Self-Checkout
Labor Cost Benefit*
Proposer/liaison:
Connie Hook
Meijer
is a supercenter retailer. The stores house a full
grocery center along with forty other departments
from clothing to sporting goods. On average each store
has twenty- eight checkout lanes, four of which are
U-Scan Self-Checkout units.
The
new generation of available checkout options includes
self-checkout. When self-checkout was launched in
the retailing industry jobs were plenty, but there
were not enough candidates to fill all of the jobs.
Self-checkout was a way for the retailer to have four
available checkout lanes open with only one cashier.
Thus helping to solve the problem of a lack of job
candidates.
Now
several years later the economy and job market is
vastly different. Even though there are enough candidates
available to fill the positions the economy requires
the retailer to justify the capitol expense of purchasing
self-checkout with a monetary return on investment,
not just a convenience.
A
cashier manned checkout lane is controlled primarily
by the cashier. The cashier is measured by the number
of items per minute scanned. There are standards that
are used to schedule and balance labor to transactions
and items. With the express self-checkout units the
guest is in control of the transaction. We know the
self-checkout transactions are slower than the cashier
run transactions. The self-checkout allows four transactions
to be processing concurrently with one cashier.
Are
the labor savings as simple as subtracting three cashiers?
Are those savings realized 24 hours a day? Do you
still have to have a cashier manned express checkout
lane or is today’s shopper accepting of self-checkout
as the only option for the smaller express size orders?
If a cashier manned express lane is still required
does that effect the self-checkout labor savings?
If the number of items (order size) accepted at self-checkout
was increased would that improve the labor savings?
If the order size was increased at self-checkout could
one less full order size checklane be opened saving
that cashiers labor?
The
information delivered from this project will be used
as a tool in determining the self-checkout strategy
for the Meijer store.
*This
project summary was prepared by Connie Hook, Service
Specialist, Corporate Development, Meijer.
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