I have no sympathy for companies losing money due to theft at self-checkout, it’s a cost saving measure that’s bitten them in the ass.
They also suck for alcohol, or anything that doesn’t have a barcode, as mentioned in the story. I never buy either of those products at self checkout.
Self checkout is useful when you only want a few things. Much faster.
If you’re getting a full trolley, you’d need a barcode scanner to take round the shop with you. If you don’t have that, it’s faster to go with a manned checkout.
A grocery store near me has the self-scan as part of the app. It’s pretty good, but honestly it’s not that bad to do a full trip through the self checkout.
Wegmans tried that at first but failed and removed it. No one wants to scan products with their phone while shopping.
You say that, but Walmart and SamsClub’s Scan and Go is extremely well received because it allows people to scan shit as they put it in their cart and pay on their phone.
I did when Smith’s had it. I found a lot of coupons that way.
I do. It’s kinda new here in Germany, but I think it’s working pretty well.
Oh dang, I love it. It’s awesome to be able to see what my total cost is as I shop. I definitely buy less when I do it that way, and added bonuses include everything already being bagged the way I like it and not having to talk to people (at least usually). I did it all the time during the pandemic.
The only thing is that I wish I had something other than the phone for the scanning. Using the phone camera to scan isn’t anywhere near as fast/good as using a scanning gun.
But my guess is that it got removed because too many people were “scanning” and just taking off. It’s pretty easy to fool self check, but enough people will avoid trying because there are people there, cameras, etc. Pretty hard to get that coverage on the whole store.
Maybe, and that’s probably the reason they cite, but honestly I bet the real reason is that people were buying less and so they wanted to make it as difficult as they could without removing the option entirely.
Interesting! Alcohol doesn’t have a barcode there?
Here it does. But the self checkout lamp will go to red instantly and a clerk has to come to approve your age.
But the self checkout lamp will go to red instantly and a clerk has to come to approve your age.
Which negates the benefit of self service.
Just scan the alcohol first, scan the rest next. As long as it’s not the only thing you’re getting, it’s almost def faster. Even if it is the only thing you’re getting, the time for someone to do an age check compared to standing behind 2 carts/trollies is nothing. Self check for me almost every time is way, way faster. Exception being if I have a ton of groceries (I can scan as fast as teh employees, but the self check shit has more guardrails that slow shit down) or a ton of produce (employees at a lot of stores are required to memorize the PLU, I am not.)
It has a barcode, but most places haven’t figured out the “show ID to a human” flow yet.
Ha, I once got booted from a Safeway in my early 20’s when I was trying to buy beers and the lady who was supposed to be verifying ID was shooting the shit w her coworker. She clearly saw the thing flashing, but wanted to finish her story. I tried waving at her to no avail. She had a very I’ll get to you in a minute vibe, but she clearly wasn’t talking about work stuff. I had worked at a Lucky previously and they used the same self checkout system system. I knew I just needed to type my bday on their terminal to get it to sell, so I went n did it lol. Hey, self check out amirite? I figured fuck it, I’ll do that part too I guess.
She finally noticed like right before I paid and took my beers and wouldn’t let me pay. I was like here’s my ID, I’ve been waiting like 5 minutes to show you. Manager showed up told me to leave, and never come back, it was a whole thing. Granted, I was 100% being a young , dumb prick, but I was annoyed with the lady not doing her job, and wasting my time. Having been on the other side of that terminal before, knowing how easy it was to do, I was super annoyed that she wasn’t even acknowledging me trying to get her attention. Fun times lol.
I knew I just needed to type my bday on their terminal to get it to sell, so I went n did it lol.
EWW
deleted by creator
It’s probably my inexperience with self-checkout speaking, but I would never enter PII into a corporate terminal for the sake of a six-pack.
deleted by creator
In my day it was a sight of your ID alone, and only on the cashier’s discretion. Which is still the norm today at many retailers. I will never use any POS system that requires ID scanning/PII provision as a default.
I would have done the same.
I honestly only use self check out. I don’t buy a ton in a single shopping trip and I just find it easier to do it myself since I bring my own bulky bags that go on the side of my bike. A lot easier for me in general and sucks some places are getting rid of it.
After a few times I memorized where the bread or fruit (w/o barcode) I usually buy is in the menu and am almost equally fast as an employee would be. So it just took me some time to adjust personally.
