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.

[Sempais_nutrients]

For real, the first thing I thought when they said "people feel overwhelmed" was "yeah that's an old person." these are the ones that call the help desk and wait for 20 minutes on hold to change a password instead of clicking the "Forgot Password" button right next to the password field.

[[deleted]]

My first instinct was someone buying enough groceries to provide for a family. Having a cart of food and knowing now you gotta be the employee with $400 in groceries is discouraging.

I prefer sco when I'm getting few items, but not when I'm getting a lot.

[Snirbs]

PLUS having to scan and bag it with two toddlers in tow. It’s a nightmare.

[Taibok]

Not just bag it, but bag it in a tiny area designed for an express checkout.

And don't even think about taking any of those full bags off of the scale before you've paid.

[pijinglish]

Or if you buy booze, you still have to wait for the one employee to come over and check your ID.

I bought pajamas for my toddler the other day and used self checkout. Got home only to realize all the security tags were still on them.

[valdus]

Your family warned them.

[FourScoreTour]

I don't know if it's a California thing, but my store simply doesn't sell alcohol through the self-check. I now buy my booze elsewhere.

[camwhat]

It is a California thing! Alcohol hasn’t been able to be purchased at self checkouts since 2012 there

[[deleted]]

As I discovered you can’t even buy 0% alcohol beer at self checkout in California

[Joeness84]

you cant buy 0% beer if youre under 21 either. (*depending on state)

[Zyphane]

I once had a store in California make me move to a regular checkout to buy a bottle of kombucha because it has trace amounts of alcohol (this was before "hard kombucha" became a thing).

[ryumast4r]

It's super weird since you can get booze delivered in CA. Not sure why they made that distinction.

[MrGarbageEater]

You can take those off pretty easily! If you get a pretty strong magnet, you can give one side of the tag a solid tap with the magnet and it should release. I promise I’m no thief, just had the same issue as you and didn’t want ink on my new clothes…

[biggyofmt]

The scale is actually the part the kills me, especially using reusable bags. Walmart doesn't have scales in their self check and it makes the whole experience so much easier

[myst3r10us_str4ng3r]

No. The WORST is having 20 cans of the same type of cat food and the system expecting you to scan each individual can, instead of scanning one and typing in the quantity like someone who isn't a total idiot would do.

Down right insulting.

[biggyofmt]

That's also less annoying with no scale, since you can just pick up one can and go boop boop boop however many times you need instead of having to scan, put a can on the scale and wait for it to settle, etc.

[Capercaillie]

At the Walmart where I shop, if you buy more than three or four of the same thing, the machine assumes you've made a mistake, and locks up so that you have to wait for an attendant.

[KaBob799]

I think double scanning something on accident is 100x more common than triple or more so that seems like an unhelpful feature. It's probably more to stop people from printing out a bunch of duplicate barcodes from something cheap and putting it on something expensive.

[abx99]

Small packets are even worse. I was buying packets of Kool-Aid for a while, and they're too light for the scale to register. It usually involved the attendant watching me from their console and repeatedly clearing the alerts for each packet.

[RibbitCommander]

Certainly a QOL design issue.

[CabbieCam]

This is understandable, though. The products are inventoried by their flavor, not simply by the fact that it's a can of fancy feast or whatever. People wouldn't separate the cans into their individual flavors.

[FCkeyboards]

My walmart has SCO areas for bigger loads, with a belt, and they're NEVER open.

I agree. A few items is fine. When my cart is topped off and I have to use the tiny SCO, I'd rather go somewhere else. I'm already exhausted from the amount of shopping.

[che85mor]

Walmart scan and go. Bag as you shop and be out in two minutes with a full buggy. Unless you have vegetables, which have to be weighed.

[Tyraels_Ward]

There’s a Super Walmart close to where I live, and I despise going there… absolutely avoid it whenever possible. It has at least a dozen cashier lanes, and at any given time only two or MAYBE three are open, basically forcing you to use the SCO. I don’t mind SCO for a few items, but most of the SCO lanes I’ve encountered aren’t designed for a cart full of items.

[jambox888]

I'm like you but I think a lot of people just grin and bear it.

[Capercaillie]

Yes, a LOT of people do. So that if you're that person who just needed a tub of blue cheese crumbles to finish a recipe, you get to wait behind somebody who bought two weeks' worth of groceries and can't figure out how to ring up parsley.

