This article originally published in Self-Service World magazine's special section, FOCUS: C-store Self-Service, Oct 2007.
One of the three most common lies, right behind "The check is in the mail" and "That dress doesn't make you look fat," is "One size fits all."
One size may fit most people, but not all people. Unfortunately, many convenience store checkout clerks are saddled with a monitor that is, in fact, supposed to fit everyone who may ever operate the cash register. But it doesn't fit them.
During a morning shift, a five-foot-two-inch former cheerleader operates the check-out. For eight hours, she strains to read the monitor mounted a few inches above her head as she handles hundreds of transactions. Relieving her for the afternoon shift is a six-foot-six-inch former offensive tackle. He spends his shift looking down at the monitor as he rings up gas, beer, lottery tickets, bags of salty snacks and the like. By the end of their shifts, both could use a massage to relieve their kinks.
For employees at each end of the physical spectrum, a fixed monitor strains their bodies and reduces their effectiveness. Experts say an adjustable mount for the monitor on a check-out station is an easy solution for employee safety and productivity.
"I believe that an adjustable monitor arm is one of the most important injury-prevention pieces of equipment you can get," said Joel Kendall, president of Kenebowe, a New York City-based ergonomics consultancy. "It's a significant piece of ergonomic equipment that's been underappreciated."
The main enemy of cashier productivity is the risk of musculoskeletal disorders, known as MSDs. These also are commonly called repetitive motion or repetitive strain injuries. The culprit is pressure on the occipital joint, the portion of the spine where the neck and head meet. Compression on the occipital joint can cause eye strain, neck strain and headaches, Kendall said.
"With an adjustable monitor arm, the monitor can be positioned relative to the person's head and their eye level," Kendall said. "Proper distance and height takes away the pressure on the occipital joint."
Proper checkout-station design, complete with a flexible mounting for the monitor, can help cashiers of all sizes reduce the risk of MSDs. Guidelines developed for the National Association of Convenience Stores by Jeffrey Fernandez, senior managing engineer with the Exponent Health Group, and Maxwell Fogleman, senior scientist with Exponent Health Group, recommend adjustable mountings for monitors.
In his recommendations, Fernandez said, "Facilities with keyboards and computer screens should have the keyboard at standing elbow height and the top of the monitor at standing eye height." He added that the design should "ensure that the touchscreen is inclined slightly upward to reduce bending at the neck."
Some mounts allow the user to raise or lower both the screen height and distance. Sales associates vary in stature, and a height-adjustable monitor allows them to work in comfort, reducing neck and back strain from improperly positioned screens. Others have a swivel mount to adjust the angle of the screen to the user. Even this more limited flexibility can allow a user to cut the glare reflecting off a screen. That can make a long shift a little less tiring.
"Light sources and intensity may vary throughout the day, so a clerk can keep annoying glare off his screen by tilting or swiveling the monitor," said Dan Meenan, sales representative for Innovative Office Products Inc., maker of mounting systems for monitors, kiosks and other hardware.
With an adjustable mounting arm for monitors in check-out stations, c-store operators can live up to the promise of "one size fits all" for their employees. Although difficult to quantify, the results will be evident in improved productivity, employee retention and long-term employee comfort. Too bad they can't help with the check and dress, though.
