Many retailers are fed up with COVID-19 and have started removing plexiglass panels at checkouts in their establishments.
So most branches of retail giant Costco already removed polymethyl methacrylate or polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA, better known as Plexiglas) barriers last week and put them in storage “if needed.” in the future,” company spokesperson Martin Groleau said in an email to The Canadian Press.
The directive, he said, has been sent to all branches across Canada, which are either in the process of withdrawing them or have already done so.
Another large retailer, this one in the food sector, has also begun to remove the transparent panels intended to protect cashiers from the public ― and vice versa ― either IGA, where the panels have disappeared in several branches, but remain in place in others.
The decision of the parent company of IGA, Sobeys, for all of its establishments, remains to be known, the company having not responded to repeated requests from The Canadian Press on this subject. Sobeys notably operates the IGA, IGA Extra, Marché Tradition, Bonichoix and Rachelle Béry food markets in Quebec.
Walmart: customer demand
Walmart stores, meanwhile, have begun a partial removal of the signs. Steeve Azoulay, senior director of public affairs, explained to The Canadian Press that “Walmart Canada is in the process of removing the plexiglass supports from self-service checkouts, within the next two months, due to customer feedback”.
It must therefore be understood that it is customers who have complained about the presence of these barriers and that the checkouts with service have not yet reached this stage. Mr. Azoulay also specified that several of these panels “will be reused in the store”.
Conversely, other major retailers have no intention of removing this protection, at least for now, but the corporate position does not seem to be followed everywhere.
Metro: “No urgency to remove them”
Thus, for example, the head of communications at Metro, Geneviève Grégoire, told The Canadian Press that the plexiglass “remains in place in our establishments. »
“Even if the pandemic situation stabilizes, it is a measure that could be described as non-intrusive, and which is already in place [l’installation a tout de même nécessité un certain investissement] ; we are of the opinion that there is no urgency to withdraw them,” she explained.
The directive applies to all Metro banners, including the Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, Adonis and Première Moisson grocery stores, as well as the Jean Coutu and Brunet pharmacies. Metro has a total of 975 food markets and 645 pharmacies. No withdrawals were noted in these establishments following the verifications of The Canadian Press, but these verifications obviously did not cover all the businesses.
Individual decisions
On the other hand, the giant Loblaw, which includes, in addition to its eponymous banner, the Provigo, Maxi, Atlantic Superstore and others on the food side and, in the pharmaceutical sector, the Pharmaprix and Shoppers Drug Mart banners in particular, has ” not yet made a decision on this subject”, as well on the side of the pharmacy as of the food, explained by email the manager, Corporate Affairs and communications of Loblaw, Geneviève Poirier.
“For now, she said, it is on a case-by-case basis. On rare occasions, shops have removed the plexiglass either because it was damaged, because renovations took place or simply because the owner made the decision to do so. »
The Canadian Press checks have actually established that some Maxi stores, particularly in Montérégie, Centre-du-Québec and Chaudière-Appalaches, have already removed these barriers.
Canadian Tire’s position is not easy to decipher. After several inquiries, Associate Vice President of Brand Communications Libby Stunt responded with a missive in which she stated upfront that the retailer’s top priority is first and foremost the health and safety of customers and staff. She then added that “Canadian Tire stores are independently owned and operated by associated dealers who continue to adapt their health and safety practices to the best advice available from public health and government authorities”.
This claim therefore suggests that it is the owners of each store who will make the decision to remove the acrylic barriers when they see fit, but The Canadian Press could not get clarification on whether this interpretation of the missive was the correct one. .
Recommended, but not required
One thing is certain: there is no longer any obligation to maintain such barriers in businesses, and this has been the case for several months. The checks made with the Ministry of Health and Social Services, which oversees public health, the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) and the CNESST all converge in the same direction: although the obligation no longer exists, barriers are still recommended.
At the INSPQ, for example, it is stated that “even in periods when wearing a mask and physical distancing are not mandatory, physical barriers can still be relevant when they do not interfere with ventilation or the execution of the work. They generally help reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and possibly other respiratory infections, ”we explained by email.
The missive even specifies that they “could be particularly effective at certain fixed positions where the worker is in contact with many people (for example, a reception desk or a cash counter)”.
The CNESST website, for its part, explains that “distancing measures (physical distancing, physical barriers or wearing a quality mask) are no longer required, with exceptions. However, they remain good practices, especially for the accomplishment of tasks that require the gathering of workers in a small space”. A little further, we can read that “it is recommended to maintain the physical barriers already in place”.
The Ministry of Health, for its part, referred us to the CNESST by email, but nevertheless took care to specify that “there are no longer any distancing measures required by order or decree in the public places for the population. Note that public health has not issued new recommendations on this measure. »
Storage and reuse
While it’s been difficult to get specifics about what major chains will use these plexiglass panels once they’re removed, except in the case of Costco and Walmart, the premier’s decision storing them and the second giving them a new life elsewhere in the store suggests that these approaches could be followed elsewhere.
The high costs of panels and their installation have not escaped the inflationary surge and it would be amazing to see traders divest of them, at the risk of having to repeat the investment if ever the unpredictable COVID-19 ― or even another virus that no one wants ― was to have other bad surprises in store for us.