what do I know?
Let me explain. If you go to a drive through restaurant or coffee shop, you generally see a timer on the wall. The employee's are expected to get each order out and the customer through the drive through within a certain time. I am sure many of you are familiar with this?
I went to the grocery store on Saturday morning, which is unusual for me, as I tend to avoid stores on the weekend. Anyhow, this is a Zehrs store, which are overseen by Loblaws, which is one of the major grocery retailers here in Canada.
Fast forward to checking out, and there was a guy in front of me, who was taking advantage of some deals, exclusively posted on the store's Facebook page. I sighed when I saw this as none of the cashiers have any idea how to put these deals in the system. And this cashier true to form had no idea, anyhow, I told the cashier to call over the superviser, as there were two of them standing talking a little down the way. They ignored her, so I called the supervisor over. She had no choice but to walk on over now, and I guess she sucked on a lemon on the way over by the expression on her face...LOL Anyhow got everything sorted out with that and the poor guy went on his merry way, and the supervisor went and sucked on some more lemons!!
Then it was my turn and I was chatting away with the cashier and she started telling me about how the till times each transaction now. They are expected to get people's orders through in a certain time. They are made to sign some paperwork about this. Another cashier came over to talk to me as well about it, as I was in disbelief about this. I even asked, "What just like a drive through?" They said yes. What is you have coupons? What if you have a huge order? What if an item is priced wrong? What like the guy in front of me who had the Facebook pricing and no one knows how to ring in those items?
My "surrogate daughter," worked for Loblaws, so I was telling her this story and she said honestly she's not surprised. She was saying that none of the higher end Loblaws brick and mortar stores any making any money. The online ordering and delivery's are making money. They are building more "lower prices," grocery stores, like No Frills, Independent, etc, as folk are shopping there more. They are trying to reduce costs when ever they can.
Now I can almost guarantee if this chain of stores is doing this, the rest will follow suit. It must be so demoralizing for the staff who are not that well paid to now have to make sure they keep to a strict timetable when putting people's orders through.
Thoughts?
9 comments:
I shop when it is quiet. I put the items in order on the conveyer belt and have the bags and my payment ready. Aldi staff used to rush the items through the till, you were expected to dump them back in the trolley and then move to a packing area to sort them into bags. One stupid man rushed me so much that items were piling up in the small space and falling on the floor and the milk burst! They have a lot of self service tills now.
Aldi cashiers had to serve people as quickly as possible and I know when I worked in a supermarket when scanning was first introduced you were timed and there was a 'league table' in the canteen which listed the fastest scanners, so I don't think this is a new thing, not here anyway
Reminds me we were in a bank branch recently, the head office branch, no less. We had an online issue, otherwise we would NEVER be in a branch. The call centre was no use, as you can imagine, it was outsourced. Anyway, this poor teller tried to help us for 45 minutes. Not once, did a senior person, manager, supervisor, whatever, walk over to ask if they could help her. I can't imagine, as a supervisor, that you wouldn't find it odd that a teller had the same customer for 45 minutes??? I realize, I should have escalated, but didn't want to make her feel bad. Wrong, I know.
Just another way for them to justify automating processes and make more money and rip-off Canadians. I rarely shop with them, Galen Weston and his family are truly robbing us all.
It is my understanding that many supermarkets and even smaller local stores here in the UK set times for their cashiers to serve customers.
All the best Jan
Wow, how very strange. Like you say what if someone has a huge order or there is a problem entering everything.
God bless.
I shop mostly at my local No Frills and have never seen anything like this but don't doubt that it is coming. Not a lot of people know this but Loblaw staff, even pt are unionized and this is the average salary:
Cashiers at Loblaw in Canada generally earn an average hourly wage of approximately $18.00–$18.23 per hour, with rates often ranging between $14.00 and $27.00 depending on experience, location, and specific banner. In Ontario, specifically, the average cashier pay is roughly $18.23 per hour as of early 2026. Sp just over minimum wage with most positions being part-time. Not an easy job with being on your feet most of the time.
I worked in a supermarket (as a bookkeeper for a few years) and we didn't time how many customers the cashiers got through in an hour, but we did have a report each week about how many items were scanned a minute. There was no 'punishment' if people were slow, but customers do complain so higher items per minute were encouraged. I worked as a cashier too and I was able to scan and talk at the same time lol. Most people want to get in and out as quick as they can!
I try to shop in the early morning. And I am buying more from a corner grocer which has comparable prices.
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