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MonkderZweite ,

I'm not using it only because the two retailers in the country don't need to have my credit card info and/or phone number.

mydude ,

I don't like to interact with people, but I also don't like to work for free for the owner of the chain, so I take one for the comrades and interact with the cashier.

ArmokGoB ,

If you work for free, you're bound to make mistakes. Sometimes a pound of fish might get rung up as a pound of oranges.

ICastFist ,
@ICastFist@programming.dev avatar

I don't see a problem with that

  • Sent from a country where oranges are like 1 dollar per kilo.
echodot ,

I bought a potato yesterday that should have cost 79p but it only rang me up for 30p as the scale was broken. I'm a proper little criminal me.

Nothing tastes better than ever so slightly erroneously discounted potatoes.

Guntrigger ,

Image

Nacktmull ,
@Nacktmull@lemm.ee avatar

a pound of fish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_miGclPFGs

CrayonRosary ,

Grocery stores used to have you bring in a list of what you needed and the grocer picked it all out for you from behind the counter and packed it up. If you walk through a store and put your own groceries in a cart, you're already doing free work for the owner of the store.

I wouldn't change that, and I wouldn't change self checkout. I prefer both. It's not work if I'd rather do it.

(The first paragraph is a true story, but also a joke. Doing "work" is all relative.)

mydude ,

You do you, man.

VonCesaw ,

SCO would be better if you got the same type of scanners as the regular registers

Putting everything from the cart onto a belt, and having access to more than 2-4 sets of bags (or a whole carousel at walmart!) without the dumb "did you scan this?" prompt would make me use SCO every single time. Trying to bag groceries in current SCO is miserable, and the sensors are usually so bad that you CANT EVEN REMOVE FULL BAGS when you need to fill another bag

MrBusiness ,

Lmao how's Walmart so bad with their self check out but Sam's club is easy? Hate using it at Walmart if I have more than a few items. At Sam's I can load up my cart, scan and pay for everything on the app, person at the exit does a quick check, and I'm out.

b1g_bake ,
@b1g_bake@sh.itjust.works avatar

I've heard they try new tech at Sam's before rolling it out to the masses at Walmart

GreatAlbatross ,
@GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk avatar

Some of the supermarkets here have self scanners with a belt, and a packing area big enough for 5-6 bags, it's pretty awesome.
Aside from the odd age-restricted check, the only real problem is Mrs. Scoggins buying three items on it over the course of 20 minutes

iarigby ,

What are they talking about, self checkouts are great. It makes the shopping experience more fair for those with fewer items

AnomanderRake ,

I feel the people who don't like self checkout keep trying to push the idea that it's bad or putting people out of jobs, rather than just admitting it's convenient for most people. If i want to buy one or two items I don't want to queue up behind 5 people with a full trolley.

mint_tamas ,

I don’t like self checkouts, but not because of that. Probably depends on what chains you go to / where in the world you live, but it was almost always very slow and full of errors for me (most of the time, incorrectly detecting the weight of either side, thus stopping the whole process and making me wait for a human to unlock it). And even if everthing goes well, I have no chance to even reach half the speed that a cashier can.

The one exception is a clothing store that used RFID tags. You put the items in the box and everything is instantly scanned, no mistakes. If it were like that everywhere, I would much prefer it.

AnomanderRake ,

I've never seen a clothing store using RFID tags before but that's quite interesting technology. I've just done some reading up on it and I hope more places start using it it seems convenient and something I'd like to see adopted on a large scale.

GreatAlbatross ,
@GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk avatar

It's pretty great. Though I'm sure it's built into the price (assuming they're talking about Uniqlo).

On the other hand, being able to walk into the supermarket, fill a trolly, then walk through an archway to get rung up...That would be pretty amazing.

havocpants ,

Don't know what country you're in, but Decathlon in the UK (and possibly other countries) does this. There are no traditional manned checkouts in there at all.

Nollij ,

This is a very good point- consider all of the friction points that make self-checkout slow and cumbersome. How many of them apply to manned checkouts?

The weight thing is absolutely the most frustrating, and I would put money that it's not an effective theft deterrent.

