Will no longer shop at Giant- annoying checkout machine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree. And the cashiers just watch you bag your groceries in the “full service” lines. Awkward and irritating. I order online and pick up instead. I’m sure it saves me money since I can’t impulse buy.

This is annoying. I leave my bags and just wait.

[Anonymous]

It's not just Giant. I live in Frederick County and shop at Weiss and Giant (and a few others) and the same thing happens. I see red every time the damn machine tries to hurry me or tells me to place the scanned items in the bag.

[Anonymous]

someone explain the scanner thing to me. do I scan as I go and then what happens at the end? do I just bring my scanner to self checkout, scan it there and then check out on my own?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not just Giant. I live in Frederick County and shop at Weiss and Giant (and a few others) and the same thing happens. I see red every time the damn machine tries to hurry me or tells me to place the scanned items in the bag.

Just leave. Let the store have to discard all of the perishables and restock all of the non-perishables. If enough people do this, they'll fix the machines

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just use their handheld scanner as you shop and go through the self checkout. It's super quick.

I've seen people do this but never figured out how it works exactly. Can someone explain it in more detail?

[Anonymous]

Yes somehow the Safeway self check out works better. More sensitive label scanner for produce in bags and doesn't constantly remind you to put the items in the bags.

[Anonymous]

I loathe self checkout and think it puts people out of work. But Giant is getting stolen blind to the point where it is permanently closing half of the store entrances and putting armed guards at the remaining ones. The changes to the self checkout are aimed at minimizing the inevitable loss via limiting order size, and at catching people with the weight detector. I think other retailers are experiencing the same thing. There are people wheeling entire carts out without paying, and the present environment is so violent and so pro criminal that the stores don’t dare try to arrest them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So it seems it’s not just me who is annoyed with the new system! I’ll try the portable scanner thingy PP mentioned but honestly I just want to go elsewhere at this point.

It's not just you! Giant employees are getting a lot of customer complaints in-store, and so is corporate via email/social media. They don't care.

[Anonymous]

I somehow got myself signed up for a Giant customer panel a few years back. Definitely pre-Covid so at least 2018-2019. They ask about a ton of topics but never about the checkout situation apart from sometimes asking questions about the scan as you go scanners. Again, I’ve been on this panel for many years and they’ll ask about literally everything else in the store but they don’t want to hear customers’ opinions on the checkouts. They just don’t care. It’s somehow better for them to make a locked down environment of only one entrance open, restrictive self checkouts where you can’t scan and bag in your cart/basket, a big sign by the entrance scolding everyone about theft with the CEO’s stupid face on it, etc. They do not care. I’ve cut down on my shopping at Giant between their unpredictable stock and prices and feeling like they think of every customer as a potential shoplifter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These changes are at all Giants. It’s super annoying that they wanted to reduce employees on the payroll, forced us to use self checkout because there would only be 1-2 cashiers, then after we’re all used to it, they implement a new rule of 20 items or less for self checkout. Did they go back to having 4-5 cashiers and a couple baggers, like they had before self checkout? No, they did not. And now, if you use self checkout, you have to place an item in the bagging area and wait for the scale to register the weight before you can move on to the next item if you don’t want the cash register to summon help.

I feel like a certain amount of theft was baked into the whole “customers can check out by themselves so we don’t have to pay cashiers” model, and it used to be a small enough amount that they still saved money using that method, but now they’re experimenting with a hybrid model that allows them to continue not to employ sufficient cashiers, but also make self checkout really onerous. It sucks.

The theft thing is bogus; Giant is trying to offload their union contract and using "theft" and "increased costs" as a cover. Lots of info in the comments here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Ct9jSyuO33S/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you referring to Silver Spring/EW Highway? Or is this now a problem all Giants? I had the same immediate reaction. My workaround is to grab a self-scanner by the produce section and use that. I often have more than 20 items but no one has ever confronted me because the check-out with a self-scanner is so quick. Anyway, OP, just want to say I empathize.

OP again. I usually go to the McLean Giant so it sounds like this is happening at all DMV Giants.

Let us know if Lidl is any better.
McLean - the food desert ....

McLean Lidl is atrocious. No self-checkout and 1 cashier working as slowly as humanly possible as the line wraps around the store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just use their handheld scanner as you shop and go through the self checkout. It's super quick.

I've seen people do this but never figured out how it works exactly. Can someone explain it in more detail?

You scan your Giant card when you pick up the scanner. Then you scan (and bag) your groceries while you shop around the store. When you're ready to check out, you push a button on the scanner and it pops up a barcode that you then scan at the self-checkout. It pulls your whole order up on the screen quickly and you proceed to pay as normal. It's super easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just use their handheld scanner as you shop and go through the self checkout. It's super quick.

I've seen people do this but never figured out how it works exactly. Can someone explain it in more detail?

You scan your Giant card when you pick up the scanner. Then you scan (and bag) your groceries while you shop around the store. When you're ready to check out, you push a button on the scanner and it pops up a barcode that you then scan at the self-checkout. It pulls your whole order up on the screen quickly and you proceed to pay as normal. It's super easy.

I heard you have to have an ID to activate it now, is that true? I tried scanning the barcode on my phone/on the Giant app and it wouldn't let me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just use their handheld scanner as you shop and go through the self checkout. It's super quick.

I've seen people do this but never figured out how it works exactly. Can someone explain it in more detail?

You scan your Giant card when you pick up the scanner. Then you scan (and bag) your groceries while you shop around the store. When you're ready to check out, you push a button on the scanner and it pops up a barcode that you then scan at the self-checkout. It pulls your whole order up on the screen quickly and you proceed to pay as normal. It's super easy.

I heard you have to have an ID to activate it now, is that true? I tried scanning the barcode on my phone/on the Giant app and it wouldn't let me.

I have not needed an ID, no. I use my Giant card that's on my keyring (I haven't tried it with the mobile app card).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I loathe self checkout and think it puts people out of work. But Giant is getting stolen blind to the point where it is permanently closing half of the store entrances and putting armed guards at the remaining ones. The changes to the self checkout are aimed at minimizing the inevitable loss via limiting order size, and at catching people with the weight detector. I think other retailers are experiencing the same thing. There are people wheeling entire carts out without paying, and the present environment is so violent and so pro criminal that the stores don’t dare try to arrest them.

LOL. Do you have any actual news stories where this was reported or are you jut making things up?