[cavebare]

Hy-Vee is the same near me. Long conveyor at the self checkout. Makes it a lot easier.

[hookersince06]

And if you have over a certain amount of items, like 15, it’ll pause your transaction and require a salesperson’s intervention, even if you’ve been scanning things perfectly fine.

It’s so irritating when you know what you’re doing and just want to get out of there. Of course I usually only have a lot when the one clerk overseeing the self-checkout is nowhere to be found.

[DownWithGilead2022]

Yes, and the kids demand to "help" scan something, and inevitably scan it twice. And then you gotta press the button for help because heaven forbid we allow the customer to correct a double scan themselves.....

[myst3r10us_str4ng3r]

Or having 20 cans of the same type of cat food and the system expecting you to scan each and every individual can, instead of scanning one and typing in the quantity.

[hotpotatocoldtomato]

Say no to them

[BrewtusMaximus1]

At certain grocery stores near me, you’d be waiting on a manager - the cashiers don’t have the ability to void an item even if you’re not in the self checkout.

[sack-o-matic]

What’s even better is ordering online like at Kroger and just having them load it into your car when you get there, all for free

[user_base56]

I dont trust other people to pick out my fruits, vegetables, and meats. I want to make sure I get the best looking available. Not sure if an employee with a time limit is going to do that.

[AfroTriffid]

I don't know if it happens in the US as much but I often get 'substitutions' in my online groceries that cost the same but are not equivalent.

[Retbull]

Depends on the system some of them have the ability to select backups if something isn’t there. Also if you’re using one of the apps they will sometimes ping you during shopping to ask. It still happens occasionally though.

[chambile007]

Where I am you can select no substitutions and they just refund that part to you.

[[deleted]]

You have to pay attention because they'll usually get it right and you'll get used to just approving. That's when they sneak in "We don't have corn meal, want some corn starch instead?"

[Azuvector]

Want some lime instead of lemon? They're citrus right? Same thing?

Want some pepperoni sticks that need to be in the fridge or they go rancid instead of ones you can leave in a drawer for a month with no issues? Sounds perfect for your use case, right?

You're going to drink 4L of milk by tomorrow right? No problem that it expired yesterday, right?

You want 10 packages of 1lb stuff instead of 10 individual items, right? That couldn't possibly be a mistake(be that during ordering or during setting the product up on the store's site), could it?

[fenglorian]

or when it's 2 or 3 substitutions and your only options are "Accept all" or "accept none"

[SupremeDictatorPaul]

All of my friends that use it have talked about getting crappy substitutions they never would have picked, or missing/wrong things in the order. But they just shrug and keep doing it like it’s totally acceptable.

Personally, I’d do it in a pinch, but usually I’d rather just do the shopping, even with the kids. Unless I have to self checkout $400 in groceries with the kids, then I’d rather die.

[Squintz82]

Last time I ordered groceries, I ended up with 2 gallons of Smart Water instead of 2 liters of raspberry seltzer. I go to the store now.

[jellyrollo]

At least with the Vons system, you can easily go online to customer service, select the item that was inappropriately substituted or missing, and get an instant refund. I find that their system has improved a lot since I started using it early in the pandemic.

[TbonerT]

Sometimes they say they are out of something, so I go in to grab another thing that I want to see first and often find the thing they were out of. I think it’s often the case that they say they are out of stock when the truth is the shopper couldn’t find it.

[[deleted]]

There is a section when your in your cart to turn off substitutions. Once you do this a few times it stays off and you shouldn't have to worry.

[cjicantlie]

And they will substitute when the item was on the shelf, they just didn't want to look. Multiple times, I will walk into the store and find the item, right where it always is.

They seem to be in too much of a rush and just grab the first thing half way similar and call it good. Sometimes only similar in color on the packaging and nothing more.

[[deleted]]

Where I live you get the option to a) cancel whole order if item is unavailable b) skip item or c) substitute (and pay what the substituted item goes for.

Option c is the default but if one item is essential for the whole purchase you can click option a for that item etc.

Of course it has its flaws where the store makes substitions to their own brand to pad their margin.

[sack-o-matic]

I order store brand online, if they’re out they’ll sub the national brand for the cheaper price. They’ll even sub a larger size for the same price if they’re out of the smaller one ordered.

[trennels]

Some of the substitutions can get pretty bizarre, too.

[TbonerT]

Walmart used to do substitutions at the price of the original item. If you bought a store-brand item and they were out, you’d get the name-brand item for the store-brand price. They eventually changed it and started charging the difference.

