Hy-Vee's weirdest business decision yet?

[ISU22CY]

Doubt that would get caught at regular checkout either.

Oh you have a great point there

 

[HFCS]

Funny enough the other weekend we went to the closest HyVee (which holy **** their prices are ridiculous) and were checking out and there were 2 different items that rang up different from what their posted signs were. Wasn't a lot only a couple $ but I caught it, they happily changed it to the right amount bu your post got me to thinking about how many people wouldn't have caught it because they were blazing through scanning items.

I was pretty shocked how expensive Hy Vee was when I was back in NW Iowa for a couple weeks over the holidays. I figured it was going to be a lot cheaper than SoCal grocery prices but it really wasn’t. Slightly cheaper meat/dairy/eggs, slightly higher produce, basically same prices on everything packaged/processed like chips or cereal or beer (that’s what really surprised me most). Really crazy. I didn’t go to Fareway but I was curious.

 

[FLYINGCYCLONE]

Got expensive toys to pay for.

 

[mkadl]

Doubt that would get caught at regular checkout either.

When they first went to scanners at hyvee versus a cashier punching in the numbers, the price was guaranteed correct or you get it free.

 

[RING4CY]

Maybe one day HyVee will remember that they are a grocery store and that their path to success is by doing everything they can do to be the best grocery store they can be. You aren't a shoe store, or a walk in clinic, or a sports bar, or a bath and body works.

I recently shopped at Hy-Vee for the first time in years. I can't quite explain what caused it, but the shopping experience there was overwhelming. A grocery shopping experience, especially for just a few items on sale, shouldn't be overwhelming.

 

[Isualum13]

When they first went to scanners at hyvee versus a cashier punching in the numbers, the price was guaranteed correct or you get it free.

That is still the policy. But only if it scans for more than the listed price. If it scans for less you just pay what is scanned as.

 

[urb1]

I've never needed to have someone come over to a self-checkout station at Aldi. Somehow, they can even do booze age confirmation remotely. Their self-checkout is the fastest in town. And the multiple bar codes on packages make scanning so much faster.

 

[ISU22CY]

I was pretty shocked how expensive Hy Vee was when I was back in NW Iowa for a couple weeks over the holidays. I figured it was going to be a lot cheaper than SoCal grocery prices but it really wasn’t. Slightly cheaper meat/dairy/eggs, slightly higher produce, basically same prices on everything packaged/processed like chips or cereal or beer (that’s what really surprised me most). Really crazy. I didn’t go to Fareway but I was curious.

I was shocked when we went to our small town mom-and-pop grocery store and how their prices were competitive to the HyVee we went to. In some instances, the mom-and-pop was beating them on price.

 

[Nor'easter]

Did that Hy-Vee game show ever come out? Or was it a Bachelor type show in a Hy-Vee?

 

[Nor'easter]

I find it interesting that Hy Vee and Walmart posts two or three of its workers in the self checkout areas. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?

Besides Aldi (the goat) all self checkouts take longer than the human checkouts unless you have 5 items or less and they arent produce, or age restricted or there is a sale price on them that didn't work, or you didn't precisely place the item in the bagging area perfectly, or... etc.

I think Aldi made their self checkout a lot more forgiving so if you mess up it doesn't make you stop and wait for an employee to fix it, they probably figure that defeats the purpose of the self checkout and losing a few cents on a scanned item every once in a while is worth it in the long run, plus you don't piss off your customer.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Honestly my biggest annoyance with self checkout isn't the scanning its the bagging. From having to do both jobs simultaneously to having to deal with tiny bagging areas that you can't move stuff from that many stores have, its just a hassle.

I actually like the larger hyvee ones that you self-scan but then things roll down to a bagger at the end of the register. Probably limits (intentional) theft too as theres an employee right there. And from their perspective, if they have a couple of those that still cuts down on the number of required employees. What used to take 3-4 employees might only take 1-2.

Ironically HyVee is taking those out...

 

[Three4Cy]

Former colleague’s husband is a HyVee manager, and he said the biggest thieves are soccer moms.

