Recent problem with customers dumping on the till, How to solve it?

[Tombo46]

While the title may look like I have a problem with customers defecating in my shop it is unfortunately.....much worse.....

A recent trend with customers (the past year or so) is where they will come in and pick up 1 or 2 items and place them on the till. We then start to ring items into the till while they wander off and continue shopping. While I am very grateful for their custom it is presenting a couple of problems.

We have baskets at the front of the shop clearly marked (and actually quite in the way!) yet more and more customers are choosing to ignore them and opting to put stuff on the till and then rush around trying to finish their shopping. It is causing 2 main problems. The first being that usually other customers will have finished shopping with a basket and have to wait while the offending dumper rushes around trying to finish their shopping (upon realising they are creating a hold up). No shop owner wants their customers to rush their shopping, we want them to take their time so the end result is they are not only holding others up, but ultimately spending less.

The other problem, although smaller is that I like myself and my staff to be able to crack on with keeping the shop tidy etc when they aren't serving. This obviously means I get more out of my staff and eliminates that awkward "cashier watching the customer" atmosphere when someone is just stood at a till waiting. I look after the shop on my own some afternoons and I used to be able to get tonnes of jobs done whereas now I find myself spending most of it waiting for a customer to finish shopping.

I'm trying to come up with a solution, such as a sign on the till but I don't know how to word it without it coming across as nasty or ungrateful for their custom. It's difficult to do without doing a "Grindleford Cafe" (see the link)...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=g...wDA&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=971#imgdii=_

 

[cjd]

If you spot regular offenders, cancel the entries and put the goods to one side until they come back. If someone gets to the till before they come back, so much the better.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

I blame the internet generation, who are used to being able to put stuff in their shopping basket and come back to it later to pay... Not really, but would make for a newspaper article one day perhaps.

How about having some baskets at the till, you can then put any items that the customer places onto the till into a basket for them and move this to one side it another customer comes up to pay before they have finished.

 

[Vectis]

As Tim say, put them in a basket by the till. As a customer I wouldn't mind that.

 

[SweetJo]

I have a similar problem in my shop. Sometimes I just have to tell them I'll serve the next customer while they go backwards and forwards for more sweets. I don't like sounding rude to them, but some of them are oblivious to the queue building up behind them They wouldn't do it in a supermarket, so why do it in my shop

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

We get this too - it does make life a little difficult but on the other hand it means customers are buying more, which obviously is good.
Trouble is people generally think they've finished, come to the till, we start ringing it up and THEN they decide they need a card, some gift wrap, possibly something else to go with it all and wander off.
We just cancel the original till ring until they're sure they've finished and put their goods to one side, don't think I'd want to put up a sign to discourage it, it's just one of those things we need to put up with.

 

[emmylou74]

The same happens to me, but I am not the type of shop that has too many queues so not too much of a problem. I do have these lovely wicker shopping baskets - and in nearly 2 years they have been used twice *ugh*. People just prefer to pick up an item at a time and then leave it at the till, and go backwards and forwards like that

 

[bovine]

From an operational point of view, ringing in transactions and the customer wandering off can easily be dealt with at the till. Even quite basic tills have an "overlap" or layaway function. Originally used for bars, but useful for retail, this enables you to interrupt an operator and sign in as another and continue the transaction. When the first customer comes back, sign back in and resume. Like I said, even quite basic machines can do this, but you may not realise or have it setup.

More sophisticated tills can print a receipt, which can then be scanned to resume the transaction.

If you keep a couple of baskets by the till, if its a problem with it taking up counter space, just pop their stuff in the basket.

 

[Doodle-Noodle]

From an operational point of view, ringing in transactions and the customer wandering off can easily be dealt with at the till. Even quite basic tills have an "overlap" or layaway function. Originally used for bars, but useful for retail, this enables you to interrupt an operator and sign in as another and continue the transaction. When the first customer comes back, sign back in and resume. Like I said, even quite basic machines can do this, but you may not realise or have it setup.

More sophisticated tills can print a receipt, which can then be scanned to resume the transaction.

If you keep a couple of baskets by the till, if its a problem with it taking up counter space, just pop their stuff in the basket.

Really? I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if my till could do something like that - I know we only use it for the most basic of things and there are loads of buttons we never touch as we don't know what they do. Perhaps it's time I looked at the manual again!!

