Do you like self-checkout?

[Jazzy]

Why or why not?

 

[Lamb]

I LOVE doing self-checkout!! Except at the grocery store because it takes too long. I like to bag my own groceries, so while the checkout person is scanning, I'll do the bagging and it goes so fast.

 

[tango]

I hate it. If I'm going to do someone's job for them I want to be paid for it.

For one or two items I'll consider it. If the machine starts acting up there's a good chance I'll just abandon whatever I had and buy it from somewhere else. If I'm expected to work with your systems they need to work or you lose my business.

Any business that switches entirely to self checkout loses every single piece of my business I can possible take elsewhere.

 

[Forgiven1]

I appreciate self-checkout.

 

[Albion]

No. There are too many problems with that system and its equipment. I have changed stores, in fact, because of it.

After spending a lot of time shopping, the last thing I need is to go through a dozen different procedures on a machine that's different from the same thing in another store and from the next one in another store after that.

Also, I don't use these machines often enough to be proficient with all the stages of the checkout that are necessary to complete the purchase.

In addition, there are often questions that need answers concerning discounts, coupons, and a lot more are possible, but whereas these are usually handled nicely by the human cashier, you get to turn on the "help me" light in the self-checkout and hope it won't take too long to get an employee to straighten things out. Then you usually are left to bag your own purchases.

The exception to the above would be when I have only three or four items (and none of them produce) at the same time as the couple of regular checkout lines in operation have long waits thanks to the store deliberately keeping 9/10 of their checkout aisles unmanned and unused in order to force people into the self-checkout arena.

 

[Lamb]

No. There are too many problems with that system and its equipment. I have changed stores, in fact, because of it.

After spending a lot of time shopping, the last thing I need is to go through a dozen different procedures on a machine that's different from the same thing in another store and from the next one in another store after that.

Also, I don't use these machines often enough to be proficient with all the stages of the checkout that are necessary to complete the purchase.

In addition, there are often questions that need answers concerning discounts, coupons, and a lot more are possible, but whereas these are usually handled nicely by the human cashier, you get to turn on the "help me" light in the self-checkout and hope it won't take too long to get an employee to straighten things out. Then you usually are left to bag your own purchases.

The exception to the above would be when I have only three or four items (and none of them produce) at the same time as the couple of regular checkout lines in operation have long waits thanks to the store deliberately keeping 9/10 of their checkout aisles unmanned and unused in order to force people into the self-checkout arena.

A lot of the machines I've been to are relatively the same. Plus, there's always a person around to assist and it goes quickly. The checkout people at WalMart are super slow, so it's faster to go through the self-checkout lanes instead. And I bag things the way I want them.

 

[Stephen]

I don't like them. I prefer a real person.
Also often when I did try them something went wrong and I had to wait for someone to come and sort it out.

 

[Castle Church]

Love it for a few things, hate it for a basket full. I have parked, walked into the store, and got back into my car with the same song still playing on the radio - not possible with a human checkout. Also, generally they can fit 4 self checkout lanes in the space taken up by one or two staffed lanes, so it is much more space efficient.

I have never experienced a failure in the equipment, the only time that I have had to wait was when buying wine or beer, but that would have happened at some staffed lanes (if the checkout person is too young) as well.

 

[Stravinsk]

I always go to a person for checkout at a grocery store, unless it is very busy. This isn't because I hate self-checkout, but because I want to remind the vendor that people are important in their business. It gives someone a job that might otherwise not exist with automation. It helps stem the tide of AI automation that I am against.

 

[Stephen]

I have never experienced a failure in the equipment, the only time that I have had to wait was when buying wine or beer, but that would have happened at some staffed lanes (if the checkout person is too young) as well.

I wasn't thinking about equipment failure but how sometimes the system couldn't cope with some event.
For example (this was some years ago) I tried it out in a supermarket. You had to put your bag in the bagging area next to the scanner, which I did. But it kept complaining about an unidentified object in the bagging area. When the assistant finally came over she explained it it only worked if you used the stores own plastic bags!

 

[Albion]

I wasn't thinking about equipment failure but how sometimes the system couldn't cope with some event.
For example (this was some years ago) I tried it out in a supermarket. You had to put your bag in the bagging area next to the scanner, which I did. But it kept complaining about an unidentified object in the bagging area. When the assistant finally came over she explained it it only worked if you used the stores own plastic bags!

I tend to agree with you on that score. While I respect those who say that they never have any trouble or that it's solved pronto by an employee, it's always something! If you get the bags issue correct, the next time there will be a different problem.

By the way also, I was reading that stores are having a lot of thefts in the self-checkout process. Well, duh! And what do you think is the result? Surveillance cameras and built-in alarms, and/or the employees who come to you are trained to fool the buyer by going to the machine and pretending that it has quirks that the employee needs to remedy, all the while the actual intent is to check whether every item had been run through the bar code reader or not.

