Hannaford has made corporate decisions that play out in strange ways at the checkout aisle.
Having shopped for nearly half a century (and with a grandfather in the grocery business), when I’m ready to check out I put my groceries on the belt in easy bagging order. Heavy things, cans, bottles, and boxes go first, then the smaller, lighter things such as parsley or garlic. A cashier could simply scan and pop it into the bag. We worked as a team to keep things moving along.
Not too long ago, I realized cashiers were scanning and piling all groceries to the other side without bagging anything. Only after all items had been scanned would any bagging occur. It was taking almost twice as long.
Efficiency
The reason, ironically, turns out to be an effort by Hannaford management to be more efficient. Hannaford, according to employees I’ve spoken with, began to evaluate the time it takes each cashier to scan your groceries. Each cashier has a required number of scans per minute.
The scanning time starts with the first item and ends with the last item. If your times are too long and you are going too slowly, you’ll need to improve those numbers or face the consequences. Your work hours could be reduced, or you could find yourself out of a job.
This encourages employees to scan groceries more quickly, and in that minor goal it likely succeeds.
The problem is that while scanning speeds are probably up, the overall checkout times seem to be slowing down.
The Wait
Cashiers now stand and wait until a significant number of items are on the belt before they begin. This makes sense if the clock is running. If they start scanning, but I’m slow taking things out of my basket, they would be penalized. To avoid it, they wait, even if I’m quick enough to keep up with them.
As a result, cashiers no longer bag groceries as they scan. They scan grocery items and quickly pile them near the bags. This again makes sense if you are a cashier being timed. Any time “wasted” by bagging will count against their scanning time.
Of course, this again wastes the time of the store and the customer. Rather than one fluid motion of scanning and bagging, a customer waits once while items are scanned and a second time while items are then bagged.
And helpful baggers are being phased out. Cashier job descriptions have been changed to include bagging and retrieving carts.
95 on Three
A third possible wait time is being 95’d.
Cashiers who need to scan beer or wine are not trusted to check a customer ID like employees at other businesses. Hannaford cashiers have special store rules that they must announce “95” into a microphone and broadcast to the store that a customer is buying liquor in their lane. Then the customer and cashier wait while another store employee walks over, stares at the customer, then approves the purchase.
There’s really no good explanation why someone over 60 needs to be 95’d. There’s barely a good explanation for why anyone over 30 needs to be. This all comes down to the store not trusting and training those they hire.
Fixing the Problems
I’m all for efficiency , but this isn’t it.
Here are my suggestions to improve things in the checkout lanes at Hannaford:
1. Stop using scanning times to evaluate cashiers. Instead, look at the time a customer spends in a checkout lane from start to finish. Looking at the just the scanning time is producing an unintended slowdown in your system.
2. Looking at the total time in lane would allow cashiers to start their work immediately and scan and bag in a single motion as before. This will save time for the store and customers.
3. Get rid of the “95” system. You need to trust the people you hire to check IDs. Stopping and announcing a purchase into a microphone is weird and probably uncomfortable for many customers, especially the majority who are over 30 and are in the store on a regular basis. Adopt a standard policy of training cashiers to check ID’s for everyone under a certain age, and fire them if they break the law. Stop penalizing clearly legally-aged, law-abiding customers for management’s lack of trust in those they hire.
4. Limit the number of managers hovering about. Often there are managers standing around near the check out lanes, chatting with one another and sometimes telling customers (with up to 40 items or half a cart) to go to the Express Checkout lanes. They are also available for the continual 95 checking. These managers could be much more useful by opening up another lane, or helping with bagging.
….
Hannaford could do well to concentrate less on “catching” employees and more on pleasing shoppers. This generally good store is losing focus, which is impacting customer service and probably sales. It’s easier to go somewhere without hassles, even if they are small ones.
Bagging
Back in the days of paper bags and hand carrying, bagging was practical, almost scientific. Heavy stuff on the bottom, lighter stuff on top, and the whole thing solid enough to pick up. (They still do it this way at the coop).
Now, they just throw the stuff in a plastic bag with handles. No order. You leave with a half dozen or more bags strung on your arms.
95 on Three
I was in Price Chopper last week with a 78 year young woman. She bought a six pack. The clerk wanted to see a picture ID. The woman is blind, and has no driver license. I don’t think she had been carded in recent memory.
I offered my DL as proof. They had to call a manager to approve it.
And, now for some good news
Again, Price Chopper
My friend left a 5 pound hunk of Corned Beef at the Czech-out. When she returned, several hours later, they had been holding it for her..
My Favorite...
I love it when I see the baggers put a plastic bag of potatoes in a plastic bag, or a half-gallon of milk in a plastic jug with a handle.
Like, why would you put a plastic bag in a plastic bag?
Because, like...
Many shoppers prefer to have everything bagged. Some want to make it from their parking spot to the house in one trip. Others have flights of stairs to deal with and having such items bagged makes it easier – one hand on the railing for stability, bags in the other. Some ask for such items to be bagged as they reuse the bags for clearing out the kitty litter. If you don’t want such items bagged, just mention it to the cashier.
