Sunday, April 29, 2012

Metro has changed its cash registers for the worse

Metro recently changed their cash register software.  Previously, when a sale item was scanned, the regular price and the discount showed up on the screen immediately.  Now, the discounts don't show up until all the items have been rung in.

This is a problem.  It's no longer possible for a cashier to scan an item to see if it's on sale, or for customers to check that what they think on sale is in fact on sale until all the items are scanned and packed. And if it turns out the item isn't actually on sale and you don't want it (or don't want as many) at the full price, the process of unscanning and returning them will take even longer if left to the end of the checkout process.

This must also be annoying for the cashiers.  I wouldn't be surprised if, several times a day, customers go "Wait, I thought that was on sale!" and the cashier has to stop what they're doing and reassure the customer that it is in fact on sale and the discount will show up at the end of the transaction.  And I'm sure some more demanding customers won't be happy with that explanation and arguments will ensue. 

This change has no appreciable benefits and causes mild to moderate annoyance and inconvenience for everyone involved.  I have no idea what Metro was thinking when they introduced this system, but I hope it's undoable.

1 comment:

Lori said...

Not to put too fine a point on it, but it also means you don't know when to stop the gravy train so your total doesn't go above whatever your ceiling is.