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Fedizen ,

Making customers bag their groceries for free is not a "cost saving measure" its a "cost shifting measure"

Crack0n7uesday ,

I just watched a comedy special where the comedian calls them the "the shoplifter lanes".

bluewing ,

I think self checkout works for one or two items. But not much more than that. I don't want to have two or three things to checkout and be stuck behind someone with a cart full.

But If I have much more than that, an "old fashioned" checkout is a lot better.

gladflag ,

I hate self checkout because they make the system frustrating as if they don’t trust you. Which they don’t. So they make it weigh items and it yells if you’re too slow putting the item in the bagging area.

If you don’t trust me to do it. Pay someone else to do it.

avater ,
@avater@lemmy.world avatar

Problem is they save on the humans so you have to do their work too but you don't see any price reduction or benefit for doing so, and that is on top of all the usability issues...

Smoogs ,

It gets better, they’ve converted the Walmart tech help for the self checkout into sales people for their master card now.

shea ,

some terminals have 2 or even 3 cameras pointed at you, displaying on the screen so you know for sure they don't trust you. they're probably scanning your face nowadays too so they track individual purchase history

rabiddolphin ,
@rabiddolphin@lemmy.world avatar

I want my goods squeezed out of a cold unfeeling robot's bowels right into my home just as long as I don't have to see another filthy human because I use linux and think I'm a fucking cyborg

Dusktracer ,

Relatable.

PixelProf ,

I almost exclusivity self-checkout for groceries, and it had drastically sped up my checkout time as most people in my area opt to use traditional checkout and the stores are still keeping lots of lanes open (just closing the express lanes). The last 3 times I've used a non-self checkout, each time I was double charged for items or didn't have reduced prices applied and didn't notice because I was bagging.

Aermis ,

Same but mostly because I like to scan each item and see it associated with the price on the screen before adding another item

PixelProf ,

That too, and I can really efficiently manage the items going into bags given I backpack my groceries and want pretty specific configurations...

MashedTech ,

Oh my god, YES. With the cashier I feel rushed and packing is a mess..

rabiddolphin ,
@rabiddolphin@lemmy.world avatar

Don't forget to sweep the floors and bring in the carts

MashedTech ,

I use self checkout on the machines that don't weigh what you buy. Those work so well. The kind that have to weigh what you buy are slow and they always have an issue when I put items in bulk on them. Like two cans of beer if I don't set both of them down at once it just breaks down and tells me I have the wrong weight in any configuration.

PixelProf ,

Totally agree. I forgot about those, as I've only encountered the weighing ones once in the past very long time and it was a mess, I can totally get hate if weighing ones are the only experience with them.

kaffiene ,

Maybe this is just a British thing? They're very popular here in NZ

mahomz ,

Though the BBC is obviously identified most with UK, it in fact has many international publications. This article focuses on the US, with only a reference to "Booths in the UK", a very small supermarket group I have never heard of before.

Self checkout in the UK is commonplace and largely popular, though some of the general customer criticisms in the article are familiar to me as a regular user of them.

1rre ,

I mean Booths aren't that small, they're just exclusively north-western & fill the same niche as Waitrose, who have virtually no stores in the north west as a result

That means their customer base is pretty much a perfect intersection of people who won't want to use a self-checkout - older people & people who are friendlier to strangers

mahomz ,

28 stores is small by UK supermarket standards. Sainsbury's alone have over 1400. I can't reasonably consider Booths reflective of trends across the country, perhaps for the reasons you suggest.

OP's question as to whether the UK is rejecting self checkout on any level isn't really addressed by the example in this article.

EnderMB ,

Booths is basically unheard of anywhere else in the UK. The only reason I've heard of them is because the bald guy on TikTok that reviews the worst towns in the UK did a video on them.

telllos ,

Same here in Switzerland, very well made and pretty efficient. But I really hate the fact that I'm basically working for the store.

EnderMB ,

They're very popular here too, but a lot of older people really struggle with them, so they're widely hated by boomers that want things to be like the 80's again.

The technology is a bit shit, and more often than not there's a lot of waiting around for someone to unblock you. Where it was probably a "failure" to many is in the initial promise of being able to get rid of employees and replace them with self-scan.

Fapper_McFapper ,

… but a lot of older people really struggle with them, so they're widely hated by boomers that want things to be like the 80's again.

In my experience it’s not that older people are struggling with it. It’s that Walmart has 300 self checkout kiosks but only two are open and the line for a regular register is almost out of the premises.

And the CVS self checkout always ends up confusing itself and constantly yelling at you to place the item in the bagging area.

slingstone ,

I enjoy Sam's Club's "Scan and Go" feature in their app. I scan my items and pay in the app. I never have to interact with a soul, and that's peachy keen in my book.

tinkeringidiot ,

So much this. I started using it during Covid, and it’s been so great that I prefer Sams over any other shopping experience.

normalexit ,

In a new stadium in my city you swipe your credit card, pick up food or drink in a little monitored area and walk out with your items. It is an interesting idea but it is also creepy. That's probably what stores will be like eventually -- at least the ones with the resources to implement something that expensive and complex.

As far as self checkout, I don't mind it for small orders or when it is more convenient for me at the grocery store. Unexpected item in bagging is a bad consumer experience, and buying produce/alcohol is also a pain. If I feel like I am going to run into trouble I head for the traditional lines.

