It’s Hard Work to Make Ordering Groceries Online So Easy
The technology needed to fulfill orders is costly for stores, and the workers who pick items off the shelves often feel the pressure of being tracked.
AWM develops technology — like overhead cameras, here in its lab — for retailers to monitor employees and customers. Credit... Coley Brown for The New York Times
Upon arriving at the Kroger-owned chain, Mr. Fraser, who lives in Salem, Ore., would begin fulfilling online orders, zipping through aisles with a hand-held device and scanning bar codes on everything from cereal and milk to chicken and vegetables. The screen on the device was his guiding light. His goals: to retrieve each item within 30 seconds and to find 95 percent of a customer’s grocery list.
“It takes you aisle to aisle, and it’s supposed to take you the minimum amount of steps for efficiency,” said Mr. Fraser, 38, whose job title was “ClickList Clerk.” “But the more you do it, the more you realize it’s not really how they say it is.” Waiting in line at the deli counter and being stopped by customers asking for help would slow him down, and he dreaded lists with seasonal goods, like Christmas treats, because the device would typically direct him to the wrong aisle. If an item was out of stock, his fulfillment rate was dinged.
On Mondays, his manager would come in with a sheet for employees to sign that listed their names next to their average picking times and order fulfillment rates.
