Tash proves top checkout operator

Tash Lee has been crowned the best checkout operator for Foodstuffs in the upper North Island.

If you want to test her skills, just head down to New World Gate Pa on a Friday or Saturday, where she works part-time.

Mrs Lee beat 14 others to take the checkout title at the finals hosted in Auckland.

Overall, including the regional heats, she triumphed over 952 other contestants. Mrs Lee said it was great to win and was overjoyed with the haul of prizes she received. "It's awesome. I got a laptop, the iPhone 4S, a trip for two to Queenstown, $1000 cash, a dress watch, a printer, a hard-drive and Microsoft software."

The finalists had to scan 30 items in 50 seconds in the on-stage final, but were also graded by a mystery shopper.

"You had to do 30 in 50 seconds and one of the items does not scan so you have to enter it in," Mrs Lee said. "But most of it was based on customer service ... So you operate the checkout like you normally would."

Mrs Lee, a mother to three girls aged 9, 2 and 1, has worked at the store for eight months but had worked at another store in the past.

Elizabeth Jeffs, general manager human resources foodstuffs Auckland, said Mrs Lee was a deserving winner. "Checkout operators are crucial to our business, they are often the very last contact point before our customers leave our stores - and that's usually the part of the experience that customers remember the most.

"Our Checker of the Year contest seeks the individual operator who provides the best, most outstanding customer service at checkout [and] Tash rose to the challenge at each stage of the contest."

New World Gate Pa owner Catherine Versalko-West said it was great for Mrs Lee to receive credit for her services.