 

[fairdealworld]

We used to have some blue plastic 'supermarket' type baskets by the door. Always hated them as didn't go with our nice craft stock + few people used them + some small items would fall between the plastic slats of the construction.

More recently I invested in a set of wickerwork baskets which I feel are much more in tune with our shop and our stock plus things can't fall through the slats. They are placed where you pretty much have to fall over them if you want to walk round the shop but still only a minority of customers use them. In fact more people ask how much they are as they would like to buy them!

I occasionally take a basket over to a customer who is desperately clutching lots of stuff in their arms while trying to look at other things, it always accepted with pleasure but that doesn't mean the customer will pick one up next time. My customers like yours make little forays around the shop and add to a pile of items on the counter, they are prone to demonstrate they are still choosing by sneaking up on the staff side of the counter and putting stuff down before gliding away to see if there is something else they'd like to add. As we have a table covered with a cloth as a counter this is easier to accommodate than it might be for you. It is sometimes a confusing surprise for new members of staff but you do get used to keeping an eye on the various piles and not getting confused between them - who's to argue with those who are actually proposing to spend money and looking around to see if they can spend more? We have less of a problem with people asking us to start a transaction and then wandering off though obviously it does happen or people look over our shoulder and spot something they might be interested in on the shelves behind. Someone on this thread said that people don't do this in supermarkets but actually they do! I've been in the queue behind people who've disappeared to find something they forgot and who were not back in time for their goods to reach the cashier. I've also left my stuff on the conveyor belt and gone off for the same reason but I'm better at estimating just how long any transaction will take and I've always been back in good time!

I understand your frustration at not being able to get on with stuff rather than just standing at the till but I think sometimes you've just got to. In fact there are certain customers, when they come into the shop I just sit down and resign myself to a period of not getting on because it is guaranteed that those customers will have so many questions or be so unable to find so many things or unable to read so many price labels that there is nothing to be done but sit there ready to respond.

 

[kulture]

Well, you could always ban customers who tried to buy more than one item!

Seriously though, I would LOVE to have this problem all day every day. Two things spring to mind. Firstly do lay-aways as suggested. Also look at your merchandising. What do people go back for? Can you lay the shop out in a different way to minimise this behaviour so that customers can get all they want in one pass?

 

[wispafish]

Just do what most sport shops do with trainers and put them in a basket and put them on a shelf behind the till.

 

[Mayor]

We use "layaway" function on our epos, plonk the stuff to one side and pick it up later, not a problem.

 

[groovyjon]

Surprised that this is a problem for so many. We used to have baskets available but people weren't using them so we got rid of them. People will often walk around with armfuls of things, but it's rare that they ever plonk them on the counter and continue shopping. However - we actually encourage it! We'll walk up to a customer with armfuls of stuff and offer to put it on the counter for them while they continue shopping. Seems like good customer service and I'd rather they have arms free to pick up and buy plenty of other things. Doesn't cause us a problem. If the counter should then get busy, we just put that customer's goods behind for a few minutes. The main thing is to keep the customers buying, however you achieve it!

 

[Ashley_Price]

Okay, I don't run a shop, so shoot me down here. [BANG!]

But it sounds to me like many of you have a customer base that comes in thinking it only wants one or two items, so why take a basket, but then ends up purchasing a lot more.

Surely that's what every shop wants?

If they're dumping the stuff and going back for more before the staff member says anything, then don't start entering it. If someone does want other items in the middle of you putting it through the till, can you not either politely say "Sorry, we'll have to finish this sale now that we've started" or "It's fine if you want to get some more items, but I will have to cancel this sale as I've other customers waiting," and let the person go shopping more (why not hand them a basket as well?) so you can serve other people.

 

[David_CI]

As a customer I can be a fussy sod! - if I went into a shop where this happened a lot (more than twice!) then I would likely stop going....unless I really really had to. Some folks are just thoughtless / enjoy annoying others - and if the shop encourages that, then they get to pay the price.

If it was me on the till in my shop (never had one - never will!), and the till did not allow me to "hold over" (?) the sale and process the next customer I would simply cancel the sale and start again when the customer returned. Might cost me a customer but would likely retain the folks in the Q.