The former Minister of Finance R. Budbergytė motivated her decision to propose such changes by the fact that merchants in this way simply shift the scanning and payment of goods onto the shoulders of consumers.
“The wages of cashiers are slavish, it is becoming more and more difficult to attract new employees, so merchants have come up with the idea of ”employing” customers at self-service checkouts. Shopping centers must find a way to compensate for the inconvenience experienced by some people, and a functioning state must ensure this,” she said.
However, representatives of the trade sector evaluated the offer to compensate buyers’ work very critically, calling it free market interference.
This proposal of the parliamentarian was also appreciated by the big traders themselves, who installed more than 3.4 thousand in the country. self-service checkouts.
Darius Ryliškis, the media representative of the Norfa retail chain, which has around 700 self-service cash registers, said that the company views such proposals simply as a pre-election strategy.
“Before every election, we hear many accusations from politicians and many proposals regarding the operation of shopping centers. When the election happens, everything calms down. Politicians could serve their constituents and lower prices in stores by eliminating (or at least reducing) VAT on food. Some neighboring states have done it and got good results,” he said.
Maxima also rejects accusations of offshoring employee functions to the buyer and says it will only install more of them.
“Self-service checkouts or checkout-free shopping are the future of retail. This, first of all, meets the expectations of customers to shop faster, helps to manage labor needs, and also facilitates the work of self-service cashiers themselves. The new generation of self-service checkouts requires minimal employee intervention, as we have ensured a smoother, faster payment process, so this year we plan not only to install more self-service checkouts, but also to update them in 29 chain stores.
We give each of our customers the opportunity to shop where it is more pleasant and convenient for them – in the majority of chain stores, they can choose to pay at both regular and self-service checkouts. In addition, we see that more than 60 percent of our customers themselves choose to shop at self-service checkouts”, – 15min commented the company’s media relations representative Raminta Gecevičiūtė.
There are currently more than 1,200 self-service cash registers in Maximose.
This position was seconded by their competitors “Iki”.
Shutterstock photo/Glassware in the store
Gintarė Kitovė, the communication manager of this network, reminded that “Iki” was the first shopping network to install self-service cash registers back in 2008.
“It can be said that every second checkout in the shopping network is a self-service checkout and their popularity is only growing. Now self-service cash registers are already the market standard, but in the past we even heard requests from the residents themselves to install self-service cash registers in their home stores – because this way shopping is faster and more convenient”, it is indicated. 15min in the response received.
She said that self-service checkouts create mutual benefits: “they provide a good shopping experience for customers who find it easy, safe and fast to use such checkouts, and help businesses manage store traffic.”
The total number of self-service checkouts in the “Iki” shopping network is almost 1,000.
Antanas Bubnelis, the head of corporate affairs and communication of the trade chain Lidl, said that the company does not have a separate position on such proposals and supports the comments made by Rūta Vainienė, head of the Association of Lithuanian Trade Companies.
We remind you that on Tuesday when talking with 15minR. Vainienė stated that such proposals have no legal basis.
Valdas Kopūstas / 15min photo/LPĮA director Rūta Vainienė
“In our opinion, such regulation is an interference in pricing and it would contradict the Constitution, which ensures that prices are market prices. It is the discretion of the merchants to set prices, discounts and promotion schemesR. Vainienė told the portal.
Lidl has installed about 700 cash registers in its stores. Therefore, about 3.4 thousand have already been installed in all four networks. self-service checkouts.
Representatives of the “Rimi” trade network to 15min did not answer the request. Judging by older reports, at least 250 self-service checkouts should operate in the stores of this shopping chain.
Some retail chains with a smaller market share, such as Express Market or Gulbelė, have installed such cash registers in some of their stores.
Claims cashiers are sufficient: only happens “once in a while”
In her report, R. Budbergytė also raised another issue – the speed of shopping in retail chains and the lack of regular checkouts. These aspects really attract complaints from customers – there are cases where traditional cash registers are not open at all in some stores and all customers have to go to self-service cash registers.
“After installing self-service checkouts, merchants promise to speed up the process of paying for goods. But practice shows that for some people, self-service checkouts only make shopping more difficult. In the absence of cash registers with cashiers, queues are formed, there is a lot of uncertainty due to system errors. Therefore, the service time at self-service checkouts becomes longer than at regular checkouts, and the one cashier serving them is often alone and “burnt out” – therefore, this is socially irresponsible behavior,” R. Budbergytė is quoted as saying.
However, the representatives of the retail chains explain that they are in control of the situation.
The representative of “Maxima” R.Gecevičiūtė testified that in the self-service checkout area, depending on the size of the store and the number of existing self-service checkouts, there are 1-2 employees who help customers and explain how to use these checkouts.
“We encourage buyers not to hesitate and feel free to contact Maximos employees in case of questions or problems – both at self-service and regular checkouts. We also monitor the flow of customers, at which hours they visit the store the most. Taking this into account, we are also reviewing the working hours of employees so that, if needed, more cashier-salespeople will also work at regular checkouts. Of course, it may happen that due to unforeseen situations, an employee may leave his place of work for a short time, but these are exceptional cases,” the company’s response states.
G. Kitovė also confirmed that people can shop at “Iki” stores both at regular and self-service checkouts.
“They are equally important and shoppers can choose which one will be faster and easier to shop at.” The success of self-service checkouts is empowering shoppers to shop faster. When renovating and building new stores, the request to have self-service cash registers often comes from the residents themselves.
123RF.com photo/Self-service checkout
We monitor the flow of customers, at which hours they visit the store the most. Taking this into account, we are also reviewing the working hours of employees so that, if necessary, more cashiers will work at regular cash registers as well,” commented the representative of “Iki”.
She added that shoppers with smaller shopping baskets are directed to self-service checkouts. This frees up regular cash registers for larger purchases.
“In addition, four or six self-service cash registers are usually supervised by one employee, so the free hours of work at the cash register are used for other tasks – maintaining order in the store, placing goods and similar work,” said G. Kitovė.
Lidl representative A. Bunelis also pointed out that self-service checkouts are very popular in this retail chain.
“Approximately one in two of our customers choose self-service checkouts, and it takes an average of 2 minutes to pay for goods,” he commented.
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2024-08-30 06:24:18