The theft is a feature, not a bug in my eyes!
Alcohol isn’t so bad where I’m at, I just scan it first to give the worker some time to scan their badge and let me continue
That said, I really liked the opportunity to not have to socialize with someone
I bought beer last time I went through self checkout and of course it called some teenage girl over to check my ID; I’m pushing 60. I just said “No. I’m old enough to be your grandfather.” She was fine with that.
deleted by creator
Trying to tell the pears and their variants and potatoes and their variants apart is such a pain in the ass without a barcode. Especially since the example pic is usually quite different, and like 10px on a 480p greased up, airgapped touchscreen. I hate self checkout. The only time I use it is when the store is open late at night. Which, I actually do like. Having stores open till 1am or 3am can be extremely handy, especially if you have an office job during the day and do night classes.
The only reason for Costco to do this would be theft prevention or to make sure members are the only ones using their cards.
Walmarts’s self checkout is the only one in my area that doesn’t frustrate the hell out of me. I’ve stopped going to certain other stores simply because I don’t like their self checkout systems.
I like them because it means I don’t have to talk to people. Sadly they did this only to save on salaries so I guess that I’m ok with them going away since it will create jobs for people.
Prefer self checkout because no talking and I’m typically faster than most cashiers. Nothing sucks more than waiting 3 mins while a new cashier tries to figure out if you handed then a turnip or a rutabaga lmao.
1st world problems. Totally agree though, there are too many cashiers that need to go back to preschool
Or maybe they need to actually be trained and educated on things pertaining to their job by a corporation too busy sucking the very life from their bodies.
Half can’t do basic math, that isn’t corporates problem
Why do they need basic math? Everything is bar coded or find the item in the system.
deleted by creator
You get what you pay for. Minimum wage – minimum thought.
You really think the average person knows how to ring up produce better than the cashier? I’d much rather interact with a real person anyway, it makes it feel like you’re supporting an actual business and employees instead of a computer with food behind it.
Which cashier? I’ve seen some that are worse than me (i’ve only cashiered fast food which is different enough that I wouldn’t expect to be good), and some that are great.
A lesson for AI enthusiasts.
Back when I was doing a weekly shopping trip on my bike with panniers, I tried self-checkout once when the cashiers were busy. Never again. The tall bags just screwed with the sensors too much. Now I’m maybe a bit more inclined to use it because I moved to a house just a quick walk to the store. It can make sense to just dump all of the items on the weighing platform and put them in my backpack and reusable bags later.
O green peppers are 99 cents each but red and yellow are 1.29? That’s so weird all these peppers I’m buying are green.
Fuck you, I’m the cashier now.
Bill Burr: “what’re you gonna do? cut my hours?”
Also
Oh, something didnt scan and you walked out without paying for it?
Enjoy your broken spine as cops appear in full swat outfit and tackle you to the ground and beat you with clubs because you are shocked and arent immediately calm and compliant.
My husband had a nasty cold and the self scan he was using we later found out should have had an out of order sign on it. After missing the fact that it wasn’t dinging for every item because he couldn’t hear well, they pulled him and had him arrested. His total was off by $100 and he should’ve realized it, admittedly, but he just wanted to get home. We were able to get them to drop the charges because the self check out was malfunctioning but he’s still banned from Walmart.
and getting banned from walmart is more devastating than most people realize, cause in a lot of places walmart has run out the competition, so if you cant go to your walmart due to a mistake on THEIR part, that means you might have to drive an extra hour to some not-walmart place.
Its complete and utter bullshit.
I hope that store burns down with the manager that made that decision trapped inside.
Clearly a joke, but they will start a record for you till they can get you for a felony…
Start a felony charge for a loaf of bread?
give me a break. These companies cut corners every where they go. You think there stocking up on hard drives and algorithms to cut up and record people?
You sweet summer child…
Look up the target method. They can automatically connect your face/payment ID to items you haven’t scanned. They get you after you’ve racked up enough cumulative value that you haven’t paid for to count for a felony.
So no, they aren’t sticking you with a felony charge for a loaf of bread. They’re sticking you with a felony charge for enough loafs of bread to value a serious theft charge.
It’s not going to effect you if you only ever stole one loaf of bread. Waiting until you commit enough theft is the cutting corners part you’re talking about.
Facial profiles and items stolen require directories, centralized databases, hard drives, programming, knowing the items. Personal to sift through the data.
