Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Bogie on June 04, 2021, 06:38:22 PM
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Well, my local Wally World has gone self-checkout except for one or two lanes.
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I have generally been a fan of the self-checkout, given my misanthropy. I have recently run into the first instance of not liking it. Costco recently started self-checkout and I do not like it. It takes me way longer at the self-checkout there than going through the regular register. At most places it's the opposite.
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I have generally been a fan of the self-checkout, given my misanthropy. I have recently run into the first instance of not liking it. Costco recently started self-checkout and I do not like it. It takes me way longer at the self-checkout there than going through the regular register. At most places it's the opposite.
Why is it taking you longer at Costco versus other places where you like to use the self-checkout?
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The only problem I have with self check outs is when I have adult drinks in the cart. Have to get someone to put in an approval.
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Why is it taking you longer at Costco versus other places where you like to use the self-checkout?
It's not me, I think. It's the fact that Costco checkers are super efficient. There are two to a register. While they scan everything at lightning speed, I tap my card on the reader, and everything is done. It seems like at most other places, I'm just as fast as the single cashier, except for looking stuff like fruit up, that doesn't always have a barcode.
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Generally I like them. Pre-vaccination I appreciated the distance they provided from the people behind me who were in a hurry to put their stuff as close as possible to my stuff on the conveyor belt. The cashiers are faster, but the cashier lines are longer. My only problem is stuff that would never occur to me would be age limited, such as spray paint and cold medicine. Then I have to wait my turn while the roving cashier comes over and certifies that I'm an old guy.
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Well, my local Wally World has gone self-checkout except for one or two lanes.
Mine did that a year or two ago.
There's one Wally World in my area that never has any conventional checkout lanes open. Which is why I decline to patronize that store.
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I refuse to use them, I don't work there. Offer me a employee discount at the self check out register and I'll think about it.
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IMO, Walmart forces you to use the self check out because they always refuse to schedule enough check out people. Either stand in a long line for the cashier or FU. As a result, half the time there is a long line at the self check also.
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The rear times I drive the 30 minutes plus to a Walmart. I use the self checkout. I flag someone down and ring up my whiskey first and then out the door I am.
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I am with Charby. Offer me a 10% discount, and I will use the self-checkout more.
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There are two convenient to South City St. Louis - I'm gonna guess that they will soon stop selling tobacco products. Because that was ONE aisle, and was the one open after 10.
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Walmart is best checked out in sporting goods while buying ammo or the garden center.
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You can also check out in the tire center.
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Walmart is best checked out in sporting goods while buying ammo or the garden center.
None of the Walmarts around here EVER have anyone in Sporting Goods.
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This thread again?
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Well, my local Wally World has gone self-checkout except for one or two lanes.
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I refuse to use them, I don't work there. Offer me a employee discount at the self check out register and I'll think about it.
Of course, the alternative way of looking at that is to say that you already got your 10% discount. By adopting more efficient business practices Walmart has been able to control human capital costs and avoid raising prices.
You're welcome.
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My biggest pet peeve with the self checkouts has always been their physical size.
If I have 70 items in a cart, the last thing I'm going to do is try to checkout at something the size of a voting booth with enough room to put, maybe, 2 or 3 full bags.
Well, just throw the full bags back into your cart! Yeah... my cart still has 62 other freaking items. Second, empty cart? Hell, there's not even enough room for the first cart at the checkout.
I walked out of a store some years ago, leaving a full cart behind, because there were no manned checkouts open (lots of room on those belts) to land stuff, and lots of room for them to stage your bags as they pack them) and the manager's attitude was basically "suck it up and/or *expletive deleted*ck off". So I told her I'd be *expletive deleted*ing off to her competition and she could deal with the cart full of stuff, including a bunch of perishable items.
The newly opened store near me has something new... belted self scan checkouts. They're the size of a regular checkout with the conveyor belt, which means you can unload your card wihthout a hassle. Much easier to use.
And, the Walmart near me also has something new -- a larger self checkout stand (no belt) but with a bunch of room on which to bag stuff once you've scanned it. No more trying to fit 70 items on a postage stamp.
