Amas
Bob, it is good to see you. I've got some beef that I want to share with you. You know, I hate going to grocery stores, but I got out of my house. I put on pants. I went to Walmart. I did. I went to Walmart, right? I go to Walmart, hate going to.
Bob
Any grocery store, but I go, I.
Amas
Pick up my items. I've got about 20 or so items. I get to the self checkout line. There is a friggin line for self checkout, right? It's bad enough that they handed me a ladder to climb up into the warehouse to get my own stuff off of the aisles. Here I am again.
Bob
I'm waiting.
Amas
Eventually, I get to my turn. And what happens when I'm self checking out? The thin goes red. Apparently I'm stealing something. I've got wait. There is a wait for somebody to come fix the thin. And that happened twice. I guess I was buying wine or something. Anyway, the whole thin was a friggin disaster. So my view on this, Bob, I would love to hear where you are. I think this social contract has been broken with self checkout. What was promised was that I would get faster service. It'll save the money, and maybe the prices will go down a little bit, but I will get faster service. Now, it is slow, and I am an unpaid employee at. So, Bob, are you on the side of the people, or are you with the big grocery stores here? What say you on this topic of self checkout?
Bob
Well, I think it's in a state.
Bob
Of flux of where we're trying to get to. But I've had similar experiences. My kroger, which is by far the largest store in the Memphis market, is now about 80% self checkout.
Amas
Okay.
Bob
Like you, but you have to stand.
Bob
In line, either one.
Bob
And so it's not faster, it's slower. And now there's one person handling nine checkouts where it started out with one person handling six checkouts, right?
Bob
So everything about it has gotten crazy.
Bob
But let me tell you that maybe you're shopping at the wrong place.
Amas
Oh, go on.
Bob
Because let me tell you about my experience. So I walk into Sam's with my wife, and my wife says, she pulls out her phone, and she goes, you're not going to believe what I'm about to show you. And I said, what are you talking about? She goes, watch this. So she pulls out her phone, she touches her app, and as we're pulling things off the shelf, she's finding this barcode and scanning them. Not new. Have done that before. At Kroger have done that before. Other places not new, that you would scan your own stuff. So we walk through the store, we scan stuff. We climb up on the ladders to get the stuff on the top. We do the same kind of thing you do. We go back to the wine department. We go through the store. We have a whole cart full of stuff, and we buy a lot of things in bulk.
Bob
So she goes, now watch this.
SPEAKER C
You see that sign that says, if.
Bob
You'Re a scan and walking, walk here. And we walked under a sign, okay? And my app ringed, you have been checked out.
SPEAKER C
$122. Here's your receipt.
Bob
And we just kept walking.
Bob
I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't scan at a scanner. I didn't have anybody come up and tell me anything was wrong. My entire experience was scan as I go.
Bob
Took me a couple of seconds to find the barcode.
Bob
But walking out without standing in a.
Bob
Line, without talking to a person, without.
Bob
Getting out my credit card, all of that was the perfect experience.
Bob
Now, I still had to stand in line so they could mark my receipt, which I don't quite understand, which is a whole nother show. Why do we mark receipts?
Bob
But the checkout environment was spot on.
Bob
And if that's the future of self.
Bob
Checkout, I'm all in.
Amas
And, Bob, you know, I'm going to have to reluctantly agree with you. I think that you're right in that not all self checkout. Maybe it's me trying to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Right? Not all self checkout is created equally, right? That technology you just mentioned, there's all this autonomous retail. So maybe what's the solution then? How do I get Walmart to go across the street? Aren't you guys in the same company? Go to the other department on the 13th floor and say, hey, guys, can we get the thin you guys have over there and bring it to, like, is it that simple? It's like, as know, we make this show for our audience that you just have to be discerning and make some choices.
Bob
First of all, I think it's coming. I don't know why they chose Sam's versus Walmart. Probably because they already know who I am at Sam's. They have my picture, they have my sign up, they have my credit card on. Like, it was an easy, you know, we've said many times in our shows.
Bob
Amas customers give company.
Bob
As a customer, as a consumer, I.
Bob
Will give you all the data you ask for if you will make my life. So I'll sign up at Walmart.
Bob
If I can scan and walk, I'll sign up and give you my credit card.
Bob
I'll do all those things, but I.
Bob
Think we're just behind. And the frustrating part for me is.
Bob
That Kroger just doubled their self checkout.
Bob
In the old style self checkout, scan your item, wait on the person to come over and approve your alcohol. All of the nightmares that you're talking.
Bob
About, but I don't know, you did.
Bob
Some stuff at AWS where you can scan and go or not even scan, just go walk out.
Bob
At a stadium.
Bob
And having stood in line for, I don't know, 35 minutes and missed 20 minutes of the game, at the last time I went to a game, in fact, it was you and I in Alabama, Tennessee, just trying to get a Diet Coke and some peanuts. That's broken, right?
Bob
That's broken.
Amas
Yeah. I think it's a good place to leave it. I mean, it's one of those things where.
Bob
Look, as consumers, I think be on.
Amas
The lookout for people and organizations who are adopting new technology that meets their social contract. At the end of the day, I agree to be an employee at Walmart or Sam's as long as you pay me and giving me back my time. But I don't want to be here on the clock not getting paid and you're taking more and more of my time. I will do what you just said, which is go in, grab the thin. At least I know that in exchange for my working here unpaid, I got the gift of time back, and that's definitely worth something.
Bob
Well, I definitely think you nailed it. But now the question is, I'm driving down the road. I have memberships at both Costco and.
Bob
Walmart, which 01:00 a.m..
Bob
I going to choose? Am I going to choose Costco where.
SPEAKER C
I still have to stand in line.
Bob
Where I still have to scan? Or am I going to choose Sam's, where it's walk and go? I got a feeling that competition is.
Bob
Going to push these stores.
Bob
Once somebody has that experience, the competition will push us.
Bob
But as consumers, we have a choice, right?
Bob
And that's how you make your voice.
Bob
Known, is by choosing the better experience. We'll leave it there.
Amas
We'll see you all next time. Him. Hope you enjoyed the show. Please like and share this with your friends.
Bob
Yeah, our channel.
Get to Know Amas: http://linkedin.com/in/amastenumah/
For Get to know BOB, " https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobfurniss/
