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Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on WVZ, Boston's news radio.

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Speaker 2: All right, that's interesting that the Patriots are. That means

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Speaker 2: a couple of guys coming up from practice squad, or

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Speaker 2: maybe they're going to pick someone up on Lavers tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: Who knows a couple of openings. Anyway, we are changing

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Speaker 2: topics and we are going to an issue that always

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Speaker 2: interests me. With us is Massachusetts State Senator Paul Feeney.

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Speaker 2: Senator Feenie, welcome to Nightside. How are you, sir?

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Speaker 3: I'm doing great, Dan, thanks so much for having me on.

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Speaker 2: Well, thank you for being available. I happen to notice

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Speaker 2: this piece of legislation that you filed, and I got

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Speaker 2: to tell you it's long overdue in my opinion, and

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Speaker 2: I am with you on this one thousand percent, but

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Speaker 2: I want you to explain it. By the way. I

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Speaker 2: also whenever I have someone on from the state senator

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Speaker 2: of the state State House of Representatives, I know that

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Speaker 2: you're from fox Borough, but what other communities do you represent?

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Speaker 2: Because I want my listeners to realize that they may

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Speaker 2: be listening to their own state senator. What other community Foxborough?

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Speaker 3: I appreciate that, Dan, Yeah, I live in Foxboro. In

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Speaker 3: my district is the Bristol and Norfolk District, so starts

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Speaker 3: in Canton in the north, and then we have Sharon, Foxborough, Mansfield, Norton,

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Speaker 3: Attleborough and North Alboro, so seven communities, you know, relatively

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Speaker 3: blue collar communities right down nine ninety five and real

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Speaker 3: salt of the earth people. So it's a great, great

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Speaker 3: district for me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I like those towns. Those are all good towns,

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Speaker 2: hard working people. And the piece of legislation that you

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Speaker 2: filed essentially addresses concern that I've had for for several years.

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Speaker 2: When I go to the grocery store and I go

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Speaker 2: to the grocery store and my family, I enjoy seeing

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Speaker 2: the clerks who you get to know at the one

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Speaker 2: or two stores that you that you go to that

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Speaker 2: you're a regular at. And I've noticed the arrival of kiosks,

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Speaker 2: the self help machines where in effect, in my in

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Speaker 2: my belief, when when you use those, you're helping to

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Speaker 2: take away jobs from people because the more chios, there's

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Speaker 2: a direct relationship between the fewer clerks that are actually

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Speaker 2: helping you, you know, with with with your purchases. Is

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Speaker 2: that the way you see.

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Speaker 3: It, absolutely I mean, we've sensed more and more frustration. Dan,

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Speaker 3: we you know, I think people look at my kind

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Speaker 3: of portfolio, the bills of filed. They've filed over one

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Speaker 3: hundred different bills of session alone, and you know, we

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Speaker 3: filed it back in January. And I laughed because you know,

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Speaker 3: we've we've filed some pretty heavy bills, and the most

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Speaker 3: feedback that I've gotten this entire session has been on

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Speaker 3: self checkouts. And I think it's just it shows how

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Speaker 3: frustrated people are, including you know, consumers, but but especially

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Speaker 3: the workers. I mean, you look at my portfolio of

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Speaker 3: filed bills on starter homes right to give you know,

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Speaker 3: middle class people a chance that home home ownership again

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Speaker 3: in Massachusetts, which is you know, almost all but eviscerated

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Speaker 3: opportunity for people. I filed the bill to keep call

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Speaker 3: centers in Massachusetts. I spent twenty plus years working for

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Speaker 3: the telephone company. I didn't have the pedigree to make

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Speaker 3: it into the Senate, but I worked for the telephone

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Speaker 3: company as a technician, and we filed the bill to

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Speaker 3: keep call centers here in Massachusetts, and especially you know,

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Speaker 3: from going overseas, we started to hear from workers who

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Speaker 3: said you know, this might fit into what you're trying

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Speaker 3: to do. We're losing jobs by the boatload at grocery

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Speaker 3: stores and people are getting frustrated. And the grocery store

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Speaker 3: clerks that remain they're dealing with harassment. They're you know,

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Speaker 3: people are frustrated at the self checkout counters. They're taking

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Speaker 3: it out on them. So we filed this bill and said,

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Speaker 3: you know what, let's start the conversation. The bill would

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Speaker 3: limit the grocery stores to a maximum of eight self

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Speaker 3: checkout stations in each location. It would say, Okay, if

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Speaker 3: you're going to have, if you can, a self checkout station,

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Speaker 3: that's fine, we're not going to ban them. But for

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Speaker 3: every two self checkout, have one traditional checkout line with

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Speaker 3: a person that considered that somebody can actually talk to.

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Speaker 3: And then it requires a work it to be responsible

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Speaker 3: for no more than two self checkout stations at a time.

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Speaker 3: I've had, you know, the frustrating experience of you need

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Speaker 3: help at a checkout station. It's not working, something's not correct,

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Speaker 3: and you can't find the worker to help you out,

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Speaker 3: and it just makes the lines longer and everything else.

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Speaker 3: So there was frustration from consumers, frustration from workers, and

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Speaker 3: ultimately we said, you know what, let's file a bill.

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Speaker 3: It's become the wild wild West. Some stores rely on

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Speaker 3: it exclusively. Put some common sense God rails in and

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Speaker 3: that's what we hire.

