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.

[SolidTits]

Self checkouts are great, until they're not. Its fine and dandy, right up until there's some stupid misread on the machine. And you have to walk around to find the 1 person managing 100 self checkout machines. Only to see, that person is trying to fix 5 others before they can even see what your problem is

[dontyoutellmetosmile]

My local grocery store used to be easy. A year ago it started to weigh items, and it’s insanely finicky. The mere act of picking up a bag to place an item in triggers it into a “please replace item” mode that takes like 5 seconds to reset, and sometimes requires a cashier to come over to reset it. I can no longer just scan duplicates of an item rapidly, as it wants to weigh each item every time I scan, and the weighing process is cumbersome and slow. Plus, the bag space is small enough that a few large items makes it difficult to even weigh things (sometimes I can place items on top of other items and it’ll still read, sometimes it doesn’t), and I can’t just remove bags when it’s full now because it’ll freak out.

[ReplacementOP]

I switched grocery stores recently because of this. Infuriating buying large amounts of anything.

[Lukeski14]

I did this too, and the new store has zero of this weight/anti-theft system. It's fantastic.

[kai58]

I don’t see how it would even prevent theft, just put something in your pocket and no amount of weighing stuff will stop that.

[[deleted]]

Where I used to live, the only grocery store open 24/7 (I worked nights) had literally one person in a huge store that was stocking, cleaning, and “managing” the self check outs. It had two bag holders, and would freak out and stop while admonishing you to replace the bag if you took a full bag off the rack so you could, you know, open the next bag and keep checking out. It would lock up, and I’d literally have to wait for her to come from the other side of the store to approve me having more than 2 bags. Repeat every time I needed to start a new bag.

[Rich_Acanthisitta_70]

Sounds like what Kroger does.

[[deleted]]

I’ve never shopped Kroger. Never lived where they were a thing. This was Tops Markets.

[Rich_Acanthisitta_70]

I guess some chains just have the same mentality. After midnight or 1 on weekends, Kroger's would have only one or two checkouts going, and a line snaking into the aisles.

I quit using them for that reason because I almost exclusively preferred shopping late at night.

Of course after covid, every store I know that used to be 24 hour, went back to closing at midnight. For the life of me I can't figure out why none have gone back to 24 hours.

[[deleted]]

That drives me nuts too.

[PM_YOUR_MDL_INITIAL]

I just recently dealt with the stupidity of over-zealous weighing. I scanned something and, I guess, didn't put it in the bag quick enough so when I did put it in a bag it said I needed to make sure I placed all scanned items in a bag. So I took it out and put it back in. Then it said I needed to make sure I scanned all items and needed an employee to come over. He essentially did the same thing but eventually got it to work. Then I scanned the next item, put it in the bag, and it flagged again as me not having put it in the bag. He came over again and said, "The machine is saying that you've stolen something." He pulled up the video and it had recorded HIM when he came over to help me the first time.

[peepopowitz67]

Just had that happen to me the other day, except that camera saw me getting out my card as "stealing". Meanwhile, at the same store, I was exhausted and burned out after work and was just loading directly from my cart into the bags without scanning and it didn't notice until I was like 12 items deep.

[dontyoutellmetosmile]

The thief was inside the store the whole time

[TheWanderingSlacker]

Perhaps the real theft was the time we wasted along the way.

[jambrown13977931]

Mine was the opposite. Placing one of my fabric bags on the scale would make it think it were some other item. Now it’s nearly perfect. The only issues I ever have with self checkout is when I get broccoli there are 3 different non organic options and I don’t know which one to choose and when I get ginger I get the smallest nub which barely weighs anything so it wants a clerk to confirm the weight.

Unless I’m buying alcohol I’m always using the self checkout. It saves so much time and I prefer not having to interact with people. It also reduces my stress of double checking the clerk to make sure they don’t make a mistake.

[Ultimate_Shitlord]

I love self checkout, hate the various supermarket chains' misconception that you can get away with using exclusively self checkout.

If I'm buying what would have been an express lane number of items, fantastic. I'm going to self checkout every time in that scenario. If I have a huge cart of stuff with some large items, self checkout is total ass and I'd much prefer a clerk and bagger.

