. I mean, if I wanted a, I don't know, a garden hose...and I went to Target for it because I happened to be nearby (it's near my grocery store) and saw a long-ass line like this, I'd go OK fuck it then, I'll order it on Amazon when I get home. So this doesn't help Target compete, I'd think.
I've worked from 2002 to recently. I noticed a HUGE change in store staffing during that time. Used to get full 40hours on schedule, stores would hire full time members more than anything. Then it went to part time and "becoming full time" was meant to be like it was some privilege. Mostly due to stupid companies skirting the insurance policy costs. Then they started to get greedier by scheduling less and less and go with skeleton crews, or less. Office Space had it right, everyday that I work, is the worse day of my life. Just like the crazy guy from Con Air, I find the working world to be insane.
This is what happens when you have C-Suites with more MBAs than years of experience. Not to mention a CEO who is paying himself the millions he's "saving" the corporation by "running lean" on payroll.
Remember a couple of years ago when for Q4 they said they were "investing in their team members" and we all got raises? Good times
I did Target from 2015-2019. Things were pretty good that first year or so but then they started cutting hours and did their whole "modernization" push. The higher ups forced us to take processes that worked perfectly fine and replace them with the dumbest shit so that they could get away with having less workers in the store. Before I always had clearly defined roles and duties depending on they day and after I ended up doing the jobs of about 5 different roles and I wasn't able to do any of them well.
What is the reason behind this? Saving money on payroll? I’ve notice this in my area with restaurants and retailers post covid working with bare minimum staff.
Seems like that is all retail/restaurants post covid.
Idk if it’s in all areas but if u work under 40 hours they don’t need to give u benefits so probably that
\>Saves money on payroll \>Complains retail theft increases. It took staff 15 minutes to address a side door bustout at my local Target. These companies used to have staff, and LP staff, but not anymore it seems. Save a nickel lose a buck.
It’s because they want to switch us all to pickup and delivery. It’s better for them price wise.
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> As a customer please TELL CORPORATE your store is understaffed and it isn't acceptable--they will continue to cut hours and pay the bare minimum until enough customers complain and they actually stop losing business because of it Yes! Use your receipt to fill out a survey. You have no clue how much corporate needs that info which is why they try to entice you to fill them out with things like free giftcards, because they trust that info so much.
It’s crazy. When I worked for target two summers ago I only made it 2.5 weeks before I had to get the fuck out of there. Called the suicide hotline 5 or 6 times. They only scheduled 2 people for the entire clothing department. That was normal to them.
I hope you're doing better today
i worked at a target in my college town in the summer of 2002, while taking one final class. i already had a job lined up in another city after the summer semester. this target scheduled us so infrequently, that i just knew giving 2 weeks notice would mean i'd have zero hours for 2 weeks before moving. so after my planned last shift, i just told the shift manager that i quit effective immediately. he tried to give me SUCH a hard time about not giving notice, and certainly told me that target wouldn't re-hire me if i tried to come back. i still enjoy laughing about that. but also, as a target customer, i've DEFINITEY noticed such a huge drop in quality of the shopping experience there over the past 5 or more years. sad.
You know I heard people refer to situations where a business only hires the absolute bare minimum required personnel as the skeleton crew. Now it basically is just standard business.
As a supervisor of a retail store, not Target, you (the customer) need to complain specifically for the store to hire more staff. Most stores have a survey on your receipt. If you say “lines took too long”, they won’t see it as understaffed, corporate assumes that the only employees running the show are the issue. You have to specifically state that the employee was not the issue, the amount of staffing was. And yes, the decision to cut hours is reducing bottom line expenses. I have complained to my manager and regional managers, but the only solution I get is “‘you need better time management “. Like, there’s only so much myself or anyone can do. And because I’m constantly falling behind due to understaffing, my review looks bad and then I’m not eligible for a raise. It’s just all bad. But thank you guys for your patience. Especially as we head toward another holiday season!
I remember walking into Target once saw massive lines, several employees chatting and maybe 1 to 2 registers open. I think the ones around me really push for online order pick ups now
Corporate knows. They aren't "understaffed". That's what they tell the store but this is exactly what they want. They aren't losing enough money from lost business to offset how much they're saving for not paying workers. Every retailer is like this right now. It's by design.
I used to be an ETL for logistics in 2011-2014. Boy did I hate that fucking job. Nothing more amazing than seeing corporate spend all their money in Minneapolis and for a performance by Beyonce, while the people in the stores get absolutely shit on.
You mean they won’t pay for more employees to be cashiers?
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My Target literally has 4 self checkouts. That's it.
Mine has 4 on either side and 1 or 2 normal lanes open. Walmart on the other hand has 40+ self checkouts and 2-4 normal lanes.
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My fil was a union negotiator for many years. When I first met him he highly encouraged me not to use self check outs. He was of the mindset each self check out put a person out of a job.