An old neighbor of mine was a WDM Police Officer; he made many visits to Von Maur to handle shoplifting cases, and many of them lived in Glen Oaks. He said often, their first comment to him was, "How much is this going to cost me to get out of this?" Also, these women had the money to pay for what they took but did it for the "thrill" of it.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Probably also has to do with most people not being intelligent enough to efficiently check their own groceries. I am always amazed at how long people stand there and struggle. It is one of the few things in the world that makes me feel intelligent (joking, kind of) after I watch someone check out for 10 minutes and then it takes me 30 seconds. If they do go away I will need something to replace it or my self esteem is going to crater

It's not just user error though. Those machines constantly have issues. I've had to have someone come over more times than not because an item wasn't recognized in the bagging area.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

I was pretty shocked how expensive Hy Vee was when I was back in NW Iowa for a couple weeks over the holidays. I figured it was going to be a lot cheaper than SoCal grocery prices but it really wasn’t. Slightly cheaper meat/dairy/eggs, slightly higher produce, basically same prices on everything packaged/processed like chips or cereal or beer (that’s what really surprised me most). Really crazy. I didn’t go to Fareway but I was curious.

HyVee has gotten stupid expensive. I HATE Wal-Mart but we switched about three years ago because the savings was so much. WalMart's every day shelf prices is easily 20% below HyVee on the average. Yeah HyVee runs really good sales deals and we take advantage of those but our days of filling a cart there are long gone.

 

[Bret44]

An old neighbor of mine was a WDM Police Officer; he made many visits to Von Maur to handle shoplifting cases, and many of them lived in Glen Oaks. He said often, their first comment to him was, "How much is this going to cost me to get out of this?" Also, these women had the money to pay for what they took but did it for the "thrill" of it.

"Jesus Christ Marie!"

 

[groomsie]

I'm not sure that I would put self-checkout on the list of weird Hy-Vee business decisions. A lot of retailers are considering self-checkout to be a failed experiment and are scaling it back in favor of human cashiers. Even unintentional theft is a problem with self-checkout because the process is so janky, to say nothing of the opportunity for intentional theft.

My daughter has worked at HyVee and watching self check-out and says she often sees folks not complete their transaction and leave thinking they have paid because they didn't complete the pin-pad process.

 

[Cyclone06]

My daughter has worked at HyVee and watching self check-out and says she often sees folks not complete their transaction and leave thinking they have paid because they didn't complete the pin-pad process.

Last week I was doing my own self checkout, and pretty sure the couple next to me was (attempting) stealing. Women was scanning and guy behind her saying "she's looking". As I finished and walked out I noticed "she" was probably a 19 year old gal. I thought nice of hy-vee to put her in that position.

 

[Trice]

My daughter has worked at HyVee and watching self check-out and says she often sees folks not complete their transaction and leave thinking they have paid because they didn't complete the pin-pad process.

This is where poor UI design comes into play. In most checkout lines with traditional checkers, you can swipe/tap your card at any time, even while the checker is still scanning your groceries. Which is smart - if the shopper does this it saves a few seconds at the end of the transaction.

But on these self-checkout kiosks, you scan all your items in and then have to hit a button at the end to indicate you want to pay, before you can actually pay. I often forget to hit that button - I just get out the card and tap. After a few seconds of nothing happening, I remember that I didn't hit the button. And then you have to choose which type of payment method you're using - which is a necessary option, but the system should be smart enough to recognize you're using a card (and not cash) if you tap.

 

[isufbcurt]

An old neighbor of mine was a WDM Police Officer; he made many visits to Von Maur to handle shoplifting cases, and many of them lived in Glen Oaks. He said often, their first comment to him was, "How much is this going to cost me to get out of this?" Also, these women had the money to pay for what they took but did it for the "thrill" of it.

Rich soccer moms looking for a thrill? hmmm

 

[NickTheGreat]

I've never needed to have someone come over to a self-checkout station at Aldi. Somehow, they can even do booze age confirmation remotely. Their self-checkout is the fastest in town. And the multiple bar codes on packages make scanning so much faster.

I miss the old days of Aldi where they had 1 of 4 registers open, and 42 people in line, all the way back through the freezer section. You saved $5, but waited in line for 4 hours