Latest / Chuck Douglas / Self Check-Out and Prices

Transcript

Self Check-Out and Prices · Chuck Douglas

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Greetings, salutations, welcome, my friends, to another edition of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Power Hour on 610 WTVN. I'm Chuck Douglas, you know
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: who you are, and we take it from there. We
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: get one hour together, which means I talk really fast,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and you must listen even faster. The number's 821-9886-821-WTVN, 1-800-610-WTVN. Okay, then.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: It's Monday, and it's not a bad day. It's a
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: gorgeous day. Enjoy it. Because it's all over with here
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: pretty soon. Well, by the weekend, it's going to feel
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: more like it should this time of year. I was mentioning,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: and I'm tickled to death that we are in the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: fall season, that the TV shows are coming back. However,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you watched, there's going to be
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: NCIS here, the premiere of NCIS. There's going to be a,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: what do you call it here? When you give away something,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give away something. So if you haven't
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: watched it yet, you got it DVR'd or something, Don't
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: listen for the next 30 seconds. Okay? Go ahead, turn
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: it down. Okay, so here's the deal. I'm happy that
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Dinozo is back. But I'm not sure I'm cool with
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Dinozo replacing Vance. I don't know. Really, seriously, that's how
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: easy this day has been for me. That's the kind
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: of stuff I'm worried about. Tony DiNozzo is a great character,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: but having him step in as the director at NCIS,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: I don't know. Unless this culminates in a season finale
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: with the director getting into some kind of trouble, and
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: the only way he can be rescued is by a
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: guy with a crew cut and a sniper rifle. That,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: that would be awesome. Yeah, The Return of Gibbs. That
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: would be really awesome. But anyway, I'm still trying to
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: digest that. Also, if you follow me on Facebook, you
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: saw me post something today about Gunsmoke. I love my
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: old TV shows, especially Westerns. I'm watching Gunsmoke today. Try
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: to do that every day. It's on at 1 o'clock.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: The bad guys in this episode of Gunsmoke, bank robbers,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: they were trying to steal a $ 30, 000 payroll that came
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: in on the stage. The bad guys were a very
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: young Captain Frank Ferillo, an officer or Sergeant Ranko from
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Hill Street Blues. This was like 20 years, 15, 20
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: years before Hill Street Blues. It was color, so it
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: had to be early 70s. And I had trouble watching
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: the whole episode because I'm seeing Captain Ferillo from the
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: New York Police Department. and one of his sergeants planning
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: to steal a payroll. Again, that's how easy this Monday
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: has been. All the more serious stuff. I don't know
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: about you, and this is something we speculated about when
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: we had the gas tax elimination here in the state
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: of Ohio. We worried that, you know what, they're just
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: going to charge us the same for the gas and
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: keep the profits. The first day, day and a half,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: gas came down. And now with the gas tax suspended
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: here in the state of Ohio, I saw a story
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: on the WSYX 6 website about people from West Virginia
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: coming across the border to get gas. I don't know
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: how outrageous it is down there, but it went down
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: and then boom. I'm seeing it right back up to,
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: you know, 390s. I saw one place at 403. I
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: hope that somebody somewhere is investigating this stuff, whether it's
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: the auditor or whoever. But that does not seem right
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: to me. I mean, maybe I'm just looking at the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: wrong gas stations. But I've been seeing 390, 395 up
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to 403 the past couple of days. And that is
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: really bothering me because it defeats the purpose of this
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: gas tax reduction. We'd be up to, you know, 430
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: to 440 if the gas tax were still in place.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: And diesel, six something a gallon. I've never owned a diesel.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: I never wanted to own a diesel. I remember back
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: in the 80s when the Volkswagen Rabbit diesel came out
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: and they said it was getting like 87 miles per
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: gallon or something like that. I had a neighbor that
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: had a diesel Mercedes when I was a kid. And
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: it was a nice looking car, but it sounded like
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: a semi truck. I just I don't know. Diesel engines.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Just they sound like they belong in trucks, not in cars.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: And I guess that's probably the reason I was never.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I was never one to say, oh, yeah, I'd like
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: to have a diesel car. Just couldn't do it. Even
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: if it was getting, and I'm doubting, because remember, Volkswagen
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: got in trouble a couple of years ago because of that.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Faking their mileage results, their miles per gallon results. Far
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: as I know, they could have been doing it back