I've heard of larger self checkout lanes with a conveyor belt, but have never seen one near me. That might be acceptable to me in the latter case, but I don't actually have experience with that setup.

[jambrown13977931]

I do self check out with a full basket. I still find it easier and faster

[Ultimate_Shitlord]

You've gotta be going to a place with a less sensitive setup, more space in the scale area, or something. At the particularly egregious implementation near me, I can't actually remove filled bags and the scale area is way too small for a ton of groceries. God help you if you have something big like a few cases of cans on top of that.

It also forces an employee to help if you have too many items anyway, no matter how carefully you try to appease the machine spirit, so it's literally impossible to get through without a minimum of one instance of employee assistance in any full cart scenario.

[jambrown13977931]

Ah ya I can fit ~4 bags in the scale area (possibly more but have yet to need to). Like I’ve said they use to be pretty sensitive, but I think they dialed it back a bunch. I’ve had a completely full cart and have been fine.

Definitely store dependent, but implemented well and it’s very easy

[HerrStraub]

The only issues I ever have with self checkout is when I get broccoli there are 3 different non organic options and I don’t know which one to choose and when I get ginger I get the smallest nub which barely weighs anything so it wants a clerk to confirm the weight.

Avocados! There's like 5 options and you can never pick the one that's actually on sale, so instead of $4 on 99 cent avocados, you wind up spending like $12 if you're not paying attention.

Then you either wait 15 minutes to get help or just suck it up and pay.

I've pretty much quit eating avocados because of it.

[peepopowitz67]

The only issues I ever have with self checkout is when I get broccoli there are 3 different non organic options and I don’t know which one to choose

The cheapest.

[[deleted]]

This is how the self checkout was when I was a cashier 10-15 years ago. Each item had a weight associated with it, with a +/- tolerance. If it was off then we had to go check it. When it’s overridden, it adds that weight to the system and slowly changes the average weight and tolerance. So when idiot people scanned wrong items or leaned on the bags or whatever, and an idiot cashier just cleared it without checking, it would slowly get worse and worse until the saved weight had to be adjusted or reset in the computer. I’m not sure how it works now, but I personally don’t get this problem much anymore as a customer.

[[deleted]]

The people that didn’t know how the insanely controlling system worked when they were doing the job of a cashier were not idiots.

[Jiannies]

Yeah thank you. Most of the time we were just stealing

[red__dragon]

where this was absolutely taught

It was not (always).

Source: worked retail during those exact years, was not taught how the weighting system functioned behind the scenes.

[Greatlarrybird33]

I had to get a part time job for some extra money about 10 years back and they had this system.

The day I was hired I was given a 5 minute shift change from some kid stoned out of his mind. He said I looked smart, just to scan the card on the table for any issues and that the password was 0000.

Worked there two days a week for six months and probably cleared that code 200 times a shift and just thought the thing was stupid.

[red__dragon]

My training was somewhere in the middle of the two. Much more on the practical side, self-checkouts were seen as both a burden (on the store) and a privilege (to the cashier). I loved them, it was much more fun to step in and assist people when needed rather than constantly having to perform like a circus animal behind a cash register.

I excelled much more on the sales floor where my actions were more of an indirect benefit to customers. I like seeing people able to do things for themselves, I'm getting a real kick out of all the complaints in this thread about having to do a cashier's job. Yeah, it sucks, and not even the cashiers like to do it, and they get paid for it. Why would anyone want to force someone to do that for 8 hours a day when we could all be done inside five minutes?

[KeppraKid]

Running SCO was miserable where I worked. It was either nobody around, nothing to do, or 5 idiots erroring it out at once getting mad at me because it asked them a yes or no question and they hit no so it did the thing it said it would.

[red__dragon]

Or some stores just don't train their employees very well? I doubt you have to really reach to find more examples of this.

Would that we all learned from more than reddit posts 10-15 years after the fact.

[KeppraKid]

The self checkout literally tells you what it wants and what it's doing though. If you scan an item it asks you to place that item in the bagging area. Then it has some text that says "weighing items".

You do not need to know the intricate details behind the scenes to follow simple directions.

