Frustration With Kiosks, Apps, Self-Checkout, and Tipping Prompts

[UTTransplant]

Turn the phone sideways and it will be more legible…

Larry gets it. It doesn’t matter how I turn that little screen, it is still a lot less readable than an honest to goodness paper menu with 10-12 point type. Oh, and it is slightly insulting to think I don’t understand how to turn my phone to read something. Really?

 

[Wmlunt-WO]

Just offering a suggestion.
Never had to provide my phone number or email to get a restaurant menu, not in favor of this, just offering assistance, and my phone is blocked via vpn, etc.

 

[jymbee]

Small town CVS here. Used to walk in, most know me and just grabbed whatever prescription I was there to pick up. In/out in less than five minutes. Not any more.

Today at the pickup counter a big bright "Click here to start" monitor greeted me. Fill out FName, LName, DOB, "No one found by that name". Crap, mistyped one letter. No "Back", just start over.

Also, these days at CVS you're encouraged to bring up the code to "speed up your order". No, that doesn't work. Never has. Also CVS app useless to transfer a prescription from one area to another.

Telephone? Yeah, ok... That's a joke. Five minutes of answering prompts, dead end. Goodbye.

At the counter today I commented rather loudly that I'll walk in one day and all I'll see behind the counter will be robots, scurrying around. Got a laugh out of that. I asked if my assumption was correct that people hate this new "system". "Oh, no-- the love it!" Uh... call me skeptical

 

[Wmlunt-WO]

The code from my phone works every time, after they text me. Faster than having to answer necessary questions.
3 years ago I told the girl she was a robot as she was wearing a bar code sticker on her hand to log in with…

 

[Wmlunt-WO]

The code from my phone works every time, after they text me. Faster than having to answer necessary questions.
3 years ago I told the girl she was a robot as she was wearing a bar code sticker on her hand to log in with…

Not condoning this new method of outsourcing their work to me, but I have never been refused service just walking past the kiosk and ordering from the cashier, as I often do, or asking for a paper menu.

 

[Alaskansnowbirds]

Small town CVS here. Used to walk in, most know me and just grabbed whatever prescription I was there to pick up. In/out in less than five minutes. Not any more.

Today at the pickup counter a big bright "Click here to start" monitor greeted me. Fill out FName, LName, DOB, "No one found by that name". Crap, mistyped one letter. No "Back", just start over.

Also, these days at CVS you're encouraged to bring up the code to "speed up your order". No, that doesn't work. Never has. Also CVS app useless to transfer a prescription from one area to another.

Telephone? Yeah, ok... That's a joke. Five minutes of answering prompts, dead end. Goodbye.

At the counter today I commented rather loudly that I'll walk in one day and all I'll see behind the counter will be robots, scurrying around. Got a laugh out of that. I asked if my assumption was correct that people hate this new "system". "Oh, no-- the love it!" Uh... call me skeptical

Our local CVS went to the same system the 1st of July.
Before you just gave the clerk your DOB, she went and got the script, you paid for it and you were gone. Now it takes longer than that just to enter the info on the screen.

 

[Oldgator73]

Our local CVS went to the same system the 1st of July.
Before you just gave the clerk your DOB, she went and got the script, you paid for it and you were gone. Now it takes longer than that just to enter the info on the screen.

Use the drive through. Just have to give last name and DOB.

 

[Rene T]

Use the drive through. Just have to give last name and DOB.

I’ve been doing that also but it seems more people are catching on and doing the same thing. It seems there are always 3 to 4 cars before me. Then I usually park my car and walk in.

 

[NY_Dutch]

Use the drive through. Just have to give last name and DOB.

Our local Walgreens asks me to verify my address and last four of my phone number at the drive-thru. Two of the clerks know me well enough now that all they ask is if there are any changes.

 

[Seilerbird]

I use Amazon Pharmacy and everything gets shipped to my door.

 

[NY_Dutch]

I use Amazon Pharmacy and everything gets shipped to my door.

Walgreens will ship to my door as well, but I'm usually out and about often enough that using their drive-thru is a minor detour. I do have them ship when the weather isn't the best though.

 

[UTTransplant]

I never liked mail order meds. When I was working they would sit in my exposed metal mailbox for hours until I picked them up. It would be much hotter or colder than the “store at 65-78” instructions on the meds! Even now when we can pick up mail much quicker, I still don’t know for sure when the mail is delivered. Sometimes it is 10 am, sometimes 3 pm, and I am not running outside to the central mailboxes across the street every hour. Much easier to just go to the pharmacy and pick it up. Oh, and we aren’t even home that often anyway!

 

[Tom]

Two of the clerks know me well enough now that all they ask is if there are any changes.

You just have to love that.

I've had the "Hi Tom" personal greeting by the pharmacist and several assistants at our local CVS pharmacy for many years. This has continued as pharmacists and assistants have moved on. But my favorite one is when we spend our summers in Wyoming ...