Companies think that’s cheaper than self check out?
You must not be an engineer.
It doesn’t have to do with what I think. That is what they do. Why don’t you put any amount of effort into verifying what I said instead of insulting me like you think I just made it up?
You don’t think that loss prevention would be doing that stuff regardless of whether they had employed cashiers at registers or not? Loss prevention has been around since long before self checkout lanes, doing the same things they’re doing now. They already pay those guys. Self checkout is still cheaper if they don’t also have to pay a dozen cashiers.
Also, you seem to be imagining a whole fbi crime scene setup in every store for a job that’s basically handled per location by 2 guys and a computer.
A “database” doesn’t have to be (and usually isn’t) centralized across stores. “Hard drives” can be a single multi-terabyte hdd in the age we’re in now. “Programming” is just out of the box software they teach their prevention guys to use. The facial recognition and knowing items part comes built into the self checkout machine.
You must not be an engineer either, because an engineer would understand that the cheaper option isn’t necessarily lower tech.
Again, take 10 minutes and learn how to utilize a search engine. It’s not something they want people to know, but it’s also not exactly a secret. Target pioneered the kind of loss prevention techniques big box stores use today.
This is what I found. It’s just an attic from somewhere, but it has lots of references.
Oh for sure, if I gotta guess I’m picking the one that’s best for me every time.
Self checkout wants my opinion I’ll give it :)
Yeah I’m not paid to use your stupid machine properly. I generally avoid self-checkout and never use it if I have a manually entered item. When there are no full service registers or only one, you know I’m going to be extra sloppy with the self-checkout.
I’m against what Walmart especially has done by remodelling stores and removing their checkout lanes and replacing them all with self checkout.
but I have nothing against a store having a couple self checkout lanes.
Cause they are nice to have if you only bought one or two things, and don’t want to wait behind a full cart… or if you are buying something you are personally embarrassed about and don’t want to have a cashier see.
Self Checkout should be a very minor option valuable to a select few.
not the primary means of checking out for everyone.
I generally avoid self-checkout and never use it if I have a manually entered item.
At a certain point you’re just denying yourself the savings. Go get that informal employee discount!
unexpected item in the bagging area. place items in the bagging area. unexpected item in the bagging area.
I hate self-service checkouts SO MUCH. Especially as my local supermarket has phased out ones that take cash. On the other hand it is cost-effective being able to put artisan cheese through as potatoes.
Several times, but not recently, Walmart self-checkout machines would reset after I scanned the first item, I dunno why. But I figured I did my part by scanning it, so I didn’t re-scan it, even though I knew it had reset. I could just play dumb, which isn’t hard for me, if anyone asked. No one ever asked, but they upgraded the software, and it stopped doing that.
The employees seem a bit happier as attendants than cashiers, so I guess that’s a good thing. I don’t know how many lost their jobs to the machines, though.
I’ll admit that I’m happier with self-checkout, because I almost never need to wait in line anymore.
I really hate this crap. Pay people to ring up and bag my groceries. Heaven knows you’re charging enough for them that you should be offering me this courtesy.
Different strokes for different folks; I much prefer to quickly check myself out rather than waiting in line for someone to check my stuff out for me while dragging me into small talk and packing my bags in the most illogical way conceivable.
Meanwhile, stores all but stop manning existing checkouts, forcing everyone to line up to check out their own stuff.
Shoutout to Kroger for consistently only having one manned checkout open or two max during the busiest times forcing everyone to the self checkout line unless you want to gamble with how long the folks with the overflowing shopping carts In line at the manned checkout will take
our walmart is the same way. one lane open. sometimes two, but that’s often a trainee.
yeeeeah. They’ll have to hire people to work the checkout lanes in that case… which means paying enough to compete with other employers who offer more. Case in point, here it’s like 12/hr here to work in a grocery, vs 16/hr at Amazon. But even if they do this, people will still shoplift. Self checkout didn’t create the problem, it rather treats everyone like a suspect.
The grocery I go to never has more than one staffed checkout lane at any time, typically a very long line of people too old, too stubborn, or with too many items to do it themselves. During the day it’s 8 or 16 self-checkout lanes (minus broke ones), and they close in the evening, so everyone is forced to use the slow staffed checkout.
Yes finally burn them all down let me grab my sledgehammer I’ll help
I love self-checkouts.
