Self-Checkout Hasn't Delivered (bbc.com) 316
quonset writes: When self-checkout at stores was rolled out, many people, including on /., cheered. No longer would they have to wait behind the senior citizen who couldn't remember the PIN for their debit card. No longer would they have to wait in long lines trying to ignore the idle chitchat from fellow shoppers. From now on it would be a breeze to get in and get out without human interaction. Except that hasn't happened.
For shoppers, self-checkout was supposed to provide convenience and speed. Retailers hoped it would usher in a new age of cost savings. Their thinking: why pay six employees when you could pay one to oversee customers at self-service registers, as they do their own labour of scanning and bagging for free? While self-checkout technology has its theoretical selling points for both consumers and businesses, it mostly isn't living up to expectations. Customers are still queueing. They need store employees to help clear kiosk errors or check their identifications for age-restricted items. Stores still need to have workers on-hand to help them, and to service the machines.
The technology is, in some cases, more trouble than it's worth.
"It hasn't delivered anything that it promises," says Christopher Andrews, associate professor and chair of sociology at Drew University, US, and author of The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy. "Stores saw this as the next frontier If they could get the consumer to think that [self-checkout] was a preferable way to shop, then they could cut labour costs. But they're finding that people need help doing it, or that they'll steal stuff. They ended up realising that they're not saving money, they're losing money."
For shoppers, self-checkout was supposed to provide convenience and speed. Retailers hoped it would usher in a new age of cost savings. Their thinking: why pay six employees when you could pay one to oversee customers at self-service registers, as they do their own labour of scanning and bagging for free? While self-checkout technology has its theoretical selling points for both consumers and businesses, it mostly isn't living up to expectations. Customers are still queueing. They need store employees to help clear kiosk errors or check their identifications for age-restricted items. Stores still need to have workers on-hand to help them, and to service the machines.
The technology is, in some cases, more trouble than it's worth.
"It hasn't delivered anything that it promises," says Christopher Andrews, associate professor and chair of sociology at Drew University, US, and author of The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy. "Stores saw this as the next frontier If they could get the consumer to think that [self-checkout] was a preferable way to shop, then they could cut labour costs. But they're finding that people need help doing it, or that they'll steal stuff. They ended up realising that they're not saving money, they're losing money."
Dumb People? (Score:5, Insightful)
I dunno. My wife prefers self-checkout when the option is available, and we never have any issues. Come to think of it, Ive pretty much fallen in line with that sentiment. There's hardly ever a line at any of the supermarkets we go to that have them, so its faster than waiting in checkout with an employee.
Re:Dumb People? (Score:4, Informative)
I dunno. My wife prefers self-checkout when the option is available
When i have a few items (3 or less) I use self-checkout. However, depending on when and where I go I may have to wait a bit. Some places only have 4 registers while others have 10. Around holidays there's definitely a line. At 7:50 AM on my may to work, not so much.
When I have many items or discounted items with a special label, or individual fruits and vegetables, I use a human checkout. If there's any problems, they can correct it faster than the person at self-checkout.
Re: Dumb People? (Score:5, Insightful)
Thieves. (Score:2)
My local grocery store used to have 1 oversee 6 checkout lanes, now it is 1 oversees 4 checkouts max plus a 'receipt checker/greeter' is now posted at the exit.
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I very much doubt that unless the checkers where you shop are either lazy or poorly trained, possibly both. I say that because my sister is a grocery checker and she's tried using the self check line a few times and found it much slower. Why? Because it's geared to the pace of a shopper who knows nothing about how to check themselves out and needs to be walked through each item in baby steps and doesn't allow any shortcuts such a
Re:Dumb People? (Score:5, Interesting)
This article fails to capture: It costs around 5% of product cost (eats into margin) to pay employees to do checkout. So, they are saving 5% by going with self checkout. But: the theft rate when using self checkout is around 5% more than it was with manual checkout. So: It's basically a wash for retailers.
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People who have too many items for self-checkout are probably a sub-category of "dumb people" but this is the root of the problem in my experience.
The more items you have, the more chances there are for something to go wrong and require assistance.
Also, the amount of staging area you have for bagging, etc, is a lot smaller so you end up taking longer as you shuffle things around.
Rule of thumb, if you are pushing a cart, you can't use self-checkout.
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People who have too many items for self-checkout are probably a sub-category of "dumb people" but this is the root of the problem in my experience.