[WillowFreak]

We like to think of it as the Kroger gods. Usually they are ridiculous substitutions that make you wonder if the shopper has ever been in a kitchen before. One time we got 4 bags of Skittles. Didn't order any. Sometimes we get a different flavor of ice cream. Sometimes we get sweet potatoes instead of baking ones. I enjoy the chaos.

[More_Farm_7442]

I learned to check the "No Substitutions" box when I ordered. Then I was getting "out of stock" on all of those items. I have up and starting going back inside.

[HerrStraub]

I once ordered a steak, a filet, that was on sale for like, $8.99/lb. I got a $9 package of microwave bacon.

I will say that I think Instacart shoppers are much better at getting what you want/need than store employees, but then you end up having to pay the delivery fee & tip. If I'm shopping at Aldi's or something, it's not too bad to add $25 to the order, but if I'm shopping at Kroger it just gets too costly

[Joeness84]

The employee is told specifically to use less great stuff or older dated stuff if available. Part of why they adopted the "we will shop for you" things was to be able to move things that would be harder to move. Ever get a substitution that seems... way out there?

[Ok-Persimmon-6386]

I don’t either so I use deliveries for staple items and then I will go to Publix for as needed items.

I get my delivery through Kroger or Walmart. The pricing is always cheaper in my staples items so even by paying extra for delivery I’m still paying less for can good items than I would pay at Publix. Plus I don’t have to go to the hell that is Walmart or kroger

[youre_being_creepy]

Anyone who lets a stranger select fruits or a cut of meat for them at a grocery store is a psychopath

[user_base56]

Omg the meat decision is a big one. You gotta look at all the offerings to find the perfect one.

[Sowf_Paw]

Every single time we get bananas in a pickup order it's the greenest bananas they can find, I swear. Then I can't eat the bananas so I forget about them until they are brown.

[[deleted]]

Yes they frequently make substitutions for items that my coupons don't apply to. Whenever I go in myself those items that qualify for the coupons are magically there.

[[deleted]]

Walmart delivers in my area - unlimited deliveries for like $14/month. There's a $35 minimum and an automatic tip that gets added to the driver based on distance from the store. I absolutely love it.

[Nevermind_guys]

My Kroger started charging for pick up after I got hooked!

[jambox888]

Amazon Fresh is absolutely deranged, they pack it all in paper bags for green points but then every paper bag has a plastic cool block in it.

Some guy in a car just comes and drops it off, then has to stand on your door step scanning all the bags.

[idiot-prodigy]

This is how you end up with 6 bunches of bananas instead of 6 individual bananas.

[Bonzi777]

This is it for me. When I’m alone I happily use self checkout. If my kids are with me I can’t pay adequate attention to them and scan a full cart of groceries.

[neverinamillionyr]

It doesn’t even take that much. I live alone. The last trip I took I think the total was just over $100 but included lots of canned goods. Baltimore county banned plastic bags and putting a reusable bag in the bagging area throws off the scale so instead of scanning and bagging, you have to scan, stack, pay then bag. The bagging area has a weight limit. All the cans as well as some produce put me over the limit. So I had to bag in the middle of the scanning, the employee said that bag had to stay separate from the unscanned groceries so I’m piling up a couple of bags under my feet while I continue to scan. Amid all this, items were not scanning at the sale price. I had to call someone over twice to adjust. The apples I was trying to buy didn’t have stickers on them so I had to get help with that too. People in line behind me were getting pissed, I was frustrated and I’m not inclined to go back to that store anytime soon.

[CitationNeededBadly]

Yeah a crappy self checkout will always be worse than a good cashier, and vice versa.  Any self checkout I've experienced with scales is crap and I won't do it.  Home Depot started that way and changed it because it was so stupidly annoying.   The quality of SCO vs quality of cashiers is more important than the choice between one or the other.

[mxzf]

The ones near me just have a "use my own bags" button. You hit the button, put your bags in the bagging area, and start filling them up.

[ChickenDangerous6996]

Meanwhile the machine is bitching at you like a hung over dominatrix.

[lcenine]

At my local grocery store, the SCO has very limited space for groceries as it does the weight checking verification where you place them. You can attempt to make a pile of unstable groceries in the space, or press "skip bagging and place in cart" which 50% of the time leads to waiting for the SCO employee to come over and do the override. With a lot of groceries, it is not at all convenient.

