A lot of people, mostly elderly, do not want anything to do with computers, electronics, or anything with a bar code or has digital numbers lit up.
They feel human contact is more reliable. I agree on some occasions I had rather explain my needs to a human than narrowing down my wants on a touch-tone phone by touching numbers – first let get your language out of the way, press 1 for English, 2 for Spanish., 3 for Gitchi.
A friend, who is married to a Pilipino, thought his grocery bill was higher than usual the other day and compared the cash registered ticket-tape to all the items they bought. All the bar coded items checked out. He found they were charged $15.03 for one taro root (Asian sweet potato), which was listed as $6.99 a pound instead of the .69 a pound it was suppose to be. That was a human error. He got his refund.
At Krogers the same day he overpaid for the taro root when my stuff was being rung up at Krogers the lady before me came back with her ticker-tape receipt saying something was suppose to be buy one and get one free and it didn’t ring up that way. The cashier told her to take her receipt over to the Customer Service counter and get a refund. And somebody over heard her behind her waiting on the cashier of the next lane and said that is exactly why she was waiting, so she turned around and went to the Customer Service counter too.
The cashier said that was about the 4th or 5th complaint she had in about an hour. She said some stock person made the mistake of putting “Buy One and Get One Free” sign at the wrong product, and naturally people bought the wrong product thinking they would get one free, which they are, if they go through the service counter. She cashier said it seemed it would be easier and cheaper to just go back and move the sign to the product it should be at.
But they didn’t.
We will count that not as human error but as human laziness.
12 comments:
Reminds me of the $9 bell pepper I once bought at Kroger. I'm used to paying a little more for organic.......geeez!
I noticed Bell peppers are getting expensive, but 9 bucks?
And you didn't even get S&H Green Stamps for your purchase. tch tch.
That just proves how carefully we ought to check our grocery tickets - as well as other ones, too. I always look over mine, but sometimes I am not as careful as I should be.
Kenju, I always thought of my parents as "penny pinchers" and was embarrassed when they double checked their receipt or even used coupons. What a convenience of youth when you don't have to pay the bills! ;-)
Now, I use coupons and double check my receipts.
Judy,
I know I am not very careful at checking out the grocery ticket. Anna watches the ringing-up like a hawk.
Button,
To stretch your dollar coupons sure come in handy. The price of your item has been jacked up to cover it case you are using a coupon, so you might as well get some of the jack-up price back.
This is why I always do the self-checkout line. It's like driving a stick; hands on makes you pay closer attention to the process.
Michael,
I like to ring my own up too, but where I shop that is for people with 15 items or less.
Do they still make green stamps? Momma used to get those and I would help her put them in books. I remember we took them somehwhere once and got a toaster or something. I was maybe....6 years old---1971 or so....
Bird (my wife) is always checking the reciepts...its a smart thing to do.
The thing that i DONT like about the self check out line is buying non-bar code stuff can bring it to a screeching halt. The again, with some of the nitwits here at INGLEs in the hills, i would rather deal with a scanner than a human.
Steve,
I don't think they make S&H Green Stamps. They did at least up to about 1968 - I remember Anna and I visiting a S&H store.
As far as bar codes at the automatic checkout - it is all according to my mood at the moment, if I want to get out of there as quit as possible paying an accurate amount I will use the auto-thing if I have under 15 items... but if the cashier looks like an interesting person, I might want to interact a tad.
I admit there have been times when i have left fresh stuff on the shelf so i could get out faster. Its pretty pathetic, buying salty canned stuff instead of fresh stuff to save 5 minutes...
I always seem to be in a rush were, as Sherlock Holmes would say: "Time is an essence!"
Why? I enjoy myself and my environment if I just slow down and enjoy the things around me and that goes for cooking too.
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