You seem to assume the problem is that these people can't count, and therefore are dumb.
This is incorrect. The people abusing self-checkout know about the limits, know they are well above those limits, and simply don't care. Basically they are, to some degree, sociopaths.
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It really depends, a LOT, on the management of the store.
American stores, lag behind on self-checkout, A LOT. This is because they haven't switched exclusively to tap-to-pay.
Canadian stores, usually the self-checkout is managed by one person and there are up to 12 self checkouts for one employee. Sometimes however half these checkouts will be out of service.
Tap to pay makes self-check out simple and much less annoying. Then it's just up to the management of the store to have enough kiosks. Most of the store
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My problem is discounts (Score:3)
I guess I could say fuck it and just pay more but
Re:Dumb People? (Score:5, Insightful)
My experience explicitly differs. A good checkout person is much faster than any self-checkout I've tried. That's because the self-checkout systems have to do a lot of extra work to make sure they're not over-billing and to guide the user through the process. And that includes the one time when the self-checkout clerk herself did the scanning while I watched to see if it was "just me."
It's clear stores did not do this for 'customer convenience,' but rather to save money on checkout clerks. Again anecdotally, what I've noticed is customers move to self-checkout only when they see lines at the registers with clerks. The 'magic number' seems to be 3 customers, more than that in a line and some people move to self-checkout. Less than 3 in the queue, and people join the line for human checkout. Some people do prefer self-checkout. But I bet if stores, particularly those that have substantially decreased their staffed registers, polled customers, they'd find substantial distaste for self-checkout.
I generally avoid stores (particularly Target and WalMart) that no longer adequately staff checkout lines. And acknowledgement to our local Market-Basket, which has NO self-checkout lines.
Re:Dumb People? (Score:5, Interesting)
This entirely depends on the quality and calibration of the self checkout machine. My local grocery store has very well maintained machines, and I can personally scan items a tad bit faster than the experienced checkers who do it all day long. However, when I go to other stores, especially non-grocery stores, the machines are slow as hell and have that "tutorial" mentality that you describe. The one at my local grocery store has the ability to bypass every single thing it says. It could be mid-talking, and you can already scan 2-3 items ahead of what its reading. It'll ask questions like "choose a payment method", but if your credit card is already in the machine, the voice line plays, but the prompt clears itself out automatically by detecting the card reader's processing.
As far as your thought on polling: my particular grocery store, even if NOBODY is in line for the checkers, the self checkout will still have people queue up. It is by far and away the preferred method here. But admittedly, I also live in an area that is mostly tech workers, so we're not afraid of using a screen and buttons ourselves, since that's our day jobs.
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Nah the self-checkout stuff is just worse equipment, especially if it has a paranoid and miscalibrated anti-theft scale. Other people have a different experience than you because some versions are mostly anti-theft. It's still in beta testing. I imagine in the future they will integrate cart RFID tracking, scales on the store shelves, and cameras. That could make for really convenient checkout, or at least replace the stupid checkout scale.
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Mod parent up. This is the fundamental problem with self checkout machines.
Done well, they're great. The problem is that they're generally not done well. My favorite example is two grocery stores near me. One of them allows me to search alphabetically for non barcoded items such as bulk produce. By the time I've punched in "ONI", there's five pictures of different kinds of onions, and it's easy to tap a picture for "Green Onions" from there; it takes about as long as entering a four digit code. The other st
Re:Dumb People? (Score:4, Interesting)
When Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth was shown a self-checkout lane at a Sainsbury's in the UK, she looked at person demonstrating it and asked "What if you lie about what you purchased?"
A couple years later, Sainsbury's realized they were selling about 5 times as many carrots as they were buying. As carrots were rather cheap, most customers were telling the system ALL their vegetables were carrots.
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Local stores here around have very well maintained self-checkouts (colleagues of mine service them, so I have some insider knowledge), and still, the cashier is faster at scanning the items. I go to the self checkout only if there is a booth free right now, and I don't have too many items to scan, otherwise, it's too much hassle as I have to wait for the supervisor to unlock the booth again after something does not run as smoothly as required.
A cashier sca
Extra steps (Score:3)
>> That's because the self-checkout systems have to do a lot of extra work to make sure they're not over-billing and to guide the user through the process.