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Speaker 2: So you filed the bill in January, and with all

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Speaker 2: due respect to the leadership in both the Senate in

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Speaker 2: the House, I'm not going to put you in the frying.

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Speaker 3: Pan here, but thank you.

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Speaker 2: Even good pieces of legislation, legislation which I sort of

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Speaker 2: deem as no brainers. And this may not be a

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Speaker 2: no brainer because I assume this supermarket change are going

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Speaker 2: to fight this, right.

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Speaker 3: Well, of course, yeah, it's we've seen opposition, not not

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Speaker 3: a lot of opposition from you know, from the people

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Speaker 3: that I care about that that are in my district

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Speaker 3: and a crossmass chooset. But you know, certainly the grocery

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Speaker 3: stores have pushed back and the fought similar legislation in

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Speaker 3: other states and jurisdictions across the country. You know, for them,

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Speaker 3: it works, right, I mean, you know, they can have

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Speaker 3: less people and less overhead and and and more profits.

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Speaker 3: And you know, I don't begrudge that. That's that's what

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Speaker 3: they're in the business to do. And the last thing

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Speaker 3: I want to do is file legislation regulating supermarkets. It's

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Speaker 3: not now why I ran for office. I'll tell you

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Speaker 3: that there's a lot of issues working on, but but

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Speaker 3: it's this common sense stuff, right, It's this, you know.

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Speaker 3: I mean, we have legislation on on driverless cars, right,

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Speaker 3: and Dan, I'm in my late forties. I'm a gen

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Speaker 3: X guy. I am not anti tech. I use it

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Speaker 3: all the time. I'm a big adopter of tech. But

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Speaker 3: the idea that you know, as a society, we've come

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Speaker 3: to a place where we can just throw away jobs

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Speaker 3: and somehow normalize it and turn everything into you know,

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Speaker 3: I heard earlier talking about chatbots and things like that.

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Speaker 3: You know, there's some value to actually talking to a

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Speaker 3: person when you go out and you know you're out

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Speaker 3: in the world. There's a value to keeping these jobs.

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Speaker 3: You know. We shouldn't be in a situation where we

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Speaker 3: have to file legislation to regulate these things. It's become

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Speaker 3: the wild wild West out there, and I just think

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Speaker 3: it's common sense. Now, there's seven thousand bills I think,

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Speaker 3: if I'm correct, filed in the master Usetts legislature this year.

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Speaker 3: This is one I was telling somebody the other day.

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Speaker 3: This is the first inning of a nine inning game.

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Speaker 3: You know. It had a hearing, It went before the

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Speaker 3: Committee of Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure. They're gonna vet it,

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Speaker 3: they're going to talk to people that are for it

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Speaker 3: and oppose it, and ultimately maybe the bill looks a

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Speaker 3: little bit differently in those are conversations that I want

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Speaker 3: to have. But I think this is the stuff that

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Speaker 3: we should be doing. We're taking care of the big

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Speaker 3: issues we need to deal with with a housing crisis.

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Speaker 3: We need to deal with healthcare costs going through the roof.

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Speaker 3: But there's no shame and no harm in saying, you

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Speaker 3: know what, maybe we can play some small ball a

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Speaker 3: little bit here and some fix some issues that people

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Speaker 3: are frustrated with and that you know, keep like I said,

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Speaker 3: to keep jobs.

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Speaker 2: Exactly and so just so I understand that, and we're

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Speaker 2: gonna let you go here and some night we'll have

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Speaker 2: you back if you like and talk to constituents.

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Speaker 4: I love that.

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Speaker 2: But there's going to be any grocery store. The maximum

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Speaker 2: number of self checkout kiosks or whatever you want to

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Speaker 2: call them would be eight. And if they had that

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Speaker 2: max of eight, they would have to have for every

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Speaker 2: two kiosks self checkout kiosks, they would have to have

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Speaker 2: one regular checkout line with a clerk, you know, totaling

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Speaker 2: the groceries and all of that. So that would mean

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Speaker 2: that even if you had eight, if you're some big

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Speaker 2: grocery store, and at eight, you'd have to have four,

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Speaker 2: you know, regular lines that would be staffed by a clerk.

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Speaker 2: So at least you'd save some jobs. I don't understand

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Speaker 2: why American consumers you're at a grocery store, why they

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Speaker 2: would basically do the work of the grocery. It's not

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Speaker 2: like you get a break if they said, oh, if

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Speaker 2: you go self checkout, we'll give you five percent off

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Speaker 2: your bill. Right, you're basically increasing the profit margin and

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Speaker 2: you're doing the work. Also, do you have any indication

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Speaker 2: as to how much pilfridge, because I got to believe

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Speaker 2: there is some pilfridge, either either inadvertently or advertly intentionally

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Speaker 2: that occurs. If you get my.

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Speaker 3: Drift, Oh look at I getting your drift. Half the

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Speaker 3: kids I grew up with I think made a career

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Speaker 3: out of pilfridge. Well, you know, I saw numbers, and

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Speaker 3: it depends on the stores and the location. I saw

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Speaker 3: numbers anywhere between. It's a big, you know, big margin.