I don't know if it's intentional, but the places around me seem to have largely solved the problem of cashiers being faster, by putting the slowest people on earth as cashiers...

tocopherol ,
@tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

If it always has issues it makes sense you wouldn't like it, where I use it there are rarely any errors and there are usually regular cashiers still if you don't want to self checkout, personally I'd rather scan my groceries than have someone else do it. I do agree it would be much better if they had an RFID system like you mention though.

topinambour_rex ,
@topinambour_rex@lemmy.world avatar

Before they put self checkout, we had a fast lane, 10items max. Now no more of fast lane.

EncryptKeeper ,

Most grocery stores I’ve been to in the U.S. have regular self checkout and express checkout 10 items or fewer.

T156 ,

Especially those ones where you can grab a hand scanner to scan your items as you go, and use it to put everything into the terminal when paying.

Spedwell ,

Having express self-checkoit is great. The Kroger near me went full-self-checkout. They have large kiosks that mimmic the traditional checkout belt kiosks, except the customer scans at the head of the belt and the items move into the bagging area.

If you have a full cart, you scan all the items, checkout, walk to the end of the belt, and bag all of your items. Takes twice as long as bagging while a cashier scans (for solo shoppers), and because of the automatic belt the next customer cannot start scanning until you finish bagging, or their items will join the pile of your items.

It effectively destroys all parallelism is the process (bagging while scanning, customers pre-loading their items with a divider while the prior customer is still being serviced), and with zero human operated checkouts running you get no choice

Nollij ,

Depending on the system you have, some of them have a divider bar halfway down for that exact purpose.

UnderpantsWeevil ,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

If you have a full cart, you scan all the items, checkout, walk to the end of the belt, and bag all of your items.

Okay? But there's no cost savings on my end and I don't have all the codes memorized, so it takes longer than if a dedicated employee handled it.

with zero human operated checkouts running you get no choice

The humans are still there, though. They're hovering over your shoulder to make you did the job right and you're not buying booze under-aged and you didn't steal anything. All the business has done is off-load the manual labor onto the customer and slowed down the checkout process as a result.

Spedwell ,

Yeah, I was complaining too. Or am I not understanding you?

UnderpantsWeevil ,
@UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world avatar

Definitely crossed our wires.

tocopherol ,
@tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I have a lot of anxiety, sure I can just 'get over it' or ignore it and go to the actual cashier, but I love having the ability to scan things myself, it is also much quicker because I usually have less items than most. They still have the employee there, there are still other cashiers so I've never seen it get too hectic where I go.

WallEx ,

Love self Checkout, but if I can't pay cash I'm not using it. And sadly they're all card only here ....

obinice ,
@obinice@lemmy.world avatar

Hasn't it?

They're always faster than the queue for the cashiers, and they work fine.

The only issue I've had recently is they stopped taking cash for some reason, and I pay in cash. But besides that, they're fast and work great.

daq ,

Found the drug dealer.

PineRune ,

Or stripper.

wewbull ,

...or builder.

OsrsNeedsF2P ,

I pay in cash because it helps me visualize how much I spend. Also all the delicious street food takes cash.

MrBusiness ,

You, I like.

Auli ,

Really I haven't come across one in awhile that doesn't take debit or credit. In Canada though

daq ,

In US most street vendors will take CCs, but I was mostly joking anyway. I don't use cash, but do what works for you.

CrayonRosary ,

My favorite thing about some self checkouts is one big line for like 8 checkouts. You don't have to gamble with who you get in line behind.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

The only people I've ever encountered IRL or online that can't stand self check out are dumbass boomers that can't figure out how to use them correctly. This article has the same energy as those articles that claim people don't want to work from home.

ThatWeirdGuy1001 ,
@ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world avatar

My only critique of self checkout is, when the machine has an error, or if I'm buying alcohol, I have to wait 5 minutes for someone to come fix the problem because there's 10 self checkout kiosks, but only one employee tending them.

linearchaos ,
@linearchaos@lemmy.world avatar

That and if your buying more than 20 items and it's a scale.you know after about half a cart it's going to start bitching at you.

