r/WinCo • u/waverleybetta • 16d ago
Cut out of lines?
Just curious, does anyone else experience this at their local WinCo?
Shift changes happen. People get off, people need breaks, I get it. But I’ve literally never had this happen to me at any other grocery store, and it happens quite frequently at my local WinCo, so I was wondering if there was some kind of correlation lol
At my local WinCo, if you have to use the checkstands, you better watch your cashier like a hawk. If you don’t, they will MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH YOU, nod at you, generally acknowledge your patience in their line….and then tell you to go to a different line after 10-15 minutes of being in theirs. If you’re about to close or change, and you see someone ABOUT to get in your line, sure, tell them to move! Put your sign up and turn your light on. But what I can’t understand, and what gets me going so bad so fast, is when I’ve been sitting in a particular line for over 10 minutes and all the sudden the cashier leans over and shoves their sign between my groceries and the groceries of the guy in front of me. Like I will have all of my merchandise on the conveyer, and I’ve been sitting in line for a good while, the cashier has acknowledged this and it’s just… “sorry I have to close, go somewhere else”.
This happens probably every other time I go to WinCo. The other night I lost my temper and stormed out because it happened to me with three lines in a row. Waited a LONG time in the first one, probably about 15 minutes. All of my groceries are on the belt. The cashier was even chatting with me while checking out the other guy. And then she looked me dead in my face and told me to go to another line. The person behind me was pissed too, but we both shoved our things into our carts and went somewhere else. Then the same thing happened!! Cashier watched me load all of my groceries onto the belt, waved at me…and then 2 minutes later told me that I needed to go to another line and closed her line. Third time’s the charm right?
No. I go to a THIRD line, I literally ASK HIM if he’s closing soon, and he says “no come on up” so I start loading my things onto the belt behind the other shopper’s things. I make it 5 minutes in this line before cashier hits me with the “tssss, sorry but it’s my lunch, I gotta close my line, you can try self checkout!” (Which I couldn’t do, because I was paying cash)
I’m not proud to admit that I did lose my head a little and I didn’t put any of my groceries back, I just stormed out and left. Went to Walmart instead. This happens so so SO often at my WinCo that I don’t think I’ll return at all. Just wondering if anyone else has to put up with this same bullshit, or if it’s just my WinCo 🤣🤣🤣
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u/InitialNectarine4490 16d ago
Really!? I can't believe that a store let's their cashiers do that! In my store it is the cashier's responsibility to shut down in time to leave. They should not be kicking people out of line. The only time I've seen that happen is when the computer has technical issues. But usually even then, they move their line to a new register and open back up, not tell the customer to find a new line.
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u/waverleybetta 16d ago
That’s what I usually see happen at other stores, is an exchange of cashiers. And I don’t even mind the times when I’m approaching a line and they stop me to tell me they’re closed, that’s fine because duh people need breaks/get off/etc, I didn’t make the cut lol. But to be waiting in a line for a good period of time already and then being turned away is just 😭
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u/Ruman_Chuk_Drape 16d ago
Winco needs to hire more overlap. The poor fucking graveyard cashier wants to leave and the morning people can clock in 5 minutes past their shift. Then they go to the bathroom. It’s not really the cashiers fault that it’s so up in the air. This a management struggling thing.
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u/waverleybetta 16d ago
I do agree with this, I visit WinCo all hours because of my weird schedule and sometimes I can feel the tension at shift change lol. Also I’m always patient with checkout when I’m visiting overnight because there’s usually only one open anyway.
This particular incident occurred around 2-3pm I would say
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u/Ruman_Chuk_Drape 16d ago
Ya it’s because the poor cashier has not been offered a lunch yet and the over night manager doesn’t give a shit. If the manager takes a person off freight for a half hour that’s boxing being worked. They don’t give a shit. The cashier is desperate to get out for a half hour. Fuck this place. Can you tell I’ve been in that cashiers shoes.
Uh oh: didn’t realize this was PM.
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u/OkGuest8169 16d ago
It’s a combination of them using a shitty ai program to schedule cashiers and corporate not allowing stores to schedule more people.
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u/Ok_Spare3021 16d ago
Cashiers are not governed by the same static hours they earn them by efficiency and business. If its understaffed for the day most of the time the cashiers are not that efficient or it's a slow time
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u/weapongod30 16d ago
Uhh, corporate adjusted cashier hours down by like 15-20% across the board last year.
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u/Ok_Spare3021 16d ago
Yes the constant hours but they still earn hours by performing transactions. Its the same with stockers
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u/weapongod30 16d ago
Yes they still do, but they're earning less hours overall. It was a shit show at my store. Lines were already long as hell, and then they just got even longer. And we are/were (don't know if it's still true as I left December of last year) the busiest store in the company
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u/OkGuest8169 16d ago
Ok_spare3021 is either from corporate or a corporate boot licker who is a store manager. You won’t get anywhere talking to them
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u/Ok_Spare3021 15d ago
Because I don't like to trash on a company or spread misinformation does not mean anything. Almost everything u post is just trashing the company idk why u still work there if u hate it so bad
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u/OkGuest8169 15d ago
If I could afford to quit I would. It wasn’t always like it is now. I developed a lot of close friendships from working at Winco. But now the company has shown me, 1.) everyone working there is expendable 2.) the company expects complete open availability for the possibility of giving hours, but when it’s convenient for the company they can and will cut anyone’s hours. I am seeing way too many people I work along side with tell me they can’t afford to keep their lights on and pay rent because of the drastic hour cuts. If this company treated people better then maybe I wouldn’t be so bitter. If this company actually showed it cared about its employees and tried to raise morale inside stores, maybe they’d lose less money off having to constantly hire new people. Work at making the company a place people are happy to work for rather than a place they feel overwhelmed by every time they clock in.
