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Our very busy supermarket just installed Walmart type bagging carousels at half our human check out lanes. And its definitely not for customer service, they suck, the lines are backing up worse than ever(and theres fewer people up front to help with anything that pops up). But it cuts down on front end labor needs since it eliminates baggers. The front end employees are usually the worst paid, but they also by far consume the most hours , and our company has clearly decided on the "chase profit by cutting payrol" strategy, which is honestly a pretty loving dumb strategy for a company to shift to a century into its existence when 1. Its angering all your customers because this isnt what they expect, and 2. You have huge payroll obligations to all the older employees already from when it was a good place to work
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# ? May 11, 2017 01:56 |
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# ? May 11, 2024 16:19 |
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El Mero Mero posted:The current hope is that machine learning algorithms + a camera will replace scanning - at which point you can just point a camera at a thing and product match it. If they can get that working you could ditch the checkout counter entirely. The current hope actually is apps where you scan the goods as you place them in your cart and checkout is done automatically. It actually works great, and in test markets the end users rate it very highly. Of course, I have no clue how they handle shoplifting. And from the little I've read on it I assume the answer at the moment they don't. Chuu fucked around with this message at 07:05 on May 11, 2017 |
# ? May 11, 2017 07:02 |
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Chuu posted:The current hope actually is apps where you scan the goods as you place them in your cart and checkout is done automatically. It actually works great, and in test markets the end users rate it very highly. I could see the endgame in which stores become massive vending machines instead of stocking shelves. Hell there's a place near my house where you could do that with cars: halokiller fucked around with this message at 15:59 on May 11, 2017 |
# ? May 11, 2017 10:50 |
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Chuu posted:The current hope actually is apps where you scan the goods as you place them in your cart and checkout is done automatically. It actually works great, and in test markets the end users rate it very highly. This would be great, especially for people on a budget. You know exactly how much you're spending instead of either trying to track it in your head, or finding out at the checkout and then having to take items out. Although I wonder if this would lead to people gradually buying less, even for those not on a strict budget, as they know exactly how much they're spending, and deciding maybe they've spent too much. I imagine shoplifting would have to be prevented in the same way it always is. Staff on the floor watching people. You're still going to need staff for stocking and answering questions. Do they have bags up front at these stores for when you're all done? That's another point where someone can be double checking what is being paid for what is in the cart.
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# ? May 11, 2017 14:09 |
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Amused to Death posted:Our very busy supermarket just installed Walmart type bagging carousels at half our human check out lanes. And its definitely not for customer service, they suck, the lines are backing up worse than ever(and theres fewer people up front to help with anything that pops up). But it cuts down on front end labor needs since it eliminates baggers. The front end employees are usually the worst paid, but they also by far consume the most hours There are two quick ways to generate more revenue for a quarter, the first way which anyone should try to do is to optimize your pricing. Charge more for goods that are in demand. The second is to start "trimming the fat". Start cutting hours and personnel, start cutting expenses. The second bleeds your employees rather than your customers, but what most don't realize you will enter a death spiral once you start cutting yourself too much. Or they do realize and they will jump ship once it starts sinking.
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# ? May 11, 2017 14:13 |
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Bleeding the employees soon enough bleeds customer service, so the customer pays in the end.
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# ? May 11, 2017 14:39 |
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It's been years since I stepped foot in one but Sainsbury's in the UK used to have a system where you'd scan your store card at a kiosk near the entrance to pair it with one of the handheld scanners on a wall. You could then put the scanner in a holster in your cart and walk around scanning things as you go, packing them into bags/boxes in your cart. When you're done shopping you hand your scanner to one of the checkout people, pay and walk out to your car. Occasionally you'd get flagged for a random check and they'd have to unpack the cart and put everything through manually. Seemed to work pretty well. No idea if they're still doing it but it was a fantastic system, they probably have a phone app these days.
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# ? May 11, 2017 16:33 |
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ozmunkeh posted:It's been years since I stepped foot in one but Sainsbury's in the UK used to have a system where you'd scan your store card at a kiosk near the entrance to pair it with one of the handheld scanners on a wall. You could then put the scanner in a holster in your cart and walk around scanning things as you go, packing them into bags/boxes in your cart. When you're done shopping you hand your scanner to one of the checkout people, pay and walk out to your car. Occasionally you'd get flagged for a random check and they'd have to unpack the cart and put everything through manually. Seemed to work pretty well. No idea if they're still doing it but it was a fantastic system, they probably have a phone app these days. Yeah these are all over the place in the US too. Most people don't seem to want to bother with them though.
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# ? May 11, 2017 16:45 |
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So is there any differentiation between these clothing stores because they all seem to be selling the same poo poo. Is it just me or has all clothing trends/fashion kind of blended together now? All I see at these stores are the kind of festival look for girls and plaid shirts and jeans for men.
