Miami, FL, July 15--Home Depot has a new project for its do-it-yourself aficionados: do-it-yourself checkout, according to South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
The company has been installing automatic checkout machines in select stores nationwide as part of an initiative to improve customer service. The new machines allow customers to make in-store purchases, using cash or credit, without the assistance of a sales associate.
Thirty-four of the 39 Home Depot stores in South Florida are using the automatic checkout machines. Home Depot plans to install the checkout machines in 800 of the company's 1,600 stores by the end of this year.
Home Depot introduced the new machines 18 months ago throughout high-volume stores in nine of the company's markets.
Customers who opt for self-checkout are guided through the process by a touch screen computer monitor at each station. Home Depot sales associates, equipped with remote scan guns, are also on hand for assistance with heavy items such as lumber or concrete.
"We've worked hard to make it simple," said Don Harrison, Home Depot's Eastern Division public relations manager.
The goal of self-checkout is to save time. The only drawback is breaking in customers the first few times they use the machines.
"Customers have the harder time getting used to the computers," said John O'Brien, Assistant Manager of the Home Depot in Oakbrook, FL.
The checkout machines are also equipped with technology to prevent shoplifting. When an item is scanned, its Universal Price Code (UPC) stores the items weight in the computer. The computer then sends that data to scales under the bag hold. When the scanned item is placed in the bag, the scales weigh the item to verify that it is in fact the item that was scanned. The computer will say, "unexpected item in bagging area," to notify the customer and the sales associate of any discrepancy between items scanned and items bagged.
The automatic checkout machines are installed in units, which replace three traditional cash registers. Each unit consists of four self-checkout machines and a master computer that monitors ongoing purchases. A sales associate is assigned to oversee each four machine unit. The employees who previously worked the replaced cash registers will be reassigned to the sales floor. The machines will not result in lay-offs.
Home Depot has also taken measures to improve the efficiency of cash registers. Cash register stations will be equipped with touch screen computers in an effort to expedite customer checkouts. Home Depot is also in the process of developing an online store catalog. The catalog will eliminate price checks that on average take four minutes to complete.