I also absolutely hate multi-line setups. There should be one line that feeds into all register. I don’t want to have to gamble on which register won’t get held up by something when I’m on my way out.
Preach
I hate self checkout generally, but if I can get one that just has a hand scanner and doesn’t force you to put everything into the bagging area, it’s about the fastest way to checkout there is
The easiest way to get self checkouts that are awesome and not time consuming is by moving out of the US at this point.
Or go to Sam’s Club… Their self checkout is pretty much the only one that didn’t make me feel like I was a suspected criminal and actually let me check out quickly.
Then they make me feel like a suspected criminal by re-scanning half my basket before I can leave, but I guess you win some and you lose some
I noticed that lol I was just at Sams a few days ago and only bought three items. The guy at the exit not only stared at my receipt for an oddly long time but scanned two of the three items to I guess verify? Is it that hard to read three things lol?
Yeah, I still prefer the overall experience from Costco. More crowded, I’ll only use the regular checkout, but even with long lines they get you out FAST. They also never adopted that stupid hand scanner at the door, because they actually treat their employees decently and trust them enough to be able to visually verify, and oh boy is that a lot faster than Sam’s method.
But Sam’s did nail the self checkout. I’ve not tried the app to scan as you go and pay automatically because I’m not interested in putting an app on my phone for every company I do business with
I agree honestly. People don’t know how to queue at sams lol
Yeah, there are some stores near me that don’t have a hand scanner, but at least don’t make you place items into the “bagged area” one by one. I can scan things and drop them into my bags/cart no problem. I really enjoy that experience.
It’s funny how divided a topic this is.
Could just be my area but the machines always fail in some way or another.
Give me 10%off if I am doing the job of an absentee cashier… Always cool seeing many checkouts all decked out in gear with noone there to run them. Ever.
OR, even better, use some decades old tech and spend a penny to put RFID tags on everything so I can just run my cart through and verify the list of stuff and click Yes, No, Maybe.
Somewhat related… is it just me or are liquor stores the best at this? I never even stop moving and I’m out. Then i go next door to the pet store to grab some animal chow and I stand in line for 10mins because just one register of 6 is staffed.
At least we can order everything online for the most part now.
I’ve never had a failure, but one chain near me is a bit annoying with its “place your item in the bagged area” setting… I’d rather just put it in my cart directly, especially when I’m running out of room.
I find it easier to sort my items the way I like and to verify prices immediately, rather than having to watch the cashier and look at the machine, then ask the cashier to stop and remove/question something that scanned wrong…
And I’m surprised at how often I’ve had cashiers punch in the wrong produce code to something that’s more expensive than my item. Have they stopped training cashiers in hopes that they’ll make up for the 4011 phenomenon? They can’t be doing it on purpose, but it’s just weird to me.
It’s always the bagging thing that fails for me. I’m not the smartest person in the world but I can scan an item and place it in the bagging area. It’s kinda out of my hands at that point. Be it calibration or incorrect data sometimes it won’t recognize and after a couple attempts locks and some underpaid person has to come roll their eyes at me and swipe a card to let it go through.
I’ve probably just been unlucky and gave up 10yrs ago on that.
No they don’t train cashiers beyond what button to press. Produce is interesting. It’s been a while (love curbside service) since I’ve been in a grocery store but ours has tags on produce you show to a scale and it weighs it and prints out a sticker with a barcode.
And I just realized how abusable that is. I’m going shopping tomorrow!
Oh what’s the 4011 thing? Doesn’t ring a bell.
And I just realized how abusable that is. I’m going shopping tomorrow!
Oh what’s the 4011 thing? Doesn’t ring a bell.
4011 is bananas, which are one of the cheapest things by weight
Those overly negative comments often come from USA. I’ve never had any major problems with self checkout in Europe and I generally go there as it’s faster and you don’t have to race against the cashier. Of course some chains have worse self checkouts, some have better but overall many people like it a lot. Even some older people who are not tech savvy use them.
I’m in the US, the general hyperbole against self check here doesn’t come close to matching my experience.
I’ve never tried them really I just either get help or leave once I realize self checkout is the only option
They’re usually pretty simple. I became attached to them when I was living as a foreigner abroad and didn’t have much language skills. But I could understand the graphical prompts and numbers on a self-checkout machine!
No they aren’t they are gonna lean in even harder what a dumbass story. One time fixed cost will always win over paying people in perpetuity