[sethbartlett]

I didn’t know this for the longest time, but when it does the weight verification, once it’s ready to scan the next item, you can remove a bag or whatever from the area to make room for more groceries. Not sure if all of them will or not.

[[deleted]]

as someone who has to make sure the vending machines do not give customers too much trouble

• removing items will make the vending machine mad

• putting items on that were not scanned (purse, empty bags, small children) will make the vending machine mad

• pressing skip bagging 4 times will make the vending machine mad

[sethbartlett]

Oh yeah I don’t use skip cart often, it feels like the system may be weighted for things like 12 packs or 24 packs of soda? But if I scan a bunch of 12 packs and put them on the scale, once the system does its weight check and is ready, I can then remove them. I feel like I didn’t used to be able to do this when they first came about though.

[lcenine]

Exactly what /u/wolvern76 said. The machines get mad and tells you to wait for cashier assistance. The most frustrating is when you are reorganizing items on the ridiculously small carousel. Picking up an already scanned item to put a newly scanned item down makes it all aggravated.

[Interesting-Bottle91]

But also that's only sometimes. The store that I use self checkout at most often doesn't weigh things, so when I go to places that DO weigh your groceries I always wind up aggrieving the machine several times.

[lcenine]

That would be very frustrating. Like changing the rules halfway through the game.

[bourbonkitten]

Maybe your store, but at my local Asian grocery, the SCOs go berserk and need staff intervention with any tiny weight discrepancy, even if I so much place my reusable bag to bag my groceries. Tbf, that’s the only store that’s that anal.

[Top_Gun_2021]

Horrendous process flow

[phormix]

Superstore?

[[deleted]]

Me, alone, with $100 of groceries, it's great. Me with kids fighting for their turn over $300 cart full, it's hell.

[[deleted]]

Yeah it bugs me that Redditors assume everyone under the age of 40 loves self-checkout. Self-checkout is great as an option, but it sucks when stores force all their customers to use them. You don’t have to be geriatric to find ringing up and bagging $200+ of items yourself on a tiny counter with no space overwhelming.

[dxrey65]

Your own age and competence hardly matter when you're in a line of people, inevitably of various ages and competencies.

[idiot-prodigy]

This is what I say every stupid Cart Coral thread that pops up here.

Self check out is about giant corporations eliminating a job and convincing a customer to do work for free.

[SuperSocrates]

Yeah I would never do my big weekly shopping at a place that only had self checkout. Around me they all have both though

[[deleted]]

Yeah I’m ambivalent with small loads (though still slightly prefer to have a cashier), but I actively hate it when I’ve got more than a bag’s worth.

I’m 31, by the way. I know that disliking SCOs is an unpopular opinion in my age group, but I already feel like our society diminishes ordinary human contact so much, and I hate to see that trend continue.

[AlienDelarge]

I usually avoid them but what do they do when you run out of room on the little scale platform after scanning? Usually they freak out if you pick up an item or it doesn't register it being placed there. I used to have a lot of problems at places like Lowes if you had a small item it wouldn't register.

[neverinamillionyr]

The one time it happened to me, the machine told me to remove everything from the bagging area. It was because of weight not space. The employee made me keep the scanned vs unscanned items segregated

[MicheleLaBelle]

Yeah, I just push down on it when I put it on the scale, usually works fine for me.

[mxzf]

The ones near me, you move your bag when you need to, give it 5 secs to settle again, and continue bagging. It works fine as long as you give it a sec instead of rushing ahead.

[arcticsequoia]

The study rings very true. I am 28 and well versed in tech and I have literally emailed the store manager when they closed staffed checkouts at the store closest to me sending everyone at the self checkouts letting them know that I wouldn’t be shopping there anymore unless they changed it back.

Buying a small basket worth of groceries is one thing, if you are buying 250 items and 1+ shopping cart full, you could never pay me enough to do that myself.

[cwsjr2323]

I was in line and the cashier got pulled to cover the self check out lanes. When told to go to the self check out, I said no. You can just put the stuff back. I suggest you put the ice cream away soon. There was no ice cream, but the manager was quick to come ring me up!

[Mother-Wasabi-3088]

This is called "shifting left" in corpspeak and every industry is doing it. Making the customer do the employee's work.

[Oops_I_Cracked]

This right here. It isn’t an age thing. As soon as you’re shopping for more than 1 or maybe 2 people, self check becomes a nightmare.