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^^^Just about all the self-checkout stands up here that I use have a scale built into them, so if you remove a full bag to make room prior to payment, it has a hissy fit and won't proceed. This is also annoying when I buy a lightweight item, like a pen, toss it in the bag, the weight doesn't register and the screen starts telling me to bag the item and won't proceed.
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^^^Just about all the self-checkout stands up here that I use have a scale built into them, so if you remove a full bag to make room prior to payment, it has a hissy fit and won't proceed. This is also annoying when I buy a lightweight item, like a pen, toss it in the bag, the weight doesn't register and the screen starts telling me to bag the item and won't proceed.
That always annoyed me, but I have seen it be less of a problem of late. There may have been some software updates linked to type of item. Some (non-grocery) places around here, I just scan stuff in the cart and leave it in the cart, no problem. At the couple of grocery stores where I use self-checkout, it seems to not care on certain items and only wants stuff like fruit and veggies put on the scale.
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Oh and yes, the size of the checkouts is ridiculously small. At the grocery stores, I look at them the same as the "ten items or less" lane. If I have a bunch of stuff, I go to the human checker. I expect that may be part of the design - a way to route people with fewer items out of the human checker lines. I'd be curious to see if there are studies on that, regarding line efficiency and speed.
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Part of the problem I have had also is some check out people will move fast and some will go as slow as they possibly can. Beware the checkout lane with few people.
I used to have more issues with the weight scanner on the self check lanes. Most stores seem to have fixed or improved that the last couple years. Home Depot's system was about worthless a few years back. Works better now. The store here never very busy an d rarely has many check out people. The Lowes isn't much better especially if you catch them at the wrong time of day.
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^^^Home Depot used to be my pet peeve: I would buy a bag of four machine screws, toss it in the bag, the weight scanner would not register, and hilarity ensued.
Also annoying was when the self-checkout did not deactivate the security tag and the exit door scanner alarm went off. I just keep on going; if the store feels they have sufficient probable cause to detain me, I am happy to call 911, wait for the cops and we can all have a nice chat.
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^^^Home Depot used to be my pet peeve: I would buy a bag of four machine screws, toss it in the bag, the weight scanner would not register, and hilarity ensued.
Also annoying was when the self-checkout did not deactivate the security tag and the exit door scanner alarm went off. I just keep on going; if the store feels they have sufficient probable cause to detain me, I am happy to call 911, wait for the cops and we can all have a nice chat.
The Despot is one of the places where I just scan everything right in the cart and leave it there. I seem to recall having "small item" trouble there years ago as well.
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Also annoying was when the self-checkout did not deactivate the security tag and the exit door scanner alarm went off. I just keep on going; if the store feels they have sufficient probable cause to detain me, I am happy to call 911, wait for the cops and we can all have a nice chat.
Also this. I'm increasingly tired of anti-theft systems that mandate I stop and waste my time for the benefit of the store. Is it going to stop the actual shoplifters? No, just be a pain for the rest of us. I know I didn't steal anything, so screw them.
I was leaving walmart recently when the buzzer went off at the door. A door greater in his 70's said "Can I see your receipt sir?". I just said "No thanks!" and kept walking. Lets see who's really in control of this situation - I'm annoyed enough about their defective system to force the issue.
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My home depot has a handheld scanner. Works pretty well.
I hate feeding cash into the machines.
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^^^Just about all the self-checkout stands up here that I use have a scale built into them, so if you remove a full bag to make room prior to payment, it has a hissy fit and won't proceed. This is also annoying when I buy a lightweight item, like a pen, toss it in the bag, the weight doesn't register and the screen starts telling me to bag the item and won't proceed.
Yep, same here. But, once you scan an item and place it in the bagging area it registers that item and you can remove the bag and put it in your cart.
I just got back from the store a few minutes ago and did exactly that because I maxed out the items in the bagging area and needed more room.
