Self Check Out at the Amex

[Father Jack]

What about the machine announcement "Unintelligent arsehole at the checkout area" going off every 20 seconds

A dwindling problem, most people are IT literate and touch screens are becoming more and more common place

 

[martyn20]

The club (last time i checked anyway) were providing smartcards to non-STHs if they request them and all tickets would be put onto that card. Eventually all those attending (home fans anyway) will have a smartcard.

Not yet, I asked and they said only season ticket holders will get cards this season

 

[drew]

More people would probably use smart cards if it was easier to top them up, why not let people pay via PayPal, and put it on the ticket site rather than that other site

Once set up it's hardly rocket science. STHs who chose to pay cash each game are just mugs paying 10% more than they need to.I suspect the vast majority of STH have internet access or failing that, have family that have internet access. It is really no excuse. Perhaps the answer is to reduce the amount of checkouts that accept cash rather than credit card / ecash. Also, provide the ecash facility for the Harveys outlets.

A cashless stadium could be rolled out, you could have top up machines where by you insert your season ticket and top up your balance with cash on the concourse.

So the queues would transfer to the top up machines!!!!!

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Not yet, I asked and they said only season ticket holders will get cards this season

Fair enough then, eventually it will happen though.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

IMHO about 80% of the people in the stadium who would like to have something to eat or drink at half-time are unable to do so due to the stupidly long slow-moving queues. Sort that out and everyone's a winner.

 

[Munchkin]

At a time when the club are talking about maximising revenue, the North stand catering, in my opinion is getting worse week by week, I understand there is disruption from the ongoing works but yesterday people were walking away from the queues as the time taken to serve people was beyond a joke, as the second half kicked off both the main kiosks had people In line at least 7 or 8 deep, surely there has to be a better solution to allow people to spend their money !!!

More frustrating is the numerous amounts of people that appear to stand behind the serving areas that could surely be better utilised in terms of pouring and making drinks whilst the guy or girl that takes the money focuses purely on that !!

I hope I'm right in thinking that once the building works are complete there will be additional food outlets underneath the North West and North East corners and the original outlet by the West side entrance to the North concourse will be re opened.

Finally, why not have a few stand alone units for those who just want hot drinks ? Having plenty of time queuing yesterday afternoon I noticed many people just purchase a hot drink and of all the product available this seems to be the most time consuming.

Thankless task I'm sure but very frustrating when you see potential revenue being turned away.

 

[Stat Brother]

It takes about 5 seconds to buy stuff using the ecash Top Up, yet there are still loads of people, waving £10, £20 notes and needing change as well as shouting to the back of the queue to see what their mates want.

Maybe they should increase the prices and give ecash users 20% back instead of 10%.

You missed out the best one.

Standing in the queue for x amount of many minutes.
Finally get to the till.
Politely asked what you would like.
Take a deep breath.
Turn to the person (child ESL) you're with.
and say...













...What do you want Timmy.

 

[Bladders]

Double post

 

[Bladders]

There should be beer only queue's and beer and pie only queue's.

Then ordinary ques for those who want all the other stuff and want to spend 10 minutes fumbling with change or asking for a cheeseburger but can they do one with no cheese.

I'm usually stuck behind someone who's feeding the 5000 when all I want is a pint at halftime.

 

[Blue and White Tiger]

The reason it takes so long:

Server: What can i get you sir?
Me: Chicken & Ham pie please...
Server: (goes to have a look, comes back) none available.
Me: Steak pie please...
Server: (goes to have a look, comes back) none available.
Me: Special pie please...
Server: (goes to have a look, comes back) none available.
Me: Sod it then, (walks off)


as a result 3 minutes is wasted and no food is sold.

 

[7:18]

The reason it takes so long:

Server: What can i get you sir?
Me: Chicken & Ham pie please...
Server: (goes to have a look, comes back) none available.
Me: Steak pie please...
Server: (goes to have a look, comes back) none available.
Me: Special pie please...
Server: (goes to have a look, comes back) none available.
Me: Sod it then, (walks off)


as a result 3 minutes is wasted and no food is sold.

exactly this, happens to me almost every time, the first pie of choice is not available...

