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Mojojojo1993 ,

Fuck this bullshit article.

I fucking love self service. I don't want to deal with people.

Just let me buy my stuff and get out. I don't want or need small talk.

I want the disgusting supermarket shop to be as cold and sterile as possible.

I bring my own bag. I'd Honestly rather just scan everything as I go. And just pay as I walk out.

Current system is stupid. Walk around shop picking things up. Then take everything out and rebag

spinelessorange ,

There are stores trialling exactly your preferred method. One of my local supermarket chains has portable barcode scanners on a wall. You pick one up, scan your groceries as you collect them, then take the scanner to a self checkout that links to the scanner. At that point you pay for your items and leave.

icedterminal ,

Best Buy started doing this with their app. I've used it multiple times already. It's so convenient. Scan the barcode with your camera in the app, it adds to the cart, pay when you're done.

Anecdotal experience: Unfortunately, products that are locked up create a problem. I went in for two items. One of which was a single RAM stick for laptops. The employee refused to give me it even though I was literally going to pay for it on the spot as I had already collected the other item I wanted. He insisted it goes to the register per policy. I quickly got the barcode as he held it, then paid. "There. Paid for. See" as I showed him the screen. Dude was so annoyed as he handed me the RAM.

Mojojojo1993 ,

Yup had these a few years ago in UK. Just not all shops do it.

Willy ,

They aren’t just trialing it. I’ve been shopping this way for 15 years. Once the system was down so I went to another location. I won’t shop without a handheld scanner ever again.

lemmytellyousomething ,

small talk? If you start small talk in Germany, the cashier will probably be confused...

Mojojojo1993 ,

Note to self. Move to Germany.

To do list

Learn German.
Get a German job

Cheap ass rent control. C'mon.

Bratwurst. Kick on

lemmytellyousomething ,

When interacting with the bus driver, make sure to say only "Hallo" when you step in. Technically, this is even optional and only 33% do that.

When leaving the bus, don't say anything. It'd be weird.

And under no circumstances, talk to them between entering and leaving.

The only legitimate way to talk to them is when the bus stopped, you and the driver are both outside and he or she approaches you first.

SlopppyEngineer ,

Whoa there, overachiever. Saying "hello"? A curt smile, a slight nod and a passing glance. All things in moderation, after all.

lemmytellyousomething ,

We don't smile here, unless there is a good reason.

You need to learn a lot before moving here!!!!!!!!!!11

Mojojojo1993 ,

I don't smile so if fit right in

lemmytellyousomething ,

Sehr gut.

philpo ,

Nah, when you are on a late night run on an (almost, max. 2 pax) empty bus, especially the last run, especially in shitty weather, it's appropriate to say "Nacht" when you leave.

You form a special bond then and there. The driver is your hero who brings you home in the most shittiest shift.

Mojojojo1993 ,

Literally the opposite of Scotland. Must say thanks or cheers when leaving bus. Weird not to

lemmytellyousomething ,

This is like applauding the pilot after they do the absolute minimum of their job (landing the plane).......

Mojojojo1993 ,

Just common decently. Thanking a cashier. For doing their job. A sales person. A doctor/ nurse.

A cleaner. Just polite

SlopppyEngineer ,

I stopped using them. It's always something, requiring me to wait for and deal with people.

The rack with the mobile scanners is full, and scanner not in the rack is not paying, so flag someone to deal with it.

The thing double scanned an item, and it takes someone from the shop to remove the scan, so wait and then explain.

I had a coupon, but the system can't deal with those. Again wait and explain.

And because now apparently I'm a trouble maker I get flagged for a random check by the system regularly. Again wait and deal with that.

On average, it turned out to be less waiting and dealing with people by getting in line at the regular cashier.

Chreutz ,

Scan and Go is becoming very wide spread in Denmark. It's lovely! Cuts down the time for a quick shopping trip on the way home from work to less than half

Mojojojo1993 ,

Had it in the UK. Just not all shops. Needs to be more widespread

PixTupy , (edited )

I always use the store app to scan as I shop and just pay at the machines at the exit here in Portugal. Hate shopping any other way.

CyanFen ,

What you're requesting is exactly how Amazon fresh works. the cart itself has barcode scanners on it

Mojojojo1993 ,

Boo Amazon. But great idea

OhShitSon ,

That system has been a thing for at least a decade in most supermarkets in Sweden, is it not a thing in (I assume) the US?