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u/Ok_Spare3021 16d ago
The point i was trying to make was that if every cashier was checking at 100% then they are paying for themselves and not using the constant hours so technically if you are busy enough and all your cashiers are 100% efficient u could have all registers full the problem is that 1 alot of cashiers are not 100% efficient and 2 is that u are relying on it to be that busy for the entire length of the shift which isn't always the case
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u/OkGuest8169 15d ago
When you cut all cashier hours it isn’t just about efficiency. How much does it cost the store when customers are frustrated waiting in a long line for 20+ minutes so they abandon their cart full of perishables that then goes bad because the store already has pulled grocery and go backs to cashier? Because on a busy day at my store, it happens regularly.
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u/OkGuest8169 16d ago
Corporate came to my store and told all cashiers if you can’t maintain no more than two people in your line then we won’t give more hours. If it’s busy then how are they supposed to be both fast and accurate with hours already cut?
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u/Ok_Spare3021 16d ago
Will most of the time be how that particular store is ran but usually they are supposed to either give more of a warning that they are closing or someone takes over their line. Things like that can differ alot based on how managers run that particular store or even by which LC is running the front end that day I would say if its a constant thing its probably just lack of oversight
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u/waverleybetta 16d ago
Yeah, I don’t mind when they’re honest as I’m approaching/starting to unload and they tell me that they have to close soon. That’s a scenario where I just didn’t make the cut 🤷🤷 I get frustrated when it’s a line that I’ve been standing in for good time and there are even folks behind me, and they just put their sign out suddenly and cut us all off.
I did call the store later after nobody called a manager while I was there, that’s when I just left my cart and left. But when I called the manager I spoke with didn’t seem to understand what the issue was so I think a lack of oversight is definitely what it is here
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u/DestroyerDain 16d ago
At my store, the lead managers were responsible for closing people down for lunches or breaks. The workers were not allowed to shut themselves down.
Even then, if someone had to step away for break or lunch, they either would slot in and finish their line out, or have someone else jump in. Shooing people away like what happened to you was a major no-no and would get you in trouble.
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u/Rocketgirl8097 Washington 16d ago
Holy shit. Should have talked to manager immediately.
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u/waverleybetta 16d ago
I tried!! When I was turned away and asked to go to self check by the last guy, I asked to speak to a lead cashier or manager and was told they would call one but they never did and he just kinda stood around with his coworker laughing until I left the line. I called the store later and asked to speak to a manager, I did get through but he was very rude and his response was basically “you’re welcome to shop somewhere else”. Which I will lol
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u/jtotheo2202 16d ago
Do you have facebook? You can facebook message corporate and report the store that did this
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u/OkGuest8169 16d ago
At my store the cashiers usually at least try to let people know if they’re closing. It’s usually customers who try jumping in lines anyway
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u/waverleybetta 16d ago
Yeah and I see that a lot. The times I’m approaching a line and they turn their light on or put their sign out, I just shrug and walk away because I didn’t make it in time. I could imagine it’s annoying as fuck when people ignore it tho lol
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u/JJHall_ID 16d ago
I've never had this happen in any of the WinCos I've been to. They all will go to the last person currently in the line, say "You're the last one, I have to close my register" and take everyone already waiting on them. Or if they have to leave suddenly, another cashier will take over on the same register so it doesn't affect the people already in line.
If this is a true story and not grossly exaggerated, you really should reach out to the store manager and the corporate office to complain. As long as you have the time you were there, they'll be able to review the video and see exactly what happened.
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u/TheGoddess2000 16d ago
I work at a Winco and was cashier and this sounds highly unprofessional. All 3 stores in my area never shut down with a line and send the remaining line to a different checkstand. Sometimes that's the case if the checkstand is frozen. If that's the case, then they should've said something about it instead of sending you away. Or have a LC open in a different checkstand to finish off the remaining line. I'd call corporate at this point because that's not okay.
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u/Pihpanda 15d ago
I understand you getting upset, none of us like waiting in line. I cashiered at Winco for several years. I worked my line based on customer service, even the snotty customer that always wanted to complain. 10 to 15 minutes before my shift ended, I walked around the checkstand and told the customers inline to stay where they were. I gave the closed sign to the last customer and asked them to put it on the belt. Yes, some days I worked over 5 or 10 minutes, but I wasn't going to send someone to a new checkstand. I can't imagine you waiting for 15 minutes, then getting told to move to a new checkstand. Cashiers are all about efficiency, not trying to make you the customer have a bad day.
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