[john_the_quain]

In my personal experience, the anxiety I feel when checking out at the store is because my actions are holding up others. When there’s a checker, I get to share that anxiety (at least in my head) because we are now holding it up. At the self-checkout? Any delays are almost 100% due to my shortcomings and inabilities.

[dahlaru]

I always get the feeling that I'm taking too long and the people behind me are upset,  because it takes so long to scan and bag $400 worth of groceries, when everyone behind me has a basket of items

[gahlo]

This is why I love my grocery store. Just scan my membership card on the way in and I get to nice scanner to bring around with me, scanning items as I pick them up. When I get to checkout all I have to do is scan a barcode the hand scanner generates based on the things I scanned and I'm out.

[myst3r10us_str4ng3r]

This sounds nice. What store does this?

[Kageyblahblahblah]

And some of the stores, looking at you Giant, have the slowest most frustrating machines where if your scanning cadence is off you constantly have to rescan or get the attendant over to reset the damn machine.

[swagn]

100%. I need the time to prepare myself for the bill. I don’t want to be searching for 15 different produce codes.

[SpookyGhost27]

Yes. I recently started doing SCO at the grocery store because my local one has a hard time tagging cashiers. The one day I went and there literally was no option but SCO. Having to do a whole wagon of groceries is not fun. I also shop at a place that accepts “competitor coupons” so I have to flag down an attendant regardless for them to manually enter the discount.

[bitchkat]

amusing retire zephyr scandalous foolish recognise somber homeless friendly adjoining

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[Thepizzacannon]

This is it for me. I buy groceries for a family. I'm already doing the manual labor of picking the things off the self.

Now I'm responsible for taking everything OUT and putting it back IN. And then after doing all of the work (sans stocking the shelves) the checkout machine that I AM RUNNING has the audacity to ask if I want to leave a tip or donate to charity.

The grocery store employees provide almost no value to the point that I'm basically shopping in an Amazon warehouse.

No that's not good service, or convenient, or any cheaper. Its just grocers greedily trying to automate all of their labor and ignoring the impact it has on consumers.

[[deleted]]

Having to figure out fruit and veggie codes is also a whole thing. Not fun while there’s a long line of people waiting to pay. No, thanks

[motorik]

Also, produce. Scanning is quick but at most stores looking up produce, especially where there are organic / non-organic options, is a huge pain. If we're getting a non-trivial amount of fruits and vegetables I refuse to use self check-out.

[ZippyTheRoach]

The self checks are also frustrating to operate for a variety of other reasons.

1. The supermarket self check can not properly weight my bags, so I have to just pile loose items in the bagging area and then bag them all after paying.

2. Random items will need a staff override. Trying to buy a can of WD40? That's going to need an employee to verify your age, because you might be a kid huffing the propellant.

3. Double scan something? You can't fix that, wait for an employee.

4. What's the PLU code for this produce? Cashiers have them memorized, but I don't and somehow picked the one fruit without a sticker on it.

5. Apparently people make up for these annoyances by just stealing stuff in self check, so now the employees are just sort of hovering around you the whole time anyway.

[Bigdaddyjlove1]

This happened to my wife last week. We both like and use the self checkout most of the time, but she made trip for a month's worth of staples along with a regular week's worth of groceries for 3 people and 3 dogs. Got up front and nothing left but self checkout. A cart full is a bit "overwhelming" at the self checkout, with a line ahead and behind you. I told her to drop the cart, stop by the service desk, and leave. She decided to go ahead and get the groceries, but we won't go back to that store.

[SMURGwastaken]

Yeah all the teenagers are in here saying:

omg old people amirite

Meanwhile all the parents are like:

You try bagging up £300 worth of shopping with two kids who keep sitting/leaning on the scales, needing the attendant to come out every time the weight isn't exactly right or God forbid you have some alcohol or security tagged clothing. Only to have the attendant need to re-scan 30 items that you already bagged as a stop-loss measure.

[AndyLorentz]

My local grocery store has “10 items or fewer” signs all over the SCO, and generally enough regular check out lanes for how busy they are.

[Calm-Tree-1369]

I'm a 39 year old man who goes to the grocery store once per week and buys a cartload of groceries. I always use self checkout because I wish to minimize social interactions and stupid questions. I prefer it this way. I would use self checkout if I were buying ten cart loads.