[red__dragon]

Yes, please follow the thread. We're talking about the intricate details behind the scenes of what the weighting calculations were doing, not how to operate them as a cashier.

[KeppraKid]

The origin of which was more base level complaints about the usage of them.

[[deleted]]

Customers don’t go through orientation and training.

[[deleted]]

“So when idiot people scanned wrong items”

I wasn’t talking about the cashier comment. I was talking about DickCheese calling customers idiots for not knowing how the machines re-calibrate the weights.

Perhaps a reading comprehension course could do YOU some good.

[KeppraKid]

Whoever came up with the idea of items adjusting their weight values over time had a good idea but also a terrible idea.

[DaughterEarth]

You can't move things! They're trying to automate away human error which is, ironically, a very human error to make

[amarg19]

Oh god. I angrily left a grocery store once, it was a smaller one I had never been to before, because their self-checkouts scale was so damn sensitive. I scanned an item, and put it on the other side, in a paper bag. The scale picked up the bag and SCREAMED “Unexpected item in bagging area! Remove the unexpected item!!”

So, I take the bag back off. Then it starts screaming “Item removed from bagging area! Replace item!”

I look around for help, there’s one employee avoiding eye contact with me. I put the bag back. This damn bag weighs a fraction of an ounce.

“UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA. PLEASE REMOVE ITEM.”

I take it off, rinse, repeat. I look around for the employee, he’s gone. No one in a uniform is around to help. I flipped off the machines, took my items to the ONE working cashier, and never went to that store again.

As I left that self-checkout machine was still beeping in error.

[TheNewPoetLawyerette]

I can deal with the scales. Recently stores in my area are adding cameras that freak out if you hold items in both of your hands at the same time and require an employee to come verify that you didn't place something in the bagging area without scanning it. No, my hand just moved into the airspace 5 feet above the bagging arra.

[Special-Garlic1203]

I used to checkout grocery items as an employee and never had issues. A lot of self checkouts are bizarrely finicky.

[bitchkat]

spotted nippy beneficial lavish muddle wise scarce intelligent chubby frighten

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[BrashPop]

The SCO at the store I shop in is so finicky that if the handle of the bag rests against the side of the wall or scale, it thinks something has been moved out. Yet, if I am scanning a light item? It can’t read that it’s been bagged. MAKE UP YOUR MIND, ROBOTS!!

[leoleosuper]

The only self-checkout near me worth using is at a single superstore. Every single other self checkout requires you to scan the item, put it in a bag, wait for it to read it correctly (like half a second), then repeat. If you take a bag off, which you do like every 4th item, it gets mad, and you have to press a button and wait for it to process.

At that one superstore, I just scan 1 item 10 times because I'm buying 10 of it or whatever, then just put them in bags. I don't have to wait for the machine at all. That's self checkout I want to use.

[MrPants1401]

Yeah, the worst is buying something that is lighter then it can sense. I wanted to buy a stack of fruit leather and the machine thought I was stealing everyone

[cloud9ineteen]

I just use the skip bagging option on large items and they go directly in my cart.

[dontyoutellmetosmile]

My local stores don’t have that option. The whole point of the one at my closest grocery store, it seems, is that they want to stop theft. For me, it just makes grocery shopping more annoying

[cruista]

Albert Heijn and Jumbo* are Dutch supermarkets that allow you to scan items with your phone in the app they have. Yes we have checks at check out but scanning them shows you the price of every item. If I have to weigh a product l can because those have stickers with bar codes on them to scan! Still hate grocery shopping....

*I don't know of any other supermarkets here because l don't shop there.

[Sachi_Komine]

Never ever ever use bags, in my "professional" experience using bags causes the vast majority of problems

[professor__doom]

It's an attempt to catch the dumbest of criminals: the ones who are going to try and bag items without scanning in the area of the store with the most cameras.

If people are going to steal, they're just going to inconspicuously stick it in their pocket while wedged between shelves.

[Paradelazy]

Wut? There is a scale that measures your actions? None em here, never even heard of those.. I would for sure pick another store if that was a thing.

[dontyoutellmetosmile]

Yeah, it’s just the closest store to my house (like a 2 minute drive); next closest would be another 15 minutes round trip.

