Technology

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.

The self check out was supposed to decrease the amount of cashiers the store would have to use so they wouldn't have to pay so many cashiers.

They're a detriment to society.

We have those by me still, I love them. Except when they check the weight of every item so you can't have one person scan and another bagging.

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

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

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

My troubles with self checkout usualy has to do with the confirmation weight scale which slows things down tremendously. Sam's self check out featured a lack of scale (Sam's also had a scan-as-you-go app my wife loved).

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

I don't see the benefit for me.

They save money and keep it and fire the workers........

In Brazil I only see more and more places adopting it, does not seem a failure

I know a few large supermarkets in yhe us that have this that have disabled the weighing and improved over time. Also having one employee for 8 machines doesn't sound like a failure

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

Honestly we all carry a barcode scanner in our pockets. If I were running a grocery store, I’d be investing in scan and go instead of self checkout

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

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

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

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

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

i only check myself out whenever i shoplift

All these things are just designed to make the shop do less work, and for you to do their job for them for free.

I'm sure in the future we won't interact with people at all, because that's whats cheapest for the company. We will be true "consumers", like animals being fed by machines.

Well, at least if capitalism continues.

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

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