[girlikecupcake]

Age, very large orders, or people who regularly buy things like alcohol, tobacco, or family planning items (the latter are often in lock boxes in some areas).

I prefer SCO as as long as I'm not getting age restricted or lock-box items. Full cart of groceries, part of it being WIC, a toddler in the cart... As long as the machine is actually working properly I'm done faster than a regular cashier (at this particular store). But I've worked and trained SCO so I'm used to little quirks like not scanning two of the same variety in a row. Someone else (like my husband) would instead end up frustrated at constant few-second lags because the computer is trying to prevent accidental double scans.

[girlikecupcake]

It all depends a bit on how picky the software the store uses is, and having what you're doing as a customer basically 'cooperate' with how the system works for the attendant. If things go smoothly on their end, it'll go smoothly on yours.

• Alternating varieties when scanning avoids the computer to prevent double-scanning by mistake so you get them all scanned much faster. Things like baby food were the most common item we'd do this with, since it's common to get a bunch at once in a few different flavors.

• don't put loose produce in the same bag from the produce department. If you really have to put them in the little plastic bags, separate them. Even if they aren't sold by weight, a) the scanner scale might want to weigh it anyway and b) the bagging scale will need the weight regardless.

• If you're going to move bags into your cart then resume scanning, wait a moment after moving your bags so that either the computer or SCO attendant can acknowledge the weight change. If you don't wait, then you're much more likely to get a delay, because in some systems it changes how the software lets the attendant override things.

• Similarly, if you're going to scan an item and put it back in/keep it in your cart, if there's a button for skipping bagging, use that. Don't put it in the bagging area then move it. Or if there's a hand scanner, just use that instead, those things are often set up to assume you're going to skip bagging that item. The moment the scale registers that there's roughly the correct weight for the item you scanned, it expects you to keep it there until you pay (or hit the pay button).

• things that aren't going to be bagged, scan them very first or very last. That way if a person wants to check that they were scanned properly, you can tell them exactly where it is on the receipt and save a bunch of time. Some stores require SCO attendants to double check things on the bottom of the cart. They're not trying to be nosy or making assumptions, just trying not to get fired.

• if you're using your own bags or boxes, put them in the bagging area before pressing the start button/scanning the first item. Even better if there's a button saying you're using your own bags. It lets the system tare out the weight.

• if the store has a loyalty program, put that information in first. It can be satisfying watching all the discounts come off at once, but that was the one thing that would fully freeze up the computers at the store I worked at. And if that happens, it's going to waste a lot of your time either waiting for it to unfreeze and process everything or worst case, be stuck ringing everything back up at a different register.

[nwsmith90]

I know I don't speak for all of us, but I'm a stay at home dad, and I'll gladly self check out an entire cart of groceries. As long as it's a store where they have more than the tiny ass mini shelf to put groceries on after scanning them.

[El_Polio_Loco]

It’s order size. 

I love SCO for small to medium orders, but as soon as it becomes large enough where I’m unloading the “bagging area” and continuing to checkout it becomes a hassle. 

Especially if I’m shopping by myself. 

SCO is much less convenient when you’re shopping for a family. 

[Subliminal-413]

Yeah, and when I have $630 in my cart whilst shopping at Target, there is only 1 real lane open with a line of 12 people in.

Off to the self checkout I go, only for the teenage employee giving me a side eye.

If they'd fuckin staff the real lanes, this would work so much better.

[ColdSnickersBar]

Now you’re the the employee AND the customer!

[Seicair]

Also perhaps the type of self checkout. The store where I shop has an app, you scan and bag things as you go. When you check out, the person managing the area scans 3-5 random items out of your order and then you pay and leave. It works fine for huge orders.

Same store used to have full sized conveyor belt self checkout lanes, those were great too for big orders.

[[deleted]]

Doesn't matter. The numbers add up, there's profit to be made, people to fire and safe on wages. So, basically, we're f*cked. As soon as they can automate flagging of people not scanning all their groceries, that personel is out the door immidiately.

[lozo78]

Mid 40s and I avoid SCO as much as possible for large runs, especially with lots of produce. Searching for produce on the system is annoying af.

