Self Check Out at the Amex

[Father Jack]

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.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Wont work, you will have to have people supervising the things as inevitably they will constantly break. You would be better off having these people serving you normally !!

 

[GingerBeerMan]

I don't think a self checkout would work like in a supermarket, firstly there's nothing stopping you walking off, secondly you'd still need people to pull the pints and watch for thieves.
When I was at a festival once, they had very short queues despite having more customers and less staff. One staff member constantly pulled pints and put them behind the checkout staff, and the checkout staff only had to pick up the correct amount and hand them to the customer. It worked quickly and effectively.

 

[Lush]

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%.

 

[Father Jack]

I was thinking a system driven by the smart cards, you pay first, this prints a receipt, pick up food etc and show receipt to supervisor before exiting catering area. Space would be the issue. The festival system works, problem is I think the caterers are trying to avoid wastage.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

I was thinking a system driven by the smart cards, you pay first, this prints a receipt, pick up food etc and show receipt to supervisor before exiting catering area. Space would be the issue. The festival system works, problem is I think the caterers are trying to avoid wastage.

Sounds like a good idea actually . Pay before and then pick up elsewhere, yeah, I like it.

 

[Deanbha]

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%.

This. When I get to the front of a queue it takes me seconds to order my pie and pint. If people pay in cash or use debit cards, it slows everything down.

 

[KJP]

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

 

[Father Jack]

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.

 

[Gwylan]

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%.

That's the approach taken by London Transport with Oyster cards. It's a good idea as it certainly encourages smart card use - maybe even go for 30 or 40% back but pay a lot more for cash transactions. Having waited 20 minutes to buy my son's hotdog yesterday, anything to speed up the process.

 

[martyn20]

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.

What about those without season tickets?

 

[Gwylan]

I was thinking a system driven by the smart cards, you pay first, this prints a receipt, pick up food etc and show receipt to supervisor before exiting catering area. Space would be the issue. The festival system works, problem is I think the caterers are trying to avoid wastage.

The problem with this is that you don't know what's available until you reach the counter. If you pay for something that's not available, then time getting a refund would probably negate any efficiency savings.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

What about those without season tickets?

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.

 

[Father Jack]

Arsenal system, as soon as you buy a match ticket you get a smart card which is topped up every time you buy a ticket for the game

 

[Father Jack]

The problem with this is that you don't know what's available until you reach the counter. If you pay for something that's not available, then time getting a refund would probably negate any efficiency savings.

My thinking is keep staff levels the same and but have more working on cooking and pulling pints, you also pay for a pie' not specifically a chicken one, for example

 

[Beach Hut]

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%.

I really cannot understand why everyone is not using this who is a STH, it makes no sense paying cash at all at the Amex.

 

[Gwylan]

My thinking is keep staff levels the same and but have more working on cooking and pulling pints, you also pay for a pie' not specifically a chicken one, for example

But I can only eat vegetable pies, if they're not available then it doesn't matter what else is. And having once been served three meat pies instead of the vegetarian one, it's a relevant point.

 

[Father Jack]

But I can only eat vegetable pies, if they're not available then it doesn't matter what else is. And having once been served three meat pies instead of the vegetarian one, it's a relevant point.

Yes absolutely, I suppose the answer there would be to align prices of pies, burgers etc coupled with more options for vegetarians, both of these are possible

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

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

 

[The Birdman]

The guys where very slow on the Harvey and foster stand three pumps two staff and only one had the change middle of the WSU very basic things to sort out which will also help the club ?