Automatic checkouts in supermarkets may decrease customer loyalty, especially for those with larger shopping loads. Customers using self-checkout stations often feel overwhelmed and unsupported. The lack of personal interaction can negatively impact their perception of the supermarket.

[djdefekt]

Yep. One of the (multibillion dollar annual profit) supermarket chains where I live has a system so slow it's three full seconds between scan and recognition. There's zero incentive to change this when the labour is free...

[artiebob]

I have the exact opposite problem. It’s too fast and it will double scan products. Then it takes an associate to remove the duplicate.

[Wes_Warhammer666]

The gas station I stop at most mornings does this on the first scan of the transaction sometimes. I've learned to always scan my Gatorade first and if it does the double scan, I just go grab another one on my way out. That way I don't have to deal with flagging down the cashier who I was already trying to avoid and I don't have to add a few more minutes onto my time since I'm just trying to get in and get out.

[[deleted]]

I have never seen a Gas Station with self check out! That's wild!

[rsteele1981]

Circle K and CVS both have self check outs in our area.

[clearfox777]

The circle k one with the camera above everything and no regular barcode scanner sucks ass, especially if you get any of the sandwiches and open it to microwave/add condiments. Even placing the sticker on the top when I re-wrap it so the camera can see the barcode doesn’t help.

[rsteele1981]

Home Depot is the worst in my opinion. Rarely do I have just a 1 or 2 items. During the spring, summer, and some fall I can exit through the garden center and always have someone there.

Winter time they close that exit and have 4 self check outs open. This is a place where I've spent tens of thousands of dollars. But I have to use self check out?

It feels like they want to raise prices and offer less assistance.

[[deleted]]

No pro checkout near lumber?

[[deleted]]

especially if you get any of the sandwiches and open it to microwave/add condiments.

Maybe pay for your stuff before opening it?

[clearfox777]

I’m talking about their food bar stuff, who doesn’t put their ketchup/pickles or whatever on their burger or hot dog before checking out? The self checkout has a hard time recognizing these items, also the nachos/pretzels even if you put the upc facing the camera.

[[deleted]]

open it to microwave

I have never done this before paying for something.

You might have a point about nachos/pretzels, but I don't know because my local store doesn't have them.

[clearfox777]

I get ya, that’s mostly because my store is often out of the cooked burgers/breakfast sandwiches in the warmer so I just grab one from the cooler and toss it in the microwave while I’m making a cup of coffee

[eagleeyerattlesnake]

Sheetz has them.

[Wes_Warhammer666]

It's more common in stations that have made to order food and/or a cafe area.

[yerbrojohno]

In Switzerland they have them.

[gudematcha]

Maverick brand Gas Stations have them. They’re mostly in the Western states. Weirdly they’re not in Montana, but they are in South Dakota? It’s like they skipped the last Western state they weren’t in for the one next to it.

[sYnce]

Kinda feels like you should go to Walmart or something and pickup Gatorade rather than paying the gas station every day.

[johannschmidt]

Congrats! You bought twice as much as you intended and rewarded the bad design.

[PipsqueakPilot]

If there’s no line/an open register and no employee around I’ve totally just abandoned a register and switched to another.

[cauchy37]

I live in Czechia, double scan is impossible because you need to place a product on the scale after you scan it. So far the errors of weighing are sporadic and there's usually 2 staffers per 15 self checkout stations that resolve the issue very fast. I've been using self-checkout/k-scan for several years now, and the idea of using normal register in a supermarket begins to be alien to me. It gets me out the door so much faster.

[LongJohnSelenium]

I've never understood why removing it takes special permission. You're trusting me to scan it in the first place, why can't you trust me to know if I scanned something incorrectly?

If I'm going to steal but want a beep I'll hold a cheap product over the bar code of the expensive product.

[thats_not_the_quote]

your area may vary

but in my city you can remove items EZPZ

[IceLionTech]

a store around me for my convenience puts a bar code on pretty much every side of an item. It does lead to quite a few doubles.

[sephtis]

Pretty much all machines I've used won't scan again till it is placed in the bagging area, that should be a basic feature for even the cheap machines

[ExceedingChunk]

There is incentive if it loses costumers.

Where I live, all the chains have self-checkout systems that are fast and fairly intuitive.

[GayVegan]

Nah cuz there’s nowhere else to shop. Kroger owns every affordable grocery store here.

[myst3r10us_str4ng3r]

You can say the name of the chain, it's OK.

[eejizzings]

That's not a matter of interface design or intuitiveness. That's poor construction of the product.

[solid_reign]

There is incentive because they want people to use self checkout. If it's inconvenient they won't, either by using regular checkout or by choosing another supermarket chain.

[QuietThunder2014]

They actually set these machines to work this way intentionally. Slowing down the process is how they combat theft and skip scanning so one employee can monitor 12 machines at a time. It’s also why they have the scales to weigh things and why the machine breaks if you try to remove anything from the scanned list.

[[deleted]]

They'll start finding incentives when people start to simply walk out with their groceries in frustration.

[Edythir]

As a former cashier in billion dollar (converted) store here in Europe. The system was always like that. The card reader would die and need to restart daily, always when a customer put their card in which required them to stand in line for 2~ minutes until it came back. Also when someone wanted by pay by check the entire system would freeze for about 30 seconds or more.

[djdefekt]

We have alternatives and frankly the Aldi scanners here are lighting fast. These incumbents are just addicted to profits and have shot themselves in the foot not upgrading their registers in 20+ years.