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: in the 80s with that Volkswagen Rabbit as well. And
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: then everybody came out with a Rabbit-esque kind of car.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: The Chevy Chevette was kind of Chevrolet's answer to the Rabbit.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Ford had the Fiesta, which later became the Festiva. And
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: I think that was a PC move, quite frankly. You're
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: probably not old enough to remember that, are you? No.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: It was called the Ford Fiesta, and it was just
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: this little two-door, Yugo-like car. I mean, it was really small.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: But it got really great miles per gallon. And we
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: came out, and a lot of people, if you're under 50,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: you don't even have memories of the energy crisis from
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: the 70s. Um, some places would do like odd and
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: even days, depending upon the last digit in your license
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: plate number. Some would have, uh, you could only get
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: so much gasoline, so many gallons of gasoline. They introduced
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: self-serve because that was going to save us all kinds
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: of money. And that did nothing except, you know, the
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: prices kept going up and now you get to smell
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: like gasoline. Frankly, I miss the days when Goober would
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: come out and put your gas in your car and
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: wash your windshield, check your oil. Until they shut down
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: the Swifty stations, I used to go to Swifty. I
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: didn't have any problem with their gas. It was generally
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: maybe five cents a gallon more than the place across
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: the street. But a guy came out and pumped the gas.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: And if I'm going to a meeting or whatever, I
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: don't want my hands smelling like gasoline. So it was
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: worth the extra few cents a gallon to have somebody
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: come out and pump the gas for me. And I
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: don't know why the whole full service mentality that we
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: used to get on so many different things that we
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: no longer, hell, you can't even go to the grocery
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: store and have somebody check you out anymore. And I won't.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: I went out to the Kroger in Galloway the other night.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Was it Friday night? Yeah, it was Friday night. And
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: I stopped out there to get one thing. I ended
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: up getting several. But here was the impressive thing because
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: it was 730-ish, just getting dark. And the store was
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: quite busy. It was a Friday night. And there were probably,
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: I'm going to say maybe eight self-checkout lanes that were
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: all hustling and bustling. There were also four lanes with cashiers.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: And I walked right to a lane with a cashier.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: There was nobody even standing in line there. People were getting,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: and this is what they want. They're getting used to
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: checking yourself out. So while everybody's over there doing their
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: own beep, beep, beep, beep, I went to the kid
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: and said, here, check me out. And I walked out
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: of the store happy. I don't do the self-checkout thing,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: especially if the store is busy. I just, I won't
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: do it. And I was quite happy to go into
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: that Kroger and see people working at the cash registers.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: They're all adopting it now. All of them. Even Aldi.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: The newest one around here, I guess, is the one
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: down in Grove City. And I think they usually have
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: one cashier working and then they've got about half a
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: dozen self-checkouts. No.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: No.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: I appreciate the fact that your groceries are cheaper than
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: other stores, but I'm going to need an employee discount
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: if you want me scanning and bagging my own crap.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: I just don't think it makes sense. The price didn't
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: go down. Just like with self-serve gasoline, the price didn't
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: go down. Now you're getting the labor from me instead
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: of an employee. I'm paying the same, if not more.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: for the product I'm getting. So no, I won't do it. Walmart,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: they send you into that cattle line where you just
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: have to go and then you wait for somebody to
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: look like they're leaving their register so you can go over. No,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: won't do it. I will always stand out right in
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: the middle. I'll block everything waiting for a cashier. I
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: am not going to check. What happens when you go
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: to Jiffy Lube or Fast Lube or Valvoline or whatever
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and they say, oil change is $ 59. 95. Just come on
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: out here. You can go down these steps to get
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: underneath and let your oil out. You're not going to
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: do that. I want an employee discount. Are you a
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: self-checker outer?
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: I try not to be, but I do sometimes.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: If I'm in a hurry, I have used it, but
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: I try not to.
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: I try to go through the aisle.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Well, see, I was out at the Kroger by your place.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Not on Broad Street?
