Thread: less help visible in stores

I use the self check out at Walmart a lot and use my own canvas bags and I hardly ever have a problem with them. Last Sat. I bought spray paint so a cashier had to come over and check my ID and key it in,. As soon as it beeped and gave me the message, I turned around to look for one and she was right there beside me already, lol!

The reason you can't find any help on the floor at Walmart is because they are all on the registers. Anyone Walmart hires has to first be trained on the register. So when it gets busy, they call all the floor people up to the registers, so then there is nobody on the floor to help the customers or the cashiers who need price checks. Walmart does not treat their employees decently and pays them diddly squat for wages. Then when it comes time for their annual raise they only give them 40 cents. I worked at Walmart for over five years as a cashier and recently quit. The cashiers at our Walmart worked their tails off ever since Hurricane Katrina and we got 40 cent raises. We worked extra long hours and got lunches and breaks late (if we got them at all). We were stressed out daily having an over abundance of customers and neverending lines. The new cashiers they'd hire were never adequately trained because there was just never enough time to do it. For every three cashiers they'd hire, it seems two of them would quit or be fired. We just never had enough cashiers. A Super Walmart is supposed to operate well with about 120 cashiers to fill all shifts. We were lucky if we had fifty cashiers. Customers were always complaining as if it were our fault and that somehow we could do something about it. We got yelled at by customers and by management alike. We were blamed for everything that went wrong. The cashiers that watched the self-checkouts hated it and didn't like being put there. You wouldn't believe the number of people shoplifting through those things. They are a major source of theft and inventory loss. We had to watch those customers like hawks. And believe me, it's not easy for one cashier to keep an eye on all four registers. We had people come in tandem and one would call us over to their register while their partner at another register would proceed to stuff items in bags without paying for them. We learned to recognize most of the offenders. There was one little old lady in an electric cart that we always had to either scan her stuff ourselves or send her to a regular register because she was always stealing stuff. Those self-checkouts are a living nightmare to any cashier that runs them. So now, if the cashier there looks unhappy, you know why. I don't know how many times I'd have to call inventory loss guys over, or sometimes I'd just go over and pull the items out of their bags and scan them myself. Usually afterwards, they'd decide they didn't want those items. Anyway, I got tired of being stressed out, overworked, and underpaid, and now I'm looking for a new job. Even after I quit, I looked at my papers a couple of days afterwards and found that my manager had scratched out quit and checked fired. What a jerk! I immediately called personnel and talked to the lady there and she told me that I had quit, that that's what she checked, and that it was in the system as having quit. She sent me new papers saying I had quit. Thank goodness for the nice people in personnnel. But generally, I hate Walmart. Though, I really miss all my friends there.

Originally Posted by mosdata1

I also refuse to use the self checkout. The stores push that service & say they are doing it 'for the customer' so we don't have to wait so long in line. What a bunch of hooey! They do it so they don't have to hire as many cashiers.

Why stand in a long line when you can go over to the self checkouts and be done in a few seconds? What difference does it make WHY they have them? You have 2 options now. Stand in a long line and wait your turn, or get in the self checkout line and do it yourself, and be out in a few mins.

I've never had any problems with them. (Except for the occasional 'free food' coupon that needs to be keyed in by cashier. But if I were in a regular line, it would still need keyed in.)

And they still have to hire someone to monitor the self checkouts

At our KMart, they do not have any cashiers until afternoon. Prior till noon, the gals at the service desk do the checking out and it can get really clustered. Nobody knows who is in line and what line. What a mess. WalMart is the worse tho, they have all those check out lines and about 3 people working them. It is always my luck that I get the check out lane right in front of the nail salon, and to tell you the truth, it just gags me having to stand there watching someone get a pedicure. I don't know why but it really gets to me. I could not stand it one day so I had Mitch paged (he is the store manager) and drug him with me while I explained that my stomach just could not handle it. I was so surprised, next time I was in there were all curtains across the area of the pedicure stuff. I don't mind seeing people get their nails done but the feel just gag me. I have also noticed that the Christmas help is all gone and the lines, especially on the weekends are terrible. Best time to shop at WalMart is around midnight, no one is there hardly, get in and get out.

At our walmart, we dont have the self checkouts. Lines arent really too bad, except of course after work when everyone heads to the store, or on Fridays when people cash their checks, which with the money center they put in helps, but then people do their shopping.

I like our Walmart, never have a real hard time finding help. I hate it at xmas time tho.

I went into some store the other day and walked around and couldnt find anyone to help, so i left and spent my money somewhere else.

I dont know, I went to Home Depot today and was asked at LEAST 30 times If I needed help, I was ready to start punching people

I have noticed the shortness of cashiers and other employees at wal-mart, and shortage of cashiers at target earlier tonite. There was one cashier and about 15 of us in line.

What I have noticed more though, is stuff that is not in it's proper place on the shelf. I despise going in somewhere and picking something up, and thinking it is one price only to get to the register to find out that it is twice what I thought it was. That happens here alot. We have one scanner left in our store, and it is in toys. If you want something in electronics you have to pay there, so it is always a rude awakening.