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# ? May 11, 2017 16:47 |
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fishmech posted:Yeah these are all over the place in the US too. Most people don't seem to want to bother with them though. I've seen employees at Costco use these during the weekends to move down the long checkout lines and scan cartfuls of stuff.
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# ? May 11, 2017 16:54 |
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fishmech posted:Yeah these are all over the place in the US too. Most people don't seem to want to bother with them though. I've never seen them, but I do live in a badstate so there's that. Pretty much all of the self checkout options I've used in various stores here have you scan the item then put it on the scale because you're probably a thief. Don't dally or an alarm will sound. Trying to buy a bulky item that won't fit on the scale? gently caress you.
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# ? May 11, 2017 16:58 |
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ozmunkeh posted:I've never seen them, but I do live in a badstate so there's that. Pretty much all of the self checkout options I've used in various stores here have you scan the item then put it on the scale because you're probably a thief. Don't dally or an alarm will sound. Trying to buy a bulky item that won't fit on the scale? gently caress you. Home Depot is the worst for this. Never use the self-checkout there.
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# ? May 11, 2017 17:20 |
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ColoradoCleric posted:So is there any differentiation between these clothing stores because they all seem to be selling the same poo poo. Is it just me or has all clothing trends/fashion kind of blended together now? All I see at these stores are the kind of festival look for girls and plaid shirts and jeans for men. I mean I feel like part of this is that men's everyday fashion is really pretty narrow. Do you want to be acceptable at work? Jeans or chinos. Long sleeve button down, short sleeve button down, MAYBE a Henley or tee depending on how casual you are. The general form factor of everyday menswear is pretty limiting unless you're getting experimental and out there. A lot of differentiation in men's style at the mall store level that I've seen is fairly subtle poo poo dealing primarily with texture. Banana Republic does a lot of super smooth business casual textures while JCrew does more slubby heritage inspired stuff, etc.
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# ? May 11, 2017 19:32 |
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http://www.businessinsider.com/macys-might-shut-down-more-stores-2017-5 Looks like Macy's will close mode stores. Stock down 17% and most retail stocks are down. http://www.businessinsider.com/macys-is-copying-tj-maxx-2017-5?utm_content=more-from-links&utm_source=www.businessinsider.com Also looks like Macy's plans to go from a department store to a discount store like TJ Maxx and Nordstrom.
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# ? May 11, 2017 22:39 |
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OhFunny posted:http://www.businessinsider.com/macys-might-shut-down-more-stores-2017-5 Hmm, we are going to need more department stores to provide stock for discount stores. Someone get on that.
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# ? May 11, 2017 23:05 |
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The only retail left will be anything that can find an excuse to include grocery items.
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# ? May 11, 2017 23:12 |
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OhFunny posted:http://www.businessinsider.com/macys-might-shut-down-more-stores-2017-5 They aren't turning into TJ Maxx, they're copying Nordstrom & Nordstrom Rack. I don't understand it, inventories are already pretty low in main stores and it keeps people out of your main stores. If your clearance is in your store, there's a chance shoppers will mix price points. Dumb and short sighted like every decision for the past 10 years.
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# ? May 12, 2017 01:58 |
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“We don’t need more customers. We have all the customers we could possibly want.” Peak retail CEO.
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# ? May 12, 2017 01:59 |
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Eddie Lampert is a methodical, long term performance art piece.
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# ? May 12, 2017 02:32 |
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Horseshoe theory posted:“We don’t need more customers. We have all the customers we could possibly want.” Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances.
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# ? May 12, 2017 02:34 |
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quote:According to Reuters, vendors are now limiting how much they sell to Sears and are no longer extending credit to the retailer. Gonna be hard to run a retail chain with no products and no customers.
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# ? May 12, 2017 02:56 |
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Gonna be hard to run a retail chain with no products and no customers. That's a knife through Sears' failing heart.
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# ? May 12, 2017 03:49 |
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incoherent posted:Eddie Lampert is a methodical, long term performance art piece. It will be called "Death of a salesman."
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# ? May 12, 2017 04:05 |
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fishmech posted:Yeah these are all over the place in the US too. Most people don't seem to want to bother with them though. My wife liked them but I couldn't stand it and accidentally shoplifted tons of stuff when when using it.
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# ? May 12, 2017 04:12 |
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fishmech posted:Yeah these are all over the place in the US too. Most people don't seem to want to bother with them though. The Sam's Club near me lets you do this, but with your phone instead of a handheld scanner. I haven't bothered and I don't know how popular it is, but there always seem to be a few people shopping that way on the rare occasion that I'm in Sam's Club.
