Sault Blog

In the hundred year history of the modern grocery store, never has there been a better innovation for customer service than “The Express Lane”.   

It’s the cash register right next to the exit door with a sign denoting “16 items or less”; that has been the socially accepted cultural norm of “hurry up, I have to go”! 

At my convenient local grocery store “Food Basics-Trunk Rd.” Store Management has decided to remove the extremely essential Express Lane and replace it with the dreaded self-check-out line/box area.  

This comes as an affront to me as I truly relied on the Express Lane; because for 25 years I got the wife call demanding a certain grocery item be picked up on the way home or there was no dinner.  So you can imagine my panic and anxiety of getting this done ASAP.  Dutifully I did what I was told; I stopped at my convenient grocery store, stormed it finding the item, and charged the Express Lane.  There I was in the good hands of the expeditious, problem-solving employee that processed customers through like no one else could. 

Now Store Management has closed the Express Lane and I am now told that I have to line up in the self-check-out line with everyone else; because according to the Store Management “this system works better for customer service”.  

No it doesn’t, this system is a disaster.  I am not capable of self-check-out; and I am NOT an employee of the grocery store.  First they took away the person that bagged the groceries, so you had to bag the groceries yourself, now they have removed the cashier so you have to scan the groceries, bag them and then pay for them. Great!  What’s next stock the shelves yourself? 

I have tried the self-check-out line on numerous occasions and there is always a problem; the bar code cannot be read, the item cannot be weighed, the item is incorrect in the computer, and a whole list of other inventory and imaginary problems.  

I don’t care, I don’t want the self-check-out systems.  I want “The Express Lane” back. 

This egregious insult and injury to customer service is the last straw for me.  I accepted the annoyance of not having plastic grocery bags as they are destructive to the environment.  I can forgo the bags and use re-cycled bags no problem, I get it, I’ll do my part for the environment.  

Having a shopping cart that is “secured” with a loonie has done absolutely nothing to deter scofflaws from stealing the shopping carts and dispersing them all over the city.  Another waste of time and money just to annoy the customer. 

I’m not going to get into “shrinkflation” and the stratospheric rise in grocery prices in this blog; but I have to ask the question:  Does Grocery Store Management care about the customer, does Grocery Store Management care about customer service? 

I formally demand this of the titans of the grocery business:   

Please return customer service back to the grocery store.  Please bring back “The Express Lane”, with the expedient, problem solving cashier. 

Mark Menean, Saultblog.com