Im surprised how many people here hate self checkout. I am much faster at scanning and bagging my own items than most cashiers. I almost never get errors, and if I do I know what to do to clear them typically. I always look at self check first, and then human lines second. Plus, none if that “how’s your day? Want to apply for a store credit card?” talk from a bored looking cashier.
It is not the self checkout that bothers me but the occasional check after you are done scanning.
I’m surprised too, I live by self checkout. I use reusable bags, some of which are insulated ones, and pack things irregularly compared to the store. I’m careful so I’ve never had a problem with things breaking. I don’t like telling people what to do, especially strangers. Cashiers have repeatedly misunderstood what bags are which, use extra paper or plastic to pack my stuff, and sometimes have questions on what should be in the bag or what can be packed where. I avoid all of that just silently packing myself. I don’t blame the cashiers, I just do thinks in my preferred way and won’t be the asshole who “directs” them or something. I will switch stores before ditching self checkout edit: Should note my grocery runs are probably much smaller than average, which helps. I’m not using self checkout for a family of 4 or something
Hell yeah. They can’t take it away from me now. Idgaf what Walmart does, I haven’t given them a red cent in years. I’m all about WINCO & COSTCO. If you don’t have winco where you are, I’m sorry for you
Self Checkout hat serious drawbacks:
- the cashiers are not free to be transferred to more important work, they are fired. this is objectively bad.
- regardless if you are scanning the items when putting them into the cart, or you are scanning them at the checkout point - you are now doing the cashiers work, but you are not compensated for your work. the price you pay is the same. you are now an employee, but without being paid. this is objectively bad.
- when a scanning error happens, you are now responsible for it. the industry word for it is theft. you are a thief if your scan isn’t correct. the responsibility shifted away from a worker with (depending on locale, forget the US for a moment) insurance and workers rights, allowing for smaller mistakes. But the retailer isn’t picking up the responsibility, it just heaps it on the customer. As they did with the work. this is objectively bad.
- depending on the efficiency of this system, the retailer chains (not stores, the chains) are increasing profits. the workers and the customers don’t see a dime of that. this is objectively bad.
A store near me in germany has recently switched a number of rows to self checkout. Absolute chaos, nobody wants it, long rows on the few chashier points. I saw it exactly one time, told me what i think, they tried to sell me the convenience, i told them what i wrote here plus that they are located in a commercial area, not a mixed housing/commerce area. Nobody goes there to buy a handful of stuff. People came for “Hamsterkäufe” (german colloquial, hamstering essentially: buying large quantities for reserve), self checkout is not convenient. I will not visit there anymore, there are other stores who don’t do this crap.
I wonder if anyone has become injured during self checkout and attempted a workers compensation claim
I hear you, but scanning in store means I save a lot of time. Queues at UK supermarkets are really long. It also allows me to keep an eye on how much I’m spending and spot it when discounts are correctly registered. Unlike what you’re describing about how self scans are received there, they have been accepted a long time ago here.
I hope they keep them at least in parallel. I’m so much faster usually when doing self-checkout, because I often only buy a few items and can just skip the line.
Self check-out should be for maximum 5-5 products, no more. They should be Fast lane only.
I do enjoy self checkout, but yesterday one demanded that I put my bag of rice back in my cart before I could continue. Something about heavy or fragile items. The problem was that I didn’t have a cart, but I did have several more items.
I’m pretty sure delivery made it obsolete?
Curbside delivery is awesome, in many situations.
And they can afford to leave a few checkers in there for the situations that call for in-store shopping. That’s where self checkout would fail anyway.
If you buy a lot of fresh groceries, curbside is worthless. You either get a cartful of compost or stuff you can’t eat until next week
I used to think this, and maybe I’ve been lucky, but I get fresh produce whenever I try.
I would never get a huge produce order curbside, but I use it for the odd thing here and there.
Usually fresh veggies and fruit are about 90% of my cart. So I haven’t even tried curbside in years. I love how it is a useful job, though. Hopefully they are paying a living wage.
It’s efficient for the grocery store, too. There’s no chance of shoplifting, less foot traffic they have to deal with and clean up after, less dealing with problematic customers.