One time, a (non-CVS) pharmacy assistant saw my name, asked where I was originally from, and wanted to know if I was the well-known singer. I explained that there are many folks there with the same name. When referred to by others, folks would have their name suffixed by their profession, hobby, or some distinguishing feature. e.g. Tom Jones the butcher, Tom Jones The baker, Tom the voice (guess which one), etc. This met with the question "what did they call you?"

In my youth, I rode a motorcycle with a large single cylinder 4-cycle engine that sounded like a John Deer tractor, and I was known by motorcycling friends as "Tommy tractor". Every time the lady saw me enter the store she'd loudly announce "Tommy tractor is in the store", until ...

We didn't visit WY one summer, and the next time I went to pick up a medication the lady said "I'm sorry, I can't recall your last name". When I gave her a clue "my first name is Tom", she replied "ah yes, Mr Tractor". After that, Chris could visit the store and ask for "medications for Tommy Tractor".

 

[Tom]

Today at the pickup counter a big bright "Click here to start" monitor greeted me. Fill out FName, LName, DOB, "No one found by that name". Crap, mistyped one letter. No "Back", just start over.

I hate that when we spend partial winters in Ohio. The local OH CVS has those monitors, but I have very "oily" skin and can't do touch screens of any description...

I use a stylus with my tablet, and the fingerprint sign-in on some apps on my phone requires countless tries. For the same reason, I hate doing text on a phone ... I have to press harder to try and combat the skin oil, and that spreads my finger/thumb onto adjacent (wrong) screen keys. Then auto-correct takes over.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

. I get the military discount and it's confusing to use at Lowe's, especially on those self-service machines.

I've done it literally hundreds of times. I got most of the remodeling materials for my house there, that 10% has saved me a few thousand bucks over the years. At the kiosk you poke the discount button, it asks for the phone number associated with the discount and you confirm your name. Scan the code on the back of your driver license, beep, thank you for your service and the total adjusts. Some items don't qualify for the discount but most do, and I pay with a cashback card which nets us around 50-100 a month. I get at some level it's a schtick, but for me with the remodel that 10% wasn't a token amount. I'll get stuff at lowes one wouldn't normally get there but at 10% off sometimes it's cheaper or more convenient than a trip to a department store or wally world.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[LarsMac]

It's an hour drive each way to pretty much everywhere for me, so, I've taken to ordering online, and having it delivered by UPS, or scheduling pick-up. Walmart or Home Depot, or Walgreens, Even the ACE Hardware has order online and pick-up, now days. I avoid fast-food, anymore, Except for the occasional breakfast biscuit from the drive-thru. I can get most of my shopping done without ever getting out of the vehicle, except for opening the cargo door.

 

[Oldgator73]

I've done it literally hundreds of times. I got most of the remodeling materials for my house there, that 10% has saved me a few thousand bucks over the years. At the kiosk you poke the discount button, it asks for the phone number associated with the discount and you confirm your name. Scan the code on the back of your driver license, beep, thank you for your service and the total adjusts. Some items don't qualify for the discount but most do, and I pay with a cashback card which nets us around 50-100 a month. I get at some level it's a schtick, but for me with the remodel that 10% wasn't a token amount. I'll get stuff at lowes one wouldn't normally get there but at 10% off sometimes it's cheaper or more convenient than a trip to a department store or wally world.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

We just purchased some property with a cottage included in SW Virginia. We are rehabbing the cottage. We live in Delaware and I try to purchase what we need there at Lowe’s since I get the 10% discount plus Delaware doesn’t have a sales tax.

 

[Alan_Hepburn]

Even now when we can pick up mail much quicker, I still don’t know for sure when the mail is delivered. Sometimes it is 10 am, sometimes 3 pm, and I am not running outside to the central mailboxes across the street every hour.

We live in a rural area with our mailbox 200 ft down our driveway. The house has a Ring doorbell and Ring has a mailbox monitor available that alerts us when someone opens the mailbox door - other than having to replace the batteries every few months it works well, if you have a typical mailbox.

 

[Chef Duane]

Makes me think of a time we ordered some wings from Hooters. It was before a football game and me and the fellers wanted some wings. Called in, placed the order, and went in to the pickup counter. The counter was clearly marked "Phone Order Pickup." So I go to the counter, tell the young lady my name, and she literally had to just turn around, grab my order, and turn back around and set it on the counter. Didn't even have to take a step. While she was ringing me up she asked "Do you want to tip me?" and simply as a reflex and rather puzzled I asked "For what?". She gave me a dirty look, rang me up, and set the change on the counter and walked away. I picked up my order and change and kinda' chuckled about her wanting a tip
for just standing there in orange short shorts and a tight t-shirt. Sorry, but I ain't tipping for just looking hot.
Btw, the wings were great and my team won.

 

[Tom]

If you do not have a bad case of SmartphonePhobia perhaps you can use it instead of the Kiosk.

-Don- Reno, NV

I rarely go inside a MacD, or eat their food; The kiosk day was an exception. I do like their milkshakes, and will buy them at the drive-through. They always ask "are you using the app today?" Er, no.

BTW their milkshakes are $4.99. When I hand over $5, $10 or $20, they don't give me $0.01 in my change.