 

[Bladders]

I feel sorry for the servers, they have no training what so ever as far as I can tell. For the last 5 games when I go to get my first pie and pint the server always says 'sorry it's my first day'.

They have no idea about the pie and pint deal, no idea how to use the till, no idea what a 'special pie is'. I had one young lady from Poland I think who didn't even know what a Balti pie was or what Harveys was when I asked for it, I felt quite sorry for her as I knew she'd suffer at half time.

I get the impression they turn up and they are told ''there's your till now get on with it. No wonder no ones last's there, they get no training, loads of abuse from some fans for being slow and probably poorly paid.

I even had to show the girl serving beer at a portable at the Newcastle game how to pour a pint as her first attempt just produced a pint of foam. She had no idea as no one had taken the time to show her.

All in all I would have to say it's actually gone down hill since Azure got the boot.

 

[Blue and White Tiger]

At 2.45 and HT.

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Corkage is the answer
Let a limited number say 500? that wants to turn up with a cold tray of 24 large Stella, Charge em £24 & they go take in drink a few & pass a few onto mates for a couple of quid each & make a few nicker
Overall Amex sales unchanged, queues shorter = happier punters & club gets 10 grand

 

[ropey9]

They should put in a proper queue control jobby like they have at theme parks (Alton Towers, et al) where at strategic points in the winding queue a sign tells the customer that the approximate wait time is 1 hours, 30 minutes, 15 minutes, 5 minutes until they get to experience a fantastic taste bud tingling hot dog.

Or

They could put in a reserve and pick up similar to Argos, where it can be accessed using your iphone and once your order is ready a stadium wide annoucement is made stating order number 47869-234-4111 is ready to be picked up from collection point EU12-3B

Or

Like NPower when I called about switching my account to them, they were able to insert me into the queue when I called and then called me back when a person was available to talk to me.

Or

The old take a number and when called you have 15 seconds to get to the server.

---

I should imagine it will remain the same so I will just carry on eating lunch at lunchtime - taking some keep quiet sweets for the kids and having a beer afterwards looking out at the idiots in the 1901 car park sitting in their cars for 25 minutes not moving.

 

[yxee]

The reason it takes so long:

Server: What can i get you sir?
Me: Chicken & Ham pie please...
Server: (goes to have a look, comes back) none available.
Me: Steak pie please...
Server: (goes to have a look, comes back) none available.
Me: Special pie please...
Server: (goes to have a look, comes back) none available.
Me: Sod it then, (walks off)

as a result 3 minutes is wasted and no food is sold.

this has happened to me many, many times

 

[Bob!]

So the queues would transfer to the top up machines!!!!!

And, hopefully, people would learn to top up in advance.

 

[Gazwag]

Isn't the answer to arrive earlier, queues are very small at 2pm, and buy an hour's worth of food and drink

 

[Blackadder]

Serious Question, would it work and improve the time it takes to get food/drink etc?

I decided to buy my second pint before the game yesterday at the stadium rather than the pub in Lewes where i usually stay a bit longer. I started queuing at 2.30 and it took nearly 20 minutes to order a Harveys. The staff appeared inefficient but his may be because they were still learning tills etc, this led to a lot of unrest in the Que. I am often put off buying a pie/pint/coffee by the length of the Que at the stadium and it has been mentioned in many quarters (many times) that this probably does affect the matchday takings.

Would some sort of self service / checkout system improve speed or would it make things more chaotic? i'm not sure how it could be implemented but then i'm neither a retail or catering expert.

Which stand Father Jack? I am Upper West and never seem to queue for 20 mins any more. I don't usually bother at half time as I don't want to miss the footy.

 

[Blackadder]

It takes about 5 seconds to buy stuff using the ecash Top Up, yet there are still loads of people, waving £10, £20 notes and needing change as well as shouting to the back of the queue to see what their mates want.

Maybe they should increase the prices and give ecash users 20% back instead of 10%.

So Intelligent fans are subsidised by the less able?

Like it Lush. Where do I sign up?