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Speaker 3: But betwe mean twenty and sixty percent of what the

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Speaker 3: store is called shrink or shrinkage. And essentially it means

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Speaker 3: you know, people walking right right right, you know. And

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Speaker 3: and that's the frustrating part too for for folks, you know,

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Speaker 3: I mean, you know, sometimes I guess you unintentionally walk

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Speaker 3: out without paying for something if the machine's not yelling

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Speaker 3: at you. But it's a problem for the stores. Like

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Speaker 3: I said, it's a problem for for us. And trust me,

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Speaker 3: I've heard from people. Let's say, hey, you know, Feeni,

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Speaker 3: you should not be regulating this. Let the free market

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Speaker 3: decide the problem. I know that. But but yeah, not everybody,

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Speaker 3: and not everybody has that choice. You may live in

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Speaker 3: a community that you know, you don't go because you

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Speaker 3: have brand loyalty to a store. Some people do, but

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Speaker 3: you go there because it's the only store that you

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Speaker 3: have within a you know, fifteen to twenty minute drive.

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Speaker 3: And if you go there and there's nobody there working

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Speaker 3: the there's nobody for you to talk to, nobody to

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Speaker 3: help you. Man, that's you don't have choice. So we're

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Speaker 3: saying leave the checkouts in the self checkout stations in

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Speaker 3: your store if you want them, but give people the

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Speaker 3: option to actually have, you know, to have the option

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Speaker 3: to go to somebody with a person.

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Speaker 2: So the oh, I just want to mention this, and

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Speaker 2: I think I know how you react. The other thing, too,

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Speaker 2: is that there's a lot of folks who retire maybe

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Speaker 2: they worked really tough physical jobs. Like neither, well, you

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Speaker 2: worked a tough physical job. I've just talked or been

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Speaker 2: on TV for my whole career, and so I'm fine.

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Speaker 2: But there's a lot of people who are broken down

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Speaker 2: physically and they retire at sixty or sixty two, and

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Speaker 2: they want a little extra income and they can go

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Speaker 2: and they can you know, work at a store as

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Speaker 2: a checkout clerk or do some bagging or something of that.

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Speaker 2: And in addition, you have some folks who have a

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Speaker 2: little bit of disability and they they they're great workers.

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Speaker 2: They show up, you know, every day, they don't skip work.

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Speaker 2: To them, work is really important. And these big corporations,

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Speaker 2: whether it's Albertson, who has I think bought some of

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Speaker 2: the grocery stores around here, they don't think that way.

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Speaker 2: And I am not somebody who's in favor of a

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Speaker 2: lot of regulation, but this is one that I support,

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Speaker 2: and I just want to say thank you very much, Senator.

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Speaker 2: And if I ever get a chance to vote for

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Speaker 2: you or talk to friends of mine, I'm going to

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Speaker 2: become a big Paul Feeney fan.

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Speaker 3: I appreciate that.

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Speaker 2: There used to be a state representative in Hyde Park

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Speaker 2: when I was growing up in Reedville named Paul Feeney too.

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Speaker 3: By the way, Michael Paul Feeney, HEARBA all the time.

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Speaker 3: I grew up in JP, so I was kind of

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Speaker 3: JP Rosendale and they used to saving me all the time.

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Speaker 3: Michael Paul Feeney, Is he related? No relation? Maybe back

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Speaker 3: in the old country, but no relation.

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Speaker 2: Well, Senator Paul Feeney, thanks very much. You're always welcome

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Speaker 2: on this show any night. And you know you're a Democrat,

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Speaker 2: but I still like you. I want you to know

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Speaker 2: I appreciate Dan.

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Speaker 3: There's a few of us good ones out there.

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Speaker 2: Thank you telling I'll tell you just watch watch up

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Speaker 2: of these mundami type guys. If taking you guys over

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Speaker 2: the ledge.

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Speaker 3: Thanks love you, Dan, I appreciate it.

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Speaker 4: Thanks so much.

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Speaker 2: Catch my friend. We'll talk you okay when we get

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Speaker 2: back that state Senator Paul Feeney for a number of

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Speaker 2: community represents another communities as he mentioned h up and

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Speaker 2: down the ninety five corridor. He's from Foxborough, so any

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Speaker 2: of those communities, and this is a piece of legislation

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Speaker 2: that there deserves to be supported. I want to have

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Speaker 2: it out with you if you disagree and you think, no,

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Speaker 2: we don't need people on grocery store clerks anymore. I

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Speaker 2: believe we do. I'd love to hear from you. We

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Speaker 2: got well, we got some folks already waiting, going to

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Speaker 2: get to them, but we'll also get to you one

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Speaker 2: line at six one seven two four ten thirty and

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Speaker 2: one line at six one seven nine thirty. Let's have

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Speaker 2: a really good hour about this. I think that we

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Speaker 2: will have some fun with this. We're only going to

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Speaker 2: do this for an hour, so if you have thoughts

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Speaker 2: on it, jump on board. Coming back on Nightside, It's

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Speaker 2: night Side with Dan Ray on WB Boston's News. Okay,

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Speaker 2: we're going to go to phones and see what people

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Speaker 2: have to say on this. I assume a lot of

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Speaker 2: you will agree with me, but you don't have to

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Speaker 2: agree with me. If you think I'm wrong on this,

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Speaker 2: feel free. Let's go to first up, get the right

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Speaker 2: Where did that go? I have so many mice on

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Speaker 2: my desk. You know, I got a couple of computers

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Speaker 2: and if I grabbed the wrong one, I got the

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Speaker 2: right one now and I got Selene in Boston. Hi, Selene,

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Speaker 2: one of my favorite female names. How are you?

