Stores closing earlier than advertised time

~Jem~

Hmm, firstly I would NEVER make a habit of working over my contracted hours without pay.
Most supermarkets will have staff contracted past the 'closing time' to cover the last few customers.

A few years back when I worked at Tesco, our tills wouldn't allow a transaction to be started after 4.15pm (we shut at 4)
Turning a man away with at least £100 of food in his trolley was strangely satisfying, I mean he had 3 tannoy announcements warning!

As for the OP comments, it is completley down to the store, the area, the types of customer.

For example, I also worked for a small Tesco Express which shut at 11pm and was right in a town centre. We would shut the doors at either 10.45/10.50 or 10.55 depending on how many customers were in the shop. If we knew we had enough people in to take us to 11pm then no entry. Plus a LOT of people at that time were a bit tipsy and coming in for cigarettes but would take AAAGES because they were drunk, chatting etc.

The manager of the store that 'stopped letting in' 15 mins before closing, well the shop could have been busy. It might be experience from last year.

midwinter

I agree with so many of the sentiments above, that the general public basically forget that anyone in retail also has a home life, and Christmas etc to prepare for.

I do feel it's partly down to the "open all hours" bank holidays/sundays mentality, people feel they can shop at any time, and take little heed of opening/closing hours published instore/in advance.

chopps

So occasionally there may be a few minutes of unpaid overtime involved ......
Checkout operators working for Tesco here have it a lot easier than their colleagues in some of the Tesco stores overseas.
In the UK the design of the checkout area allows them to stay seated and not have to move at all.
The conveyor belt brings the goods to them to scan and then they can push it away for the customer to pack.
They don't even to have handle the credit/debit cards anymore or tear off the till receipt as they've been re-positioned so the customer has to do it all.
As soon as they've scanned everything they request payment while the customer is still trying to do their own packing, no offer to help anymore seems to be forthcoming especially in stores where bags are not free and customers tend to bring their own bags or place everything in the trolley unbagged.
Is this a deliberate policy to prepare us for having only self-service tills in future?? !!
This level of (non) service is becoming more like the way Aldi,Lidl and the other discounters operate.
In contrast till-operators in Tesco's Asia stores have to stand all day, reach and stretch to pull the goods into the scanning area (no conveyor belts used) then pack the goods in bags themselves and help lift them back into the customers trolley.
Also, they are not allowed to do their own personal shopping in the store whilst wearing Tesco's uniform.
Salary is typically £6 per day.

aliaslotte

I work at a supermarket. At our store, the manager won't let us stop people coming in. They lock the doors bang on closing time. It is really annoying, to be honest, as I get paid until say 11pm [which is when the store shuts] but often work until around 11.20pm as we are still waiting for customers to pay for their goods - it doesn't sound like a long time, but it means I miss the 11.10pm bus and have to wait until nearly midnight for the next, for a journey that takes around 45 minutes.

I can understand the frustration though. At an electronics store I used to work at, they always locked the doors 15 minutes early and then made announcements every 5 minutes to tell the customers in store to go to the till, which is the same thing you've experienced.

Regarding Sundays, we have been told that we can only put items through the checkout for a certain amount of time - 6 hours. When it gets to 4pm, our tills actually shut off unless they are mid-transaction, so it is always a mad panic on a Sunday to get the customers through the checkout before 4pm.

aliaslotte

chopps wrote: »

So occasionally there may be a few minutes of unpaid overtime involved ......
Checkout operators working for Tesco here have it a lot easier than their colleagues in some of the Tesco stores overseas.
In the UK the design of the checkout area allows them to stay seated and not have to move at all.
The conveyor belt brings the goods to them to scan and then they can push it away for the customer to pack.
They don't even to have handle the credit/debit cards anymore or tear off the till receipt as they've been re-positioned so the customer has to do it all.
As soon as they've scanned everything they request payment while the customer is still trying to do their own packing, no offer to help anymore seems to be forthcoming especially in stores where bags are not free and customers tend to bring their own bags or place everything in the trolley unbagged.
Is this a deliberate policy to prepare us for having only self-service tills in future?? !!
This level of (non) service is becoming more like the way Aldi,Lidl and the other discounters operate.
In contrast till-operators in Tesco's Asia stores have to stand all day, reach and stretch to pull the goods into the scanning area (no conveyor belts used) then pack the goods in bags themselves and help lift them back into the customers trolley.
Also, they are not allowed to do their own personal shopping in the store whilst wearing Tesco's uniform.
Salary is typically £6 per day.

