Some of us may remember, back in the good old days, that when you went to get some gas, a friendly attendant rushed up to your window and got the pump going, while cleaning your windshield and checking the oil.

But that experience has long ago been replaced by self-service gas pumps. Are we heading that same route at the drugstore, dollar store, and grocery store? Save with SPP decided to take a look around.

An analysis by the University of Waterloo lists the “pros” of self-checkout as “saving the time of customers and preventing the checkout from becoming overcrowded.” As well, the report notes, “with the installation of self-checkout technologies, retailers can reduce the number of checkout assistants employed, or they may completely cut the checkout assistants.”

This, the article suggests, helps the company’s bottom line – fewer employees to pay, fewer vacancies to fill by HR, and a greater profit.

On the con side, the article notes that the cost of a four-lane self-checkout system may exceed $125,000. “Most small businesses cannot afford this technology,” the article reports. As well, and this is big, most people don’t like having to use self checkout machines.

The article, citing research from Accenture, found that “77 per cent of U.S. customers prefer interacting with humans than with digital devices in service-related issues.” There’s a lack of personalized service with the machines, particularly noted by “senior people who are used to person-to-person service and are more likely to need personal interaction; they might regard this new method of shopping as a lack of service.”

While the university concludes that maybe there should be more focus on personalized service than switching over to costly machines, it seems that every time you go shopping you see more of these machines in place.

A recent story in The Globe and Mail by Rob Csernyk, a former New Brunswick resident now living in Australia, says self-checkouts are really taking off Down Under.

“While living in New Brunswick, I was used to only half a dozen self-checkouts at the superstore near my apartment. But in Australia, self-checkouts are an outsized part of the grocery landscape. Many locations of Coles and Woolworths outlets – the country’s dominant grocery chains – have double that, if not more,” he writes.

Shopping recently at a Coles, he counted 40 self-checkouts and only two clerks helping, he writes.

But if the goal of self-checkouts is saving on labour costs and reducing long lines at the cash, there have been other unexpected consequences, he notes.

“I’ll let you in on a secret from Australia’s big bet: nobody’s happy. For grocers, self-checkout expansion has wrought more theft and a need to spend even more to combat it. For customers, being treated more like potential thieves rather than paying clients is unpleasant,” his article reports.

He concludes that maybe retailers should consider going back to the good old ways – checkouts that are staffed.

“Making shopping experiences more complex and uncomfortable for all shoppers is a daft way to solve the problems inherent with self-checkouts. It increasingly seems like going back to the tried-and-true cashier is a better solution, not to mention one that involves a lot less capital investment. Anti-theft measures don’t come cheap, and the bad press from customer complaints carries a hefty price tag, too,” he notes.

And the customer’s perspective is very important, reports USA Today.

“They just aggravate me,” Julie Domina says of self-checkout machines, telling USA Today that “if I’m going to be checking myself out, I want to get a discount because that means you’re not paying an employee to check me out.”

Hey – that’s a good point. We recall that when self-serve gas pumps first came out, the gas was cheaper if you pumped it yourself, versus getting someone to do it for you. Maybe that long-forgotten discount concept needs to be revisited for self-checkouts.

The article blames the pandemic for getting us going down the self-checkout road.

“While self-checkout technology has been in supermarkets since the 1980s, usage surged during the pandemic, when retailers were struggling to hire and customers wanted less human interaction. The share of transactions through self-checkout lanes hit 30 per cent in 2021, almost double that from 2018, according to data from the Food Industry Association,” the newspaper reports.

Higher theft rates experienced in recent years have prompted retailers to spend more on security, in addition to the cost of buying self-checkout machines, the article notes. Some of the problem is theft, but some of it is simply due to confusion using the machines, the article adds.

“While some losses may be from people using self-checkout to steal, others are from user errors by customers who weren’t trained to use the machines. Maybe the shopper didn’t notice that an item didn’t scan before bagging it, or keyed in the wrong item when weighing their produce,” the article concludes.

It will be interesting to see how Canadian retailers cope with this new technology going forward. Will we follow the Australian example and gear up on the machines, or will we see the opposite – a move away from self-checkout, perhaps, or making the machines more of a “fast lane” for customers with fewer items. Only time will tell.