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Oh and yes, the size of the checkouts is ridiculously small. At the grocery stores, I look at them the same as the "ten items or less" lane. If I have a bunch of stuff, I go to the human checker. I expect that may be part of the design - a way to route people with fewer items out of the human checker lines. I'd be curious to see if there are studies on that, regarding line efficiency and speed.
As I noted, many of the stores around here are now offering larger self checkout areas to combat that problem. You have the small "voter both size" check outs that were the original style, but the Giant food chain around here has started adding self check areas with belts (like a human check aisle) so you can better manage stuff. Interesting enough, in a pinch they can also be manned by an actual human. I checked out in one of those today.
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Yep, same here. But, once you scan an item and place it in the bagging area it registers that item and you can remove the bag and put it in your cart.
I just got back from the store a few minutes ago and did exactly that because I maxed out the items in the bagging area and needed more room.
Now I am intrigued and will try this at my local Safeway and WalMart. The weight scanners there would not allow this, so I have not tried removing a bag for quite some time. Time to see if the software/hardware has been updated.
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We have Safeways here, as well, but it's rare that I shop there. The local Giant Food chain has better prices, it is, or was, locally owned when I moved here in 1990, it generally has better produce, and the staff at Giant is a lot more pleasant.
The cart I abandoned some years ago was at a Safeway, and that's pretty much when I finally stopped shopping there.
I'll occasionally go for a few store brand items that I like, but that's only a couple of times a year.
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^^^Home Depot used to be my pet peeve: I would buy a bag of four machine screws, toss it in the bag, the weight scanner would not register, and hilarity ensued.
Also annoying was when the self-checkout did not deactivate the security tag and the exit door scanner alarm went off. I just keep on going; if the store feels they have sufficient probable cause to detain me, I am happy to call 911, wait for the cops and we can all have a nice chat.
Home Depot doesn’t stop thieves. I could walk in, grab some high dollar tool kits in each hand and calmly walk out right past the cashier without even being spoken to.
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Home Depot doesn’t stop thieves. I could walk in, grab some high dollar tool kits in each hand and calmly walk out right past the cashier without even being spoken to.
Yep, the alarms go off and no even looks at the door.
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Home Depot doesn’t stop thieves. I could walk in, grab some high dollar tool kits in each hand and calmly walk out right past the cashier without even being spoken to.
Might be regional, but at my HD, when I buy something like a cordless drill, I have to ask an employee to get it from behind a locked case, and then they walk me to the cash register - I'm essentially done shopping. Last time they said they would hold it for me if I had more shopping to do, but I didn't and I would have had to waste time tracking them back down anyway. They also don't let you use the self-checkout - an employee has to check you out.
Also on the theft, yeah, it seems a lot of employees couldn't care less. I was at the Tractor Supply last week, and bought like $100 worth of stuff. After I got rung up, I hesitated about the price I saw on the CC reader. It took a few seconds for it to hit, as in I was taking my first steps away from the register when my brain said, "Hey wait a minute..." The receipt was for $60-something.
So I turned around and told the young girl cashier, "I like getting discounts, but I think this one is too much." Turned out she forgot to scan a $40 jug of algaecide. What got me is that she never said "thanks for catching that"* and was in fact almost perturbed at the extra work of checking the receipt and ringing the forgotten item up.
*I don't expect praise for doing the right thing, and really not even a thank you, but if I was on the other end of this, I would be thanking the customer for being honest and keeping me out of trouble when my register didn't add up at the end of the day.
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Speaking of alarms, the local Walmart(s) installed gates at the entrances behind the greeters. They are automagic opening and sound an alarm if you try and exit them. But people who didn't buy anything, people who already paid before the front cashier stations, and even employees who are taking a shortcut, regularly go through them and start the annoying beep beep beep. The greeters don't even look over at them when they go off now, so why the beep?
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^^^Our local Lowes and Home Depots now do the same as Ben's store with the cordless power tools. Too many tweakers grabbing them and running out. Always suspicious when you see a new DeWalt drill with no battery or charger on OfferUp.