ThatWeirdGuy1001 ,
@ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world avatar

"Please place item in bagging area. UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA!!!"

linearchaos ,
@linearchaos@lemmy.world avatar

Please wait for assistance. meanwhile our cashier is busy helping terminal one be allowed buy floor stocked nasal decongestant, terminal three is waiting to be authorized to buy a lighter, and the person at terminal four can't figure out the pad is asking them for their loyalty number and has a coupon they'd like to use.

fidodo ,

I just don't use self checkout when buying alcohol or big carts since it's too cramped. At least at all the stores I've been to the attendant is always available so I never have to wait if something goes wrong. Maybe it depends on how tech savvy the area you're in is?

barsoap ,

Over here in Germany you can prove your age with your girocard, your bank knows whether you're over 16/18 and relaying that information is good enough in the eyes of the law.

tocopherol ,
@tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

There are pretty strict alcohol laws in the US compared to a lot of countries, I couldn't see this system working here because people would argue teens or whoever would use their parents card or ID. The drinking age being 21 here makes it different I think, there aren't so many under 18 that would really want to drink that would abuse the system, but since you have to be 21 to buy alcohol there are plenty of people in the 16-20 range that would take advantage I'm sure.

barsoap ,

I think the age check requires a PIN, noone but the owner of the card is supposed to have it. Dunno whether the check shows up on the transaction history it probably should.

Germany is actually kinda strict about age checks, it's the reason why not a single porn site is hosted here they'd all need that level of age auth. OTOH it's also understood that kids will find ways to circumvent things and that's also fine because you can't stop them anyway, if they do so sensibly you can ignore it and if they're not being sensible you can whip out the good ole "I'm not mad, I'm disappointed", either way they learned something about responsibility. Learning to keep your parents on a need-to-know basis is a rite of passage.

tocopherol ,
@tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

That sounds like a very reasonable way to view it haha, plenty of parents do view the things their kids do in that way and teach them to be sensible, I was lucky to be raised that that way. Many parents here are not that reasonable though and will use as much force as they can to keep their kids from doing things they don't want them to, and are happy to use the law to help with that, one way by supporting strict enforcement of drinking and drug laws. From the last stats I remember seeing the US actually has worse rates of alcoholism and alcohol related illness than Germany also!

fidodo ,

The machines had problems like 10 years ago, but I've had zero problems with them in recent years. Used to be a few of them were always broken and bulk items were hard to find, but now I've not run into any problems. They're great for small purchases, but they're too cramped for big purchases so the belts are still needed.

Kolanaki ,
@Kolanaki@yiffit.net avatar

Walmart, at least, has belted self-checkout lanes in addition to the little ones. Sucks that, at least at my local one, they're almost never actually running, and neither are the manned lanes with belts.

endhits ,

I see you've never had to use Kroger self checkouts. It's almost like they're purpose built to slow you down.

shuzuko ,

They got worse recently, too, at least locally. You can't even turn off the insistent voice anymore, so now I have to hear it repeat "please scan your next item and place it in the bag" a dozen times, usually cut off because it takes longer for the damn machine to say that than it does for me to actually scan shit. And now they've added cameras which get easily confused if you, like me, usually just hold your few items in your hands while you're scanning, thinking you're trying to "dupe" the scanner.

Auli ,

I use them but don't like them. Putting people out of work should not be the goal. I mean it's like the manufactured this only have one or two tills open at a time. Then bring in self checkouts to fix the issue the problem. They could have had more cashiers in the first place.

Lesrid ,

It's not about putting people out of work, it's about making the people you're selling to work for free. Bananas aren't any cheaper so I see no reason to use self-checkout

Delta_V ,

Jobs that don't pay a living wage should not exist. Imagine if our ancestors had accepted spending 200 calories to hunter/gather 100 calories worth of food. Low wage jobs are a trap that send people deeper into poverty.

Also, putting all people out of work forever should be the ultimate goal - automate all the things!

rabiddolphin ,
@rabiddolphin@lemmy.world avatar

If another human being speaks to me I run home and tweet about it

moitoi ,

In my country, it's a huge success. People love it at the point that even Aldi and Lidl implemented the system.