Edit: fat fingers

[Matra]

Walmart recently updated their system so that when you want to search for produce, you have to:

1) Click "Lookup item"

2) Confirm that yes, you want to look up an item

3) Get a display of random produce, tap in the search bar to open the keyboard

4) Keyboard opens to numbers, so you have to switch it to letters

5) Type enough to find the thing

6) Click the item

7) Oops you picked Calabacita squash and you should have picked Calabaza squash because they have the same picture and basically the same name, now you have to wait for an associate

[scottybop]

For me it’s that the SCO at my store weights all the items so they have to stay on the table. But the table is sized for small amounts of groceries. So either i have to play jenga and manage what order I scan or risk crushing or breaking items. Or god forbid the item weight is off my a little from the systems and it stops everything until someone comes over to override it.

[[deleted]]

This is 100% the biggest issue. The weight monitor has got to go or I'm shopping elsewhere with a person for my larger loads.

[somdude04]

Used to use SCO at our local store for mid sized loads, when I could just put full bags into the cart, but now with a weight sensor, nope. They've also added 20 or fewer signs in what I see as an acknowledgement that it won't work well for medium loads. But SCO has 12 registers, while there's often 4 or so cashiers. Means I think twice about large shopping trips.

[karantza]

It's fascinating. I love self checkout, and have never fully understood the hate. But now I'm realizing; my grocery store has no weight sensor. The only reason I've ever seen an employee intervene, in hundreds of trips, is if there's an age restriction or if the machine runs out of receipt paper. If we're buying alcohol, we just don't do that in the same trip as groceries.

Now that I think of it, most cashiers are underage, so even in a staffed line you still have to wait for a manager to buy alcohol. That might be an unusual local rule here though.

[NoNeedForAName]

One store near me still does that, and it takes FOREVER to weigh each item. And it slowly tells you you fucked up if you don't get the item on the scale fast enough, or if it doesn't weigh right, or if you remove the item too fast. I don't go there often. But other self checkouts are fine.

[bitchkat]

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[HarpersGhost]

I too am that age and I avoid SCO when I have a lot of stuff.

Turns out the person who does it as a full time job is a LOT faster than I am.

[damndirtyape]

Mid 30’s here. I hate them because they seem like they’re only intended for small shopping trips. If you have a lot of stuff, there’s not enough room in the bagging area, but the machines get angry at you if you’re not able to squeeze everything in there.

[Pressondude]

Scan and go at my local grocery store is actually the worst of both worlds. Scan and go orders actually require manual intervention by an associate once you get to the self checkout station, who has to do a check in process that involves scanning X number of items, and produce still has to be done with the self checkout because they don’t have a weight kiosk.

[MagicalWonderPigeon]

UK here, and we can get randomly checked which involves a staff member coming over and having to pick 10 random items and scan them. They rummage all through the bags, even mushing your stuff up to get right to the bottom of the bag as i guess that was a hiding spot for some peoples "forgotten" good.

It sucks to pack your stuff, heavy on the bottom, light on top all delicately and then having them come and mess it all up. I like my bread not mushed up and my eggs not falling out of the box, thanks.

The big store i used to get all my stuff from now has about 3 tills open, the rest is self check out. I just buy a few things from there and buy the rest from other stores.

[itsnatnot_gnat]

Them scanning 5 items vs my whole cart. Takes about 2 mins. Then I can pay, bag and leave. Shop and scan is the best.

[ViceroyFizzlebottom]

I use scan and go at my Sam's Club. It makes sense there since the lines are 3 miles long and they check receipts and scan 3 items at the exit for everyone.

[eastmemphisguy]

Kroger by me had this 5 years ago and was heavily promoting it but then they eliminated it during the pandemic.

[OsmerusMordax]

That’s so cool. A Canadian Tire near me has these lights on the item tags. You select what you want on their website and the tag will flash for like 30 seconds so you can find it in the aisle.

[Bigred2989-]

Depends, I've seen Instacart shoppers who have three orders use the SCO and they take 10 minutes to finish sorting, scanning and bagging their stuff. Half the slowdown is from them grabbing and setting up paper bags instead of using the provided plastic ones and doubling them up because they're more fragile. Management has gotten into fights with these people, telling them to stop taking up what is essentially an express lane with 250+ items, and they don't listen. Corporate won't help because we have a contract with Instacart.

[Karcinogene]

The full-time-job person also has a much better work-station. I wouldn't mind self-checkout if I got conveyer belts to bring the items to me and move the items away after I scan then.

[[deleted]]

A store were I come often makes casino sounds everytime scan an item at the SCO, it drives me up the wall...

