This is an aspect of US consumer culture that I still don't get. The chitchatting with the checkout clerk is odd enough, but why do you want a random stranger to accost you the minute you enter a shop?
We don't actually want it. I've heard and read many times the claim that Walmart does it to reduce shoplifting, and I'm not familiar with any other store that does it.
I don't think Walmart's greeters are actually greeters any more. As far as I can tell, they mostly act as receipt checkers if you have an unbagged item in your buggy as you leave. And they are almost always old enough to have retired if they lived in a country that provides for a reasonable standard of living for the the elderly.
As Nathan suggested, the actual purpose of greeters is to discourage shoplifting by having someone stand by the door. They have them greet the customers as they enter to make it seem like a friendlier practice and politely pretend that greeting is the actual reason they are there, when it isn't.
I suspect there is some regional variety at work here. I grew up around the (US) Great Lakes–Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and lived the past 40 some years just outside Boston, until moving to North Central CO, the Front Range.
I don't recall ever engaging in the amount of congenial conversation with store clerks* as I have in the past 6 months. Never in all the years in MA did a clerk ask if I had any plans for the weekend, or feel compelled to tell me what theirs were. It's a continual source of amusement for my wife and I. Time and again we'll walk away and say, "that never would've happened in Boston."
* Also with random people walking around town in Fort Collins.
In theory, the greeter is also there to help you locate an item in the store by directing you to the correct aisle. In practice, I'm usually on my own…
Dan Lufkin said,
May 26, 2017 @ 12:06 pm
Hmm!
Sili said,
May 27, 2017 @ 10:00 am
This is an aspect of US consumer culture that I still don't get. The chitchatting with the checkout clerk is odd enough, but why do you want a random stranger to accost you the minute you enter a shop?
Nathan said,
May 27, 2017 @ 11:05 am
We don't actually want it. I've heard and read many times the claim that Walmart does it to reduce shoplifting, and I'm not familiar with any other store that does it.
Graeme said,
May 28, 2017 @ 12:40 am
Greeter love hath no man than this…
Mark P said,
May 28, 2017 @ 1:21 am
I don't think Walmart's greeters are actually greeters any more. As far as I can tell, they mostly act as receipt checkers if you have an unbagged item in your buggy as you leave. And they are almost always old enough to have retired if they lived in a country that provides for a reasonable standard of living for the the elderly.
Guy said,
May 28, 2017 @ 10:31 pm
@Sili
As Nathan suggested, the actual purpose of greeters is to discourage shoplifting by having someone stand by the door. They have them greet the customers as they enter to make it seem like a friendlier practice and politely pretend that greeting is the actual reason they are there, when it isn't.
Bartleby said,
May 28, 2017 @ 10:57 pm
Several banks that I go to have greeters. I just don't get it.
BillR said,
May 29, 2017 @ 10:21 pm
I suspect there is some regional variety at work here. I grew up around the (US) Great Lakes–Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and lived the past 40 some years just outside Boston, until moving to North Central CO, the Front Range.
I don't recall ever engaging in the amount of congenial conversation with store clerks* as I have in the past 6 months. Never in all the years in MA did a clerk ask if I had any plans for the weekend, or feel compelled to tell me what theirs were. It's a continual source of amusement for my wife and I. Time and again we'll walk away and say, "that never would've happened in Boston."
* Also with random people walking around town in Fort Collins.
Helen said,
May 31, 2017 @ 2:19 pm
In theory, the greeter is also there to help you locate an item in the store by directing you to the correct aisle. In practice, I'm usually on my own…