Author Topic: self checkouts  (Read 3005 times)

WLJ

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #50 on: June 06, 2021, 10:15:18 AM »

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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Ben

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #51 on: June 06, 2021, 11:20:36 AM »
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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WLJ

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #52 on: June 06, 2021, 11:25:58 AM »
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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HankB

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #53 on: June 06, 2021, 12:43:57 PM »
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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BlueStarLizzard

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #54 on: June 06, 2021, 01:44:22 PM »
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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HankB

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #55 on: June 06, 2021, 02:28:31 PM »
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.
Trump won in 2016. Democrats haven't been so offended since Republicans came along and freed their slaves.
Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it. - Mark Twain
Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods. - H.L. Mencken
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. - Mark Twain

230RN

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #56 on: June 06, 2021, 08:29:16 PM »
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.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2021, 08:44:57 PM by 230RN »

Bogie

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #57 on: June 07, 2021, 12:01:28 AM »
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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K Frame

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #58 on: June 07, 2021, 06:49:26 AM »
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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Jim147

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #59 on: June 07, 2021, 07:17:52 AM »
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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K Frame

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #60 on: June 07, 2021, 08:16:18 AM »
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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JTHunter

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #61 on: June 08, 2021, 01:18:57 AM »
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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K Frame

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #62 on: June 08, 2021, 06:43:44 AM »
"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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Pb

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #63 on: June 08, 2021, 09:51:47 AM »
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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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #64 on: June 08, 2021, 01:20:33 PM »
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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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #65 on: June 08, 2021, 01:30:12 PM »
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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Ben

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #66 on: June 08, 2021, 02:38:48 PM »
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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MechAg94

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #67 on: June 08, 2021, 05:04:32 PM »
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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Cliffh

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #68 on: June 08, 2021, 11:16:38 PM »
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.

Perd Hapley

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #69 on: June 08, 2021, 11:35:06 PM »
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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Bogie

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #70 on: June 08, 2021, 11:46:21 PM »
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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Perd Hapley

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #71 on: June 09, 2021, 12:38:11 AM »
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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just Warren

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #72 on: June 09, 2021, 01:04:52 PM »
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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WLJ

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #73 on: June 09, 2021, 02:31:12 PM »
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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Perd Hapley

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Re: self checkouts
« Reply #74 on: June 09, 2021, 08:04:12 PM »
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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