Dictaphones Save Time of Stock Checkers Taking Inventory (Aug, 1941)

Dictaphones Save Time of Stock Checkers Taking Inventory

By assigning five men equipped with dictaphones to the job of inventorying its 350-odd grocery stores regularly, the Safeway Stores on the West Coast has given its store personnel 12 extra nights off a year. A checker from the central office covers two stores a night, speaking into a microphone hung around his neck, as he moves along between the rows of goods, calling out the location of each shelf and the quantity, container size and price of each item. Usually eight cylinders are enough for each store, and after the record has been transcribed, the disks can be lathed down and used over again.