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Speaker 5: I'm good? How are you? Dan?

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Speaker 2: I'm doing just great. What's your thought on this piece

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Speaker 2: of legislation? I'm all for it? But what do you think?

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Speaker 3: Okay?

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Speaker 5: First of all, I'm calling as the shop's works from

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Speaker 5: UFCW Local fourteen forty five to give our member side

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Speaker 5: of the Seltz check out experience. Sure, so, I'm off

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Speaker 5: for this legislation coming from a worker standpoint, the increased

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Speaker 5: stressors associated with the self checkout systems. You know, I'm

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Speaker 5: trying to call attention to the significant and often overlook

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Speaker 5: stressors faced by the grocery store workers. And they you know,

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Speaker 5: they're promoted as a cost saving measure, but they have

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Speaker 5: created a demanding and sometimes dangerous work environment for employees.

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Speaker 5: You know that.

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Speaker 2: Get I think, Selene, I know what you're talking about.

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Speaker 2: Why don't you explain it a little bit more than that?

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Speaker 2: Because I think I understand what you're going to say.

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Speaker 5: So that can create negative impacts on the mental health

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Speaker 5: of workers, on their safety, overall working conditions. A few

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Speaker 5: of the issues would include like their workload, understaffing, customer

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Speaker 5: frustration and instability.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, what I was thinking was that there might be

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Speaker 2: some customers who figure althoy'll go through the kiosk kits

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Speaker 2: it's a quick checkout, and the kiosk might not be

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Speaker 2: operating correctly, and they ask for help, and then they

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Speaker 2: take their frustration out on the worker, which is not fair.

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Speaker 5: Yes, and that's exactly what does happen. Like the expectation

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Speaker 5: of the customer is that it's going to be a

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Speaker 5: fast checkout experience, and that's not always the case. The

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Speaker 5: person that's staffing the corral with the self checkouts is multitasking.

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Speaker 5: They're just waiting on one customer and sometimes you have

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Speaker 5: random audits. And I understand that other customers, you know,

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Speaker 5: maybe a lot of younger people are looking for more

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Speaker 5: of an impersonal experience. We have lack of human contact.

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Speaker 5: But then we have our older customers who have difficulty

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Speaker 5: with technology and less comfortable with it, and you know,

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Speaker 5: it adds to their stress level and also the burden

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Speaker 5: of policing for theft. That is one of the bigger

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Speaker 5: stressors for people who work there. I mean, we're put

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Speaker 5: in a position of almost being store detectives for acid protection.

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Speaker 5: But unlike you know, those acid protections, workers are not

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Speaker 5: really concerned with delivering on a good customer.

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Speaker 3: Well, dearly know.

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Speaker 2: The funny thing about it, as I'm sure you know,

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Speaker 2: is we've read in Boston about some of the retail

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Speaker 2: store of thefts on Newberry Street, the high end Newberry

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Speaker 2: Street stores Lulu Lemon, for example, And I'm told that

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Speaker 2: in many of these retail stores, their employees are told, hey,

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Speaker 2: if somebody's running out the door with one thousand dollars

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Speaker 2: of clothes off the rack, don't stop them. And yet,

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Speaker 2: if if a poor clerk at a grocery store sees

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Speaker 2: that somebody's trying to steal a candy bar or whatever,

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Speaker 2: why should they be put in the position of having

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Speaker 2: to confront that person?

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Speaker 4: This is correct.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm with you one thousand percent to Lean.

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Speaker 5: I mean, we're not.

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Speaker 2: Go ahead, Seleen, I didn't hang up on you.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, no, that's fine. Like we're not instructed to

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Speaker 5: run after somebody who's not paying for anything. I mean,

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Speaker 5: that's not our direction, but we are there to police

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Speaker 5: what they're scanning, what they're not scanning, and approach with

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Speaker 5: you know, a some experience on do you you know?

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Speaker 5: Do you want this? Do you not? Or did you

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Speaker 5: miss this? You know? Or would you like me to

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Speaker 5: scan it for.

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Speaker 2: Even your assistance can be misinterpreted by somebody who's trying

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Speaker 2: to get out the door quickly.

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Speaker 5: If you get my drift, well they are, and often

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Speaker 5: it's that is the case. It can be a difficult

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Speaker 5: situation that can escalate very quickly.

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Speaker 2: Se Lee, thank you so much. I'm at my newsbreak,

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Speaker 2: so I got to let you go, but thank you

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Speaker 2: so much for calling. And I hope you'll continue to listen.

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Speaker 2: And have you called before? Is this your first time?

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Speaker 5: I have not called before, but I listened to your

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Speaker 5: station all the time.

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Speaker 2: Well, thank you very much, and we're going to give

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Speaker 2: you a round it pause. Is a first time caller

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Speaker 2: from our digital studio audience. Thank you very much.

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Speaker 5: Selene, thank you, and thank you for considering the well

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Speaker 5: being of all the essential grocery store employees in our state.

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Speaker 2: Mike, thank you. I have a lot of friends of

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Speaker 2: mine who work in that capacity. I've made friends at

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Speaker 2: the grocery stores that I shot at. Thank you, Selene.

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Speaker 2: I really appreciate it, and I hope to hear from

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Speaker 2: you again. Thank you so much.

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Speaker 5: Thank you, byebye, very welcome.

