When The Speed Zone Isn't So Speedy

Did you see the news story about the fellow who tangled with the Speed Zone self-checkout system at the Rainbow Foods store on University Avenue in St. Paul, and ended up stabbing the manager?

Turns out this guy had other issues and a lengthy list of past tussels with the law. But it all started when he was trying to get his credit information into the system, with no success, which apparently drove him nuts.

I can understand his frustration, though not to the point of sticking a knife into a Rainbow staffer. It takes both trial and lots of errors to get used to checking your own groceries out of the store.

I mentioned I was thinking about doing a story on the Speed Zone to a friend, and she told me that Rainbow was going to remove the self-serve system. "People would rather socialize with a cashier," she'd heard.

Not true, said Troy Logan, store director for the Larpenter Avenue Rainbow in Roseville that I occasionally frequent.

"Actually, Speed Zones are being installed in stores all over the area,'' he said. "Some people love them and some don't." 

The younger generation more accustomed to computers are easily attuned; older folks line up to do business with a human.

"My eight-year-old son scans all of our purchases. He only needs me when it's time to pay," said Logan. But the system is best for quick purchase of a few items, "not for a cartful," he said.

Talking to Logan clarified reasons why the self-checking system halts while telling me in its computerized voice to wait for help -- which happens all too frequently.

I am amazed how sensitive the system is. It can recognize a UPC code from inches away. 

But now I know why I am sometimes told to wait for help. Seems the system is VERY smart. If I just scanned something without putting it on the reader, it freezes up. The computer not only reads a price, but weighs each item to assure it is what the reader just registered. That way a sneaky sort can't scan the code for a pack of gum but actually whisk a Porterhouse into the waiting plastic bags. It inquires if you've brought your own bags. If so, a five-cent credit is applied, but that knowlege also lets the computer know if the weight of bags indicates pilferage.

Produce was a challenge, until I learned that each fruit and vegetable has a code sticker, and that code number should be typed in before the produce is weighed. Once one understands that concept, it goes pretty quick, though sometimes, if the sticker can't be found, it takes time to go through a directory of items.

On my last trip, I dared trying to use a coupon, and had to wait for help to get it approved. Better, if using coupons and you're in a hurry, to go to a cashier line.

Logan said the Speed Zone sytem has nothing to do with trying to reduce the number of check-out personnel.

"In fact, I'm trying to hire more," he said. And he certainly needs staff to help out those of us who enter the Speed Zone with sometimes less than speedy results.

Meanwhile, on another note: Last month, I wrote about having lunch at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but then finding absolutely wonderful French Onion Soup at Granite City Food and Brewery at Rosedale.

A friend who read that column rushed over to Granite City for the cheese-topped soup and found it watery. I had a discussion about it with Chris Najjar, manager of the Rosedale eatery.

I suggested the cooks there might use less H2O, but Najjar said they were required to follow the corporate recipe.

Najjar and I finally agreed that ordering the soup at lunch might mean it isn't as densely flavored as it might become by dinnertime, when the pot has had more time to simmer and the flavor to intensify. Take note, French Onion Soup fans.