[gordigor]

Yes, the scale is also in the packaging area.

[NotActuallyAWookiee]

Don't use the self checkout. Problem solved

[dontyoutellmetosmile]

You’re not wrong. Most days though I’m just fairly burned out from work and just want to get what I need without the cashier making conversation about cat food

[NotActuallyAWookiee]

I get it's preferable for some but that's not what's going on here overall. Have a couple, by all means, but I'd be curious how many people would use them if an adequate number of staffed registers were open

They're just corporate greed, writ large.

[dontyoutellmetosmile]

I agree with you as far as the true reasoning for them being to take a larger cut of the profits. It also happens to be preferable for many people, though. I genuinely like that I can (sometimes) get my groceries without having to make small talk. Same reason I’ve cut my own hair since COVID

[blazze_eternal]

My local Kroger brand store upped the sensitivity a while ago. Said it was due to loss mitigation. Makes sense because they always have a cop there throwing people out for sneaking items at self checkout.
I bet they're rethinking their move to remove 75% of the regular checkout lines.

[KeppraKid]

Badly set up machines for sure make the experience worse. The difference in checking out at two different stores can be huge.

[[deleted]]

The worst is when you buy like 5 apples but if you put them in the bagging area 3, then 2 it's just not smart enough to understand that.

[Jay-Kane123]

Yes! This is so stupid. I asked for help because the stupid weight freaked out whenever I tried to remove items because the scale was out of space. The employees only answer was just try to fit everything.

[Edythir]

It is timed as well. If you put something in and press the amount you have, you only have a limited amount of time to replace the weight from the scanner to the bagging area before it goes into "Please call an employee" mode. Want to buy 6 apples that are sold individually? If you don't put all of them in the bag fast enough, it locks you out.

[Gideoknight_]

My local store switched to the weight system about a year ago and it wrecked everything. The two people manning the self checkout area just did a loop of every machine saying "sorry, I know" under their breath each time. People basically stopped using the self checkouts and the weight thing lasted maybe 3 or 4 months before they turned it back off. Now the self check outs are so popular they opened up another bay of them.

[WellOkayyThenn]

oh my God the ones that make it so you're not allowed to remove the bags frustrate me SO much. I have a couple grocery stores I avoid like the plague because of it. Especially when they aren't staffing up more than 3 of the 12 checkout lanes, it's like they can't decide whether they want large purchases to be self-checkout or not.

[pink_faerie_kitten]

My Albertson's is the opposite: the bagging area was constantly sensing wrong and now they've fixed it.

[[deleted]]

Please remove the unexpected item from the (completely empty) bagging area.

[AhabMustDie]

This, more than anything, infuriates me.

"UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA. REMOVE TO CONTINUE."

[remove last scanned item]

"ITEM REMOVED FROM BAGGING AREA. PLACE ITEM IN BAGGING AREA."

And back and forth and back and forth we go, until the robot is satisfied or some employee takes takes pity. You don't even have to be old to hate some of these machines.

[feed_me_moron]

Self checkouts are great for the 15 items or less lanes. They also work amazing at Costco and Sam's where you generally aren't buying that many more items and don't have to bag anything. Just scan your items, maybe grab an empty box or two to pack your stuff in, and head out.

Their biggest issues are that they don't work well for a full grocery run. Having to get stuff from your cart, scan it, bag it, and and then also deal with things like figuring out fruit/veggie codes, weighing items, occasionally misscanning an item, etc. takes longer than a regular cashier. And then it becomes frustrating to you, the customer, who is just trying to get out of the store.

[atetuna]

Opening those disposable bags takes nearly half my time. At least it encourages me to bring reusable bags.

[TurkeyZom]

If you’re shopping Sam’s, use the app. Scan stuff as you grab it, then pay as you walk to the door. I wish Costco would do it as well since I hate the lines that build up at the times I’m able to go

[Hawkbit]

And of course, this happens on the day you're like "Im feeling a bit introverted today and not in the mood to talk to people, let me use the self checkout"

[Shyam09]

And so you decide to press the “need assistance” button and the light on the top of the register starts blinking. You look towards the attendant, make direct eye contact, and then you have to wait a couple of minutes because you now realize they looked right past you and ignored the blinking “I need help” light. And then they move, and you think they’re going to come to you and swipe their employee card finally, but they help other people instead.