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and all the self-checkouts were just full. I went over.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: They had four open registers, and nobody was even in line.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: It was more expedient for me to let a kid beep, beep, beep,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: and I was done.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: I don't know if it's all Kroger's or that one
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: specifically because that's the one that's closest to my house.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: I go to that one the most.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: But there seems to be a plethora of human beings
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: that take 877 items through the self-checkout line with like
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: a cart full of stuff and it takes them forever.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: I'm like that– It takes me forever.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Wasn't it supposed to be 25 items or less at first?
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: The self-checkout thing?
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I try to pay little attention to
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: them because, again, I just– I'm not an employee.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: No, I hear you.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: And if I'm not getting a 10 percent discount on
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: whatever I'm buying, I'm not doing it.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: I do remember it was like this will cut costs.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: And it doesn't.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: It'll be lower.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: I'm like, no, it'll– the cost is lower for you
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: not to pay somebody else.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: That's what the cost is lower than.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: That was another silliness we did back in the 70s,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: aside from the energy crisis and pumping your own gas.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Do you remember when the grocery stores, like you go
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: to Kroger and you'd buy a can that just had
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: a white label with black prints and corn?
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Before my time.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Unbrand. That's what they called it. Unbrand groceries. Don't pay
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: for all the fancy packaging. Buy unbrand groceries. And you
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: go at corn, green beans.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: Was that like Kroger brand?
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: It was the store brand, except they didn't spend any
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: money on color labels and all that kind of stuff.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: They just did Korn. And we fell for it. We
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: fell for it. I don't know. It was a great
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: experience to have a cashier Friday night. And maybe I
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: am the last. Maybe I'm a dinosaur here. Maybe everybody
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: else is going, yeah, Chuck, just scan your groceries and
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: get out. Shut up.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: No, you're definitely not the only one. My dad would
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: never go through them.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: My Charlie's grandpa on his other side will absolutely refuse.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: He will stand at a cashier checkout and wait there
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: until somebody shows up before he uses the self-checkout.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Yes, that's how it should be. That's how it should be.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: I just, I'm not, and again, it's not saving us
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: any money. That's the thing. Have you noticed grocery prices
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: going down since they put in all these self-checkouts? Not
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: at all. And this isn't a crazy conservative. One of
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: my left wing lawyer friends the other night, he was
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: on his Facebook page. And I believe he was at
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: a McDonald's, if I'm not mistaken. Went somewhere for lunch
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: and they had the kiosk. No, nobody at the counter,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: just the kiosk. And he said after several minutes of
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to put his order in
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: and errors, he just he walked out. Went someplace else.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I don't think this is, I don't know. The world
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: electronically is changing. What they're expecting us to do is
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: changing the information they want. You can't even, I see
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: something online, I go, oh, that would be, the queen
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: would like this. So you hit the website. You go
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: in to see this product that caught your attention. Would
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you like a 20% discount? Well, sure. What's your email address?
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: You put it in. Also, we're going to need your
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: cell phone number so we can text you mercilessly.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: No.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: No, I want to buy some stuff. I'm not going
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: to give you. You want my mother's maiden name, my
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: first school, and my bank account as well? I'm telling you,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: if I ever win, like the Mega Millions, the Powerball,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I'm going to buy a bunch of land. I'm going
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: to build my little town. I'm going to call it Yesterville.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: And all of this stupid crap will not exist there.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: You know what I really hate about the self-checkout thing
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: and the ordering at McDonald's through the kiosk?
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: What?
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: It's touching the little pad that so many people before
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: you have touched it, and especially the McDonald's one. You
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: can see the fingerprints, and it just bothers me because
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: I'll have to do it. And then I have to
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: go in and wash my hands. Then I have to
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: wait for the food. Maybe I'm weird.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: No, that's something. And, you know, we're out of the
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: COVID days, so there's not hand sanitizer everywhere. But, yeah,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: you're touching on that. And, again, going back to yesteryear,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: you remember hairnets and plastic gloves when people were preparing
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: your food? You don't see that anymore either. Bare hands
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: and hair flopping all over the place. Man, I am just,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: I am curmudgeoning out today is what I'm doing.