I don't work in Tesco, but I work in a supermarket.
The design of the checkouts actually leads to a lot of back problems. Sitting and twisting from side to side. I often push the chair aside and stand, especially for heavy items. Also, the design of the tills often feels very restrictive - you are literally not allowed to leave the till without the permission of a supervisor - it is like being caged in sometimes.
Also, at my store, we offer to help bag pack for every single customer. I usually end up helping 1 in 3, sometimes more, and am always happy to doso. Not all shop assistants push the shopping aside or watch a customer struggle without offering to help.

I am not denying that some shop assistants can be unhelpful, nor am I denying the poor working conditions of others, but please do not label us all with the same tag.

chopps

aliaslotte wrote: »

I don't work in Tesco, but I work in a supermarket.
The design of the checkouts actually leads to a lot of back problems. Sitting and twisting from side to side. I often push the chair aside and stand, especially for heavy items. Also, the design of the tills often feels very restrictive - you are literally not allowed to leave the till without the permission of a supervisor - it is like being caged in sometimes.
Also, at my store, we offer to help bag pack for every single customer. I usually end up helping 1 in 3, sometimes more, and am always happy to doso. Not all shop assistants push the shopping aside or watch a customer struggle without offering to help.

I am not denying that some shop assistants can be unhelpful, nor am I denying the poor working conditions of others, but please do not label us all with the same tag.

For sure, some of the positioning is poorly designed but I do notice the customer is being expected to do more and more.
Aldi and Lidl seem to have lightning fast scanners with their till operators passing the goods through faster than its possible to load them back in the trolley. They then have to pause for a few seconds waiting for the customer to clear the (small) area to make some space for more goods to be pushed through.No offer to assist though.
Quite stressful for some of the older customers who could feel a bit pressurised to hurry up as they're delaying the queue....

chopps

aliaslotte wrote: »

I work at a supermarket. At our store, the manager won't let us stop people coming in. They lock the doors bang on closing time. It is really annoying, to be honest, as I get paid until say 11pm [which is when the store shuts] but often work until around 11.20pm as we are still waiting for customers to pay for their goods - it doesn't sound like a long time, but it means I miss the 11.10pm bus and have to wait until nearly midnight for the next, for a journey that takes around 45 minutes.

I can understand the frustration though. At an electronics store I used to work at, they always locked the doors 15 minutes early and then made announcements every 5 minutes to tell the customers in store to go to the till, which is the same thing you've experienced.

Regarding Sundays, we have been told that we can only put items through the checkout for a certain amount of time - 6 hours. When it gets to 4pm, our tills actually shut off unless they are mid-transaction, so it is always a mad panic on a Sunday to get the customers through the checkout before 4pm.

I can sympathise with your situation where it means you miss the bus.
If it's happening regularly then they should be fair and pay a few of the till operators to work 15 minutes longer to clear the laggards.

Sunday trading hours is another subject to itself but perhaps now should be reviewed and extended a little to be more customer friendly. 9.30am-5.30pm would make more sense.

Middy

You wouldn't have a problem with being rushed out of the store I work for. The week before Christmas, head office think it would be a brilliant 'idea' to open 6am-10pm Mon-Fri. We are normally open 7am-8pm. Guess what, it was dead after 8pm and taking turns with a colleague to stand in the kiosk looking like a lemon for 30-40 mins.

It has been the same story when we open til 10pm a few days before Christmas, no-one turns up. Head office should really take note of the poor takings. Only transactions made after 8pm were colleagues finishing work and buying a few bits.

geordie_joe

chopps wrote: »

Sunday trading hours is another subject to itself but perhaps now should be reviewed and extended a little to be more customer friendly. 9.30am-5.30pm would make more sense.

There'd be no point, you'd still get people coming in at the last minute. They don't choose to go shopping at 3.55pm because that is a convenient time for them, they do it because they have left it until the last minute.

If you change the closing time to 5.30pm they will still leave it until the last minute to go shopping.

Demba

chopps wrote: »

I can sympathise with your situation where it means you miss the bus.
If it's happening regularly then they should be fair and pay a few of the till operators to work 15 minutes longer to clear the laggards.

Sunday trading hours is another subject to itself but perhaps now should be reviewed and extended a little to be more customer friendly. 9.30am-5.30pm would make more sense.

Shops should not open on Sundays, why should people who work in retail miss out on a Sunday with their families?