There's also a lot of unnecessary steps like "Do you want to apply for our store credit card/loyalty card?" and "Do you want us to email you the receipt?" (and put you on our mailing list) and "Do you want to donate to our selected charity?" (and not receive a tax receipt). Sure, the human checkout clerks are probably supposed to ask those annoying
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And how many kids do you guys have? Buying a shopping cart full as opposed to a hand-basket introduces far more chances that something will go wrong and you have to stand there waiting for someone to come help you.
And their bagging area is not big enough. Also some items like cakes don't like being turned upside down to scan. And vegetables are in their systems under weird names. Not to mention your kids will go grab something off the scale and you will again have to call someone over.
So for me, it's u
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So can I, until the dreaded "Please put the item into the bagging area" as I mutter for the 4th time that transaction "It is in the f*cking bagging area."
Re: Dumb People? (Score:5, Insightful)
It comes down to being social vs being antisocial.
No. I don't go to the store to be social, I go to purchase things I need and/or want. I really don't care to chit-chat with some random person standing in line with me about something I'm most likely not interested in, or the person who's dragging my items across a scanner who gets this confused distant, sometimes terrified, stare if the proper frequency beep isn't emitted.
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Every supermarket I know, weighs the items as they're scanned, so leaving everything in the cart is not an option. If one has a large item, a shop assistant is required to exempt the weighing step.
Re: Dumb People? (Score:4, Informative)
He is talking about stores that allow you to scan things as you get them with either a handheld scanner or a phone app. like Wal-Mart, than you scan the scanner/apps barcode at the self checkout and pay without unpacking.
There are several stores in my area that allow you to do that. You scan things with a scanner or app, bag them in your cart, and scan a barcode at checkout. The main thing is you need to remember to bring your own bags. The stores do randomly select you for verification, but it is rare.
Wal-Mart is one of the stores that allows you to scan/bag everything as you put it in your cart, although Wal-Mart requires a membership to use that feature. The membership comes with my credit card. Wal-Mart does sometimes check the mobile receipt, but I've never had them check everything or actually unpack things. When they do the rare check they seem to quickly look around for anything expensive and a few random things and see if they are on the mobile receipt.
One of the biggest/only issues I've seen people have with self checkout is when buying things like produce where you need to know their exact name and than weigh them.
That is why one of the stores near me does not allow you to go through self checkout with produce unless it has a barcode on the bag/item. They put scales and barcode/label sticker makers all around the produce end of the store. When getting produce you need to use one of those scales in the produce section to bag it, weigh it, and seal it with a barcode sticker. They also have everything in clearly labeled and demarcated areas with names, pictures. and a 3 digit number. So you don't need to scroll through pictures or type out the name of the thing. You just put the bag of produce down on it , hit 123 enter, and it gives you the the sticker with the name/type/weight and barcode. If you don't use one of those machines for the produce, you need to use a regular line.
Re: Dumb People? (Score:3)
Antisocial doesn't mean asocial. The former is when you deliberately cause harm to others, the latter is when you simply don't interact with them at all.
And anyone who is surprised by this (Score:2)
should be put into a home for their own safety.
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Store owners should have checked out for themselves the promises made by self-checkout.
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It has actually changed how I use the store, because now I can get in and out so much faster than before.
Hopefully since it's a membership place and they check receipts on the way out, theft and "accidents" are less common and it will continue to be offered there.
Works for me (Score:2)
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Same here. Self checkout is far faster for me. I also bag things grouped the way that works for me.
Self checkout also means I don't pay for plastic bags. The default is 0 and I select ok.
Not my job (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, it's really weird that people don't want to have to do more work in their spare time.
Give me a 10% discount on my bill and I'll self-checkout every time. Saving yourself labor by using mine isn't going to be a solid business model for you.
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I'll gladly do more work if I don't have to wait in line behind 3 other people with carts full of groceries. By using self-checkout, I end up with *more* spare time that I can use to relax later. Waiting while an old lady fumbles to pull out her paper checkbook is a an orders of magnitude worse experience than scanning my own items.
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Be that as it may, on the whole, I wait far less time now than I did 10 or 20 years ago.
Probably one reason for that is that in the USA, self checkouts almost always use a shared queue, while traditional registers almost never do. If some shopper gets stuck waiting for assistance at a self checkout, one of the other five stations will probably free up shortly anyway. If some item has a database error with a human cashier, everyone in that line waits while they get a lackey to run back and find the item for
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"wait in line behind 3 other people with carts full of groceries"
The "10 item or less" line was supposed to fix that.
