Didn’t realize self checkouts were such a divisive topic, like wtf I’ll take that any day of the week over standing in line behind people who have seemingly never been to a supermarket before and their shit is still standing there all over the place while the cashier is already scanning my products. I get that it keeps someone employed but I think the answer to that is better welfare, not sticking to the old ways just so someone gets to do menial shit for a living.
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 have a smart cart at my local grocery store that adds the products to my account. I just pass through payment, no need for scanning anymore. Love it.
The cart alsof weighs my products so I only have to scan one barcode. It multiplies by itself.
Same in Australia regarding doubling down. They’re giving trolleys with an ipad thing on them you scan everything with, and increasing the exit area security so you cannot leave without the staff opening it if you didn’t buy anything, and AI based cameras all over the store and gates that judge whether it should open for you after buying things.
It’s a mix of awesome and horrible.
This is why I don’t shop in stores anymore , I have to do all the work and be treated like a crim. I boycott any place with self checkout and prefer the aldi even though it’s slow with very few registers open.
Have they tried adding AI? 3D printing? Quantum computing? Space based solar power?
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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That’s an interesting take you have. I personally find there needs to be more interaction in self checkouts as they often error meaning you need to wave down / seek out someone to help.
In the register I say “G’day” "ill pack my own " (take my own bags), and “on the card thanks” . Pretty smooth process , plus it helps keep someone employed and not me working for my own groceries I’m paying for.
I feel like if you have it often your store has particularly bad machines or you’re accidentally doing something wrong. Granted there’s no tutorial and they have a lot of things that can trip them up, but I’m a daily shopper, sometimes twice daily because it’s in close walking distance to me, and I have to have someone come over maybe once a month, and even then it’ll usually be for approving something like a gift card or knife rather than an error.
Yeah every time in Tesco it takes longer for me as the badly calibrated scale and cheap crappy scanner fall down. I hate the faux-cheery voice that blares at you while it doesn’t work too, you used to be able to mute it but no we all have to listen to that patronising fucker now.
Until the machine needs to verify an alcohol purchase…
I’m on the same boat.
Another upaode is that usually all retirees come out of their houses to shop at 11 - 14:00 to shop groceries (same time as employees are getting out for lunch).
The self checkouts are smaller and usally only used by the ones that have small number of items.
And the seniors usually tend to go to the cashiers anyway.
They can jumble with their change while I do not have to wait two eons to finally get out of the shop and back to the office.deleted by creator
Seriously: if they take away our self checkout, we riot.
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 supermarket I went to in the 90s boasted in their adverts about how if there were more than 3 people waiting in a lane they’d open another till. That’s how bad the general standard was.
It’s only faster because they took space and staff from actual checkouts.
Good. I fucking hate them.
Do the work yourself and then wait ages while the one checkout assistant deals with everyone else’s issues because your checkout is happily accusing you of theft. Bullshit cost saving at the expense of the customer experience.
Don’t even get me started on Asda’s dystopian AI security gates. Want to take your young child for a piss? ACCESS DENIED! Try to open the gate manually? ALARM! ALARM! SOMEONE IS TRYING TO ASSERT THEIR HUMANITY!
To be clear, it doesn’t actually save them very much money. Like, it may seem like they’re reducing the number of employees, but, most of those employees spend most of their time doing other stuff like restocking shelves, all they’ve really done is reduced the number that hop on to registers when there is a rush.
Like… it’s actually more expensive for them in a lot of ways.
Immagine how much they wanted it to work…
They are slower than regular checkout lines and only benefit the stores. When things go wrong at a self checkout you inevitably sit there for a long time waiting for someone from the store to get around to helping. If theres a problem checking out, the blame for it falls on you. I despise all of them.
Looks like the “Voice of Retail Industry” survey the article cites only surveyed US-american stores.
The problem with self checkout is when things gone wrong, either the customer will cancel their transaction, ignore the problem and deny accountability , brute forcing which breaking the rules , or search for the staff for solution. It just make the failure more prominent thus defeating the very solution that self checkout offer.
Ah so the genius executives behind these will be held accountable by shareholders and fired right? Right?
I prefer the mobile checkout, but Walmart paywalled that.
But I love my self-checkout discounts. It would suck if I had to start paying for everything in my cart again.
I’m waiting for them to close the stores to customers entirely and go to pick up or delivery only.
I know that would kill impulse buying, but I think they might make it up by not needing to police the isles, and no theft.
Service Merchandise did tag pulls and pick up at the register for everything back in the 70s and 80s. That might come back.
Nah, it would be more expensive since they would need to hire more pickers. also would probably loose customers who wouldn’t want someone else picking out their groceries.
that would kill impulse buying
Clearly you don’t work in digital advertising
Holy shit, Service Merchandise, that’s a name I haven’t heard in a very long time. You just reminded me of taking the tag to the counter. Didn’t circuit city also do tag pulls?
Toys R Us for video games as well.
Canadian Tire isn’t far off from this. They’ve put so much effort into making their stores as unpleasant and time wasting of an experience as they can. I pretty much only go there when I need something I can only get there, now.