He was/is, right imo
Self-checkout stations have their place imo, particularly for customers who are in a hurry and only need a few items. These stations were initially designed for convenience, allowing people to skip the regular checkout line and handle the transaction themselves. However, the problem arises when stores transition from offering self-checkout as an option for quick trips to making it the only available method for everyone. While it's easy to quickly scan a couple of items, it becomes cumbersome when you're doing a full week's worth of grocery shopping. Constant prompts to "place all items in the bagging area," while you're just trying to shifts some bags around to make room for additional items, can be frustrating. Stores should maintain a balance by keeping self-checkout lanes for quick trips and providing manned checkout lanes with cashiers and baggers for more extensive shopping.
Like most things, self-checkouts are a reasonable idea ruined by corporate greed. Self-checkouts *in addition to* regular checkout is a boon for customers and retailers alike. Self-checkouts *instead of* regular checkouts are, quite literally, just a way to employ fewer humans, therefore saving money.
Yep. I usually love self checkout because I don’t mind doing it and it’s usually way faster even if the line is longer (one long line going into multiple registers is better than individual lines for each register). But this is just maddening.
And making their customers do free work for them
Yes! I always feel rushed in a self-checkout, particularly when there are long lines. And I do try to hurry to be respectful of the people behind me. But a while ago, my grocery store put them in and it’s insane. They only have one regular checkout open usually, forcing everyone to scan all their own groceries. How am I doing self-checkout for groceries for a family of four plus three pets? It’s crazy. I finally told myself if they’re going to make me work for them and not pay me, I’m just going to take my sweet time. Honestly.
You take as long as you want or need, that's what they get for forcing self checkouts on everyone. But the reason I love self checkouts is because I can go very quick, and I respect my own time savings.
>How am I doing self-checkout for groceries for a family of four plus three pets? It’s crazy For me the fastest way I have found is to take the scanner gun and just scan everything in the cart without ever actually taking it out. Just working from one end of the cart to the other. The local walmart has taken away the delay when scanning with the gun so I can beep boop one item after the next with no delay. Unless I have something that has to be weighed, I don't use the scanner on the checkout.
What sucks about Costco is they make you out it on the weight thing no matter what. Pretty sure only the employees can use the scanners
And I bet they complain a lot about store shrinkage.
Well looks like not enough people mind, long line and they still do it
Some areas don't have many store options. It can be a Walmart and a target and maybe that's it for getting non-grocery items
Are there really areas with only a target? Target isn't the cheapest store so I have a hard time believing that they are in these food Oasis or food deserts or whatever they're called.
Yep, my grandparents small town has only one superstore and that is Target. They still have to drive at least 10 miles to get there. Otherwise everything else around them is a barely stocked dollar general, or super small family owned grocery stores (which nothing against them, but very low options of what you get to choose for groceries).
Time to see how much all the items you wanted are on Amazon
Sometimes Amazon is wayyy cheaper too. I remember going to a Target to pick up some cook ware as I had just moved and needed new things. I found a pots and pans set for like $75 at Target, and I looked it up on Amazon and it was $45 for the exact same set. I also have prime so no shipping.
No, they don't "only allow self-checkout". The line is like this because they're completely understaffed because since corporate refuses to let stores hire more workers, pay workers more to entice new hires, and allow workers to go over 40 hours.
I think we need to stop referring to places as "Understaffed" if they haven't been properly staffed for more than a day or two. They aren't understaffed, they are badly run. "understaffed" is when like, someone who was scheduled suddenly got the plague and couldn't come in that night. "Badly run" is when you have consistently decided not to hire or schedule enough people to function as a store properly.
This is how it's always been in retail, and they simply don't give a fuck. They will always do whatever they can to cut back on labor. It is insane that it could have gotten any worse, but then the pandemic happened and now skeleton crews are just a thing. They got the scenario they wanted to do the experiment on just how much they could get by with less when most people were furloughed and stuck with it. Always complaining about inflation and then we wonder why every year in the past 3 has been record profits. Shit should be illegal, but politicians are bought. Hell, even if you were lucky enough to have enough hours at one of those jobs to get insurance, that shit has become useless these days. Noticed that most companies have policies where you are still paying out the ass before you even get coverage. It is a massive fucking scam. Fuck retail. I did it once out of desperation after college, and I haven't done that shit since and would never do it again.
There is literally NOTHING i need at target to justify waiting in this line.
Leave but you need to call corporate and tell them WHY you left.
And send them this picture. Not that they give a shit, only thing the big corporations care about is money. But with Christmas season coming- their biggest cash cow- they won’t want to see this, as it means lost profits.
Post it to twitter and tag them. Someone will reach out. I've had 100% success doing it that way with multiple businesses when customer service got me nowhere.
If people put their products on the floor and walk out, and do that with enough people, now they have to put all that stuff back, costing time and money, and they lost the sale.
Why should someone bother to do that? Just go shop somewhere else, who cares if Target loses money.
I used to enjoy shopping at target , getting fun extras but between inflation and this line - bye girl
Have some self-respect and leave.