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If they give you a 10% discount, they are losing out for sure. It costs around 5% of a product's cost to pay for manual checkout employee's wages.
Re:Not my job (Score:5, Informative)
I generally go for the self-checkouts when I can because I can usually get through the line in about 5 minutes and get through my purchase in a couple of minutes.
I understand some people don't want to do it - they're free to line up and have the cashier check them out. It's a free country and we have a choice.
For me, the self-checkouts represent a way to offer more checkouts - the store may have 6 checkout stands, but as everyone knows, only 2 are actually in use at any one time. So stores remove 2 stands and install 6 self-checkouts. The people who want to use the regular lines still have their two lines they can use. Those who don't mind, can use the additional 6 checkouts.
During some excessively peak periods, I've seen the regular checkout line wind its way through the store and everyone was estimating a 40 minute to an hour wait. I use the self-checkout, which had a tiny line, and 10 minutes later I was out of the store. Of course, that is unusual, usually the checkout line is about 5 minutes long, and generally the self-checkouts is instant.
My Walmart is similar - they have regular checkout stands that have a 10 minute wait, and the self-checkout line is always relatively short (the line leading up to it can be long, but it moves *fast*). It's usually quicker for me to use the self-checkouts than to use the regular lines.
Also, being the only person shopping, it's less hurried - a cashier gets impatient with you as you have to pack up your things and pay and all that and it's hard to not hold up the line if you don't have other family members to help out. At the self checkout, you don't have the pressure to go - there are so many other other checkouts that if you need a minute so you can collect yourself and put your wallet away and other stuff before packing up your shopping, you can.
Although, at one store, someone noticed I was struggling to get through it all (I was collecting myself and putting my credit card away and haven't had a chance to start packing my items), and asked if they could help me pack. I greatly took them up on their offer so I could get on my way faster.
But yeah, when you're by yourself, the regular cashier lineups can make you the bad guy for holding up the line (stores have long got rid of people to pack the stuff into bags, and cashiers have stopped helping you pack since the pandemic). At this point, do I need someone to simply run the items past the barcode scanner?
Maybe the stores you shop at still offer full service cashiers where you can put your stuff on the belt and at the other end it's packed and put on your cart. But where I am, the cashiers are basically scanning the items and doing the item lookups and I'm still having to pack it up myself at the other end. The stands that have two lanes so they can still check out the next customer while you pack up are nice, but can bottleneck still.
For me, I don't care about a discount. The truth is I can save a lot of time and hassle using the self-checkouts - the lineups go quicker, I don't feel guilty holding the machine longer while I pack my stuff, etc.
And as far as I can see, the stores I use self-checkout at are still extremely busy either way - so I doubt they're getting rid of those machines anytime soon, just they probably have a few less people who grumble about the wait to check out.
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I generally go for the self-checkouts when I can because I can usually get through the line in about 5 minutes and get through my purchase in a couple of minutes.
This is what I do as well - and for the same reason. Plus I try to shop frequently enough that the number of items I will be purchasing is under the limit for self-checkout (which is "around 15 items" at my local store - which is only 3-4 minutes from my house). Not to mention that I typically shop between 9-11pm when the store is not busy and the self-checkout kiosks are mostly free.
When I do need to make a larger shopping trip, more often than not I'll place an online order and take advantage of curbside
Yes, it has (Score:5, Insightful)
"It hasn't delivered anything that it promises," says Christopher Andrews
I prefer using self-checkout to regular checkout at most stores (or alternatives like the walmart app where you can scan as you shop). I don't have problems with the tech, I'm happy with the experience.
So, it has completely delivered what it promised for me, a shopping experience that I prefer and saves time.
Shoplifting and cost savings are concerns of the store, and they are valid concerns. Personally I would increase penalties (or being back penalties for the states that have effectively decriminalized shoplifting) rather than blame shoplifting on self-checkouts.
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Shoplifting has become far easier with self-checkout. For example, let's say I go to the deli and have some meat and cheese cut for me. I now have two small plastic bags. On my way up to self-checkout I fold over the plastic from the deli meat and put the bag behind the cheese. When I scan my order I only scan the cheese. Using my free hand, I scan my card, input my PIN, and take my receipt. The person who's watching everyone would have to be pretty sharp to see I only scanned the top item.
