aren't you a reporter?

Loosely speaking, Max. Very loosely.

This 'incident' is just outside of the 2 blocks radius so they are going to let this one go.

This should be the front page story on The Stranger this week.

it looks to me like a grocery store at pike and broadway that is open on a friday morning, with people in it, some working and some shopping. what a random, meaningless post. why don't you go snap a pic at taco del mar?

Which QFC is that? If it's one of the two on Broadway I have never seen that check-out station before. Weird.

A CARNIVAL OF SAVINGS!

Looks like they might be setting up a bank style queue for express checkout.

They have lost all of their customers to Trader Joe's?

That looks like an empty customer service counter.

Without much more to go on except a cellphone picture then this posting is meaningless.

They're probably going to fire a bunch of their checkers.

Their prices are way too expensive.

Whatever they are doing, it's probably just another reason to shop at Trader Joes and Madison Market.

QFC sucks.

Why don't you take another picture of I-5 from your apt window.... next to your pissy sheets

It was easier to take a picture, post it to a blog and create a post asking the question, than to ask someone in the store?

Hrrmmmm....does anyone care? This is QFC we are talking about....

IS this the line for the FEMA internment camps that folks like Rand Paul fear from our Socialist Communist Fascist NAZI Falangist president?

No, the line for that is at the Wallingford QFC.

#8 right, wasn't that QFC part of a pilot program for switching to primarily self-checkout?

Discount douchebags!

No ECB comments? Wow. I guess the thrill is gone.

If you look carefully at the reflection on the counter, you can see somebody over in the produce section fucking a canteloupe.

#7 FTW

Every time I go t QFC someone beckons me to use the self checkout line. No thanks. It is kinda weird though that they get so pushy trying to get me to use it. I would rather not do the work myself since I am paying the same either way.

A new surgical unit at the checkstand, so they can roto-rooter your arteries at the same time they ring up your squeesy cheeze.

Your fuckin' mom is going on at QFC, lazy-ass no-reporting motherfucker!

@25:

When self-check first became available in this area, I probably would have agreed with your sentiments. But, too many years of getting stuck behind people who: challenge the cashier to justify the cost of every item that gets rung up; routinely forget they have to PAY for the groceries and therefore spend several minutes digging around in purses (and yes, this does seem to be a trait prevalent among females of a "certain age") for cards or currency - and who THEN either can't figure out how to make the card work, or who insist on paying for a $23.00 grocery bill using nothing but pocket change; who force the bagger to re-bag the groceries because they wanted paper, even though they didn't mention that to the checker when they were asked; and who are basically just slower than glacial till, well, I've changed my mind.

Checking and bagging my own small handful of groceries goes so much more quickly, now that I don't have to stand behind a line of slow-pokes.

I can't stand baggery.

It's just ookie.

just the kind of journalism we've come to expect from the paper.

Just a way to eliminate more decent-paying unskilled labor positions by tricking customers into thinking doing it themselves is an added convenience. I'm sure QFC's bottom line thanks you for choosing the automated checker over a human with rent to pay. Rest assured they will not pass the savings on to you.

It's a circus of value!

@21 you just won a prize for that comment.

Self check out can be great and can be bad.
Most of the times I've used it at QFC it's bad. Using your own bags usually screws it up too. Never fails that the machine tells me to standby for cashier assistance and 9 times out of 10 - at QFC - there is no cashier there to assist. They are over at another cashiers stand chatting, or up at the service desk getting someone ciggs or lotto tix. I've stood there for several minutes before. Once I was so disgusted I left the shit there and walked out of the store.
Personally I avoid QFC but now and then they have a good sale price on a thing or two or I need some mixers on the way home.
I have better luck at Fred's with the self check out, entering the code number for your bags doesn't fuck it up and they usually have at least 1 if not 2 or 3 cashiers there to assist when the machine has a hiccup. One Fred's I hit near work has two check out sections. One if you have under 15 items and one with a turnstile for the bags if you have more.
At any rate. . .it sucks they are replacing people with self check outs. They should have both so shoppers have the option of which they prefer.

@31:

It's not necessarily eliminating jobs, but it does free up those cashiers to do other things around the store, like, unloading trucks, stocking and facing shelves, working the deli & meat counters, etc., etc.

You know, all the things they'd normally be doing during those times when they're not working the checkout counters.

And yes, @34: I wish the self-check stands had a button you could push right at the start for "Using Your Own Bag" or whatnot, but IME at least, the attendants are generally responsive and can usually get the scale reset within a matter of seconds.

And um, you DO realize, do you not that Fred's (and I assume by this you're referring to Fred Meyer) and QFC are both owned by Kroger Stores and use check-out stations made by the same manufacturer, which is I believe Fujitsu's U-Scan line?

WTF?!?!?

IT TOOK 21 COMMENTS BEFORE THE OBLIGATORY ECB JOKE?!?!?

REALLY?!?!?

more proof that SLOG is a pale shadow of its former self. The only way you can revive it, is to get Betty White as a Guest Slogger...

@36 it's usually not true, but in this case you're missing out by blocking unregistereds. (unregistereds? I sound like a republican)

heywhatsit @21, Mike @36, check out the unregistered comment @12. Just didn't call her out by name.

@1: Stranger staffers are just as lazy at reporting as the Attorney General of the United States is too lazy to read a law that is the subject of a congressinal hearing.

Congressinal? Sounds like you're fucking kidneys.

They're "express" checkouts. I can't see the advantage of these over self checkout myself.

Express checkouts at QFC are great. I use my Safeway card for the Advantage Card savings and we scoop up abandoned receipts to claim taxes for next year.

Jesus Christ.

These are called Euro-checkstands (or something like that). Because the majority of the people who shop at this particular store don't leave with dozens of bags of groceries and are more likely to buy just a few things, these are like express lanes that are set up differently and more efficiently.

I would never recommend anyone ever use the self checkout line. These are jobs, people. And they're decent jobs; unlike most retail establishments, these folks make a livable wage and have decent benefits, which means they contribute positively to our community. By using the U-Scans we are effectively taking these jobs away. And the folks that work in this store, specifically, have to put up with a lot of shit, especially on the weekends when drunk assholes decide it's fun to heckle and harass them after the bars close and they need to buy their frozen pizza. So be nice to your checker -- they deserve it.

@43 actually makes a couple decent points there.

I can pretty much guarantee self-check is (or inevitably will) be costing people their jobs. Yes they free up store employees to focus on other tasks but, as someone who worked his way through college in a little grocery, I can say that there's only so much stocking, sweeping & inventory management that need be done. Eventually people are going to be needing things to do and management will recognize that being sent home is something that can be done that'll save the CEO some significant money.

Yes -- I too have been inconvenienced and annoyed by slow cashiers & customers. However, unless I'm running late for some sort of important appointment I try to suck it up and deal with the annoying consequences of human interaction.

When I saw this, I actually asked what was going on. Yes, the new counters are "quick checkout" counters. The way I see it, they now have one type of checkout for each type of basket... the old self-serve stations are for the hand-held baskets, the new quick checkouts are for the small carts, and the old checkout lanes are for the large carts.

I welcome the new checkout counters because the old self-check counters threw so many alarms... using your own bags, buying booze, weight errors, etc. I'll use the new ones more as long as there isn't a line.

Now my next question... what are those yellow tubes?