Walmart is starting to discourage the use of cash

[Bandito440]

Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Merk, I figure you would more likely be in the lane that takes cheques, no? LOL

Checks create a government record that the Bureau of Land Management can use against you. Merk’s all about the cash.

 

[Carmudgeon]

In lieu of an official policy declaration, I wouldn't draw any conclusions based on an anecdotal observation in one store.

Self-checkout machines are designed to speed the flow, and anyone who's ever used one knows that they can be anything but fast when paying with cash, especially when coins are used. And while some cashiers may be slow, they can still end up faster than people who struggle to use the machines, or are just plain slow at checking items and bagging them.

Sometimes it's just faster to check out with a human. And that doesn't count the times when the machines may be broken, or partially broken, like with the change dispenser, which requires the pit boss to come over and reset or reboot them, which can take many minutes. The fact that the pit boss' command terminal has a cash drawer tells you much potential there is for things to go wrong when they're asked to deal with cash transactions. More than once, I've had them issue change through it. It probably makes more sense to just limit those machines to electronic transactions.

But, Walmart has every reason to favor cash over traditional credit payments because they cost the company millions of dollars in transaction fees.

To do that, it went so far as to band together with other retailers (like CVS) in MCX to develop CurrentC, an alternative payment system that would bypass the traditional Visa/MC/AMEX/Discover card cartel and their fees.

CurrentC was a poorly conceived system, and deservedly went down in flames before even getting off the ground, but Walmart hasn't given up.

It's shunning Apple/Android/Samsung Pay in favor of its own NFC payment system. WP will take all major forms of electronic funding, including traditional credit cards; it doesn't link to checking accounts like CC did. It won't help it avoid those dreaded fees, but allows it establish a competitor in the NFC payment game, and capture customer data, which has tremendous value in today's world.

NFC payments may have a future, but neither cash nor credit are going anywhere any time soon.

 

[OneEyeJack]

I had a fun adventure with a Walmart cashier. I made a purchase that rang up to $10.16. I handed the cashier a $20 bill, a dime, a nickel and a penny. She handed me back the coins and said the $20 bill would "handle" the transaction. I told her I wanted a $10 bill back. She answered that there would be no way to know what the change would be until she ran the transaction. I asked her to accept the bill and coins as presented. She did and the change came back as $10. She was completely surprised that I knew ahead of time what the change would be. I told her it was "magic".

Maybe automated cashiers are becoming necessary because of the lack of candidates qualified to handle cash.

 

[spackard]

Sam's Club really hit a home run with their Scan & Go app.
It's a lot better than self checkout.
Looks like it's starting to be rolled out at Walmart.
forbes

 

[HorseThief]

those machines have all of the bills loaded into large cartridges. Most do not recycle bills and change taken in (for a number of reasons). These bill and change cartridges are loaded in the cash office/money room of most of these stores, or occasionally supplied preloaded by their cash management company.

The bad part about this is if a machine runs out of any one type of coin, or falls under a threshold for 5's or singles than it can't function with cash because it wouldn't be able to give correct change.

From then on, cash transfer in big box retail is weird - its a responsibility nobody wants for obvious reasons. Could be someone was out sick (there's stores where there is ONE and only one cash room employee) or they where rigidly sticking to a scheduled change-out. I know meijer used to change them out as needed during daytime hours as well as scheduled changes, but who knows how it works now.

 

[ecotourist]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
I had a fun adventure with a Walmart cashier. I made a purchase that rang up to $10.16. I handed the cashier a $20 bill, a dime, a nickel and a penny. She handed me back the coins and said the $20 bill would "handle" the transaction. I told her I wanted a $10 bill back. She answered that there would be no way to know what the change would be until she ran the transaction. I asked her to accept the bill and coins as presented. She did and the change came back as $10. She was completely surprised that I knew ahead of time what the change would be. I told her it was "magic".

Maybe automated cashiers are becoming necessary because of the lack of candidates qualified to handle cash.

Yup, people don't seems to be able to do that anymore! The secret will be lost forever when we pass on

It is pretty cool when you can give someone an extra coin or two and end up with a few large bills and maybe a quarter.

No-one seems to be able to make change without a calculator either. They just hand you a bunch of bills and a few coins and hope for the best. I learned to make change the right way when I had a paper route as a kid.

 

[PandaBear]

Transaction fee for card is actually very low for large merchant like Walmart, they can setup their own "bank" to cut the cost easily. They can probably setup their own armed carrier to securely transport the cash around too, but that's not going to be cheaper than dealing with cards.

Consider Target gives you 5% back with their own credit card and give you free shipping, I'd say the future is electronic payment instead of cash, because you know, the cheapest approach always win.

If I'm a manager I'd try not to get the cashiers remain amount wrong every single day between shifts. Just the labor to count and recount, the risk of robbery, the chance of employee stealing cash (I know one guy in my college days took $20k worth of cash from his employer and disappeared, and he was only found 2 years later when he though everyone forgot about it and went on an international trip, stupid). I don't want to doubt the integrity of every minimum wage worker on every shift.

I suspect one day every thing sold in store would be put into standardized "box" so robots can load them into a standardized shopping cart. We'll order on our phone and then go through a drive through, and pick up our items from the standardized box and load into our car. All without employee involvement.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: HorseThief
those machines have all of the bills loaded into large cartridges. Most do not recycle bills and change taken in (for a number of reasons). These bill and change cartridges are loaded in the cash office/money room of most of these stores, or occasionally supplied preloaded by their cash management company.

Due to the scarcity of cash transactions, not to mention the logistical and technical challenges you indicate, many self checkouts here have gone away from cash, just accepting debit or credit.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: mjk
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Out of 10 self checkout registers, only 1 takes cash at any given time.
The message is loud and clear: If you use cash, you're a square.

I think it is just you. No issues here.

Daisies are flowers,
Roses are red,
Merk is bored,
He's opened another thread!

 

[BrocLuno]

Lot's of WM shoppers use checkouts as ATM's is why they're not taking cash. They are below threshold and can't make change - it's all been taken ...

 

[mk378]

Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Lot's of WM shoppers use checkouts as ATM's is why they're not taking cash. They are below threshold and can't make change - it's all been taken ...

In that case they'll call the bag man to bring some more cash from the podium / safe thing. I'm sure the net flow of cash into a Walmart store is positive.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: bbhero
Are dollars "official" currency?? $5, $10,$20, $50, $100 bills are they "official" ?? I guess so. Strange how I can go to a Coinstar and get $44 Dollars back in 2 $20 bills and 4 $1 bills. I sure hope that the two $20 bills are real currency.

Maybe a business has the "right" to refuse pennies as payment for a debt. Maybe the business should have the right to force the debtor to "work" off their debt to said business. Don't know how well that would go over with the general public.

Want to watch a rough situation in a self check out line in a grocery store... Watch anyone and I mean anyone of any age try to figure out to check out/ be charged for fresh produce. They are GOING TO STRUGGLE an overwhelming majority of the time. It's a real hoot nanny watching people try to figure out what to do. "There's no bar code... Ohh gosh what will I ever do?? How can I possibly figure this out?? It's too much"... Etc etc.. be prepared to be camped out awhile in that circumstance.


I have bought fresh produce at a self-checkout. It is quite simple. If you cannot figure it out...I question whether you should be permitted to breed.