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Might be regional, but at my HD, when I buy something like a cordless drill, I have to ask an employee to get it from behind a locked case, and then they walk me to the cash register - I'm essentially done shopping. Last time they said they would hold it for me if I had more shopping to do, but I didn't and I would have had to waste time tracking them back down anyway. They also don't let you use the self-checkout - an employee has to check you out.
Also on the theft, yeah, it seems a lot of employees couldn't care less. I was at the Tractor Supply last week, and bought like $100 worth of stuff. After I got rung up, I hesitated about the price I saw on the CC reader. It took a few seconds for it to hit, as in I was taking my first steps away from the register when my brain said, "Hey wait a minute..." The receipt was for $60-something.
So I turned around and told the young girl cashier, "I like getting discounts, but I think this one is too much." Turned out she forgot to scan a $40 jug of algaecide. What got me is that she never said "thanks for catching that"* and was in fact almost perturbed at the extra work of checking the receipt and ringing the forgotten item up.
*I don't expect praise for doing the right thing, and really not even a thank you, but if I was on the other end of this, I would be thanking the customer for being honest and keeping me out of trouble when my register didn't add up at the end of the day.
Some of them are implementing cages for tools here
It’s not about laziness the employees are prohibited from stopping thieves due to liability
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Oh and yes, the size of the checkouts is ridiculously small. At the grocery stores, I look at them the same as the "ten items or less" lane. If I have a bunch of stuff, I go to the human checker. I expect that may be part of the design - a way to route people with fewer items out of the human checker lines.
That's just what I've always assumed about self-checkout. It's not that the self-checkout is too small. It's just that they're not meant for someone buying 47 items. You got that much stuff, you need the professionals to step in and take care of it. The self-checkout is for the guy buying a gallon of milk and a can of beans, and wants to pay and get on his way.
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That's just what I've always assumed about self-checkout. It's not that the self-checkout is too small. It's just that they're not meant for someone buying 47 items. You got that much stuff, you need the professionals to step in and take care of it. The self-checkout is for the guy buying a gallon of milk and a can of beans, and wants to pay and get on his way.
I'm kinda remembering that when I saw them for the first time at the Albertson's back in Santa Barbara (I guess in the mid-2000's?), they may have even had a "ten items or less" sign.
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I used to use self checkouts, and still will upon occasion, but mostly I go to a human. The food lion I go to now doesn't have them.
It's the stuff you need ID for and the fact that I always buy cases of beverages, which just don't work with the stupid scale.
In all honesty, I prefer to bag my own stuff. Just today I had to pointedly tell the casher/bagger to please NOT put my raw steak in the same bag as other stuff (she was going to put it with a tomato!)
We just got an Aldi's in town, though and I'm going to try that when I next need groceries.
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Of course, the alternative way of looking at that is to say that you already got your 10% discount. By adopting more efficient business practices Walmart has been able to control human capital costs and avoid raising prices.
You're welcome.
I went to WalMart today, I went to the only checker in the store, paid the same as the folks using self checkout.
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When I was in Texas; don't remember if it was this year or last year, I went to Kroger's to get a week's worth of groceries for 4 people. I'm used to shopping at Aldi where they don't have self-checkouts and the checkers are super fast. When I go to Walmart, Home Depot, or HyVee I do the self checkout because I just have a few items.
I went thru the little self-checkout with a heaping cart full of groceries. :facepalm: It would have been fine if I'd grabbed a second cart to load the bags into, but I didn't realize that until it was too late. I mentioned it to the checker next week when I was there, and she said something like "Oh, Darlin'!" :)
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Just today I had to pointedly tell the casher/bagger to please NOT put my raw steak in the same bag as other stuff (she was going to put it with a tomato!)
That reminds me of one of my wife's many stories about the young women she works with. It's a pre-school, so she has a lot of coworkers in their 20s. One girl was trying to learn some cooking skills, so she went to a store to buy steak for the first time, so she could take it home and cook it. But every package she looked at had blood in it! Gross! :rofl:
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When I was in Texas; don't remember if it was this year or last year, I went to Kroger's to get a week's worth of groceries for 4 people. I'm used to shopping at Aldi where they don't have self-checkouts and the checkers are super fast. When I go to Walmart, Home Depot, or HyVee I do the self checkout because I just have a few items.
