The next step in ridding businesses of much of the human touch has started, big time, by Kroger grocery stores. In California they operate under the name Ralphs and Food4Less. Thanks to high minimum wages, unions trying to control grocery stores—remember the union strikes for months in California a few years ago? Unions and minimum wages, plus high benefits costs and government control of working conditions, forced grocery stores to go hi tech—with no human hands. The better news for the consumer, Kroger has found a way to do away with ALL payments lines—all of them!!
“The Cincinnati-based grocer (NYSE: KR) will expand its Scan, Bag, Go service to 400 stores in 2018 as part of its Restock Kroger strategy to improve the grocery customer experience.
Scan, Bag, Go allows shoppers to scan items as they place them in their cart or bags throughout the store, then pay at a self-checkout station. It can be done using a store-provided scanner or the Scan, Bag, Go smartphone app.
Select Kroger stores throughout Greater Cincinnati have tested the program for the past five years. After the success of those pilot stores, the company decided to add more test stores including several Fry’s locations in Arizona. A total of more than 25 locations now have Scan, Bag, Go service, including 15 in Greater Cincinnati, a company spokesperson told me.”
No lines—no need to look at cashiers wearing union buttons, no wait for someone to figure out how to use the “chip’ or dig around for change. Just put the product in your cart, finish shopping and then walk out of the store—think of the time you save—and the money saved by the grocery stores. Might even get me to shop at Ralphs.
Kroger to expand program that cuts checkout lines
Kroger Co. is expanding a program it created to cut down on wait times in checkout lines at its stores.
By Erin Capron,, Cincinnati Business Courier 12/26/17
Kroger Co. is expanding a program it created to cut down on wait times in checkout lines at its stores.
The Cincinnati-based grocer (NYSE: KR) will expand its Scan, Bag, Go service to 400 stores in 2018 as part of its Restock Kroger strategy to improve the grocery customer experience.
Scan, Bag, Go allows shoppers to scan items as they place them in their cart or bags throughout the store, then pay at a self-checkout station. It can be done using a store-provided scanner or the Scan, Bag, Go smartphone app.
Select Kroger stores throughout Greater Cincinnati have tested the program for the past five years. After the success of those pilot stores, the company decided to add more test stores including several Fry’s locations in Arizona. A total of more than 25 locations now have Scan, Bag, Go service, including 15 in Greater Cincinnati, a company spokesperson told me.
Kroger hasn’t revealed which of its stores will add the service first but expects to make an announcement about those plans early in the new year.
Downtown-based Kroger, which is the nation’s largest operator of traditional supermarkets, has been expanding options for shoppers including its ClickList online order and pickup system and home delivery. The company has 450,000 employees and 2,793 retail locations under a variety of local banner names in 35 states and the District of Columbia. It’s Greater Cincinnati’s largest employer with 21,263 local workers, according to Courier research.
About Stephen Frank
Speak Your Mind