Technology

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

Over here stores are increasing their prices because people steal at the self-checkout. So they reduce costs by not having cashiers but then increase prices due to theft. Quite some logic.

You'd assume it's an easy balance to make: if (saving on cashiers - loss due to theft) > 0 implement self-checkout else don't implement.

I hate self checkout. I don’t go shopping just to work. Fuck that, check me out and bag my shit.

At my grocery store I can't collect or use points, discounts don't register properly so you need help and no carts are allowed at self checkout. I would rather wait in line.

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.

I was cool with using them (less social interaction, scan and bag at my own pace), but over time I'm getting lazier and lazier

It doesn't work everywhere. Smaller store like CvS? Sure

Being watched like a hawk in Walmart? Not a comfortable experience and would rather work with someone face to face

In a new stadium in my city you swipe your credit card, pick up food or drink in a little monitored area and walk out with your items. It is an interesting idea but it is also creepy. That's probably what stores will be like eventually -- at least the ones with the resources to implement something that expensive and complex.

As far as self checkout, I don't mind it for small orders or when it is more convenient for me at the grocery store. Unexpected item in bagging is a bad consumer experience, and buying produce/alcohol is also a pain. If I feel like I am going to run into trouble I head for the traditional lines.

I really despise the ones at big box hardware stores that show a video of you checking out. I'm not stealing, don't judge me or make me judge myself with that unflattering angle.

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.

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.