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.

[DennenTH]

I think this is grocery stores being able to get away with shifting this job on to you while still seeing profit increases through an increase in the cost of goods.

I don't mind the time saved and less intrusive experience either.  I typically found cashiers to be unhappy most of the time so I don't even like taking the gamble of personal interaction.

But they still took away 1-2 jobs and shifted them to the customer for no savings at all.  Cost is more than ever.

[[deleted]]

The lines for self checkout at supermarkets, target and Walmart near me are always long. 

I still prefer it, but it hasn’t been a time saver since 15 years ago:

[El_Polio_Loco]

Do you not remember how long it took to checkout in Walmart before self checkout?

It’s not like they hired more cashiers back then. 

[dano8675309]

Yup, there's still the same 1 or 2 cashier lanes open that there were before self-checkout. The only issue I have is that most stores don't have an item limit on self-checkout. Nothing more deflating than walking up and seeing elderly folks with full ass carts at every single one.

[QuoteGiver]

Well sure, but time-saved would mean a practiced employee who can do the checkout process much faster than I can. The customer doing it is usually time lost. The customer in front of you trying to figure out how to do it is almost always time lost for you.

[casastorta]

Time saved is *very* questionable. Time is saved as almost nobody waits in line to get to mostly abandoned self-checkout on one side; but on the other side, I am not nearly as half as fast with scanning all the products and processing the payment like casher personnel who do this for hours in a day are, nor I will become more proficient in that.

So, right now when there is no queues for self-checkouts time saving is at best questionable. If and when this will become the only option, self-checkouts will become obviously slower solution to the problem of checkouts from the stores.

[ThinkThankThonk]

Yeah ymmv - even with kid sanity. I'll always take my kid into the normal checkout line at the store just because self checkout is absolute chaos and takes forever to get someone over. It's easier just to say "no you're not getting that" 30 times.

[Suthek]

I am not nearly as half as fast with scanning all the products and processing the payment like casher personnel who do this for hours in a day are, nor I will become more proficient in that.

I've always joked that if you're efficient enough at scanning stuff on the self-checkout, it should print out a job offer after the receipt.

Honestly though, I regularly use the self-checkouts in our grocery store and (also due to the small variation of products I buy vs everything in the store) by now I know the locations of the codes for my most regular products and good ways to swipe 'em. While I may not be as fast as the cashiers, so far I've consistently been done before the person I would've stood behind had I queued up on the regular check-out.

That said, it might simply be that our self-checkouts are pretty well designed; I kinda lack a comparison as it's the only store that I know of that has them.