Mojojojo1993 ,

Assumption wrong.

Although may be correct. I don't know USA shops.

In the UK some shops have had them for 10 + years but not all shops. Lidl for example did not.

Although my current area is NZ. Some shops again do have them but not all.

nicetriangle ,

Yeah the little self scanner thing you can take around the store as you shop is not much of a thing in the US.

YerbaYerba ,

My local grocery store does it with their smartphone app. I shop this way almost every time. Bag as I go, then stop at a special self checkout at the end to pay.

snowe ,
@snowe@programming.dev avatar

Your grocery store has cell service? I lose all service the second I step inside mine

YerbaYerba ,

They have wifi! The cell service is crap though.

Onii-Chan ,

That's fucking brilliant and would actually make me not hate shopping with a passion. That system just makes so much more sense.

Tikiporch ,

You can do scan and go at Walmart now, if you were previously only using that at Sam's Club. It's fantastic.

Mojojojo1993 ,

Check out USA. Not behind on tech. Congratulations

WHYAREWEALLCAPS ,

Last I checked you had to be a Walmart+ member to do that. It used to be available to everyone, but then they put it behind paying them a monthly fee to be able to do it.

DrRatso ,

Is self scan that rare around you? One of our (Latvia) two big brand supermarkets have scanners you carry around, then deposit at the slef checkout lines. The other one, however, I just scan everything with my phone, then at checkout scan a QR code with my phone and pay.

Mojojojo1993 ,

Yeah unfortunately don't have those at our nearest places. But I know the UK had lots of them

TheSanSabaSongbird ,

Sure, it works great if you're a single person who doesn't have all that much to buy, but here's the thing; if you're shopping for a family or a multi person household or whatever, and you have to buy a lot of things at once, your self checkouts just plain suck ass because pretty much no matter what you do, you'll get dinged with an error message every ten or 12 items and have to wait for the overworked and underpaid attendant to come free you up so you can keep going until the next inevitable fuckup.

Self checkout is fine if you have something like 15 or less items, but anything more than that and it's more trouble than it's worth.

rabiddolphin ,
@rabiddolphin@lemmy.world avatar

Jeez you sure love working for free

plz1 ,

Their intent was to cut jobs/costs. They worked as designed. The user experience being improved was never the real goal of these, both on the employee and customer side. I'm fine using them for a small number of items/one item, but if I'm going to buy a bunch of things or anything that requires special handling (alcohol), I just skip them. I also skip them if there's no line at a human checkout because I don't want to drive those folks out of jobs either.

Waldowal ,
@Waldowal@lemmy.world avatar

The article says the expected cost savings haven't been realized because people steal stuff and generally suck at scanning & bagging their own groceries.

BearOfaTime ,

Hahaha, that's awesome. I don't believe it, but it is humorous.

Shoplifting was already an issue. Self checkout has scales to check what you're bagging, and cameras. I simply don't believe it's caused a significant increase in theft, no matter how hard they try to claim it.

Further, any issues that stores have with theft/shoplifting is because they refuse to do anything about it. Thirty years ago we stopped shoplifters and took them to security where cameras recorded everything, and called the police to come pick em up. Hell, we usually had a cop on hand for this stuff, and much of security was staffed by cops/retired cops.

Fine, you'd rather let this be an insurance claim, then any issues you have with theft is no longer a concern to anyone, because clearly it's not a concern to you (that is, the company).

People know they won't be stopped/arrested. So there's almost no risk to just walking out.

plz1 ,

Ah, the retail theft claim...

otp ,

I love self-checkouts.

But what I love even more is having one single line for all lanes. It's ridiculous that customers have to guess which lane will move the fastest.

Making a single line is the best thing self-checkouts have introduced around here.

Also, if they won't bag my stuff for me, then I might as well be at the self-checkout. And since they don't offer plastic bags at most places around here, most don't bag your stuff for you.

If there are multiple lines and they won't bag my stuff, I'll go somewhere else that has self-checkout.

sighofannoyance ,
@sighofannoyance@lemmy.world avatar

I love self-checkout, because I hate waiting in line.

NickwithaC ,
@NickwithaC@lemmy.world avatar

You would hate the self checkouts around here then.

Policy seems to be that if there isn't a queue then they should shut off half of them to save power. So now there is a queue for the self checkouts.

twack ,

Also they just don't staff the regular check out lines, so your choice is to leave and go to another store.

lemmyvore ,

Self-checkout does not make up for stupid people.

