Susan’s Notes
By Susan Palmes-Dennis
ROCKINGHAM, North Carolina—A belated Easter greetings to all of you as my family and I hope you all had a meaningful Lenten observance that refreshed your inner spirits.
Speaking of Lent, I was at Lowe’s before the Holy Week break to buy flowers and plants because it’s that time of the year again for me. By this I mean it’s that time when I have to add flower plants to my growing perennials and annuals. I love perennials since they just come back every year.
It’s quite amazing seeing them as it’s evidence of creation and power of heaven. Aside from the flowers, I also got a flag pole, new bird feeders, bird food, fertilizers and some flowers during a clearance sale.
Yes, even flowers and plants in the US can be sold in the clearance section and I love it. Who doesn’t love a clearance sale? At Rockingham, Lowe’s is one of the biggest stores that sells anything from flowers, plants, household needs, cleaning materials and household appliances. Everything Lowe’s store has it.
Despite being huge, Lowe’s only has a few employees. I will use it as a point of comparison to our store situation back home in the Philippines.
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When it was time to pay my husband Ronnie lined up at the self checkout counter since we have a few items and I want him to be there since he is a veteran and these are discounted . By self checkout, it means there’s no cashier to scan the barcode of our purchases.
Everything was fine though it’s frustrating that sometimes the scanner doesn’t seem to work since it showed the original and not discounted prices of our purchases. I signaled the sales lady who was on the next kiosk helping another customer.
She was the lone employee I saw at that time. But anyway she eventually helped us by scanning her own ID badge and tapping the machine several times. As expected the self checkout line was getting longer. Eventually we finished and got our receipts. But that’s the end of my article.
I thought that the US is now in an era where only a few personnel are manning the checkout counters and self checkouts are being encouraged with some people supervising the customers cashing in their purchases,
Compare this to say our malls in Cagayan de Oro City. At SM malls, Ayala Centrio mall, Limketkai Mall, City Mall in Bulua and Gaisano Mall, I see three or four employees manning the checkout counters—one to scan the purchases and collect payment and the others to bag the items. There’s also the supervisor standing by and this means employment for them.
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If self checkout counters were installed in the Philippine malls, imagine the number of high school graduates or fresh college graduates that won’t be employed. And our stores are finding ways to employ less people to cut down on costs.
I hope that for now it doesn’t happen at least until the job market is big enough to accommodate majority of fresh Filipino graduates. Here in the US self checkout counters is a big thing and it’s a happy development for lots of customers who are in a hurry to leave with their purchases. When it first came out, the self-checkout counters or kiosks were quite impressive.
It’s similar to those computerized menus now installed in fastfood outlets where customers can check in their order and submit their number to the cashier for payment either in cash or card—usually credit card since now most don’t pay in cash.
But now there is a growing sentiment among Americans for a return to more cashiers and baggers to help them with their purchases. For them it’s more comfortable having someone to talk to and assist them with their purchases specially in using the scanner to scan the bar codes on every product and to operate the cash registers.
Maybe there would be a return to work of some of these store personnel and I believe there should be more options for American customers to choose how they would be serviced by these stores and establishments. If only to provide more employment without affecting their earnings, then stores should look into employing more store cashiers and baggers.
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A quick note: I read with interest a Rappler story written by JB Deveza on how public relations (PR) work had impacted community journalism in Cagayan de Oro. And I have to say I agree with what the article had pointed out which is to say that it had benefitted local officials and politicians the most.
Maybe I could write a more extensive discussion on this Rappler story since it involves a profession that was my former career in Cagayan de Oro City before I moved to the US. I could only imagine what today’s generation of local media practitioners have to deal with on a daily basis especially with social media being a dominant force in the national discourse.
I still believe in the necessity to support traditional mainstream media which remains the vanguard of free speech and expression in the country despite having to face competition from social media whose presence and influence has amplified to considerable extent the reach of politicians and incumbent officials in securing the public’s attention.
