Have you ever seen every register open at a store?
By mommyboo
@mommyboo (13174)
United States
August 19, 2012 3:41pm CST
I bet none of us have - unless it was the grand opening or Black Friday. Why do you suppose this is that SuperTarget (or Walmart) or your local grocery store saw fit to install 30 registers and at any one time, there are about THREE open? This doesn't apply to small stores that have only 1-3 registers total. I'm talking about giant chains, Albertsons, Target, Walmart, or local large department stores.
This is how I see it. People are broke and unemployed. People hate standing in line at the store for an hour. HIRE MORE PEOPLE and open the rest of the damn registers!! Or WHY in the heck did you waste the money and space putting in 30 registers if you are NEVER going to have them all open at once?
There are about 9 or 10 registers at my local grocery store. I have NEVER seen all 9 open. I have probably seen MAYBE 2/3 of them open at any one time but they never STAY open, even if the entire store is packed with people!! Do not tell me you don't have enough workers.... I bet you do. Part time workers count.
2 people like this
8 responses
@Blondie2222 (28610)
• United States
19 Aug 12
I went to walmart just recently it was around 3pm when I went and the store was a little busy and there was only 3 open registers the rest open was check yourself out registers. I feel that if they don't think their busy enough they don't need to open more then 3 registerS. I do know that if they do get busy they page people to come up and open a register, they just need help elsewhere in the store instead of having people up front where their really not needed. I can understand this i know it frustrates customers because they have to wait in a long line but it's like this every where you go.
@wonttakelong (3555)
• United States
2 Sep 12
that is a huge pet peeve of mine
our local Walmart has about 30 check out lines and only 3 are ever open
there can be huge lines in all 3 lines and management REFUSES to open any more lanes
the store I work at has 3 registers
normally only 2 are open but when we start getting lines we automatically open the 3rd lane
I dont like standing in a long line and I dont expect my customers to have to do anything I wouldnt want to do
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
25 Aug 12
Same thing happens here in Australia only the store names are different. Most of the major chains now though have express registers for small purchases as well as self serve registers where you can take your own items through and scan them and pay for them. This sort of spreads the load a little and requires less staff. But you end up with the traditional type of registers sitting there empty and closed until the stores renovate and get rid of them completely.
@deazil (4730)
• United States
20 Aug 12
I see this all the time. There's on local to New England grocery store chain and it's the worst. The rest, Target, Walmart, etc. are pretty bad, too. The only store I've been in that opens more registers as soon as there's 2 or 3 people in line is Trader Joe's. It's rare to see a long line in that store and they do a lot of business. But the rest are bad, it seems like they need more help but they tell you they're not hiring. So, where's all the clerks???
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
20 Aug 12
hi mommygoo Target is really bad about this. they have a v ast number of registers but no matter how packed the store is only
two or three are ever open.,y ou stand in line and your legs
hurt and what the hell do they care.I bet they do lose customers too as some will go else where,prices are great bu t so are lines. My
bank B of A used to be just as bad but they do do this,.older people on crutches or walkers they will lead you to a counter with a chair and wait on you,. but once they started charging me for
using a teller to hell with that. I opted to use the atm altogether.
@wilsongoddard (7291)
• United States
20 Aug 12
The large chain stores are purposely understaffed in order to keep payroll costs low. Walmart is probably the worst perpetrator.
I really don't encounter unstaffed registers, because I generally don't shop the huge chains. I like to keep my money in the local community, which doesn't happen if I'm spending it at the box stores.