But, the huge difference with the US is cultural. People coming here from abroad have a hard time to make local friends. It can take up to 10 years to make one.

My guess is that people love the lack of social contact more than self checkout itself.

Agent641 ,

To prove your point, will you be my friend?

Ainiriand ,

If you are talking about Germany, yes. I recently (3 years) moved to Germany and I love the tech. I can avoid having contact with the rude people that usually work at the tills.

Anamnesis ,

In the US people working the tills are usually TOO nice and you don't want to make smalltalk with them. Only in NYC have I encountered rude till people, and even there, most are pretty pleasant.

tocopherol ,
@tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Yes in the US honestly I feel anxiety thinking about the cashier being too nice and not responding appropriately friendly enough haha, there is such a pressure for good service for any retail worker that I feel like it's somewhat rare for them to be straight up 'rude', at most they will be quiet. Like you mention though it does vary a lot region to region from what I've seen.

KpntAutismus ,

it's usually better implemented here. i regularly went to a real (the supermarket chain) once, they had one employee manning 4 self checkout machines and one of them took cash. they would open them during lunch rushhour, so all of the people who just wanted a sandwich were out of there within 30 seconds. worked awesome.

moitoi ,

It's south where people are even less open to contact.

barsoap ,

If the people at the till are rude your problem is probably that you're living in Berlin.

Ainiriand ,

You nailed it!

01011 ,

I like self checkout. Used it largely without issue for over 15 years.

Zeshade ,

This article really sounds like it describes an alternate reality to me. Interesting to see how many people in the comments seem to hate self checkouts but here in the UK they seem to work fine. Shops seem to have found the right balance. In the same shop you'll have queues advancing rapidly at self checkouts and people run tills with shorter queues for customers who prefer the human interaction.

Alph4d0g ,

We had a CVS Pharmacy location near me that decided to leave that location. Self checkout there was based on assuming everyone was a thief. All their wounds were self inflicted. Almost everything was locked up and you could never find someone to get your item for you. The genius management thought it was going to help profitability by deterring theft. Instead it was a deterrent to willing and eager customers wanting to buy their stuff. When you step over a dollar to get to a dime, your business is on borrowed time.

mvirts ,

As a customer, I 💕 self checkout: the great divide between fast and slow

makingStuffForFun ,
@makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml avatar

It surely is. My hobby is to look at a person entering self checkout to remember who they are, as I enter the human checkout. I'm usually bagged, and paid whilst that person on the self checkout is still working through their groceries. The professional human is SO much faster than the self checkout.

It's not always the case, but in the vast majority of times it is, so I choose speed over doing it myself.

mvirts ,

You can definitely tell some stores try to funnel people into self checkout by understaffing cashier positions sadly :( at the good ones I'm always at the cashier line as well

CucumberFetish ,

All of the local stores here have a mobile scanner which you take when you enter the shop. Then you walk around, take the item you want, scan it and bag it. At the self checkout you put away the scanner, register your card, pay and walk away. This is way faster than regular checkout if you have more than 3 items.

makingStuffForFun ,
@makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml avatar

Deutschland?

CucumberFetish ,

Estland

makingStuffForFun ,
@makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml avatar

Not so far. I want to visit one day!

CucumberFetish ,

Please do!

dirthawker0 ,

I really prefer self-checkout too. There was an initial year or two when the machines were kinda buggy and did that "unexpected item in bagging area" a lot, but you work around it: just never put your shopping bag on the scale. I scan fast and efficiently, and start bagging my stuff while the payment card is doing its thing. And when I bag my own stuff I can be sure the bread is going to be on top.

The only things I run into trouble with these days: 1. when the backend database doesn't have the right info, like some produce type is entirely missing, or the only option is for organic(=more $ and you know darn well you're not going to select that one). 2. Some stores don't use the barcode on the fruit labels, and you scan the label by accident or out of habit because the other store does use those barcodes. Both situations need a clerk to clear them, and that's 90% of the delay.