The same c
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Once again c the world is bigger than the US (Score:5, Informative)
Self checkout is massively successful and widely adopted in the UK, for example. And British supermarkets operate in the most competitive retail market in the world, and there is no way Tesco, Sainsbury’s et al would use self checkout if it didn’t drive the metrics the way they need to go. Not with the competition from Waitrose et al on the one hand and Lidl et al on the other.
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Self checkout is massively successful and widely adopted in the UK, for example.
Booth's just removed all self-checkout [businessinsider.com]. Walmart, Costco, and Kroger's are reevaluating [businessinsider.com] their self-checkout policies.
Not saying you're wrong, just that while it might seem to be successful now, if the cost of implementing and maintaining the systems along with the increase in theft don't work in the store's favor, there could be cutbacks to self-checkout.
Industry estimates suggest inventory losses can rise by 31% to 60% — or more — depending on the number of self-checkout stations used in a store.
Matt Kelley, a loss-prevention expert who worked in asset protection at Home Depot, told Insider last year that self-checkout forced retailers to make a trade-off between labor-cost savings and the increased expense of theft.
"Inherently, that means there's going to be less eyes on a transaction," Kelley, who's now with LiveView Technologies, added at the time. "And there's going to be more of an opportunity for the dishonest people to be dishonest."
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One of the regional supermarkets in the Northeast US (Wegmans) just ended their scan-as-you-go program about a year ago, outright telling customers it was due to shrink. And their version required you to go through their app (you would use your phone's camera to scan barcodes) and connect to the store's Wifi. So even with all of the personal data they were collecting (supermarket loyalty account, your device info, etc.) people were still stealing.
Irony was, when they shut down scan-as-you-go, they added a n
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Pedant (Score:2)
The 2nd world was the Soviet bloc.
Part-Time Cashier Job (Score:3)
That's why when self-checkers at places like Walmart prompt with a survey, I always tap 3 of 5 stars (unless the attendant helped me, then I give 5 for the attendant). I give 3 because that is average, and having to check myself out as a part-time job with my shopping is an average experience, not a 4- or 5-star experience.
Bad implementation (Score:5, Insightful)
"Put your items on this little scale, as you scan them. Do not remove any until you're done or the system will lock up. The weight of any bags will lock up the system, so you have to wait until you're done and then pack things up. Scanning alcohol will cause the system to lock up."
Great. Oh, and, "We're shutting half the stations down because of shoplifters and we couldn't watch you all closely enough and now you get to wait for you 'convenience' ".
The human cashiers are better.
Re: Bad implementation (Score:2)
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If it did that, then the assisted checkouts would work better too.
Though I suppose it wouldn't help fix the issue where the customer stands there for 10 minutes watching the checkout and than, only when asked, realizes that they might need to pay and then starts rummaging around for a card, and then spends 3 minutes putting the card away again.
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This is the true reason the system is failing. There are other stores I have been to where it works great. Five Below went entirely to self scan and it is really easy because you just come up, scan your items, bag them, and then go. There isn't a bagging area that weighs every single item and stops whenever something weighs an eight of an ounce to much. And the self checkout lanes with the belts are even worse. If the belt doesn't like your item, it sometimes sends it down but them at the end alerts and som
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Except at the cheaper grocery stores around me, they now have usually 1 cashier, a
Cashier person FTW (Score:2)
I prefer self-checkout (Score:4, Interesting)
I use it just about whenever it's available, and I very rarely have an issue (less than once per year I'd say). I had something double-scan last fall, took like 30 seconds to get the person over to show and clear it.
While there's still occasionally queuing, I don't have to pick one line and hope it doesn't get blocked by a slowpoke (because self-checkout usually has bank-style single-queue for multiple checkouts), I don't have to have idle chit-chat with a clerk or bagger, and I get to bag things my way (so don't throw a gallon of milk in a bag with bread or something dumb like that). It's also not like clerk check-out is 100% perfect, they'll occasionally double-scan something, run out of receipt paper, etc. I find that self-checkout is faster and smoother for me.
"Customers are still queueing" (Score:4, Informative)
And how!
Our stupid local Walmart has converted most of the original checkout lanes to self-serve; I counted 30 self-checkouts (two-thirds of those '10 items or less', the rest larger with more space to place your groceries), but they're nearly useless:
What makes it worse is when of those pesky Walmart employees then hover over your shoulder and wait until you're about to pay to start pushing their Walmart Mastercard on you.
when an cashier makes an scan error you don't get (Score:4, Interesting)
when an cashier makes an scan error you don't get jail. But then you make an scan error at the self check out walmart does not let you pay up no they call the cops and you make go to jail and or get an demand letter to pay an $200+ fine.