I went thru the little self-checkout with a heaping cart full of groceries. :facepalm: It would have been fine if I'd grabbed a second cart to load the bags into, but I didn't realize that until it was too late. I mentioned it to the checker next week when I was there, and she said something like "Oh, Darlin'!" :)
If there is an HEB grocery store nearby, they seem to actually make an effort to check you out fast and have enough checkers to do it.
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Aldi is about the only place that lets the cashiers sit. Which makes sense. But middle managers seem to love watching people with hurting feet...
Aldi also has a bar code on EVERY SIDE of all of their products, which, quite frankly, seem to be equal to a lot of name brand products. All the cashier needs to do is keep them moving.
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"Turned out she forgot to scan a $40 jug of algaecide."
Some years ago Castle Key, another friend, and I were doing a run to pick up something and bring it back to his house. Along the way we stopped at a Sheetz convenience store to get some snacks and beer.
The girl at the register (teenager who clearly didn't care and was totally pissed off at having to be there) didn't scan the beer. Castle tried to point it out, was told "I scanned it," and so we walked out and got back on the road with a free $24 pack of beer that she couldn't be bothered with.
That was damned good tasting beer.
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"Just today I had to pointedly tell the casher/bagger to please NOT put my raw steak in the same bag as other stuff (she was going to put it with a tomato!) "
But they're both red! It's OK if they're both red!
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I went to WalMart today, I went to the only checker in the store, paid the same as the folks using self checkout.
As I said, you already got your discount through controlled HR costs. The fact that everyone gets the same discount doesn't make it any less of a discount.
Or you any more special. :rofl:
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The girl at the register (teenager who clearly didn't care and was totally pissed off at having to be there) didn't scan the beer. Castle tried to point it out, was told "I scanned it," and so we walked out and got back on the road with a free $24 pack of beer that she couldn't be bothered with.
I guess the law may vary by state, but I was under the impression a cashier under 21 can't sell booze. Maybe she didn't feel like calling the manager.
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I refuse to use them, I don't work there. Offer me a employee discount at the self check out register and I'll think about it.
Local paper had a story a while back about the "banana discount."
Local grocery chain (HEB) has scales and tag printers in their produce department - they encourage customers to weigh and tag their own produce. SOME people have found that they can get discounted steaks by putting a "bananas" sticker on them and then scanning it in the self check aisle. So 47 cents a pound rather than ten or twelve dollars.
Discount? Well, only if you consider theft by shoplifting to be a "discount."
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In all honesty, I prefer to bag my own stuff. Just today I had to pointedly tell the casher/bagger to please NOT put my raw steak in the same bag as other stuff (she was going to put it with a tomato!)
Actually got into an argument with a bagger over that. In my case he was putting raw chicken in the same bag with some vegetables. He thought I was some sort of nut.
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SOME people have found that they can get discounted steaks by putting a "bananas" sticker on them and then scanning it in the self check aisle.
Do they work at CNN?
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Local paper had a story a while back about the "banana discount."
Local grocery chain (HEB) has scales and tag printers in their produce department - they encourage customers to weigh and tag their own produce. SOME people have found that they can get discounted steaks by putting a "bananas" sticker on them and then scanning it in the self check aisle. So 47 cents a pound rather than ten or twelve dollars.
Discount? Well, only if you consider theft by shoplifting to be a "discount."
People walk into places like Target with home printed bar code stickers and slap them on things like TVs and what-not. Not hard with phones with cameras to take photos of bar codes in the store so that they have the right codes for cheap stuff and then go home and print stickers out
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People walk into places like Target with home printed bar code stickers and slap them on things like TVs and what-not. Not hard with phones with cameras to take photos of bar codes in the store so that they have the right codes for cheap stuff and then go home and print stickers out
Decades ago - back when it was still funny - Saturday Night Live had a commercial parody for a K Put Price Is Right Stamp Gun which a consumer could use to re-price grocery items. The gist was that the savvy consumer could use this gizmo to get a full cart of groceries - and still get change back from their dollar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1S6UMhQKkc
(May have to fiddle a bit on youtube to get past the commerical to the actual video, which is in two parts.)