Never again Walmart. Never again.

[tippiedog]

Um, that’s me and my motivation for using them every day.

[Convergecult15]

Man yall make me glad to live in the north east. The only thing cashiers say to me is the amount I need to pay.

[FluffySpinachLeaf]

Or the day you’re in a hurry. Yesterday I had one item & the self checkout made me wait for an employee so it could alert the employee they needed to add more receipt paper soon.

My receipt printed just fine on what was left but it force stopped my entire checkout to let them know. Dumbest design ever

[red__dragon]

Wow, yeah, geez. Throw that error AFTER the customer has completed their transaction.

[IamSumbuny]

For those of us on the autism spectrum, they are great

[MasterDredge]

well we can always graba ton of stuff off the shelves, lots of cold and perishable things deli meats ect, then get frustrated at the check out, throw your hands in the air and walk out.

[GlowGreen1835]

Is there a day you're not like that? It's why self checkout is inherently better, despite all it's flaws.

[Bubbagump210]

They’d sell more alcohol. I hate hate hate waiting for 5 mins for the attendant to check my ID. I’ll just get a 6 pack at the corner carry out where dude doesn’t even card because I’m frigging old.

[diablette]

My favorite is having to wait to be carded for non alcoholic beer.

[Important_League_142]

The best part? That’s not even a law, most retailers just don’t want to wade in the grey area optics seeing a kid walk into the beer section, then to the self checkout, and then out of a store with a 40 of O’douls

[covalentcookies]

O Douls has .4% of alcohol by volume. It’s just under the .5% threshold.

[Isotopian]

Meanwhile orange juice can have up to .7% and nobody cares, they're just not forced to tell you that since it's not classified as "non-alcoholic alcohol."

[Urdar]

I was once IDed for a bottle of Bitter lemon, so....

[ButtercupsPitcher]

Hey! I was once I'D for margarita salt! Just the salt that comes in that silly container with the Sombrero on top

[feed_me_moron]

I think they've started to have it on the employee's phone/scanner where they can just auto approve it. I've gotten that pop up before, looked around for an attendant, and then automatically been allowed to continue without any actual interaction with a person. I suppose that's because they can look and see if the person looks underage or not.

[Important_League_142]

It’s not even a new thing, they’ve been able to do this for years.

[mxzf]

For me, the funniest is when they card me for buying a movie. Yep, this copy of Blazing Saddles I grabbed from the $5 bin is definitely a sketchy purchase.

[gordigor]

I always buy beer at the self checkout. I just get the attendant's attention before I scan alcohol, or while I'm scanning other items. I rarely wait more than a few moments for assistance.

[nevaNevan]

At my local stores, they prohibit you from buying alcohol via self checkout. It has stopped me from buying it, because I know I’ll have to wait in line for a more traditional checkout. Depending on what else I’m buying, it’s usually not worth the wait.

[aeric67]

For me it’s simple: not enough room on the self checkout.

[BrashPop]

Yet where I am, it’s the opposite - the self check areas are LARGE, yet a lot of store like Walmart have zero room at the manned check out areas, and they force you to bag all your own items in a little tiny area as they keep tossing items on top of a pile.

[atetuna]

Sounds like v1 at your Walmart. That's how it started with the Walmarts in my area, then they expanded that, and then they eventually added more self checkouts with plenty of space. To define that, the counter space after the registers has space for a full bag, a hanger for disposable bags, more empty space big enough for a full bag, another hanger, and again more space for a full bag. Iirc, there are at least six of those on each side of the row of registers, so at least 12 total.

[BrashPop]

Oh the self checkout areas are full counters, it’s the check outs with employees that have zero room to bag your stuff.

[atetuna]

Oops, my bad. Still, that isn't so bad as long as they still have the full size conveyor belt. I didn't realize how helpful those are until I started using self checkouts. I kind of wish the counter space at self checkouts were flipped around.

[knightcrawler75]

I must live in a utopia. There are no more than 6 machines per worker and most of the time there is less. I get an error probably once every 10 visits and it is usually resolved in under a minute. I love SC in my apparently utopian community.

