Locals shine in Checker of the Year competition

Locals shine in Checker of the Year competition

Last night, more than 50 checkout operators from Northland New World, PAK’nSAVE and Four Square stores tested their skills against each other onstage at The Riverbank Centre with the hope of ultimately taking out the title of Foodstuffs North Island Checker of Year.

The checkers were judged by a team of eight senior Foodstuffs staff on their speed, presentation, customer service and accuracy as they scanned 30 items as fast as possible, while also staying friendly and composed.

The top three checkers were Stephanie Turner from New World Onerahi, Shanay Howard from PAK’nSAVE Kaitaia and Harlen Paraone from PAK’nSAVE Whangarei.

Event organiser Kristie McGregor said it is a fun night for checkers to demonstrate their fantastic customer service skills and engage in a bit of friendly competition with other stores.

“We have been running the Checker of the Year competition for over 40 years and it is a great opportunity to recognise our check out operators for the value they add to the customer experience,” said Kristie McGregor.

New World Onerahi checkout manager Tara Drake said that the Checker of the Year competition is a good way to showcase the checkers’ skills and something fun that we can do together as a team.

“The Checker of the Year competition is an incentive to make sure our skills are top notch. It also boosts our checkers’ confidence in their customer service skills,” said Tara Drake.

The competitors’ colleagues wore costumes in the super hero theme of the night and cheered them on with banners, chants and store mascots.

The top twelve checkers each received a $50 gift card; with the top three finalists winning extra prizes. There were also prizes for the best support team and best team of checkers overall.

There are 10 regional Checker of the Year competitions across the North Island throughout June and July, with mystery shoppers testing each region’s winner to determine one overall North Island Checker of the Year winner and two runners-up, which will be announced at the Foodstuffs North Island Excellence Awards on 26 November.

ENDS

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