 

[tango]

One time I tried the self-checkout at Lowes and something went astray. The machine thought I'd put something in the bag without scanning it. The assistant was pretty quick to resolve it - I was the only customer using self-checkout and she clearly saw me scan the item before putting it in the bag. And it was pretty easy to verify too - there were two items scanned and two items in the bag.

Had it been the same situation with multiple bags and the need to empty them all to verify everything the chances are very high I'd have just abandoned the whole lot and left. That's a great thing with human checkout assistants - when I bought 47 electrical back boxes I could tell the assistant what I had, they could ring one and enter I had 47 of them, and dump the whole lot into a bag. With self-checkout you can't even scan one 47 times because unless you put one in the bag with each scan it registers a problem.

It always makes me laugh when you see a store desperately trying to introduce self-checkout, with the result that one member of staff is permanently tied to the machine, that frequently fails, showing customers who really don't want to use it how to use it. It would be quicker to just put someone on the till and do it the old fashioned way and wouldn't annoy customers as much.

 

[Stephen]

I tend to agree with you on that score. While I respect those who say that they never have any trouble or that it's solved pronto by an employee, it's always something! If you get the bags issue correct, the next time there will be a different problem.

By the way also, I was reading that stores are having a lot of thefts in the self-checkout process. Well, duh! And what do you think is the result? Surveillance cameras and built-in alarms, and/or the employees who come to you are trained to fool the buyer by going to the machine and pretending that it has quirks that the employee needs to remedy, all the while the actual intent is to check whether every item had been run through the bar code reader or not.

Yes, I have read about stealing. Reportedly some stores have started checking peoples bags as they leave (presumably a random sample).

 

[tango]

Yes, I have read about stealing. Reportedly some stores have started checking peoples bags as they leave (presumably a random sample).

That won't go down well.

You can either check me out, or trust me to check myself out. I have no interest in proving to someone that I did their job correctly. I can't imagine I'm the only one who would find it unacceptable.

 

[Jazzy]

Can’t stand it. Bill Burr had a perfect bit on this. Basically saying when did I get a job at the supermarket?

The self check out lanes work okay if I have like 1 or 2 things. Other then that; they are slower, lines take longer, almost always some issue I have to wait for someone to come and override.

I never go to self checkout if I can help it.

 

[Castle Church]

I wasn't thinking about equipment failure but how sometimes the system couldn't cope with some event.
For example (this was some years ago) I tried it out in a supermarket. You had to put your bag in the bagging area next to the scanner, which I did. But it kept complaining about an unidentified object in the bagging area. When the assistant finally came over she explained it it only worked if you used the stores own plastic bags!

Yeah, the bag thing used to be a real problem. I have not experienced it in the last year, however. I use the self checkout at the local grocery pretty frequently and the system there has never had that problem, they installed it around a year or so ago.

 

[Castle Church]

Yes, I have read about stealing. Reportedly some stores have started checking peoples bags as they leave (presumably a random sample).

Yeah, Walmart checks some bags here, but it seems random to also include people that check out with a employee and not just self checkout. The grocery store has never checked, although they have one employee there for help and to watch over the 4 units at all times.

Most of the new self checkout have cameras in the actual wood/millwork of the unit and above the scanning area to keep watch.

 

[Lamb]

Yeah, Walmart checks some bags here, but it seems random to also include people that check out with a employee and not just self checkout. The grocery store has never checked, although they have one employee there for help and to watch over the 4 units at all times.

Most of the new self checkout have cameras in the actual wood/millwork of the unit and above the scanning area to keep watch.

My WalMart has never checked my bags. I think those people are just greeters at the door and don't want to do anything else! Except during Covid. They were more stringent about people wearing masks than anything else (groan).

The cameras at the places I go to are very good too.

 

[tango]

My WalMart has never checked my bags. I think those people are just greeters at the door and don't want to do anything else! Except during Covid. They were more stringent about people wearing masks than anything else (groan).

The cameras at the places I go to are very good too.

A question regarding the cameras is what else they capture and what is done with the footage? If they capture enough detail to identify a shopper and the items they are (hopefully) scanning, can they also capture the number on your credit card when you go to pay?

 

[Castle Church]

A question regarding the cameras is what else they capture and what is done with the footage? If they capture enough detail to identify a shopper and the items they are (hopefully) scanning, can they also capture the number on your credit card when you go to pay?

No, they don't capture that information nor store it, it would violate PCI data standards and the stores would be in major hot water with the credit card companies. Capturing an image of a shopper is what the above cameras are used for, but the resolution is not anywhere near good enough to capture a credit card number. The cameras in the scanning bed (if they are present) don't point at the payment part of the system, so they would not capture that data either, and honestly the resolution of those is not good enough to capture a credit card number either - it's just not their purpose.

My company helps install these things.