{"id":7068,"date":"2024-04-28T07:40:28","date_gmt":"2024-04-28T11:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=7068"},"modified":"2024-04-28T07:40:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-28T11:40:28","slug":"lowest-common-denominator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2024\/04\/28\/lowest-common-denominator\/","title":{"rendered":"Lowest Common Denominator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s Sunday – but this isn’t really a “Sunday Story” – more of a Sunday “rant”!!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shrinkage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In some Walmart stores across the nation, they are removing the self-checkout aisles, and replacing them with \u2013 wait for it \u2013 cashiers!\u00a0\u00a0Walmart says they are doing so to \u201cimprove the customer experience\u201d, but in reality, it\u2019s all about \u201cshrinkage\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0What\u2019s \u201cshrinkage\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0(Fellas, it’s not the cold water situation<\/em>).\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s product that leaves the store without payment,\u00a0\u00a0in other words, theft.\u00a0\u00a0Stores like Walmart estimate it\u2019s as much as twenty percent of the merchandise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walmart cut costs by installing self-checkout lines. The “customer experience” was to unload, scan, and bag your own purchases. Then, as you’d leave the store, someone would check your cart against the printed receipt, in case, (of course) you made a mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always been willing to bag my own groceries.\u00a0 If my local grocery store is slammed, I\u2019m willing to volunteer and \u201cpitch-in\u201d to help out and speed things up.\u00a0\u00a0The only thing to \u201cscrew up\u201d in bagging, is putting the eggs or the chips in the wrong place or the wrong bag.\u00a0\u00a0And, if I do, that\u2019s on me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I\u2019m not interested in protecting the profit of my local Kroger, or Walmart, or their discount store, Sam\u2019s Club.  I am not a thief.  There were several times when I got my cart to the car, and realized that the cashier missed an item, say, the case of water on the bottom.  I not taking something I didn\u2019t pay for.  So I go back in the store, to the front desk, and pay for what I purchased.  That, often, causes some confusion to the \u201cmanagement personnel\u201d.  That\u2019s sad; it shouldn\u2019t be a \u201csurprise\u201d that people are honest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this whole concept of a nice, older lady at the front door checking my cart against my receipt says one thing to me \u2013 I\u2019m a thief, that needs to be observed, and checked, and \u201ccaught\u201d.  And I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fix Their Problem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I know, I know, it\u2019s the theory of the lowest common denominator. (If that didn\u2019t give you a flashback to eighth grade math with a not-nice, older lady named Mrs. Hibbard, you missed out on \u201cMath Block Development\u201d at Van Buren Junior High School).  <\/em> The \u201clowest common denominator\u201d customer at Walmart or Sam\u2019s Club is stealing stuff, I guess.  My answer is:  fix their problem, not mine.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s like the seventh grade teacher who punishes the whole class because two boys are shooting \u201ctweeties\u201d in the back.\u00a0\u00a0(Tweeties:\u00a0\u00a0that requires a rubber band and a tightly folded piece of paper.\u00a0\u00a0The paper is in a \u201cv\u201d, with the rubber band placed in the \u201cv\u201d and shot at the target.\u00a0\u00a0They hurt!!)\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>It\u2019s not the kid in the front row\u2019s fault that the \u201cboys in the back\u201d are out of control.\u00a0\u00a0Teacher, control those kids, don\u2019t punish the whole class!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Walmart will, by making everyone go through a cashiered line.\u00a0\u00a0Actually,\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m all in favor of that.\u00a0\u00a0Cashiered lines require people to be cashiers. That requires more employees at Walmart, creating jobs.\u00a0\u00a0And all of that\u2019s a good thing.\u00a0\u00a0But I\u2019m not convinced that\u2019s what will happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employee Opportunities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Walmart won\u2019t hire more people. Instead, Walmart will create more lines of waiting customers, blaming it on \u201cshrinkage\u201d rather than \u201ctight-wad-age\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And so we will be stacked up, across the broad main aisle and into the women\u2019s clothing department, between the bras and the goofy T-shirts.\u00a0\u00a0Dodging those lines was the only advantage to self-checkout. \u00a0And now that won\u2019t be an option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here in Pataskala, our local Kroger store created a \u201chybrid\u201d checkout line.\u00a0\u00a0 in the regular cashier checkout, the customer unpacks the cart onto a conveyor.\u00a0\u00a0The cashier then enters the price of each item, either manually and through a barcode reading device.\u00a0\u00a0The item them is pushed down to a bagger, who bags it, then sets the groceries in a cart.\u00a0\u00a0That line is where all the folks \u201cmy age\u201d (well past retirement) congregate.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s others doing the work, there\u2019s conversations with the cashier and the bagger, and there\u2019s direction if some electronic device comes up \u201cERROR\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Self-checkout is all \u201cdo it yourself\u201d.  You unpack, you scan or enter; you bag, and you put it back in the cart.  Oh, and don\u2019t forget to pay!!  But with this odd \u201chybrid\u201d checkout, you unpack, enter and scan, then conveyor to a \u201cprofessional\u201d bagger (usually a high school kid) who bags and packs.  I guess the \u201cprofessional\u201d serves as the \u201cshrinkage control officer\u201d, making sure everything gets scanned in.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hybrids<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Why have a \u201chybrid\u201d that makes the customer do all of the important work?  Because it a Kroger cost-saving measure; they don\u2019t have to staff a cashier, just a kid fresh from a present-day Mrs. Hibbard\u2019s math class. There\u2019s no weighing, measuring, entering, calculating for them:  just put the eggs in a separate bag on top.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My problem with hybrid?\u00a0\u00a0The high school kid is always trying to bag two hybrid lines at the same time.\u00a0\u00a0So he (usually) isn\u2019t there. That means I\u2019m unpacking, I\u2019m scanning, I\u2019m conveying, and I\u2019m running to the other end to bag too.\u00a0\u00a0And with all that going on, I\u2019m at the \u201cwrong end of the horse\u201d when I get done.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s easy to start to walk away \u2013 without paying.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cLuckily\u201d the scanning machine goes off like a grand-prize winner at the casino if you don\u2019t pay out fast.\u00a0\u00a0That way the entire Kroger, in fact, the entire City of Pataskala is made aware \u2013 \u201cpotential \u2018thief\u2019 at hybrid checkout twelve!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look, inflation is real in the Walmart\u2019s and Kroger\u2019s of the world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But Walmart had an annual gross profit of over $147 billion last year, and Kroger almost $38 billion, both up from the year before.\u00a0\u00a0I bet they can find a few more smart high school (non-math block) kids to \u201ccashier\u201d the lines, and not put much of a dent in the profit margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whatever they do, I hope that stop treating me like I\u2019m a thief.  Don\u2019t make me like the \u201clowest common denominator\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday Story Series<\/h5>\n\n\n\n