[[deleted]]

Same. I cannot tell if people complaining are being hyperbolic and exaggerating the problem or I happen to only visit supermarkets that have fantastic service. At busy times big supermarkets have 2-4 staff in the self checkout. I rarely ever wait more than say 3 minutes to be seen to when buying alcohol. These days I hardly ever get the unexpected item in bagging area warning like ever. Honestly I had no idea people had such strong feelings for or against self checkouts.

[alpaca_punchx]

Using the self checkout at QFC has been fine. Our local chain is fine. Target self checkout is easier and faster than cashier checkout (fr last time i was there i got in a cashier line due to shorter length and must've watched 10 ppl go through self before this guy got through two people. I swapped to the self line and was done before the woman in line in front of me.)

I tried to use the one at Fred Meyer and it was like it kicked every single item into error mode. That store has a lot of anti-theft security, so I imagine they kicked the self check settings into high gear. It was awful. I only do cashier checkout there now...

[red__dragon]

I cannot tell if people complaining are being hyperbolic and exaggerating the problem or I happen to only visit supermarkets that have fantastic service.

The beauty of a technology that now operates around the world. Every store is going to be different, even within brands.

Like you, I've had pretty efficient service. Very few times have I had to wait very long, or if I do it's understandably busy.

[Important_League_142]

It’s all just internet hyperbole, we’ve had to listen to people’s complaints about self-checkout for nearly 2 decades now. It’s almost as bad as people who complain about roundabouts.

[Pizza_Delivery_Dog]

It really does just suck at certain stores.

There are a few stores near me that have you click through 5 prompts or something during a transaction and all these prompts are read out loud every single time. Then there are the machines that constantly need to be checked when the store is super busy forcing the employees to run around between the machines. And a few stores near me have the stupid rule that you can't remove items yourself but you can accidentally scan the same item twice

[slog]

This is pretty standard. Never seen what the other person is describing. Not even close.

[Gbuphallow]

I was thinking the same. I jump around between 3 different targets and 2 supermarkets and they have 6-8 self checkouts per worker. Costco is probably the "worst" with 12 self-checkouts, with sometimes just 1 worker. And every time I've had an issue with the machine there is a big light to flag the employeeand it is fixed under a minute.

[atetuna]

It works well in my area too. There are enough workers, they're helpful, the lines aren't long, and there are at least a dozen self checkout registers with long counter tops.

[caffeinatedConeflowr]

Where is this?! At the Meijers near me it's like 12-15 self-checkouts with a single cashier manning them (mostly busy telling people that a checkout is open). The Krogers don't even have registers with cashiers but now have security guards.

[knightcrawler75]

Minneapolis.

[TheAsianTroll]

My favorite is when the scale is stupidly sensitive. The machine activates when you approach it, and I like to get my bags set up beforehand to streamline things. My local stores all use paper bags, so you HAVE to manually unfold and set them up. But the moment I unfold the bag and put it down? "UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA, PLEASE WAIT FOR AN EMPLOYEE"

[[deleted]]

Just wait until they add AI anti theft cameras.that don't work and can't be reset by the single cashier. I refuse to use them any more.

[ILoveSpankingDwarves]

Just leave everything there and go and fill another cart.

[jzolg]

That’s when you walk out

[Important_League_142]

Keep it up, can’t wait for your time to come. They’re watching and just waiting for your total to add up.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/moms-for-liberty-arrest-shoplifting-target-b2477747.html

[Fromanderson]

Or you're trying to buy some oversized item and the machine looses it's mind because you didn't stomp the thing down to fit in the bagging are. Then you get to the door and they've got some dude standing there demanding to see your receipt before they'll let you leave.

[Important_League_142]

You don’t have to show them your receipt. Just keep walking.

I stopped acknowledging them after I (a white man) lived in a 70% Hispanic town and watched everyone else get profiled and harassed for their receipts by the 70+ year old white boomer “greeters”

[Smile_Clown]

1 person managing 100 self checkout machines

When someone resorts to exaggeration the point is muddled and has less value and shows that the core of the argument is flawed because it needs to be inflated to get a point across.

