lenaitch
Senior Member
It's become a throwaway term. It seems society must accommodate all of our personal choices without question.
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- Thread starter Jonny5
- Start date
Northern Light
Superstar
I concur, insofar as The Currency Act does not afford a right to a cash transaction, nor is there any such understood right in other legislation or the constitution.
However, the official line from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is that a cash transaction may be a right under assorted provincial human rights codes where in it has the effect
of discriminating against someone who who is unable to conduct a transaction with a debit/credit card, particularly if this is inferred as being due to age/disability, or other expressly protected grounds.
That said, I can't find any case law on it where that theory has been tested.
Towered
Superstar
Don't get me started. Every time I make a dash for the checkout with the shortest line, I get screwed by the old fart in front of me who inevitably takes out their wallet/purse and starts digging and assessing and counting out the cash/coins in the most glacial manner possible, causing me to fume inside. That's kind of why I like self-checkouts - a lot of people seem to have an aversion to using them, so there's often no wait time. Anything to avoid the torture of the blue hairs...
Jonny5
Senior Member
I like the self-checkouts when I have a single item or maybe up to three, though some of them have way too many steps to go through. "Do you need any bags?" next screen "Do you have our rewards card?" next screen "how would you like to pay" [internal screaming] "would you like a printed receipt?" [sigh].
There should be a "just pay now" button.
I am also worried about these in the future where stores will do something stupid like make you watch a 10 second advertisement before processing your payment.
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Northern Light
Superstar
I'm fine w/folks paying by whatever means, however, within reason.
But I expect that while a cashier is processing your order, you have pulled your wallet out, if paying by debit or credit, you've pulled your card out; if paying by cash, you've opened the bill fold/change pocket and are ready to go.
If you want really want to burn off those 9 nickels you've accumulated, swell, but knowing that, can you take a few out in advance, and make sure you can do math in your head. Just keep it timely.
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I rarely use cash these days and when I do, I typically just give the bill size above my payment amount; ie, if I owe $8.50, I give a 10, $18.50 a 20, and $48.50 a 50 (or two twenties and a 10)
That said, every year or two, I still end up with a bit too much change floating around in the bowl on the dresser but not quite enough to roll coins and stand in line at a bank.
I tend to take those in $1 increments (ie. 4 quarters, 10 dimes) or the case of nickels, .25c increments (5 nickels) so that I know exactly what I want to get rid of; and I only pay w/that when there's no line behind me.
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I remember 2 or 3 years ago getting rid of my last big stash of Canadian Tire money; and it took me awhile because I didn't want to hold up a line.
It was only like $10 worth, but 1/2 of that was .10c notes, so 40 bills, then another 20 bills of .25c and .50c notes.
I felt bad for cashier having to count through all that.
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gabe
Senior Member
Or worse yet, doing receipt checks before exiting like Costco. Just what we need, more line ups. Some Loblaws stores are doing it, because theft is so high with self checkouts. I've witnessed people put items in their bags without scanning, the alarms at Walmart go off so often, the kid working the self check out doesn't even seem to care. What can they do? It's not their job to stop shoplifters. I was in the US recently, the grocery store i was in, had the pharmacy and cosmetic departments fenced off by a chain link fence, from the rest of the store with a cashier at the exit. You have to pay for the items there. I can see grocery stores doing that here eventually.
A Walmart in Ottawa has staff scanning the items for you at the self-checkouts to cut down on the theft. lol
Walmart location in Ontario shuts down self-checkout after rise in theft
One Walmart Supercentre in Ontario is rolling back on its self-checkout kiosks after an alleged rise in theft at the store — and is opting for a &quo…
www.blogto.com
T3G
Senior Member
Home Depot ostensibly has self check outs where you can take cash. There isn't a slot you feed it into, you just give it to the cashier and they open the register like any other register.
It's really a bothersome, inelegant system, but so much of their customer base (dishonest contractors) use cash, and their staffing levels are so poor that 90% of the time, there is only the self check out open and none of the lanes around it, so there's little option but to keep having cash available here.
This is the Home Depot way. They don't call it self check out anymore, they call it assisted check out, and if the cashier does not ask every single customer that comes by if they want assistance scanning the items, they run the risk of being written up.
Here's a thought... how about you kill the self check out and just put in some regular lanes instead?!?!?!?!?!
lenaitch
Senior Member
I would really love some Walmart staffer to stop me and ask me to show a receipt for my goods. I would say 'no thank you' and await their next step. Most of the logical 'next steps' would be Charter violations.Or worse yet, doing receipt checks before exiting like Costco. Just what we need, more line ups. Some Loblaws stores are doing it, because theft is so high with self checkouts. I've witnessed people put items in their bags without scanning, the alarms at Walmart go off so often, the kid working the self check out doesn't even seem to care. What can they do? It's not their job to stop shoplifters. I was in the US recently, the grocery store i was in, had the pharmacy and cosmetic departments fenced off by a chain link fence, from the rest of the store with a cashier at the exit. You have to pay for the items there. I can see grocery stores doing that here eventually.
A Walmart in Ottawa has staff scanning the items for you at the self-checkouts to cut down on the theft. lol
Walmart location in Ontario shuts down self-checkout after rise in theft
One Walmart Supercentre in Ontario is rolling back on its self-checkout kiosks after an alleged rise in theft at the store — and is opting for a &quo…
Costco can get away with it because shopping is membership-based and I am told (not a member) that it is spelled out in the membership agreement.
SubHuman
Active Member
I always prefer self-checkouts because there's almost never a line-up, and I don't understand the aversion to them I've heard some express.
I generally limit the places where I pay cash to the ones where I know I can do it quickly and there's no one in line behind me. And while I usually avoid the busier times and am not in a huge rush, I am just there to buy stuff and get out, not strike up a conversation with the checkout person. The few people prone to doing that seem to purposefully do it when there's a line up of people waiting behind them.
As I mentioned above, the times paying with cash have been a problem are occasionally at a convenience store where I'm buying one small thing and out of habit reach into my pocket for loonies and twonies, and the 12-year-old working the checkout (presumably the child of the owner or manager) gets that look of dread on their face, or immediately has to run to go get their parent from the stock room.
That seems to defeat the purpose of having self-checkouts, which I would assume to be requiring only one employee watching over several of them.
The closest Dollarama to me closed for a few days to make the renovations adding self-checkouts. In the two weeks after it re-opened, three times I got there as the unfortunate staff were in confrontations with shop-lifting meth-enthusiasts. Since then there's always been a hired security person at the exit of the store.
The meth-enthusiasts apparently then moved on to another Dollarama a few blocks away. Do they, or perhaps more likely their dealers, tell each other which of these places to go to for their shop-lifting needs? I laughed when I read someone else's account of seeing a similar occurrence and hearing one of them nonsensically yell "I am the police!" (I assume after being told to leave or have the police be called). I'm sure I've heard that at least once.
Lately I've been seeing them bringing their shop-lifted items to grocery store customer service desks arguing to get cash "refunds", of course for things not sold there and without a receipt.
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