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# ? May 12, 2017 05:10 |
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Gonna be hard to run a retail chain with no products and no customers. This is when Sears borrows from Russian oligarchs who years from now will blackmail it into running for president in a wacky scheme
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# ? May 12, 2017 05:21 |
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Horseshoe theory posted:“We don’t need more customers. We have all the customers we could possibly want.” Sears dying because they quadrupled down on lovely Ayn Randian backstabbing is just absolutely wonderful edit: anyone have that article where it details how it does insane things like pit different store departments against each other so you get things like automotive fouling up the stock of electronics which has booby-trapped the clothing department? axeil fucked around with this message at 17:08 on May 12, 2017 |
# ? May 12, 2017 17:04 |
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axeil posted:Sears dying because they quadrupled down on lovely Ayn Randian backstabbing is just absolutely wonderful Someone get Matt Ruff to turn it into a satirical novel.
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# ? May 12, 2017 17:09 |
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http://www.salon.com/2013/12/10/ayn_rand_loving_ceo_destroys_his_empire_partner/
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# ? May 12, 2017 17:21 |
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axeil posted:Sears dying because they quadrupled down on lovely Ayn Randian backstabbing is just absolutely wonderful It is hosed up to think that if Sears wasn't run by this douchebag they would be Turbo-Amazon right now.
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# ? May 12, 2017 17:27 |
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Xae posted:It is hosed up to think that if Sears wasn't run by this douchebag they would be Turbo-Amazon right now. Well I doubt that. He wasn't involved before the mid 2000s in any meaningful sense. And their online presence beforehand, while perfectly competent, simply was not on an Amazon level.
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# ? May 12, 2017 17:35 |
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OhFunny posted:http://www.businessinsider.com/macys-might-shut-down-more-stores-2017-5 Ahh, that sucks. I love going to the Macy's near me, which is their second busiest store next to their flagship down in the city. They actually have nice stuff there at a good price. There are Marshalls, Homegoods and TJ Maxx all over the loving place here, too.
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# ? May 12, 2017 17:45 |
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Xae posted:It is hosed up to think that if Sears wasn't run by this douchebag they would be Turbo-Amazon right now. It's like this article only with Marxism ctrl+f'd for "Randism" and "business" instead of "apartment" http://www.theonion.com/article/marxists-apartment-a-microcosm-of-why-marxism-does-1382
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# ? May 12, 2017 18:00 |
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With how big Amazon has become, I wonder when tbe Amazon corporation/Wonder woman crossover marketing campaign is going to occour.
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# ? May 12, 2017 23:26 |
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JC Penney is doing just fine, folks.
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# ? May 12, 2017 23:37 |
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http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21721900-love-affair-shopping-has-gone-online-decline-established-american-retailingquote:The picture for debt is equally muddy. Bank of America is unusual in that it discloses its exposure to retailing: about $50bn, equivalent to more than a quarter of its core capital. No comprehensive tally of retailing-property debt exists. According to Morgan Stanley, most loans last year came from regional banks, commercial mortgage-backed securities (bonds backed by cash flows from commercial property), national banks and insurers. The Economist’s examination of data from Bloomberg, the Mortgage Bankers Association and TreppAnalytics, a firm which tracks commercial mortgage-backed securities, suggests that the combined debt of retailing companies and retailing property is roughly $1trn. However the market’s opacity means that the impact of any losses is hard to predict. One hand I'm sure everyone can see how brick and mortar is in decline and not in "housing will never fall" mind set that led to a crisis and recession. On other hand we have no way to predict the losses on a financial sector holding $1 trillion debt in a declining sector. A mean the difference is there's collateral right? A home falling under it's mortgage value meant banks were taking losses. That shouldn't play out if say Sears goes under since it's stores and assets can cover it's debts?
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# ? May 15, 2017 03:56 |
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OhFunny posted:http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21721900-love-affair-shopping-has-gone-online-decline-established-american-retailing The stores and assets aren't guaranteed to cover debts anytime soon. A lot of the property isn't going to be bought up soon if ever, and the other assets are likely to be sold off before actually bankruptcy. Several Sears brands were already sold.
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# ? May 15, 2017 04:16 |
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fishmech posted:The stores and assets aren't guaranteed to cover debts anytime soon. A lot of the property isn't going to be bought up soon if ever, and the other assets are likely to be sold off before actually bankruptcy. Several Sears brands were already sold. Add to that Eddie lampshadeface managed to move a lot of the property that WAS valuable to another company. I don't know how he won't be sued for that poo poo
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# ? May 15, 2017 06:07 |
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incoherent posted:Add to that Eddie lampshadeface managed to move a lot of the property that WAS valuable to another company. Delaware race to the bottom etc.
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# ? May 15, 2017 07:08 |
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# ? May 11, 2024 16:19 |
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How is Searsguy still CEO? If he's so obviously incompetent, why hasn't the board removed him?
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# ? May 15, 2017 07:27 |