Honestly, I could see future grocery stores being 90% curbside, with only a walk-through section for produce. This would save tons of space and work.
I’ve used delivery on a few items when it was free, and felt a little guilty about it. Once, I added some coffee to my online order that was only available to ship, just to get it over the $35 free delivery, because it’s something I buy every week, anyway. They fucking delivered just the coffee, free or not, such a waste. But, I won’t pay a premium for it. I’m not rich.
“things have gotten so bad that it has made many people need to steal, so we can’t keep self checkouts open”
They’d rather change their operations than lobby for the poorest to have enough money and not have to steal.
There’s a Walmart near me that I just never bother going to because like 80% of the non-grocery items are locked behind plexiglass. There are 4 self-checkouts and 2 employees assigned to just stand there watching people to make sure they don’t shoplift. They’ve made shopping so hostile that it barely makes sense for it to be a department store at all. Might as well just go back to the old model of telling the employee what you want and then they go get it for you.
I wanted to buy some razor blades and the poor teenager at the Walmart just couldn’t get his magnet key thingie to unlock the plastic lock on the hanger holding the packages. I waited patiently for like 5 minutes and was like look I’ll fix it. I pulled down on the packaging, tore the little cardboard piece and freed the blades in like one try.
I then still paid $40 for them like a good citizen and ignored how much I was getting ripped off.
All while being watched by a million store cameras, three people at the self checkout, the camera reflecting my own image in the self checkout machine, the greeter giving me a dirty look and the detectors at the door.
Its more absurd than airport security how pointless it all is.
Which is basically what they are doing with grocery pickup.
Never thought of it that way… But yes.
Pretty sure the self checkout isn’t where most people steal, why not just walk out the door with whatever you want?
Well, it’s just a simple fact When I want something, I don’t want to pay for it I walk right through the door
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Shitty thing is they won’t hire more cashiers when they shut these off.
Guessing they’ll also raise prices when they simply return to previously normal operations.
My local grocery had self checkout for about a year before ripping them out and putting normal ones back in. They don’t seem to be understaffed.
Not all stores are awful on all fronts. They don’t have chairs for their checkout people yet though.
Hmm I like self checkout because I don’t like dealing with retail people. I’m introverted by nature.
Just get me the F in and get me the F out. Charge the correct price and give me correct change. Machines do this SO WELL.
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Seriously: if they take away our self checkout, we riot.
I’m on the same boat.
They could have saved so much time and money by just paying the cashiers a living wage.
If you can’t develop the agency to acquire employment at a living wage or - here’s a fucky idear for ya - start your own (successful) business, then you deserve to succumb to entrapy, imo
Empathy, it is really becoming scarcer with each passing day.
They aren’t bringing back cashiers, they’ll have one cashier with a massive line as a deterrent to get you to download the scan as you go app on your phone so you supply the bar code scanner at your expense and they track your phone and change the digital price tags based on your Palantir profile as you walk up.
Or the other option is Walmart has started remodeling their stores into primarily warehouses. The main entrance is badged only for picker workers to hand orders to Doordash or put app orders in people’s cars. The legacy experience entrance will be a temporary secondary option until they get enough robots to make the building fully lights out and automated. Shambling automatons will emerge from the black hell portal in the surface of The Edifice with your tampons and then run facial recognition on you and sniff your car for drug and explosive residue.
You’re just silly.
Your car itself will sniff you for drugs and explosives every time you start it and every 30 seconds thereafter, not the Walmart robot.
Questionable savings? I have saved A LOT of time at self checkouts, especially when just buying a few things. It’s way faster than standing in line behind people seemingly doing their yearly shopping.
The time saving is hugely illusory. You really should take your watch and measure. What costs most time at a staffed register checkout is mostly the payment. The staff scans much faster than you.
This seems very US coded. In euro they’re doubling down even with self scan on the phone or with a tool they give me. I scan them as I put them in my cart and at checkout I just pay and leave. It’s awesome.
I’m learning a lot in this thread about European dystopia. I guess if y’all like it to each their own. Over here in the US, we’ve had enough.
This feels surreal, self checkout is insanely normal here and theres no scales and or other sensors besides normal cctv. Switzerland, for context.
I like it because I don’t have to talk to people. It is otherwise an inferior experience.