Ironically, the least of my worries (Score:2)
I'm faster at scanning than the idiots they hire, and faster at paying and all the rest. The real issue is the annoyances they put in the way in the interest of 'loss control'. It's more like 'customer control'. The more difficult they make the experience, the less likely I am to shop there.
The loud registers yelling out every time you scan something and whining about scales not being in balance because you moved something on the tray - no interest whatsoever in going to those places. Ironically Walmart
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They won't risk it with anyone who would fight back. Get that in front of a judge and watch how quick the case deflates. Prosecutors would more or less refuse to pursue the case, both because of the small dollar value and the expectation that they'd lose. Then the responsive lawsuit would be more of a pain in the ass than the loss was worth. This is why Walmart trains their people to not bother with small ticket loss. Deterrence without deterring customers from coming there is the name of the game.
Targ
Shock Surprise (Score:3)
Crazy, not only do I not want to pay higher prices for groceries because you want more money, I also don't want to work as your retail cashier or managing your bagging, payment systems or anything else.
It's like I've come to your location to be a customer, and not an employee. It's as if, the prices I'm pay includes, some sort of service. Like, someone ringing me up for the purchases I want to make.
Imagine, a new type a store, a store, that is a grocery store, where you pick out your items, walk to the front and pay for you goods after they ring them through. Not a self service warehouse.
What's next? If the shelves don't have what I want I can go to the back and stock the shelves for you so I can buy it?
I work in IT, how would those of you in management and execs when you have a problem, I just send you a document on how to fix it, and charge you more money as time goes on. Sounds good to me!
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Well why do you even want to walk around the store and take items from the shelves, or transport them home afterwards?
Why do you consider taking items off the shelves, dragging them around the store and then dragging them home to be your job, but somehow counting the items and taking payment should be provided by the store?
If you want the full service then that's already an option, you choose what you want and it arrives on your doorstep.
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Why do you consider taking items off the shelves, dragging them around the store and then dragging them home to be your job, but somehow counting the items and taking payment should be provided by the store?
Oh is that how we're doing this? You either keep doing more and more yourself or you must have full service that they deliver to your door?
Why stop there? Go to shelves? What, are you lazy? Why don't you drive down to the farmer who farms your goods? In fact, if you're not going to go full service and have it delivered to your door, why don't you farm it yourself?
You want beef? And you're just going to walk around a store and pick up pre-butchered meat? That's silly! Either get it delivered to your door ste
Bad design (Score:2)
Stores are doing it wrong (Score:2)
The stores have conflicting agendas with the self check-out which is why it is a mess. They want loss prevention, increased throughput, lower labor costs. The customer wants an easier experience. Retailers don't invest in giving the customer what they want, and keep things overly complex to reduce their own costs.
A simple example is the bagging area... which really does not exist. They put a scale, but it is a poor way to track items. They don't accommodate the fact that if you have to pay for bags then ma
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It works just fine (Score:2)
I was not trained (Score:2)
So the occasional error where something doesnt get scanned is to be expected.
Stop and Shop (Score:2)
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It works great here in Switzerland (Score:2)
It IS Preferable. For me. (Score:2)
I like being my own facilitator, and when I'm my own blocker, it's hard to be upset. My order of preference, in order:
- Self Checkout
- Female clerk, short line
- Female clerk, long line
- Male clerk - any line
*Women are better at knuckling down and getting the job done despite it being unfulfilling work. Men drag ass..*
( *statistically. I'm sure exceptions exist)
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*Women are better at knuckling down and getting the job done despite it being unfulfilling work
False. Statistically, woman tend to be in that kind of job for longer and become proficient at it. Most men, especially young guys are there as it's just a job and it's not something they're going to stay at. So they're often slower.
I have male cashiers at a grocery store out here and a few of them have been there for years, they're way faster than the woman there. Young woman who haven't been there long drag ass too.
Ultimately the sex is irrelevant, it's if they're a good worker + time doing the job where
Well, color me barcode (Score:2)
"University professor detached with reality". (Score:4, Funny)
The heck is this guy is smoking, the self checkout where I am is a success. Works fine, and people use it all the time.
I prefer it by far, as all the kids around have become unable to articulate a word anyway. They just mumble at you if you end up at a normal checkout.