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Speaker 2: We'll take a break. Here's the news, and we only

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Speaker 2: have one line at six one seven, two five four

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Speaker 2: one line at six one seven, nine three one ten thirty,

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Speaker 2: six one seven two five four ten thirty and six

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Speaker 2: one seven, nine three one ten thirty. Oh, they just

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Speaker 2: filled up. The only one left is six one seven

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Speaker 2: nine three one, ten thirty. We're going to wrap this

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Speaker 2: at ten, So if you want to get in and

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Speaker 2: make a point, feel free. Right now. We'll be back

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Speaker 2: on night Side right after the news break at the

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Speaker 2: bottom of the hour.

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Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray tell you Boston's News Radio.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to pick up the pace just a little bit.

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Speaker 2: Here're going to go to Jack Is in Milton. Jack

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Speaker 2: welcome next on Nightside.

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Speaker 4: Thanks for calling in a right good evening. Yeah, with

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Speaker 4: no disrespect to you or the Senator. I don't think

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Speaker 4: it's anybody's business how a supermarket chain is run. If

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Speaker 4: I don't like the way a store is run, I

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Speaker 4: just don't patronize them.

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Speaker 2: I do understand that argument. I do understand that argument.

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Speaker 2: I disagree with it, but I understand that, and I

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Speaker 2: think it's a reasonable position to take.

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Speaker 4: One other point, I would think the Senator would spend

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Speaker 4: more time cooperating with the Uglia getting the Senate in

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Speaker 4: the House audited, instead of worrying about how many cashiers

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Speaker 4: are working.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, Jack, I would bet you. I would

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Speaker 2: bet you that if we talk to him, and maybe

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Speaker 2: I'll have him on some night and we can ask

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Speaker 2: him that, I'll bet you he is much closer to

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Speaker 2: the audit position on that question than you might imagine.

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Speaker 4: I'm more worried about the cookies that are being stolen

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Speaker 4: out of the Statehouse than I am a stop and shop.

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Speaker 2: Well, you're a taxpayer. I get that the problem. Again,

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Speaker 2: you've heard my argument. I appreciate hearing yours. I disagree

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Speaker 2: with it. I think that that grocery stores have some

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Speaker 2: social responsibility to be good neighbors and good residents of

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Speaker 2: the commonwealth. And yeah, in the perfect world, should the

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Speaker 2: governments stick their nose in their No, but there's certain

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Speaker 2: areas where they should be involved. Certainly, the quality of

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Speaker 2: the food should be important. The cleanliness of the facility

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Speaker 2: should be important. And at the same time, I think

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Speaker 2: that there should be options available if they want to

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Speaker 2: have a few kiosks, go ahead. But all he's trying

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Speaker 2: to say is keep it in balance. And if if

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Speaker 2: that's I think that's more than reasonable. But I understand

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Speaker 2: your position. I appreciate your calling it.

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Speaker 4: There's greater concerns. That's a Miami issue, and mind you,

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Speaker 4: but that's just me. But I don't appreciate you.

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Speaker 2: You're absolutely right, they're great concerns. We could talk about

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Speaker 2: the Russian Ukraine war. That's a big concern. We could

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Speaker 2: talk about tariffs. But here at nights we talk about

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Speaker 2: a lot of concerns, and sometimes a concern like this

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Speaker 2: may not be the greatest concern, but it might really

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Speaker 2: be important to somebody who's a little older and needs

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Speaker 2: a second job, or somebody who's a little older. And

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Speaker 2: we'll all get there at some point, Jack, whether we

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Speaker 2: realize it or we pulled ore. Okay, thanks Jack, I

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Speaker 2: appreciate your call. Keep calling the show. I enjoy the

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Speaker 2: talk with it. Have a great one. Good night, all right,

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Speaker 2: let's keep it rolling. You're going to go to my

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Speaker 2: next guest is my next calling Bill from Athol, Massachusetts. Bill,

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Speaker 2: you are next on nightside.

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Speaker 4: Welcome Hi, Dan, Happy Tuesday.

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Speaker 2: Hey, Happy Tuesday to you. The good part about Tuesday

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Speaker 2: is mondays behind us. Go ahead.

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Speaker 4: The last college just stole my thunder. That's okay, I

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Speaker 4: agree with him. I don't agree with.

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Speaker 3: This at all.

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Speaker 2: Okay.

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Speaker 4: I live out in the boonies out here in Athol, Massachusetts.

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Speaker 2: I've been to Athol, Massachusetts. You have actually described it

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Speaker 2: as the boonies. Trust me as.

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Speaker 4: Well as it's not Mayberry, but it's close.

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Speaker 2: I think it's two times away. If I go ahead

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Speaker 2: that I think Maybury's two towns to the west of Athol.

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Speaker 4: Go ahead. Yeah, that's Peter Sam. It's a beautiful area

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Speaker 4: out here. But we have two stores, two major grocery stores,

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Speaker 4: Hanniford and market Basket. Hanniford has the self checkout kiosks,

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Speaker 4: which are okay, and market Basket does not. I personally

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Speaker 4: would rather talk like I am with you right now,

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Speaker 4: with a toller. I'd rather have that conversation. But why

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Speaker 4: is our state government wasting time on putting a silly

432
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:17,240
Speaker 4: rule into effect to tell a grocery store what they

433
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:21,760
Speaker 4: can or cannot have. It's not hurting anybody. If somebody,

434
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 4: it's hard for these people, these businesses to find employees

435
00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:28,480
Speaker 4: to work these days. So I don't understand why this

436
00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,879
Speaker 4: is a why this is being made into a proposed rule.

