Closing Case Counting Seconds, Measuring Scans

One of the most important jobs in retailing is the person who takes the customer's money, in part because paying for their items is about the last thing customers do before leaving. An efficient and pleasant experience can leave a customer walking out of the store with a smile, and a slow or unpleasant experience can leave a bad taste in the customer's mouth. There is also a lot of variation in how checkout operators work. Some are fast and efficient, and others are plodding and never seem to get in a hurry.

Meijer, a family-owned discounting chain, operates 203 huge megastores in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. The company has recently installed a new performance-measurement system for its checkout operators that might potentially revolutionize those jobs. Essentially, the system works like this:

1. Meijer has established minimum baseline performance metrics for the job based on the number of units a person should reasonably be able to scan and bag in a specified amount of time.
2. When a checkout operator scans a customer's first item, a timer in the scanning system is activated.
3. This timer runs until a customer's last item is scanned.
4. The operator's "score" is adjusted for the kinds of items being purchased (large, bulky items, for instance, take longer to scan than do small tightly packed ones) and how the customer is paying (checks usually take longer than cash or credit, for instance).
5. Each checkout operator's score is averaged across an entire shift.
6. The minimum performance expectation at Meijer is 95 percent of the standard. If an operator falls below this standard too many times, the person is either demoted to a lower-paying job or fired.

Interviews with Meijer cashiers suggest mixed results. On the one hand, they all agree that the new system causes them to work faster. On the other hand, they feel more stress. Moreover, several suggested that they avoid conversations with their customers because that can detract from their work and slow them down.

Feedback from customers is also mixed. Some think the new system is great. One woman, for instance, said "A lot of the [cashiers] like to stop and chat, and I don't really have the time for it." But another suggested that "elderly people ... feel so rushed at checkout that they don't want to come here."

But the Meijer system, developed by Accenture, may be the wave of the future. Gap, Office Depot, Limited Brands, and Toys "R" Us are all testing it. On the other hand, other retailers such as Kroger and Abercrombie & Fitch have said "Thanks, but no thanks" because they are afraid the new system will detract from customer service. 

Case Questions

1. How would you feel about working under the Meijer system?
2. What other kinds of jobs might be amenable to this sort of performance-measurement technology?