Do you ever hold up the line (and feel bad about it?)

[jsmile]

I find that at SDM, I often hold up lines so cashiers can examine coupons, go through my purchase and make sure I have everything to get past the $50/$75 threshold to get bonus points. and then I feel bad about the people waiting behind me.

Someone even returned their three items to the shelf and left the store. Anyone else feel bad?

But at the same time, their printable coupons should be scanned and they should have more than one cashier. I find that the majority of shoppers don't do 20x/18500 points events so they don't understand why its taking so long.

:D

Anyone have similar experiences?

[LimeFizzy]

Reminds me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUlf1F05gTA

[luckbealady]

I do feel bad about it some times.

BUT more often than not, it's Shoppers fault for only having 1 checkout open. And of course there is no counter for you to help bag your items. Luckily the last few times I've gone on event days, they have all stations manned. Today it only took me a few minutes, and I had about $10 in coupons.

[CouponKitten]

i usually try to tell the people in line behind me that i have coupons and that it might take a while.
give them some warning, at least...

[dahliagrower]

I have to admit --today I did feel bad .... the cashier I went to rang all the coupons through as 2002 .... I had asked what my "base pts" were before paying but she said she wouldn't know until the receipt was printed (I thought they could tell? ) ... When I looked at the receipt I only had 33 base points so no 20x pts.... yikes. Anyway I thought about not going back in and getting it fixed but then I noticed that there were some errors on three of the items.... Had no idea it would take so long though.

This is my favourite SDM and 99% of the time the cashiers are fantastic but today I got someone that obviously is challenged with their system. Soo I went to a different cashier - explained my dilemna and she went and got all the coupons from the other till - but what an ordeal to void a transaction that has coupons. she did have to bring in a mgr to get it all fixed though. I am pretty good at math and I was baffled with what they did...but got it essentially corrected in a round-a-bout way and then the points were manually added. I would have been okay with just adding the pts manually and leaving the rest but I wanted to see how they would do it. (still don't know).

Meanwhile the cashier with issues had closed her till and so there was nowhere else for people to go but behind me. So I asked the young cashier (totally calm and at ease with the situation) if she could get someone else to open - which she did and then she put down the sign to close her till I was there at least 15-20 minutes while they figured it all out - not sure if it was entirely worth the time though.

[sirandrewr]

I always shop at night so I can shop in peace and actually leave a full cart parked somewhere in the store. When I head into line they instantly call for back up. One employee always disappears too. I always hand over my coupons in the beginning since each cashier is different. I never get anyone bagging up my stuff even though I have a disability and buying obvious medical supplies. I see them helping others but not me. The employees just push everything to the side and waits for me to do it. I don't have a car and buying over $200-$400 worth of items is too much for the bus. Don't worry about holding up the line because that is the stores problem.

[amangx]

Like most SCers I only shop at SDM with my personal offers and coupons. I believe one big problem, especially when using multiple offers/coupons is how slow their system is. Everytime a new personal offer needs to be added, the system reevaluates each promotion again. Today it took about 30-40secs after each offer code was punched in. Sometimes I think it's going to freeze. The employees are always complaining about this as well, especially at my home area SDM. With all these promos/personal offers they send out, maybe the computers need to be updated. Wouldn't it be awesome if your offers could just load onto your optimum card like pc points? Therefore, save trees, quick and convenient checkout, and the computer will automatically apply the offer. Sometimes I feel like a crazy lady handing over a stack of papers. It's funny seeing other shoppers reactions; especially the ones who aren't aware of the personal coupons/promos. They must think us SCers are crazy, but we think they are crazy for not doing what we're doing!!!

[luckbealady]

Like most SCers I only shop at SDM with my personal offers and coupons. I believe one big problem, especially when using multiple offers/coupons is how slow their system is. Everytime a new personal offer needs to be added, the system reevaluates each promotion again. Today it took about 30-40secs after each offer code was punched in. Sometimes I think it's going to freeze. The employees are always complaining about this as well, especially at my home area SDM. With all these promos/personal offers they send out, maybe the computers need to be updated. Wouldn't it be awesome if your offers could just load onto your optimum card like pc points? Therefore, save trees, quick and convenient checkout, and the computer will automatically apply the offer. Sometimes I feel like a crazy lady handing over a stack of papers. It's funny seeing other shoppers reactions; especially the ones who aren't aware of the personal coupons/promos. They must think us SCers are crazy, but we think they are crazy for not doing what we're doing!!!

I had that happen today too. We had finished everything (I give my coupons with the products) - and just stood around waiting for a minute or so for the system to finish - this was even after the cashier had paused during the transaction to make sure everything was going through right. Mind you all the cashiers were working, so I imagine their system was quite busy.

[Chantel]

I do my best not to hold up the line but it's usually dumb store policies or issues with untrained employees that cause holdups. RCSS needs a manager override for over $10 in coupons and for PMs, and they stand around and don't come over to the tills, so it takes forever.

When someone else is causing problems with coupons or a policy I offer to step out of the line if they'll call me a manager to speak to. I try not to hold people up but I feel bad whenever I do for whatever reason.

[CanadianCouponCollector]

Occasionally my order holds up the line, but my store always has 3 cashiers on during 20x days. I tape my coupons to the product and put coupon items up first. They can take them off and saver them til the end or do it right away. If my son is with me he bags the items and puts them in the cart.

Either way, I don't really feel bad. Maybe it's because I've gotten used to it and don't concern myself with what others think. I don't even pay attention. All three lines are usually packed so letting them know I'm going to take a while doesn't make much difference since going to another line isn't going to be much faster.

[FallenPixels]

I know my local SDM staff (both stores) well enough that they have someone open a cash for me or stick a closed sign after me so people are not lining up waiting.

In one, the manager will usually open for me, for some reason the staff in that store have really low coupon limits and he needs to approve coupons anyway so he may as well just do the transaction. The loss prevention guy usually notices me and calls him LOL "Your coupon lady is here, come down to the floor"

In the other store, I go to the Beauty Boutique which is rarely busy and I get some free samples with my shopping.

I find if you give them a little warning when you are still shopping, they are usually happy to have someone open for you because they do not want to deal with the angry customers behind you.

[redhdlois]

That happened to me yesterday....I ended up asking the cashier (who was awesomely patient) to suspend my txn. I had my purchase all figured out for the 20x day, but there were some things that were on sale, but not advertised, so that messed up my plans, and the box of Turtles rang up wrong, so that would end up being a SCOP issue.....not that I'm complaining ! But I had to totally re-do/think my list on the spot.

[jsmile]

That happened to me yesterday....I ended up asking the cashier (who was awesomely patient) to suspend my txn. I had my purchase all figured out for the 20x day, but there were some things that were on sale, but not advertised, so that messed up my plans, and the box of Turtles rang up wrong, so that would end up being a SCOP issue.....not that I'm complaining ! But I had to totally re-do/think my list on the spot.

that's why i bring a double of one item that i need in case i don't reach the threshold. I just say that I don't want the item if I do get the to $50/$75 before coupons. PLus in the long run, it is easier to get more and return an item than not to get all the points that you wanted and do a void transaction/complete refund.

[Insane]

Reminds me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUlf1F05gTA

That one lead me to this one..... I was only 20mins in and I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRPcYcaggNE

[carlyincanada]

I always cash out at the cosmetic counter & the gals are awesome! They know me well lol & are ready for my coupons...If someone has a couple items I let them go first so its usually not a problem...the front cashiers are usually super busy!