437
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:37,159
Speaker 2: Well, I think if the proposed rule says that a

438
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,640
Speaker 2: store would be limited a grocery store would be limited

439
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:46,800
Speaker 2: to eight kiosks okay, and that for every two kiosks

440
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,280
Speaker 2: that they chose to have, let's say they wanted only

441
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:52,679
Speaker 2: four kiosks, they would have to have a minimum of

442
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:55,200
Speaker 2: at least two lanes with clerks open. I don't think

443
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:56,200
Speaker 2: that will reasonable.

444
00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 4: I think that's unreasonable. I think the store should be

445
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,520
Speaker 4: deciding that. I mean, that's like telling me, oh, sorry, sir,

446
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 4: you can't buy from Amazon more than three times a month.

447
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,840
Speaker 4: It's like, it's silly, It's it's a silly rule. Well,

448
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 4: I agree with most of the time, most of your

449
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:14,440
Speaker 4: topics that I agree with you most of the time.

450
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 4: But I have a call tonight.

451
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:17,560
Speaker 2: I'm thank you very much. I hope you call. Whether

452
00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:21,919
Speaker 2: you agree or disagree, my point agree. My point is

453
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 2: that there are people who are not used to the

454
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 2: kiosks okay, and with the store. When the stools go

455
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,080
Speaker 2: overboard and they have let's say, I don't know, eight

456
00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:40,639
Speaker 2: kiosks and only one lane open. Uh, that means younger

457
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,720
Speaker 2: people get to use the kiosks, which is fine, and

458
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 2: a lot of older people like you and me might

459
00:25:46,800 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 2: not be comfortable with the kiosks. And and therefore.

460
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,080
Speaker 4: I'm sixty three and I'll use the kiosk any day.

461
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,359
Speaker 2: Well, good for you. But you know what else, when

462
00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 2: you do that, you basically are pushing a clerk towards

463
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:00,879
Speaker 2: the employment line.

464
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:02,440
Speaker 3: I disagree.

465
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,160
Speaker 2: Well, it takes jobs away. I mean the reason they.

466
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:08,960
Speaker 4: Hard to find. It's hard to find employees these days, though, dan.

467
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,440
Speaker 2: Pay them a little bit more money. Yeah, I've heard

468
00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:14,879
Speaker 2: that argument before. I've heard, you know, down on the

469
00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:17,880
Speaker 2: cape of the summertime they kind of get kids to work. Well,

470
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 2: you know, pay them a little more money and you'll

471
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:24,200
Speaker 2: you'll get plenty. Anyway. Look, love the call. I've had,

472
00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 2: you know, three calls, two of which disagree with me.

473
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 2: That's what nice side's all about, you gentlemen, and I

474
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 2: appreciate the call and call some night when we agree.

475
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,080
Speaker 4: Thanks Bill, I appreciate you a great show.

476
00:26:34,359 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 2: Thank you about appreciate it all right, We're going to

477
00:26:37,119 --> 00:26:39,000
Speaker 2: take a very quick break. I got one line at

478
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 2: six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty, and I

479
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,120
Speaker 2: have two at six one seven, nine thirty. Uh. If

480
00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:48,280
Speaker 2: you disagree, feel free join join the chorus. If you agree,

481
00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,600
Speaker 2: back me up. We're coming right back on night's side.

482
00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:55,040
Speaker 2: We will close this topic off for conversation at ten

483
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,200
Speaker 2: o'clock because at ten o'clock we're going to talk about

484
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:02,919
Speaker 2: snap benefits going away here in Massachusetts. And I have

485
00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,040
Speaker 2: a proposal that I talked about on Friday night, and

486
00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:08,199
Speaker 2: I want to bring it back up tonight, and I

487
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,879
Speaker 2: want people to think about it seriously. And as a

488
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 2: matter of fact, one of the Republican candidates for governor,

489
00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,639
Speaker 2: I don't think they have stolen my idea, but I

490
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:19,480
Speaker 2: think that that when I talked about it Friday night,

491
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,160
Speaker 2: I was pretty clear what should be done. And we'll

492
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 2: talk with one of those candidates as well as you,

493
00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:28,200
Speaker 2: but only after ten. Coming back on nightside.

494
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:32,879
Speaker 1: You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on w b Z,

495
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:34,520
Speaker 1: Boston's news radio.

496
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,399
Speaker 2: Right back to the phones, We're going to go to

497
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,639
Speaker 2: Charlena in Charlestown. Hi, Charlena, and welcome to nightside. How

498
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:41,200
Speaker 2: are you tonight?

499
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:44,760
Speaker 6: Hi?

500
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 7: Can you guys hear me?

501
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:48,679
Speaker 2: Yes, we can hear you perfectly. You go right ahead.

502
00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:53,680
Speaker 7: So, yeah, my name is I'm Sheleina. I work at

503
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:58,040
Speaker 7: one of the Stofice shops in Boston. I've been working

504
00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,400
Speaker 7: for about ten I've been doing sell scan for about eight,

505
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,280
Speaker 7: so I'm very familiar with, you know, the sell scan

506
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:10,440
Speaker 7: ratio to cashier ratio. I just feel like I feel

507
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:14,120
Speaker 7: like there should be more people on the cell scan

508
00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 7: side and even on on the like cashier side, because

509
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,399
Speaker 7: even at my store, we're a giant store, so we

510
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:27,160
Speaker 7: have twelve sell scans all running like all days, and

511
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 7: there's only usually one person assigned to all twelve.

