SELF-SERVICE AND THE SUPERMARKET
Read the passage.
During
the last few years, there has been an enormous increase in the number of shops,
stores and supermarkets which provide facilities for self-service. Their
general purpose is to provide goods of every description attractively and
hygienically and in perfect condition, so that the customer can serve herself,
and then pay for the gods with the minimum of delay.
The
organizers of a self-service store have their difficulties. They must display a
great number of goods in a minimum space without covering up anything. They
must deal with perishable foodstuffs requiring different ranges of temperature;
and they must arrange a speedy flow of customers past the cash registers
without overtaxing the operators.
For
the purposes of display, many devices are used such as long lengths of
adjustable shelves to take various sizes of packs, rotating circular shelves,
islands of display stands, racks for tubed foods, and multi-tiered mobile
stalls.
Perishable
foodstuffs and quick frozen fruit, vegetables and meat are kept in refrigerated
self-service cabinets, which keep goods at the required temperatures. These are
at zero degree Fahrenheit for frozen food, 28-32 degrees for meat and fish, and
40-50 degrees for dairy produce and provisions.
The
problem of quick payment has been solved by the use of modern cash registers. One
such machine called the Automatic Itemizing and Change Computing Cash Register,
first records the cost of each item and totals the bill. Then it
also registers the sum given I payment, and shoots out the right change into a
cup near the customer.
Some
of the advantages of self-service seem to be that there is no waiting to be
served; there is a wide variety of choice and it is claimed that prepacked meat
and vegetables are hygienic. Shopping is said to be more
"streamlined" and more economical. Nevertheless many
people still prefer to be served by a small shopkeeper who knows them
personally and will deliver goods to their homes.
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