My personal favorites are the ones that scan everything, then start bagging everything, then start looking for their card in their handbag, shoulder bag, backpack, pockets etc.

riskable ,
@riskable@programming.dev avatar

My biggest complaint about self checkout at Walmart (specifically) is that I still have to wait in line! There's 20-ish self checkout machines of which 15-20 will be working and like fucking forty regular checkout lanes with two cashiers working. So of course there's going to be a long ass line for the self checkout!

It's lane upon lane of wasted space. If you're only ever going to have 3-4 people working then you should only have 3-4 non-self checkout lanes!

kurcatovium ,
@kurcatovium@lemm.ee avatar

Well, I work in retail exactly in this field for chain of roughly 100 small grocery stores mostly in rural villages in central/eastern Europe. We do have couple larger stores, where larger doesn't mean big in global scale, for us it means they need 2 cash registers most of the day.

We do have few stores equipped with self check out registers too. There are 3 types for us and all of them with different pros and cons.

  1. Bigger stores. We have 2 stores where we installed SCOs as an addition to regular check outs. It works great if you have just a couple items and don't want to wait for those 3 people standing in line. I prefer to use them with most of my shopping there, because they are often empty/instantly available unlike regular check outs.

  2. We have 3 small village stores with one regular check out that we expanded with one SCO. These shops are open 24/7, while cashiers are there for roughly 8 hours a day and the rest is full automatic. You get in through ID, pick your stuff, check out and leave. It is great idea, but prety novel in this region and people are not used to it yet. Remember we're talking about villages with less than 1000 people.

  3. We also have 2 completely self check out stores. Meaning there's no live personnel tobinteract with, only one person to go in, refill shelves and leavd. There's only one SCO and it also works 24/7 as number 2. This is in the smallest villages, with under 500 people and it's pretty successful so far. People are happy they have place to shop locally, because if it wasn't for this they'd be left without shop whatsoever.

Just my 2 cents. Also bear in mind this is Europe, where people are definitely not used to take long drives very often. Especially not because your everyday shopping needs. Be happy to answer if you had some questions.

tunetardis ,

I treat self-checkout as a game with 2 goals:

  1. Make it through the process without getting any help.
  2. Do it as fast as a trained cashier.

In a good season, my batting average for #1 might be .300, which would not be bad were the game baseball. As far as #2 is concerned, I have never come close. It's like I throw 30 mph pitches. Things get real when I'm trying to look up bananas or something and the helper comes up behind me. "It's 4198. Here, let me do it." Thanks, I already lost #2 and you just made me lose #1…again.

RagingRobot ,

I think self checkout is a good way for stores to get more customers through faster but the stores seem to think they are a replacement for human cashiers and they are not at all. They are nice to have in addition to human cashiers.

numberfour002 ,

Personally, I don't think the technology is a failure. It's the implementation that's the pain point.

I'm no fan of Walmart, but the local store has the lenient self checkout machines that don't make you place and leave your items in the bagging area. And there's a hand scanner for each machine. The hand scanner is pretty close to instant, so I can literally scan an entire cart full of items in under a minute (with caveats) and you don't even have to take things out of the cart to scan them (with caveats). Sometimes there are hiccups and obviously some items are sold by weight, so that'll slow things down.

But even with all that, the implementation is the pain point because they'll only have 1 person running the machines, so if they have to run off to help a customer or multiple people need help at the same time, you just have to wait. Also, the particular store I go to shuts down half the machines ridiculously early in the evening. When the machines break, they stay broken for weeks or months. And they have some kind of ridiculous system where some of the machines are cash-only, some are card-only, but the majority will accept either -- this adds to a lot of inefficiency because a lot of customers don't know which machines are which and if you mess up and pick the wrong one then things get tied up while you wait for a cashier to come and transfer you over to a different one so you can pay.

The other big factor is that customers were trained on the old shitty style self checkouts where you had to scan each item one at a time, place it in the bagging area, leave it there until you pay, and if so much as a speck of dust landed in the bagging area or a piece of onion skin fell off, it would freeze up. So even with the new lenient hand scanners, people still do it the old and slow way.

Binthinkin ,

Realize that many elite schools are pay to win and these business failures make sense.

AnneBonny ,

Unstaffed tills were supposed to revolutionise shopping.