512
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:33,120
Speaker 3: So try to make you so.

513
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:37,919
Speaker 2: You work that shift and how difficult is it to

514
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:41,920
Speaker 2: deal with you must be bouncing back and forth from

515
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 2: one to the other as the only person.

516
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:49,680
Speaker 7: There to help, right, Yes, it does get to be

517
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:54,360
Speaker 7: a lot and overwhelming because we do have like busy days,

518
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:57,400
Speaker 7: like you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, those are our

519
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 7: busiest days where it's like very busy. And I think

520
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,480
Speaker 7: it's because you know, like people come on the weekends

521
00:29:03,520 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 7: because you know, like football games, they try to you know,

522
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,000
Speaker 7: get food snacks and all that.

523
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 2: So let me ask you. You've been doing this, you

524
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:17,720
Speaker 2: said for ten years. Okay, what is the percentage between

525
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 2: the the I'm gonna call them kiosks, Okay? What is

526
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 2: the percentage between the kiosks and the the the lines

527
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:32,920
Speaker 2: that have clerks. So if there's twelve kiosks and there's

528
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:37,239
Speaker 2: one person you to help out, however many customers are

529
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:42,440
Speaker 2: trying to use the kiosks on average? How many lines

530
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 2: with you know, regular you know, grocery store lines where

531
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 2: people put their products up, you know, on the counter

532
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:54,080
Speaker 2: and they scan them and and somebody else. I packed

533
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,440
Speaker 2: my own groceries, but someone else packs the groceries. How

534
00:29:57,640 --> 00:29:59,960
Speaker 2: normally how many of those lines, how many of the

535
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 2: those stores? How many? How many lines would be in

536
00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:05,920
Speaker 2: your store on any given time on average?

537
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 7: Like give me like like cashiers open on like the

538
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,400
Speaker 7: regular registers that are staffed.

539
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 2: Not when when you say open, I mean a cashier staffing,

540
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:21,800
Speaker 2: you know, basically you know, scanning items and and and

541
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:23,560
Speaker 2: doing what cashiers normally do.

542
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,280
Speaker 7: So usually on day to day they only have like

543
00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,600
Speaker 7: two people open on the regular registers and then the

544
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 7: rest is like you know, thrown to the kiosk. So

545
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:41,200
Speaker 7: it's basically like they get lines, but then people who

546
00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,880
Speaker 7: don't want to wait in line, they'll come over to us.

547
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 7: And then also there's some people who don't want to

548
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:49,480
Speaker 7: wait in the line, so they will still come over

549
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,120
Speaker 7: and they'll you know, want us to scan their stuff,

550
00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:56,600
Speaker 7: you know, do that that part for them.

551
00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 2: If I come over there and I've never never done

552
00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 2: this self serve process myself, but I don't want to

553
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,320
Speaker 2: wait because there's not enough lines. And basically I come

554
00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:10,680
Speaker 2: over and I have my basket or whatever, and I

555
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,000
Speaker 2: say to you, Jink, can you can you do this

556
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:16,000
Speaker 2: for me? Are you supposed to do that for me?

557
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:18,240
Speaker 2: Or are you supposed to say, well, I can show

558
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:20,240
Speaker 2: you how to do one or two and then it's

559
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:20,719
Speaker 2: up to you.

560
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 8: Well, it's a faill line because if there's like multiple

561
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 8: people that's waiting for help, because it does get busy

562
00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:32,320
Speaker 8: and centrance it's like one person, you know, we got

563
00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,920
Speaker 8: to kind of move around helping this person that person,

564
00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:37,600
Speaker 8: and if we stay with one person, other people is waiting.

565
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:41,240
Speaker 7: So if it's not busy, sometimes you know, well just

566
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 7: you know, help you go ahead and get through. But

567
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:45,960
Speaker 7: a lot of the times we won't be able to

568
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,640
Speaker 7: do that because there's other people also blinking, so that

569
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 7: that puts.

570
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,960
Speaker 2: You in the awkward position. Basically, the company puts you

571
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:58,760
Speaker 2: in the awkward position where you might get frustrated and

572
00:31:58,800 --> 00:32:02,320
Speaker 2: the person you're trying to help might get frustrated as well.

573
00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, so that's unfair. That's unfair to you as well.

574
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 7: Yeah, because there's times where I've had five people blinking

575
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 7: or more. So it was like, I'm trying to help

576
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 7: everybody in a timely manner, but it's like there's only

577
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:17,600
Speaker 7: so much you know, I could do as my parents

578
00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 7: and that's well.

579
00:32:18,760 --> 00:32:22,320
Speaker 2: I'm so glad you called as somebody who is who's

580
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 2: involved in this. And again, I pronounce your name is

581
00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 2: written as Charlena is. If it's a different name, please

582
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:29,720
Speaker 2: pronounce it for me so I can pronounce it correctly.

583
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,160
Speaker 7: Oh, it's Selina s h l e n A s

584
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:39,000
Speaker 7: H what a l s h A L e n A.

585
00:32:39,520 --> 00:32:42,640
Speaker 2: Oh, Shelina, that's a very pretty name. I know this

586
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:44,800
Speaker 2: is your first time calling because I've never had as

587
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:46,040
Speaker 2: Sharlena on before.

