Silly fluff piece.
Self-check out is there by customer demand. People suck to interact with, even underpaid, underappreciated people who are being asked to stand all day and deal with shitty customers.
Shareholders were promised other savings on pure speculation, and didn’t get it.
Yes, CEOs and shareholders, you get to pay for the machine, then pay someone to maintain it, and pay someone to watch it, and pay someone to help me when I can’t work it.
In return, you get one more day of staying in business.
Suck it up, buttercup. Self checkout is here to stay.
I’ve seen several of these articles over the past few months. Someone is pushing hard to make self checkout seem bad. If it wasn’t for self checkout I’d absolutely hate the grocery store. Lines fucking suck. Self checkout is a more efficient line because it usually feeds many machines, rather than being 1-1. Not only that but I can do self checkout in about half the time it takes any normal cashier to check me out. I know exactly the stuff I picked up, exactly the way I want it in bags, and exactly the order I need to do things in.
But you get lines with self checkout. Longer often because customers are slower than clerks.
But statistically, there will still be a shorter average wait. If there’s a slow customer on one machine, the line only slows slightly as the other five machines are still moving along as usual. And people tend to use the self-checkout when they have fewer items (generally), which means less wait per person.
Even if you have lots of slow customers, the wait will generally not be any longer. If the wait is longer than the staffed checkout, some people will move over and the line self-regulates. And even if it doesn’t, there are still lots of slow/chatty checkout staff (at least where I live), so I don’t think they’re any faster.
Unless you go to Aldi. Those people mean business.
Last time I was at a store there wasn’t even a staffed checkout. Unsure what they do if someone needs one.
In my case they end up paying several employees to put the stuff back on the shelf from the cart I left behind and probably throw out some meat/frozen products.
These are just my personal observations, but I hardly ever see staffed checkout without a line. I hardly ever see self checkout with a line.
That may be the case, but how often before self checkout became available did you go to the store and of the 15 check out lanes there were maybe one or two open.
That’s the massive difference. With self checkout there will be as many as 12 machines running simultaneously which means that everybody gets out of there so much faster
you get shorter lines with self-checkout. 2 cashiers can checkout 2 people at a time, while 2 self-checkout attendants can oversee a dozen checkout stations
It’s not an all or nothing proposition. Self checkout has it’s place and I prefer it if I’ve got an armload of stuff and I want to get out quick. I refused to go through a self checkout if I’ve got a grocery cart full of stuff. I have walked out of the store leaving a cart full of $400 worth of groceries due to them having no manned checkout stations before and I will do it again in the same situation.
Maybe you can take a peek at the checkout situation before you fill up your cart
I don’t mind self checkout. I like that it’s usually one line that feeds into all the machines instead of one line per machine.
I’m really not a fan of groceries that have one line per register. I don’t want to eyeball 10 registers and try to figure out which one is faster. I don’t want to be stuck behind the guy arguing over the price. Just have one line that feeds into all the registers. Trader Joe’s does it and it’s fine. The self checkouts do it and it’s fine.
I think some people see one big line going into many registers and think it’s much slower than many small lines. Those people probably think the tall glass has more water in it, too.
Just have one line that feeds into all the registers. Trader Joe’s does it and it’s fine. The self checkouts do it and it’s fine.
Agree
if self checkout wasn’t shit and required a balance just to prove that i’m not gonna rob or any justification i could totally use
Self check out isn’t going anywhere.
bad article written by inept radlib PMC karen. this reads like it could have been written by any short-fused, airheaded american who yells at the self-checkout attendant bc they dont understand technology. they blame the machine or the employees for something 90%+ of the customers are able to figure out. this vocal minority of abusive customers should be shot and their small businesses should be redistributed to their employees who also suffer their entitled tantrums
the real reason this article was written is this line:
retailers utilising self-checkout technology have loss rates more than twice the industry average
its easier to steal when using these machines. and even tho retailers are probably saving money by hiring less employees despite increased shrinkage, they hate that people are getting stuff for free. they hate that app slaves and other downtrodden workers can get their ketchup for free instead of working 15 minutes to be able to afford sugared tomato paste.
these machines are easy to use. nobody but the most inept (who are also wealthy and have a sociopathic sense of entitlement) complain abt this. and dont try to claim its harder for ppl with disabilities, bc its not. its easier for ppl w disabilities bc there are less ppl in the cashier lines
I love self checkout. The fewer people I have to interact with, the better. I only wish the landing areas were larger so I could use them with a full cart.
If we’re doing the work of checking things out we should get a discount for the purchases
Or just enjoy the faster check out process
It’s not faster. I don’t know the numbers for every single vegetable I buy, and even if they’re on the sticker, looking at them and using the touchscreen is slow. When the clerk does it, they know all the numbers and it’s way faster.
I bet in 5 next years, self-checkout registers will be equipped with neural networks allowing them to recognize product standing on it based on camera input and weight, either allowing you to pick between items it thinks it is, or entering it manually. There is already technology allowing for that, it just needs time to be developed into it.
That’s a problem with the specific machines you have access to. Where I live, I just pick the vegetable/fruit/whatever by picture. I don’t have to put any number in, other than how many of that item I bought.
By picture? Dude you have to scroll through like 10 pages of produce where I live, and there’s organic/regular varieties for each, or regular broccoli vs fractal whatever broccoli vs broccolini etc etc etc. that takes even longer than putting in the number.
A professional cashier is faster because they know the codes. I’m happy to pay them for their skill and professionalism. It’s skilled labor and nobody will convince me otherwise.