They were?

bstix ,

Self-checkout systems are already old fashioned. Most stores in my town have apps for that now, where customers scan items as they bag them in their own bags while walking through the store and then just beep out. This removes the need for a queue, the payment terminal, the receipt and the stupid exit gate. Customers are allegedly randomly checked, but I've never seen that.

bandwidthcrisis ,

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    bstix ,

    How are they tracking?
    I know it can easily be done with NFC tags, but I doubt they tag fresh produce like that?

    slumberlust ,

    It's all cameras and ML face recognition.

    bstix ,

    I wonder how many people are needed to operate the system, and if the camera detection is really just an employee in an Asian call center.

    EngineerGaming ,
    @EngineerGaming@feddit.nl avatar

    [Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    mlaga97 ,

    FYI, your purchases are already thoroughly tracked like that starting as soon as you walk in the store, app or not.

    r00ty ,
    @r00ty@kbin.life avatar

    I hate self-checkout. It's just annoying and a downgrade from an actual. cashier. I'll use it when I have to. But really it's just terrible.

    However, scan as you shop. That's just great. Put your bags in the trolley, scan and put it straight in the bag. Go to checkout machine, pay and your stuff is already bagged.

    DarthYoshiBoy ,
    @DarthYoshiBoy@kbin.social avatar

    This is the second article in the last month I've found here on the Fediverse pronouncing the death of self checkout and honestly I just don't see it. Most of the stores around me have only just recently expanded their self-checkout areas and I vastly prefer using it unless I've got more than 25 items.

    I'd honestly probably stop going to a store that decided to not allow me to check out on my own. Small talk and having to make a minimum wage worker suffer through it is just not something I want when I'm running to the store for a gallon of milk. I vastly prefer being able to throw in some earbuds, get my shopping, check out, and get out to having to interact with anyone while I'm just trying get my shit.

    ooli OP ,

    I am surprised too. Self checkout only intensified recently in my country. What is surprising is that the dislike seems to come from the corporate side. So it exist since 1990, and just now they realised they are loosing money on it. Pretty weird.. But I'm all in on big corpo losing money because they didnt want to pay wages.

    Mark my word: they installed self-Passport machine in Paris airport in planning for the Olympic tourists grand arrivals. It will be a disaster!!
    It doesnt work, it is slower than having an human check your pass, and a lot of travelers will be very angry at thoses machines. Plus I suspected you can trick them easily if you're a criminal

    gerryflap ,
    @gerryflap@feddit.nl avatar

    This is probably a difference between countries, but personally I love it here in the Netherlands. I go to the store after work multiple times a week and I have yet to encounter a queue or problem that stalled me longer than 1-2 minutes. Usually I can just directly walk to a self-checkout machine, check out my stuff, pay by holding my debit card (or phone) against the payment terminal, and be on my way. I like it way more than the old way of doing things, because I now have time to properly pack my bag and I don't have to talk to anyone. It's also way more space efficient. There's even the option to take a scanner with you so you can scan while shopping, though I have yet to try that.

    Kusimulkku ,

    Yanks seems to have totally fucking bungled self-checkouts. Dunno how they managed that but almost every single complaint i hear is from them.

    Bishma ,
    @Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

    I worked every position in a grocery store during high school and college. I am now unwilling to work any of them without being paid to do so. And my current rate is many multiples of what they pay their employees.

    xtr0n ,

    Same. And knowing that I have been an efficient cashier in the past makes the awkwardness of the self checkout super frustrating. If you have the items coming down the belt and are in a groove and so it regularly, you can get through a cart of items so fast. Between the poor UI and theft deterrence the self checkout is way slower.

    Ans what happens to the people whose jobs are eliminated by the self checkout? Yeah, it’s a crap job, I know, I’ve done it. But if the only alternative in our current system is more homelessness and absolutely desperate poverty then I’ll skip the self checkout. I’d love to live in the glorious future where machines do all the grunt work and people are free to spend their time in better ways. But it seems humanity can’t have nice things.

    Kusimulkku ,

    I wonder if this sentiment was common when the introduced the stores where you have to go and pick up the products instead of telling someone what you want.

    Bishma ,
    @Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

    Part of me wishes the old dry good / mercantile shops were still a thing in my area. I still make occasional trips to stand-alone butchers, bakeries, green grocers, florists, and delis but if I need shelf stable stuff my only choices are supermarkets or convenience stores.

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