I wish I knew why Target is limiting to 10 items. It's pretty annoying. I suspect that theft is what's driving retailers away from it, rather than customers hating it.

ruplicant ,
@ruplicant@sh.itjust.works avatar

i only check myself out whenever i shoplift

Sagifurius ,

Thinking of those two clowns at the hardware store, clearly following me around, very unsubtly acting like they were sure i was there to shoplift. They kept asking what i was looking (which was actually non specific christmas gifts) so I started throwing out meth ingredients, phosphorous, ammonia, neo citran daytime, sodium hydroxide, caustic soda, lye....I know that went right over their heads because they found me a gallon of pure crystal form dry lye. Anyways, she bagged half the stuff up without ringing it through. I'm sure i started a rumour in town, when they told their husbands bout the big biker looking dude asking for obscure chemicals. Took the lye though, that's stuffs hard to find these days.

BigTrout75 ,

You mean selecting the non-organic item but you actually have organic one? Would be an "honest" mistake.

Nollij ,

What's weird is how many refuse to let you just enter the code on the sticker. You have to search through their stupid menu to find it, and it may not be what you actually have

nbafantest ,

It's a common sight at many retail stores: a queue of people, waiting to use a self-checkout kiosk, doing their best to remain patient as a lone store worker attends to multiple malfunctioning machines.

I have never had this happen. The only issues I've ever had is people not understanding something so simple as scanning a barcode and then tap to pay.

Self checkout is one of the greatest advancements I've ever had. Probably the most irritating thing about California is that they made it illegal to use a self checkout to buy beer. The state literally forced me to stand in lines when i can easily scan a barcode.

RememberTheApollo_ ,

Really? Do you actually go shopping? It’s a phenomenally regular occurrence.

LordKitsuna ,

It partially depends on the store. I have found that Walmart and Fred Meyer have some of the worst fucking software in existence and it's guaranteed I will have an issue when I go there. But I've never once had an issue with the Costco machines, WinCo machines, or Safeway machines. I am able to go through self-checkout even with an extremely large cart and get through it without any assistance.

And I fucking love it, it's faster, it's easier, and honestly when I'm shopping I'm usually tired and don't want to interact with anyone as it's the last chore I will do at the end of a long day of various tasks to do

jadedwench ,

Wegmans is the same way over here on the East Coast. I can check out with alcohol, someone just needs to come over to scan the override. They always have an attendant or two and I rarely have to wait. Most of the time, as soon as they see the alcohol, they come over before I have even scanned it.

When the machines don't babysit you and treat you like a theif, it goes astoundingly fast. I love self checkout, for a lot of the same reasons you do, and I get to pack my bags how I like. I avoid places with the insane systems with cameras, sensors, and scales trying to suss out if you are a theif. Especially as they don't let you scan the next item until the previous is on the other side and don't have handhelds.

Furbag ,

It depends a lot on the specific store, but I don't usually have to wait in a line longer than about 3 people and it moves quick.

On one hand, I agree with the video that the system doesn't solve the problem of lines at the supermarket. It was fairly obvious that they never anticipated queuing because there's never a dedicated section for where to stand while you wait for the next available terminal, so the line often spills into the end of some aisle and blocks all the cross traffic trying to navigate to the other end of the store.

On the other, it's not like we're going to go back to not having to stand around and wait if we get cashiers back filling the old school checkout lines.

IMO, the way forward is going to be to eliminate pay stations altogether and do either RFID tags on all the items so you are just charged for what you take while walking out of the store, or you have a scanner in the cart so you can total up all your purchases as you shop, reducing friction at checkout.

BigBenis ,

I avoid self checkouts unless the lines at the cashier checkouts are unreasonable.

Half the time I go through one of those I get hit with an error that I've then gotta wait on the attendant to fix. The other half I get bogged down by the stupid process like how you've got to put the item down on the bagging area before you can scan another one or how you can interact with the card reader to pay but the transaction will not complete until you select a payment type on the main screen. Lately, I've noticed some trying to trick me into signing up for rewards or some bullshit.

Much easier to just dump my stuff on the conveyor belt and have the cashier handle everything else.

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