Terrible Layout (Score:3)
At least where I am, the technology is not an issue, it is the layout. Over time the companies gave up on keeping all your items on a scale until checkout, and letting you pull off bags and put them in the cart as often as you want. This made things work very well.
The problem is they downsized all the self checkout to a tiny shelf for items to be scanned and two bags for putting items into. Works fine for a few items, but at grocery stores with a cart full of items, I have to keep pulling a few items out of the cart, bagging them and making room in the cart to free room for more bags. It was very efficient when there was plenty of counter space. Add to this the reduced number of cashiers and all the self scan machines are constantly in use.
Too Early! (Score:2)
I'm so NOT gonna use self checkout. Ever. (Score:2)
If the cashier somehow makes an error (and errors happen, it's humans at work, so errors will happen), it's an error, if I detect it I inform them and they can fix it, and if I don't detect it, well, the store either wins or loses some money. Either way, I don't care.
If I make a mistake scanning the item and don't notice it, I could be charged with theft. And in my position, even the accusation of a crime is enough that I may well be suspended or even lose my job.
No thank you, I'll wait in line. Not to ment
Slower Process (Score:2)
Self Checkout is great if you have a handful of items, but once you get more then it takes too long to be worth it.
When you're checking out a cart of groceries, you have one person taking items out of the cart, one person scanning items, and one person bagging them. Replacing 3 people with just one obviously isn't going to be as fast
It makes me nervous (Score:2)
Too many online lawyers are saying that self checkout is a bad thing and to never use it. They argue that you can be held liable for scanning errors, and the video taken automatically at every counter is accepted as fact in court and is difficult to dismiss. Despite the video often not including the customer's face in the shot.
Self checkout is something that saves a business money, lets them cut labor, and shift some of their shrink costs onto the consumer? No thanks, it isn't a good deal for me.
Consequence
Re: (Score:2)
Why would I mention Sears? Because in a different timeline they would have dominated online sales and brick and mortar. They could have been doing an online catalog with Prodigy, the popular online service they co-owned, but instead ignored the opportunity. Eventually when the Sears catalog go too expensive to print, they quit offering that. Making them into nothing better than Kmart or Target with worse customer service at J.C. Penny prices.
So, i too have given considerable thought to Sears, and how it seems obvious in retrospect that they could have been Amazon. I'd submit a few points that go beyond 'thick-headed managers who couldn't see the future'...
1. In fairness, I agree that the Sears Catalog, and the traditional order-by-mail model could have been kept as an online thing - browsing and searching, with the result being a printout of the order forms that then ultimately got mailed. That likely would have been a good move, but they disco
Hate them with a passsion. (Score:2)
Great in theory, but sucks in reality (Score:2)
Accusations and prison for mistakes (Score:2)
There have been multiple documented cases where people (with no prior stealing) have forgotten to scan something in the cart or on the bottom, and stores like Wal-Mart and Kroger have them arrested for stealing.
If you let them scan your items they can't accuse you of stealing, but anytime YOU use self-checkout, you are opening yourself up to making an honest mistake, being accused of stealing, being arrested for stealing, and an eventual prison sentence. If you don't believe me, search youtube for "self che
Must be behind the curve still here. (Score:2)
Of the two grocery stores closest to me, one only added self checkout this year, and the other expanded their self checkout to the point there are only a few regular register lanes now. So I guess they haven't gotten this memo yet?
From my experience, having the new self checkout at the first store is great. Getting out much faster. The other can be a bit more trouble because the one employee they have staffing the area tends to get a bit overrun with all the issues at one machine or another at times. Coupon
Self Checkout (Score:4, Insightful)
If I have three items or less, I'll use self-checkout. It's a nice replacement for the convenience of an express line. It's not a good replacement, at the moment, for the cart full of groceries with some items needing a manage to sign off on them.
I'd also like to point out that all the people bitching to high heaven about automation taking jobs probably shouldn't be bragging about using self-checkout to avoid having to deal with people. There's a little cognitive dissonance there I just can't quite wrap my head around. Probably my spectrum-self jumping around for attention.
Mess up go to jail... (Score:2)
I have two major problems with self-checkout.
1) I am not being paid to do the work of a cashier. I didn't sign an employment contract to work for free.
2) If I mess up, I don't get written up, I go to jail.
Re: Mess up go to jail... (Score:3)
Make Your Own UPC Stickers (Score:2)
Loss prevention making it go backwards (Score:2)
So I shop at a Wegman's near me - and for a while they had an app - you scan and bag your stuff as you shop, and just have to pay when you hit the register.