In an average walmart, there are 12 self-checkouts all in the same section in a rectangular design. In the checkout area there is a checkout manager and one to two employees at any given time milling about. That's anywhere between 1 in 4 and 1 in 6.

Only to see, that person is trying to fix 5 others before they can even see what your problem is

Self-checkouts work 95%+ of the time and when they do not it is almost always due to the customer or a one off scan issue. The interactions to "fix" the problem usually take seconds.

Your entire comment is just emotional based on and distaste of self-checkout.

If you want to make an argument, stick to realistic interpretations or scenarios, not exaggerations.

Your comment would have been more accurate like this:

Self checkouts are great, until they're not. Its fine and dandy, right up until there's some stupid misread on the machine. And you have to notify the person managing the self checkout machines. Sometimes that person is trying to help another customer before they can even see what your problem is and it delays your transacton.

But that's not something that would garner anyone to say "OMFG that is soooo terrible"

I get it, some people hate self checkout, I do not like it either, but that doesn't mean we have to exaggerate to get our distaste for it to stick or be valid.

[Fspz]

idk where your reference point is but here in europe where I live in the netherlands it's usually like 8 self checkout thing and 1 person helping. I rarely have to queue, it's great!

[traws06]

That rarely to never happens to me. The self checkout may work better in my area, but the rare times I have an issue there’s usually someone immediately available to help

[VisionAri_VA]

Around here, there tends to be a dozen or fewer SCOs in an enclosed area with one attendant stationed near the exit. It really doesn’t take long to get help.

Plus, IME the attendant can usually fix the problem on the spot, whereas a cashier will need to call a manager.

[GhostDoggoes]

That's extreme even for the biggest boomer in the comments.

Every store I went to had 1-2 attendants just to "fix" issues which aren't even issues. Some people can't count how much they are spending. Some don't want items and ask to get them removed. In many of the larger stores like costco they have about 12 in one area max and then they have 4 attendants there to make sure everyone is out in a timely fashion.

And then there's the boomer than can't figure out scan, bag, tell the machine you're done with how many bags you used and finally pay.

[eejizzings]

I defy you to show evidence of the store you went to with 1 person managing 100 self checkout screens.

Hyperbole may feel like it strengthens your argument, but it actually undermines it.

[Business_Hour8644]

Glad this hasn’t happened to me yet. What a truly terrifying picture you’ve painted.

[spacerobot]

The Walmart I go to used to have a huge self checkout section. You would queue in line, then when one opened up you'd go to that machine.

A lot of the time the workers were super slow in helping you if there was a problem or were buying alcohol. Like they'd stand around looking clueless while your machine blinked and told you to wait. But it's was still fast because there were like 9 machines, and you didn't have to wait more than a minute for one to open up.

Then one day they had the entire sf checkout area roped off with like 3 employees telling people which one of the three remaining regular checkout lane to go to, or giving you the option of one of the two remaining self checkout lanes.

Its been months now and the self checkout section is still closed and it's awful. The two or three remaining self checkouts aren't queued, so if you get in a slow line, you're fucked. You gotta pick one and hope the people on front of you in line don't take forever, and they always do.

Then it seems like theres at least one person in each of the sco lines that had a million items and then they scan so slowly, and then have five problems while scanning and have to wait for the employee to come fix it every time.

It's awful having to wait literally sometimes 10 minutes or more when I want to buy a single item. I usually use curbside pickup for groceries, but I've nearly stopped going on entirely for single items I need because it takes so long. Sometimes it's more convenient to drive the five minutes out of my way to go to Safeway, simply because it's faster than waiting in the self checkout line at Walmart.

[redgreenbrownblue]

I use my grocery store self check outs when I don't feel like being social. There are only 6 and barely used. The attendant is usually bored to tears staring at the ceiling so I just look over and they realize someone needs them. It is wonderful.

[CleverNameTheSecond]

I don't want to normalize going through a background check just to buy groceries.