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Actually got into an argument with a bagger over that. In my case he was putting raw chicken in the same bag with some vegetables. He thought I was some sort of nut.
Apparently there are people who say they want as few bags as possible "for the environment" and tell the baggers to put raw meat in with other stuff, which certainly doesn't help.
I truly think it should be store policy to always bag rag meat separate and tell the wannabe environmentalists to suck it. Seriously, I may love steak, but I don't want raw steak juice on anything but the steak!
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Apparently there are people who say they want as few bags as possible "for the environment" and tell the baggers to put raw meat in with other stuff, which certainly doesn't help.
I truly think it should be store policy to always bag rag meat separate and tell the wannabe environmentalists to suck it. Seriously, I may love steak, but I don't want raw steak juice on anything but the steak!
And I don't like baggers putting Drano, bleach, oven cleaner, ammonia, and rat poison in the same bag with ANY of my food.
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1. Packers (and all staff) seem to be remarkably well trained at King Soopers (City Market, Kroger) Only instructions I have are "milk in a sack" and "pack the bags lightly, I have to carry them upstairs."
2. I have no real preference as to self-checkout versus staff checkout except with respect to quantities. A lot of stuff, I prefer the staff checkout because they're faster than I am.
3. Banana stickers and the like are plain theft. And I'm ultimately paying for the product loss, just like with walkoff shoplifting.
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I was SO tempted to day to tell one bleep "Please take that rectangular package out of your pocket?"
I was not 100% sure that I saw him put something in there, but I thought that he did... Skinny jeans don't lend themselves to shoplifting.
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I guess the law may vary by state, but I was under the impression a cashier under 21 can't sell booze. Maybe she didn't feel like calling the manager.
I'm just assuming she was a teenager. She may have been 21. But some states do allow 18 year olds to sell alcohol at grocery and convenience stores. This was in Maryland, so not sure of their laws. All I know is we got free beer.
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Ok so i put all my cold and frozen together for them and then I have one frozen thing in this bag and one cold thing in that bag. That makes me grumpy.
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Ok so i put all my cold and frozen together for them and then I have one frozen thing in this bag and one cold thing in that bag. That makes me grumpy.
So, you want everything in one bag, but you don't want that bag to be heavy... :rofl: *
*Obscure reference to Agnes Skinner at the grocery store.
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Working as a county health inspector many years ago, there were a lot of things I learned from that job.
As others have already posted about raw meat going in with fruit or vegetables, there is also the problem of some baggers putting household chemicals (deodorant, air spray, detergents, etc.) in the same bags as fresh or raw food.
Is it any wonder there are so many cases of food poisoning?
How many of you use one or more coolers with ice or refreezable packs for perishable items when you go grocery shopping? How often do you clean those coolers out?
Think about that.
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"How many of you use one or more coolers with ice or refreezable packs for perishable items when you go grocery shopping? How often do you clean those coolers out?
Think about that."
Generally no, because the store I shop at is about a half mile from my house.
By the time I get checked out and home and get everything unpacked the ice cream (when I buy it) has barely started to soften.
If I'm going to a store farther away from the house, then I'll throw an insulated bag in the back along with a couple of cold packs if I'm buying meat.
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I have read that there is a large amount of theft associated with self checkouts.
I guess walmart feels that it cheaper to pay for that than for employees.
Maybe they are gearing up for $15 min wage.
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I also see using self checkouts as the start for data collection to support Universal Basic Income. Less humans needed to run a business so it starts the snowball to UBI. Since very few of us actually has stepped to run for office, we'll just gnash our teeth and keyboard commando our disgust as our personal incomes diminish even more. So yes, go to the solo manned checkout, the one with the mouth breathing booger eating imbecile who packs your meat with the apples in the same bag. Do it for the children.
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I have read that there is a large amount of theft associated with self checkouts.