Fixing the Problems
The Financial Doctor is in. This is how you fix this problem. Go to Price Chopper in Keene. All of the checkout lines have baggers or you can use the self checkout lines where you bag your own groceries that are very fast. The products in the Keene Store are far more plentiful and cleaner than in Brattleboro with a greater variety. They are also fresher because the Keene store turns more inventory in one day than the Brattleboro Price Chopper turns in one week.
In the Keene store there is no sales tax on pet food, household goods, paper products, etc. There is no sales tax on beer and on average 95% of the soft drinks and alcohol sold in the Keene store have the Vermont $.05 or $.10 deposit stamp on them which allows you to return them in Vermont and make an easy 100% profit.
Depending on how much you purchase, you will receive a discount on Sunoco Gas. You then fill up in Keene at the Sunoco Station two intersections from Price Chopper that totally SCREWS the spend and tax legislators from Brattleboro out of their ever increasing state gas tax.
Because the Keene Price Chopper is within visual distance of the NH State Police Barracks, the parking lot at night is not intimidating. The only incident I’m aware of that occurred in the area was two years ago when a whack job from Brattleboro tried to run down a NH State Trooper near the Price Chopper who discharged her firearm multiple times at him. Unfortunately for Brattleboro, she was a lousy shot.
ha ha ha
I never fail to experience a huge belly laugh at your commentary, RLElkins! Thanks!
The Fix is in
So, let’s see – if you spend much of your money in sales-tax free New Hampshire, then you are creating and/or supporting jobs over there where there are more people and thus more need for service workers. Oh, I get it, the unemployed here should just drive over there for work so they can pay income tax to two states, pay exorbitant prices for increased use of gas, and put extra strain on their minimum wage jobs as they try to support themselves and their families. You get to avoid various taxes here, which translates into a little less money (times how many people?) for the municipality in which you live, which probably increases your already high property taxes, which leaves you so poor that it makes you spend the gas money to drive to Keene to support the same corporations over there where there isn’t any sales tax. That’s really fixing things!
"Pay income tax to two states"
NH does not have an income tax. I would not expect you to know that.
Actually
Actually, Mr. E, I did know that.
I just ignored it to exaggerate my point (everyone’s doing it these days – I’ve seen Fox news), mostly because I was in that situation once and it has irked me for 40 some years now. New Hampshire does tax some income by the way – interest and dividends, inheritances, why heck there are a number of NH taxes – there’s even a meals tax. And I’ve heard their property tax is enough to make people think of moving to Brattleboro.
Company Info
Hannaford’s ~ Owned by Delhaize Group (Belgium) ~ on the NY exchange “DEG” ~ Markets in Belgium, Southeastern Europe and now here in the USA.
Makes little difference to them if we go to Keene or shop right here in Brattleboro. I know people burn out there and there’s little they want to do about it other than hire replacements. Same old story as far as the limited number of full time positions, and they aren’t very flexible for the scheduling needs of their employees from what I can tell. They also have work slots that people must commit to.. one being “0 to 20” hours a week. Once that’s been agreed to, they are under no obligation to schedule even an hour of work. By this manipulation there’s no need for the “at will” clause but it does make me wonder why they’ve structured it that way.
Why the Hannaford Bashing?
I can’t believe someone would actually complain about Hannaford’s being too slow. Ever been to Price Chopper in Brattleboro? Now there’s a store that needs work.
First of all, They only have about 2 registers open on a regular basis with about 10- 15 people backed up. You go in for a gallon of milk and might get out of there within a half hour if you’re lucky. At least Hannaford’s will open another register if they see more than a few people backed up.
I commend them for doing what they’re doing. It’s called flat rate. I wish Price Chopper would pay cashiers per item they scan. Then maybe you’d see some action.
Complaining about Hanniford’s is like comparing the private sector to the public sector when it comes to efficiency.
no complaint
Wasn’t a complaint, though. Just an observation and some (hopefully) helpful suggestions and feedback for a store I generally like.
.. And.. So?
What; do you have a list of what constitutes an acceptable complaint?
It’s ridiculous that this type of supposed productivity, as self defeating as it appears to be, is even a goal for a company reliant on repeat business, not to mention is sounds like a pain in the ass for an employee whether or not a customer has all the time in the world to stand in line to witness the ritual.
They’re only going to sell oh-so-many banana’s in one day.
It's the way of the world honey.
Barb, where have you been? The automotive industry has been like this for years. If you take your car to the dealer and have a technician work on it,they’re paid on a flat rate basis. If the tech has .5 hrs to perform a repair and it takes him 1.0 hrs. He just lost a half hour of pay. The faster the techs can turn the work out the more money they make. Unfortunately, things go wrong when working on cars. Particularly in the Northeast where rusted parts become seized and break. The mechanics take it in the shorts.
But in a grocery seems like a good way to keep things moving. After all, we’ve got things to do and taxes to pay so we have less time for ourselves.
Hannafords
Please don’t blame the cashiers, they can only do what the corp. office tells them to. If you have a complaint please call or e-mail corporate. the number should be on the receipt. If more people would complain the problem may be fixed.
Thanks
Thanks for the explanations, Chris. I was wondering what was going on there.