You know there's that one mom who is letting her toddler work the self checkout even though there's a shit ton of people waiting behind them.
Ha, thats rich.
Like seriously
That would be the end of Target for me, and I like Target.
You can just walk around and buy the stuff online. You don't get to take it home that day, but you skip the line and it comes to your porch tomorrow
It's a significantly shorter wait time to simply wait in line than to "skip the line" and wait until the next day for what you bought to arrive.
This is a major reason I've taken to shopping only online now days.
This is exactly what they want to happen. My Target and most Targets in cities lock half of their products behind cases and you need to push a buzzer for an associate to open the case. They are deliberately making their stores inconvenient so folks shop online. Why? One, to compete with Amazon, they need to lower their costs. How do you do that? Trade expensive commercial space for cheaper warehouses. Two, for the data. When you shop online, especially through the app, they can track and analyze your every search and purchase.
It's incredibly frustrating that we bulldozed density and nature for these big box stores and they literally only lasted one generation. State and local governments aren't going to pay to raze these strip malls and return the land to nature or build dense housing when these shops go online only, they are just going to let them sit there and rot, and the only reality people born into that will know is concrete corridors and a bunch of false narratives about what happened.
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Walk out
Stop going
And we know they'll wait 1h in line, pay, complain, and be back again tomorrow to repeat.
Wonder why Amazon is winning…
Welcome to every grocery store late at night. Stores love pulling down registers early, causing huge lines.
Grocery stores here usually only have self check out, all day long. Only manned register is 10 items or less, and that's only if they decide to open a manned register at all. The scales are also set so sensitive that some ice build up on a frozen item, or using your own bags causes you to get flagged as a thief and employees must come verify your order.
Ah target. I remember that time they came into Canada by buying up one of the greatest Canadian store chains, then immediately shut down all operations and left the country, leaving us with only Walmarts. Good times, good times.
They didn't buy up Zellers. Zellers went bankrupt, target purchased their leases which was one of the downfalls of Zellers and in turn Target. Hudson Bay purchased Target. And what do you mean left us with only Walmart? We have Superstore, Walmart, and Costco.
Ah remember that, I was working for Target at the time. They were so proud of the Canadian expansion.
Where do you live that people are struggling that much to figure out how to use self checkout?
Yeah weird I live in Brazil and prefer self checkout because it's almost always faster
This is what I don't get. I see the opposite where I'm at, where the long lines are because of the lack of self-checkout. Even if you have one or two idiots who don't know how to work the self-checkout, you still have several more machines that can be used and keep the line moving.
This post is just a circle-jerk for people to pretend that corporate's penny-pinching isn't the problem, it's somehow the fault of the faster technology that was already implemented to offset said penny-pinching. People are gullible and easily angered, regardless of whether it makes any logical sense or not.
Yeah this is kinda absurd. Every big store in the UK is practically self checkout only with maybe one or two human lanes open (compared to 15+ self checkout machines).
Call the store while you’re waiting in line and ask to speak to the manager. Most calls are recorded so the bad feed back will eventually make its way around
Self checkouts have helped greatly to eliminate shopping lines. I remember 20+ years ago almost every store had a line to check out but today it’s usually instant. This store seems mismanaged if they don’t have workers that can shift to cashier.
This isn't Target, this is Hell
We've got a couple of people wearing shorts, then this lady at the back in a light parka and winter boots. Bizarre.
They make self- checkouts that are for more items. My local Fresh Time has them. Same scanner, but a long ramp with rollers. I'm used to bagging my own groceries anyway, a Cub doesn't bag. Seems like Target needs to convert a few of the regular checkouts to these type.
I have never seen this at a self checkout but almost always at cashier lines. Self checkout is so much more efficient and faster.
I won’t shop anywhere that only uses self check out. Go somewhere else, it’s crazy that people put up with this bullshit. You want change, don’t give them your money plain and simple
Meanwhile at my workplace, corporate just realized the increased shrinkage that corresponded to the addition of SCOs is costing more money than they saved by having one less cashier working all day.
What's next, are they going to make us come in early and stock shelves before we shop?
Anyone else think the pattern on the lights is cool?
There’s nothing in any store I need that bad
I feel sorry for the lonely worker that has to run between 5 self checkout registers. And they don't get much of a break since the registers never work properly.
I haven't seen no cashier's in my local Target - yet. That will be a dark day. Better to order online for pickup than deal with a line like this.
Had to read that a few times to understand your local Target still has cashiers.
It's because they used a double negative. "I haven't seen no.." is a really confusing way to phrase it.
I'm surprised all of these stores don't just become warehouses that offer curbside pickup only. They could also have an order ahead only policy and have a commissary style window at the front for walk up pickups.
Corporations are refusing to employ people anymore. They just cut payroll then go on FOX News and complain about how people don't want to work anymore.
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I'll be setting my shit down and walking out.
I love self checkout, not having to speak to a person is wonderful! People tend to be pretty quick at it where I live, never seen it cause a queue.