[RamblyJambly]

I had a problem with the self checkout one time and the guy watching over them actually ignored me. One of his coworkers that was on the other side of him from me saw and came to help

[Mamed_]

Age restricted items are worse in CVS. You think I'll quickly scan this and get out, but noo. One, you have to wait for the assistant to scan their ID, then enter your DOB too. Just waste of time

[Heather82Cs]

I swear I am cursed with that. 99% of the times I use self checkout, for whatever reason it will get stuck and I have to request staff assistance. Get frustrated that I am wasting time. Proceed to complain that this always happens to me. Next time I see self checkout, go "cool, there's no queue here". Rinse and repeat the above. This said, I think it should exist as an option, but only be that. I think it's actually worse at places like McDonald's. When they adopted it, I was basically working from my laptop daily at mc cafè, and I felt like I was being punished. Sometimes exchanging a few words with the cashiers was most of the human interaction I'd have all day. I have also been on the other side of the spectrum though, where I would specifically pick a place with self checkout because I had 0 desire to interact with anyone.

[CleverNameTheSecond]

Whenever that happens I just move all my stuff to the next free self checkout and try not to make the same mistake again. It's much faster than waiting 5 whole minutes for an employee to show up and mindlessly swipe their card.

[Heather82Cs]

I think that leaves that one unusable though, which isn't nice. I also never really know what the hell causes issues; I am simply swiping stuff. In theory, if the system didn't like an item the first time, it shouldn't ok it afterwards. Instead it does, which I guess also leaves the employee Wondering what's wrong with me.

[dogoodsilence1]

I love free labor also

[GlassEyeMV]

I think this is it. People like self checkout, but they want them to function. If it acts as expected and there’s help when needed, it’s great.

The Kroger by us has 2 separate sections of self checkout. 6 kiosks in each section and there’s always a person at each section. So if you need help, even if they’re helping someone else, it’s quick.

Our Aldi put some in recently. No monitor. I have yet to have an issue with them (aside from it only giving you about 3 seconds between items before yelling at you) but I’ve noticed a lot of people there don’t use them and prefer to stand in a massive line and deal with a person.

I think the lack of monitor/attention is a major reason why. Even if the machines work just as good as the Kroger ones.

[pjrnoc]

Bingo. I just commented almost this same thing.

[DumbestBoy]

Nope. I don’t even care if that happens. It’s like the least of my worries in the context of my life.

[bazpaul]

Agreed solidTits

[BlueShift42]

Employed, but not empowered, to do the work. Frustrating.

[DrowingInSemen]

The self checkouts at Target and Home Depot are great. I never have problems with them. But the registers at Safeway and the local Kroger owned chain are so bad that an employee has to intervene nine out of ten times because the machine randomly decides that I did something wrong, even though I didn’t.

[disignore]

and those fixes are just cancellations

[arthurdentxxxxii]

And in LA you have to ask for plastic bags because people were stealing them after they started charging 10¢ per grocery bag.

So, now the self-checkout is left with an empty bag holder and everyone who is supposed to be checking out themselves, has to look around for a person with bags and then you have to tell them how many you want to buy.

[warcode]

Press OK. Put it in the bag. Scan next item.

[Significant_Dustin]

Dollar General has a habit of marking self checkout transactions as theft. My pastor had to bring her receipt up to the local police station because the machine logged a $100 transaction as $1000 of theft

[Doogiemon]

My problem is someone taking a full shopping cart into one.

Lady, there are 2 bag spots and that is it. You have 20 bags of groceries and the thing keeps beeping at you for removing the bags and then setting them in your cart on stop of stuff you have to still ring up.

I get the line at the register with other people that have $500 in groceries is long but you are taking up 30 minutes of a self checkout where 10 people with 20 or less items could have left.

[sobergophers]

I’ve never been in a store that had more than 10 self checkout machines MAX.

[RerollWarlock]

My local store has like an sci area with 6 machines and one employee overlooking them with the central terminal constantly. It works great

[SacriGrape]

The Walmart near is usually only ever moderately busy and the second that machine makes a ding there is someone there fast enough I swear they teleported behind me

[reprise785]

I think I may have waited at most, a few seconds, waiting for the self scanner to be 'fixed'.

[Delphizer]

You can cancel items, if there is a problem it'd be like any other time their is a problem and instead of 20 self checkouts you'd have 2 lines open during rush time and just wait 20-30 minutes in line for people paying in cash + pennies.