This was the stated reason why the majority of the local Safeway stores eliminated self-checkouts back in 2018, and they have only reappeared in certain locations starting in 2020. Until reading this thread, I had no idea about the swapping of price stickers or printing bar codes to attach to a package.
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This was the stated reason why the majority of the local Safeway stores eliminated self-checkouts back in 2018, and they have only reappeared in certain locations starting in 2020. Until reading this thread, I had no idea about the swapping of price stickers or printing bar codes to attach to a package.
I recall when self-checouts first started to appear years ago, reading that the stores did a lot of math on cost savings vs anticipated theft. IIRC, they anticipated ongoing theft as a given, but their models still made the self-checkout cost-effective.
They probably didn't take into account how creative thieves can get regarding stealing more than an extra jar of peanut butter or something.
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I have read that there is a large amount of theft associated with self checkouts.
I guess walmart feels that it cheaper to pay for that than for employees.
Maybe they are gearing up for $15 min wage.
I think the cost of labor, regulations, healthcare, payroll taxes, legal liability, etc is pretty high these days. I can easily see why they want to automate that. We are a nation run by lawyers and bureaucrats.
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Walmart is best checked out in sporting goods while buying ammo or the garden center.
Please, do not check out in sporting goods or the auto center with more than 10 items or so. It's obvious they're not setup for large checkout, yet folks will show up with a cart full wanting to check out. And the employee usually has an impossible-to-complete amount of work to accomplish before end of shift.
Walmart, and I'm sure other stores, has a policy that hourly employees can not confront a suspected shoplifter. It's a fire-able offense. At most, the employee can ask the thief if they need any help...
I think the cost of labor, regulations, healthcare, payroll taxes, legal liability, etc is pretty high these days. I can easily see why they want to automate that. We are a nation run by lawyers and bureaucrats.
From what I've heard, the self checkouts are cheaper for the store, even taking into account the theft that they've made possible.
UPC/barcode swapping has been going on for years. Ever run across a low price item that doesn't have a UPC sticker on it? The sticker probably ended up on a more expensive item. Just another reason why the inventory counts are off so often.
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I also see using self checkouts as the start for data collection to support Universal Basic Income. Less humans needed to run a business so it starts the snowball to UBI.
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Consider also the places that have discovered that they're still going to have cars lined up for their drive-thrus... And they don't want to worry about keeping a seating area, and the attendant problems that can arise within...
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Places without dine-in will open their dining rooms eventually, once they start to lose business to places with dine-in. Just like ammo prices will come down, just like gas prices have come down in the past. The idea that businesses can keep up bad service or high prices forever, just because people put up with it for a while, is silly. Business is competitive, and responds to customers' desires. Because money.
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Self-checkouts would be so much better if there were a conveyor belt to put your items on and a person at the other end to scan and then bag them.
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Whenever I'm out shopping with a friend of mine he always goes to the cashier lane while I always go to self checkout. Nearly 100% of the time I have to wait for him at the door.
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Self-checkouts would be so much better if there were a conveyor belt to put your items on and a person at the other end to scan and then bag them.
I hear a lot of stores are doing that, but some people don't like it.
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It appears I'm not the only one who thinks the Costco self-checkouts are not efficient.
https://www.eatthis.com/news-costco-adding-self-checkout/
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It appears I'm not the only one who thinks the Costco self-checkouts are not efficient.
https://www.eatthis.com/news-costco-adding-self-checkout/
They just added self-checkouts at my local Costco. The biggest problem is they don't have hand scanners; if you have items too large to pick up and put on the scanner table someone has to come scan it for you.
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Well, my local Wally World has gone self-checkout except for one or two lanes.
That would massively increase the number of checkout lanes, per the last time I was in a Walmart. Very busy place in a very large city, you'd never see 3 lanes or more open except around Christmas. Would have less trouble with self checkouts if they were less obnoxious about removing bags as I make room for the rest of my stuff.
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I just realized how boomer this topic is. :laugh: Love it.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4765441/user-clip-george-hw-bush-talks-scanner-fake-news-story