588
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:50,960
Speaker 7: Correct, Yes, it's my first time calling in I heard

589
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,440
Speaker 7: you guys are going to be you know, talking about

590
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,360
Speaker 7: the bill that we have, you know, up for decision,

591
00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 7: and it's a very important welcome.

592
00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 2: I want to welcome you. I want to say, I

593
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:07,200
Speaker 2: hope you come back and listen more often, and we

594
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 2: are going to give you a round of applause for

595
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:12,920
Speaker 2: my digital studio audience to welcome you to Nightside as

596
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 2: a first time caller. Okay, thank you, Selina, Thank you

597
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:18,440
Speaker 2: so much. I appreciate your time and I hope you

598
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:21,320
Speaker 2: become a regular listener of Nightside. We're here Monday through Friday,

599
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:22,760
Speaker 2: eight to midnight for you.

600
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,720
Speaker 7: Okay, Hi, and thank you guys for you know, giving

601
00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,960
Speaker 7: time to also give attention to this bill.

602
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 2: For I will jump. I will stay on this topic.

603
00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:34,760
Speaker 2: Trust me, Trust me, I will stay on this topic.

604
00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:37,920
Speaker 2: Thanks so much. Have a great Thank you, Selena, Thank you,

605
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:40,400
Speaker 2: Bye bye. Let me go to Linda in North Weymouth.

606
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:42,160
Speaker 2: Linda next on Nightside. Go right ahead.

607
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 6: Hi, good evening, Dan. I'm so excited about the subject.

608
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:53,200
Speaker 6: I worked at Shaw's h and Hanson and Handover. I

609
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,480
Speaker 6: actually I opened the handover store for twenty three years. Okay,

610
00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:01,240
Speaker 6: so I have a little bit of hot in the store.

611
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 6: As a worker, I worked as a cash as a bagger,

612
00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:08,279
Speaker 6: and then I went to the deli and then ended

613
00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:12,960
Speaker 6: up retiring from the bakery. My my, my relationship with

614
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,040
Speaker 6: customers most of the time were behind there, you know,

615
00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:20,280
Speaker 6: but I was still intermingle with them. When I retired,

616
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,800
Speaker 6: there was no kiosis. We had ten items a less.

617
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:29,520
Speaker 6: But now me as an older person, I'm not working

618
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,560
Speaker 6: there anymore. I go to the stopping shop and they

619
00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:39,160
Speaker 6: have seven of those self checkouts, and I personally agree

620
00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:42,880
Speaker 6: with you as far as needing more help there. But

621
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:47,560
Speaker 6: I'm fortunate enough that when I go, I don't buy

622
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:51,520
Speaker 6: a lot of groceries, and I appreciate going to those

623
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,279
Speaker 6: self check and I'm and I get very friendly with

624
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:58,319
Speaker 6: the with the people that work there are in the

625
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:01,359
Speaker 6: self check and they're always very much but things there.

626
00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:05,960
Speaker 6: There's only seven and they're very attentive and I've never

627
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,279
Speaker 6: seen anybody ever have to wait. They're very very good

628
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,680
Speaker 6: in there, and they're very attentive to you. Well, I'm

629
00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:15,320
Speaker 6: doing like a little hokey pokey with you. I I

630
00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:20,439
Speaker 6: like the bill, but I but I also me as

631
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,799
Speaker 6: a shopper and seventy nine years old, like, yeah, the

632
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:27,920
Speaker 6: self check because I don't have many groceries, and I don't.

633
00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:30,319
Speaker 6: I want to get in and I want to get out.

634
00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:32,440
Speaker 2: I know, I understand that, but I just think they

635
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:35,520
Speaker 2: should have more clerks and more lines open. I'm so

636
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:38,759
Speaker 2: glad you called, Linda, but I'm flat out of time.

637
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:40,680
Speaker 2: I wish I had more time to talk with you.

638
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:42,760
Speaker 2: Will you promise me you'll call back again?

639
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:44,280
Speaker 5: I will?

640
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:46,440
Speaker 2: I will. This your first time calling.

641
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,399
Speaker 6: No, No, I've I've called maybe two or three times.

642
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:52,200
Speaker 6: I'm not comfortable doing this.

643
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 2: That's okay. You did a nice job. You did a

644
00:35:55,000 --> 00:35:57,440
Speaker 2: very nice job. Well, we're going to change topics on

645
00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:00,200
Speaker 2: the other side of the hour, but we'll come back

646
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,200
Speaker 2: to this periodically. And I think yours is a very

647
00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:05,479
Speaker 2: interesting call, and I'd like to talk to you about

648
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:07,480
Speaker 2: it more. We'll do this. We might even do it

649
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:10,920
Speaker 2: a little later on tonight. So stay with us, Okay, I.

650
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,439
Speaker 6: Will, And I think that's a very good bill.

651
00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:21,359
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, all right, here comes the ten o'clock news,

652
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:23,400
Speaker 2: and right after we are going to make the case

653
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:30,359
Speaker 2: that Massachusetts should use their money in their bill. It

654
00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:34,040
Speaker 2: is called the Rainy Day Fund to provide snap benefits

655
00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:37,880
Speaker 2: in case they are terminated. Here in Massachusetts. We'll be

656
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,239
Speaker 2: back on night side right after the ten o'clock news