Saving for retirement can be a self-service function if you partner up with the Saskatchewan Pension Plan. SPP will carry out the complex job of investing your retirement savings, through a professionally managed, low-cost, pooled fund. When it’s time to retire, your options include getting a monthly annuity payment each month for life, or the flexibility of the Variable Benefit option.

Check out SPP today!

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By Sheryl Smolkin

If you are just starting to consider retirement you may be more focused on planning for the financial implications of leaving the world of work. But if you think you will get to pick the ideal day to walk off into the sunset without any regrets, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.

According to the 2015 RBC Retirement Myths & Realities Poll, already-retired Boomers (aged 50+) identified three retirement realities that contradict the expectations of their counterparts who have not yet retired:

It’s not all about money: Retirees don’t miss their pay cheques from work as much as pre-retirees expect to, by a margin of almost two-to-one (26% compared to 49%).  What retirees do miss most is their social time with colleagues at work (51%).

Time is of the essence: While simply taking time for myself is how the majority of retirees (72%) report they are actually spending their time, travel tops the “expect to do in retirement” list for a similar majority of pre-retirees.

Choosing the date: Close to half (43%) of retirees didn’t get to choose their retirement date, in contrast to the 80% of pre-retirees who expect to have that choice. Retirees cited several reasons why they left their working lives behind before they were ready to do so, including health, the need to provide care to someone else and their employer’s request.

Through its annual poll and a separate research study, RBC also explored retirement income expectations of three specific groups of Canadians who are not yet retired: single women (not married, separated/divorced or widowed), business owners and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community.

As pre-retirees, single women and business owners were equally concerned (41% each) that they would not have enough money to live well and do what they want when they retire. In a separate RBC-sponsored LGBT retirement study, conducted by the University of Waterloo’s RBC Retirement Research Centre, 30% of LGBT pre-retirees shared similar worries, stating they expected their funds would be inadequate or barely enough to achieve the retirement they have in mind.

“Each of these realities has retirement planning implications for Canadians, including how they will affect the lifestyle they hope to achieve when they are no longer working,” noted Yasmin Musani, head of Retirement and Successful Aging Strategies, RBC. “They raise important questions for Boomers to consider about their life goals and priorities as they approach retirement. For example, ‘What social network will you have in retirement?’ and ‘How will you spend your time?'”

More detailed survey results comparing national and Manitoba/Saskatchewan responses are presented in the tables below.

TABLE 1
MISS MOST ABOUT WORK (Canadians aged 50+)		NAT’L	MB/SK
Socializing/interacting with colleagues	Retired 51% 50% Not retired 53% 51%
Not a thing	Retired 30% 29% Not retired 15% 13%
A regular pay cheque	Retired 26% 23% Not retired 49% 49%
Being mentally busy	Retired 20% 14% Not retired 38% 30%
Getting out of the house	Retired 14% 15% Not retired 30% 21%
Health benefits	Retired 12% 11% Not retired 29% 30%
Being physically busy	Retired 12% 11% Not retired 20% 16%
Having goals to work towards	Retired 9% 8% Not retired 18% 17%

TABLE 2
SPENDING TIME IN RETIREMENT (Canadians aged 50+)		NAT’L	MB/SK
Taking time for myself	Retired 72% 73% Not retired 64% 61%
Travel	Retired 62% 64% Not retired 70% 86%

TABLE 3
NO CHOICE OF RETIREMENT DATE (Canadians aged 50+)		NAT’L	MB/SK
NET “NO CHOICE”	Retired 43% 38% Not retired 31% 34%
Health reasons	Retired 14% 11% Not retired 11% 13%
Employer’s request	Retired 13% 9% Not retired 5% 2%
Reached mandatory retirement age	Retired 5% 9% Not retired 11% 11%
Required as caregiver for someone	Retired 5% 6% Not retired 1% 3%
Other	Retired 10% 11% Not retired 6% 9%
SOURCE: 2015 RBC Retirement Myths & Realities Poll Selected National, Regional Findings

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