Publix has a new thing in their app: you can register a credit card (I created a virtual card for Publix), and then use the iPhone or Android app to scan a QR code at checkout. No need to pull out a card to stick in the terminal. Kind of slick.

I have used it previously, it works just fine, IF the cashier knows what s/he is doing.

I used it today. The app on my phone said that payment was accepted. The cashier stared at me, waiting for payment. I told her that payment had been made, she wanted me to run my card through the terminal "again."

"No, I used the app."

"Well, you need to do it again."

OK, I did it again and received an error message stating that the QR code had already been scanned. Clearly, the cashier had no clue about this payment method.

I hunted down a manager, who showed the cashier which button to press on the register to acknowledge payment and print the receipt.

"Is there a training problem?" I asked.

"No," said the manager, "We just don't see that many of this type of transaction."

Think about this for a minute -- if your cashier does not know how to accept payment, yes, there IS a training deficiency.

^
To damn crankie with all the tecky stuff you know
You saw all the modern stuff being invented and remember coal burning trains like myself

quote:

Think about this for a minute -- if your cashier does not know how to accept payment, yes, there IS a training deficiency.

^^^^^^^^^^^
You need to clarify that the training needed was for Management not the cashier. Not the brightest crayon in the box.

I'm a Publix shopper, though it certainly is not near the quality of the store it was when we first started shopping there in the 60s and up into the late 90s. But compared to Winn Dixie (yuck, cough, spit) it's great.

I haven't seen this app or heard of it before today. I'm just thrilled that I figured out how to pay using my phone at Chick Filet (you know I go there way too often when the order takers outside and the ones who pass the food out the window know my name).

I have noticed some deterioration in the competence of a few of the cashiers at Publix. Not sure if it results from lack of training or some other reason.

But overall, the cashiers seem to know their job well, but, as I said, I don't know nuttin' 'bout this new app.

And, even the ones that might be a bit less competent are so clean, so polite, and appear so eager, it's hard to get real upset with them. And so, I just disregard whatever I saw/heard/noticed that gave me a concern and thank them on my way out.

Bob

Why don’t you first train them in how to accept cash and how to make the proper change without the cash register (computer) telling them how much to give back. Train them in counting back from the sale to the amount tendered.

I have walked up to the checkout stand at the grocery here in Jerkwater and found the checker picking her teeth with her fake fingernail. The manager seemed puzzled by my consternation.

If they don’t know basic hygiene, how can we expect them to understand the finer nuances of computer payment systems?

Look at V-tail being all technologically advanced and shit. Kudos to you sir.

Why don’t you just write a check and hold up the line like all the other old folks

I'd settle for my local Publix to have the damn checkout registers fully staffed so I don't have to wait so long.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

Why don’t you just write a check and hold up the line like all the other old folks

Back in the prehistoric dark ages, when you were just a little puppy, I used to pay with a check at the grocery store.

I always had the check completely filled out, everything except the amount to pay, before I even got to the checkout line. I don’t like to waste time at the register. That’s why I posted this rant. If the store introduces a new payment method that is supposed to save time, they need to train the cashiers on which button to push to accept payment.

My wife and I were privileged to be guests for a wonderful Christmas dinner at the home of a SIGforum member (one if the best meals I have ever had). I met the member’s parents, my generation. There was a laughing reference to the father’s lack of patience with time-wasters in the checkout line. I remarked that at our age we don’t have that much time remaining and we really don’t want to use it up hanging around a checkout line.

I am the guy who helps math challenged people count in the “ten items or less” express lane. You can here my voice at the other end of the store, bellowing “fourteen, fifteen . . .”

quote:

Originally posted by l33571:

I'd settle for my local Publix to have the damn checkout registers fully staffed so I don't have to wait so long.

Have you been to Walmart recently? They usually have at least two, of the thirty registers open.

We avoid Publix for the most part due to it being crowded but do stop by sometimes when we're near one and need something. The last two times we were there, there were only one or two regular checkout lines open and an "express" line for 10 items or less, but apparently nobody seems to count or care how many items they have in the express line. After waiting in line a while, now third, a manager came over and told us we could get checked out at customer service and guided us over there. We assumed that meant nobody was already there waiting. Once we rounded the corner to the customer service desk, we noticed there were already 3 people in line there and the person at the front was just asking for price checks on half a cart of shit. It was too late to get back in line, but I did have a predominantly one-way talk with the manager on the way out. Again, we weren't in a hurry, but it was irritating.

Obviously a training problem exists if the cashier doesn't know how to handle all forms of payment the store accepts.

I'm not sure this form of payment saves much time. Sam's Club Scan and Go on the other hand does. I scan the items with my phone as I place them in my cart. When I'm done, I slide my finger across the phone to pay, the app puts a QR code on the screen that the exit guy scans. I skip the registers and second handling of the items in my cart.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

Obviously a training problem exists if the cashier doesn't know how to handle all forms of payment the store accepts. I'm not sure this form of payment saves much time.

This payment method is fairly new to Publix, maybe a couple months. They really don't publicize it. The only way I found out about it, I went to order a prescription refill with the Publix app on my iPhone. I saw that there was an update for the app, installed it, and glanced at the list of new features. I'll bet that fewer than five percent of Publix customers are even aware that this payment method exists. It's very similar to Walmart Pay; you just open the app and let the phone's camera see the QR code that is displayed on the terminal. There is almost an instant acknowledgement on the phone. In Walmart, the receipt comes back to your phone, in Publix the cashier presses a payment acknowledgement button on the register's screen and the receipt is printed.

It is faster than cash payment, certainly faster than a check, and is at least as fast as using a physical credit card.

What boggles my mind is the question of why Publix and Walmart went the way that they did instead of just using Apple Pay and whatever the Android equivalent is.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Have you been to Walmart recently? They usually have at least two, of the thirty registers open.

That is registers with actual cashiers. In addition to those two, they always seem to have about 20 self-checkout registers open. I hate self-checkout.

I wear an Apple Watch and really like Apple Pay. I'm surprised at the number of cashiers that, when asked, say - "No we don't do that" But, when I touch my watch to the credit card reader, Bingo, it works.

"Woow, that's cool, I didn't know we did that."

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Why don’t you just write a check and hold up the line like all the other old folks

Some lady in front of me, did just that. She waited until the entire thing was wrung up, before she even got her check book out of her purse, then started digging for a pen, then had to fill out all the info she could've filled out prior to her stuff being wrung up...….it was ridiculous.

Vtail, you know you are the one that screwed up, should have ordered it online for pickup and paid before you left the house

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Some lady in front of me, did just that. She waited until the entire thing was wrung up, before she even got her check book out of her purse, then started digging for a pen, then had to fill out all the info she could've filled out prior to her stuff being wrung up...….it was ridiculous.

I know you said something.

What did you say?

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

Vtail, you know you are the one that screwed up, should have ordered it online for pickup and paid before you left the house

I have to go in, look around, see what they have, get run into by the little old ladies who drive the scooter carts around (scary thought, they have Town Cars and SUVs out there in the parking lot).

If I knew exactly what I need, that might be worth a try.

Is there a surcharge for that service?