I really despise the ones at big box hardware stores that show a video of you checking out. I'm not stealing, don't judge me or make me judge myself with that unflattering angle.

cranakis ,

I go to the cashier's and try to never self checkout. It has always seemed like a way to reduce the number of employees. The price of goods sure hasn't gone down as a result. People need jobs. These stores are rich enough. I realize that's a little naive but that's where I am with it.

icermiga ,

The human checkout gives a better service but the shop does not charge me differently for different checkouts. For shoppers, the equation is simple.

normalexit ,

I'd always rather shop at a store with real life helpful employees who are happy to work there because they are treated well and properly compensated. I hope companies continue to see the value in that approach.

Shellbeach ,

People need good jobs. I doubt there are tons of people whose dream job is to be a cashier.

Trainguyrom ,

you swipe your credit card, pick up food or drink in a little monitored area and walk out with your items.

The only time I used one of those was at a conference center and I was trying to get a cheap lunch. The item I wanted was out of stock in the computer system so it wouldn't let me purchase it and the item I grabbed was charged as something else entirely (netting me a $3 discount at least)

Vending machines have been around for years and their faultiness has long been a trope in media. I'm not holding my breath for employee-less checkout

intensely_human ,

Failure?? It’s in every store in the world

babypigeon ,

I've never seen the level of problem described in the article. Self checkouts work fine around here (Massachusetts) and people seem to prefer them to the cashier checkouts.

tamal3 ,

I do not use self-checkout for several reasons, including what other people have said: i don't get a discount, it's taking someone else's job, it's annoying as fuck. Further, I use my own canvas bags, and that machine yells about the weight mismatch no matter what I try. I'd rather listen to nails on a chalkboard.

But i also shop for groceries 1 time per week, which means I'm buying beer, which means the self-checkout STILL requires somebody to help me. I end up standing around for longer than it takes to go through the regular line.

Anyway, the self-checkout lines generally see very loud usage in my NC town.

gerowen , (edited )

For most of my shopping, which takes place at our local Walmart (I live in the US), I actually really like using the self-checkout. Now when we make a big grocery run, having a person there makes things easier because they can scan and bag, I can unload things onto the belt and my wife can pull bags off the little turnstile thing and put them back in our cart, but most of the time I'm just running in to grab a handful of items so when I leave I can just walk up to the kiosk, scan my stuff, scan the QR code with the Walmart app on my phone and walk out the door. It'll auto pay with the privacy card I attached to my Walmart account and give me a digital receipt to show if somebody wants to see it at the door. They even have a thing now where you can pay a monthly subscription for "Walmart+" where you can scan and pay for your items as you shop.

lordkuri ,

monthly subscription for “Walmart+” where you can scan and pay for your items as you shop and never even have to go through the registers or kiosks at all.

This isn't entirely true. You still have to stop by the self checkout and scan a code on the screen there and confirm a few things, but it is way faster.

gerowen ,

Thanks for clarifying. I hadn't actually used that particular feature so I must have misunderstood the way it was worded in the app.

gerowen ,

Edited my original comment for accuracy.

MeanEYE ,
@MeanEYE@lemmy.world avatar

I don't use self-checkout for one reason only: if I am doing the work, why am I paying the same price. It's just another scheme by the business people to get them more money.

There are far better ways of queuing, and they can always hire more people to deal with the demand. But no, they figured out hiring fewer people makes it inconvenient for many, which is an incentive to use self checkout, which gives them even more money on top of already high margins.

Same thing with gas stations. No thanks. I'll happily leave a tip to people providing the service, but it's a matter of principle. You don't go to a restaurant and rummage through their refrigerator to get the meal, nor should you serve yourself anywhere else.

gerowen ,

If I go to a buffet style restaurant like Golden Corral where there's a long table full of precooked items, I'm gonna go up to that table and rummage around and fill my own plate, 😜

DarthTron ,
@DarthTron@mander.xyz avatar

I very specifically wait in line to make an actual employee scan my items and bag them. I will go out of my way to make the corporation pay someone to do the job rather than pass the labor on to me the customer. They sure as hell aren't passing on any savings to me, so they can pay a human to check me out.

ji17br ,

The savings is your time. It’s generally much faster to go self checkout, especially for small purchases.

abhibeckert ,

a queue of people, waiting to use a self-checkout kiosk

That's not how it works with the stores I frequent. Usually about half the self-checkout kiosks don't have anyone at them.

I'd shop somewhere else if they took self checkout away. It's so much faster.

wildginger ,

Half of our self check stands around town are empty too, mainly because they are seemingly perma broken

gveltaine ,

It doesn't work everywhere. Smaller store like CvS? Sure

Being watched like a hawk in Walmart? Not a comfortable experience and would rather work with someone face to face

captain_aggravated ,
@captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works avatar

I do just about everything I can to not walk into a Wal-Mart, and on the rare occasions I do, the self checkout there is notably worse than basically everywhere else. There's something with the way they have it implemented where it just doesn't work right.

Most other places it's okay; it feels like it has improved in most places; I remember when it used to be pretty bitchy about placing items in bags and whatnot; in fact it seems a lot of places have stopped making them talk, which is a huge plus.

rabiddolphin ,
@rabiddolphin@lemmy.world avatar

Walmart is a penal colony

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