They killed it due to Loss Prevention (aka people stealing stuff) issues. Same reason they have made self checkout harder - weighing every item now as you bag it.
The zero trust need/mentality that drives means it's not reaching its potential and going backwards. I never even saw them try doing random audits or something.
Depends... (Score:2)
Rumors of the death of self-checkout... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Everyone keeps talking like this is going to be reversed. Rumors of self-checkout's demise have been greatly exaggerated. They're only rolling it back in certain key markets and they're still rolling it out more in ALL THE REST. Sorry to say, labor fans (not really, I'm being facetious,) but this battle is over, and profits have won.
Perhaps, but it occurs to me that, in the highly competitive world of grocery retail, a way to differentiate your store is to have all human checkers. Or at least, more than the mega department store down the block.
Profits do win. But they have to realize that they're losing sales by insisting on self-checkout. Maybe not a lot. But maybe some, and maybe it's increasing.
Still more convenient then "traditional" checkout. (Score:3)
1. They break A LOT, the old Walmart I use to frequent always had at least two machines down, day, night, weekends, it didn't matter at least two self-checkouts were broken, not off or disabled, broken!
2. They enable stealing by accident. If you're stealing with intent then screw you, but if you're stealing by accident, because something doesn't scan, or you hear the scan sound next to you, and think your kiosk registered the item, or you key in the wrong item, then whose fault is that?
3. They're an accessibility nightmare on overdrive! Walmart use to have kiosks where the screen and debit pad could tilt, to allow people within a range from 121 cm — 213 cm to check out comfortably, now, if you're 180 cm or taller good luck!
I have vision and pain issues, and thanks to self-checkout only 1 lane of “traditional” checkout is usually open. This forces you to use self-checkout, but I can't change the screen or debit pad position at any store I go to, not just Walmart. This means I can't read the screen, and to pay I have to basically kneel, which as a person with pain issues, I can't always do. If you try to adjust the screen or debit pad, it can break off. At a Shoppers Drugmart I was trying to tilt the screen, and it snapped off the board securing it.
This leads into a related point about accessibility, how “normal” people are basically the new restricted class. I'm 184 cm tall (6'1” in yankee units).
4. They lead to false claims about stealing!
There was a manager at the Walmart I frequent who used to run up, accuse me of stealing, then close out the self-checkout I was on, and start ringing me up manually. This happened 5 or 6 times in a row, and then she demanded I remove myself from the store and never return. When I asked why, she said (to paraphrase): “You're stealing from us, every single time you check out we find stuff you're not scanning.”, I asked for proof, she laughed and said (to paraphrase): “You know you're guilty!”, so I said: “Prove it, I'll wait here until you call the police, and we can do this right now.”. Another associate came over and said: “Stop treating this guy like a criminal, you always run up and accuse him (me), but he never steals anything.”.
5. They take longer! Some stores have NO “traditional” checkouts staffed. When they have “traditional” checkouts, even at Xmas, 1 or 2 might be open, and 1/2 the self-checkouts are disabled.
6. This was mentioned, but they take more person power, and more equipment! I think the current balance at Walmart is 2 people for 4 checkouts, and both have handheld devices.
7. They misfire or lockup all the time, and then prompt with multiple screens asking you to double and triple check everything is accounted for.
Are they paying me? I'll try to scan everything, but it's not my job to double and triple check. Since the screens can't move, and I have vision problems, I can't read what I've scanned, so I try to hear the beep, but as stated earlier, what if I mishear it?
What have we honestly gained from them? What has any store gained from them? Do they save cost or person power?
True thing (Score:2)
I used to be a grocery checker, so in most cases I'm ok with doing the work myself. The problem enters when I need the one clerk on duty for the four rows of kiosks to do something that requires an authority I do not have, like verifying ID for alcohol. There have been times when I got tired of waiting (10 or 15 minutes) abandoned the kiosk, and switched to a line with a live checker. And yes, I realize I'm leaving a kiosk in an unworking state, but what other choice is there?
There are stores where I don
Wegmans - App based checkout ruled (Score:2)
On the other hand, Wegmans for a while allowed you to scan items using the Wegmans Scan app
Says who? (Score:3)
Maybe this guy lives in idiot town where people don't understand how to scan a barcode and select the "credit card" payment option, but where I live in Michigan, the system works just fine.