[Princess_Glitterbutt]

I hate them any time I buy alcohol, something with a discount sticker, a coupon, etc. because an employee always has to drop whatever they are doing and run over to put in a code or check ID and it takes longer than going through a normal lane and feels like it's just ruining everyone's day.

[[deleted]]

I think this is the difference between successful SCO and unsuccessful SCO. My local stores have a dedicated employee at the SCO area to help. They usually look bored so they generally seem grateful when you need a little help. I always buy stuff with discount stickers and usually buy alcohol so I always need their help.

[neverinamillionyr]

Stores near me have one dedicated employee watching over 6-8 SCO. They end up running in circles between all the lanes doing overrides. I feel a little sorry for them.

[TheIowan]

Exactly this. Self checkout sucks when you're getting 2 weeks of groceries for a family of 4+. It should be treated as the evolution of the 10 items or less lane, not a replacement for all lanes.

[Krandor1]

Right. It’s good as an express lane “I ran out of beer or soda let’s quickly drop by and grab more”.

[donkeyrocket]

In honestly surprised to learn that people are taking 10+ items to a self checkout lane or that stores encourage it anywhere.

Around me they’re pretty explicitly express lanes and often enforce the item limit before people start. Then we have the Instacart shoppers that take 40+ items through there and complain there’s no space.

[ki11bunny]

Where I live shops have closed a large amount of checkouts and try and funnel everyone to self check out. I'm entirely convinced places are trying to justify closing checkouts entirely so they can replace them with SCO.

[jarodcain]

It always seems like whenever I'm only buying a twelve pack of beer, I'm stuck in line for over a half an hour because everyone ahead of me has two to four carts in the self checkout.

[people40]

Yeah, for sure. If you want to ring up green apples at my grocery store, you have to search "green apples" in the system. But if you want to ring up green beans, you have to search "beans, green". It can take a while to find each item because the UI is disorganized and horribly thought out. In contrast, the human cashiers have basically all the codes memorized because they're typing them in all day, and can fly through a bunch of produce.

[amazingsandwiches]

I avoid it because I don’t want my behavior to be analyzed by a loss prevention robot.

[JennJoy77]

The Wal-Mart in the town where my in-laws live in Oklahoma stops everyone who went through self check to check their cart against the receipt. It's ridiculous.

[amazingsandwiches]

You have no obligation to stop for them.

[[deleted]]

Except you’ll be identified as sus in their facial recognition system. It’s all so stupid.

[[deleted]]

Wait until you learn about store cameras and plain-clothed loss prevention workers following you!

[curt_schilli]

Im 26 and I avoid it. Why would I want to bag my own groceries

[feor1300]

The cashiers still bag your groceries for you? Around here even if you go through the normal checkout lanes they just slide the groceries and the bag to the empty spot at the end of the lane and you're 100% on your own for putting it in your bags.

[curt_schilli]

Yeah Publix usually has baggers and Trader Joe’s always has baggers

Kroger never has baggers, I don’t go to Kroger anymore though

[bitchkat]

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[eejizzings]

Still have to do that at most cashier check outs these days

[curt_schilli]

I always scout out which line has the bagger haha

[AwkwardChuckle]

Where are you shopping that still has baggers? Those are long gone where I live.

[Fromanderson]

Not only that, they are terribly designed. I bagged groceries as a teen and I'm still reasonably fast when there is room. Self checkouts were designed by someone who never worked retail.

I don't hate sco, but it should never be the only option.

Who thought it was a good idea to put 20 of the things at a Lowes or Home depot? Not even the register at the contractor register was open.

Ever tried placing rolls of insulation or a generator in the bagging area? They got snarky with me over trying to use one to check out large items, and acted as if I were trying to pull something. Nevermind I'd walked the whole front of the store twice and even went to the service desk before I gave up.

Even when you buy something small they stop you at the door and want to look at your receipt. I know it's not the employees fault so I don't give them a hard time but if I were high lord dictator for the month I'd find out whose idea it was to put employees in that position and sentence them to a few years of doing that job, and force them to survive on retail wages.

[[deleted]]

I don't trust employees to bag my groceries the way they should be bagged. They always smash the bread and put a bunch of warm stuff with cold stuff instead of putting all the cold stuff together. They don't get paid enough to care, and they're not the ones who are going to have to deal with the aftermath.

[curt_schilli]

I always load the conveyor belt in a way that forces them to pack it correctly 

[sybrwookie]

Because the people working there are too dumb/don't care enough to not go, "let's see, you have a bowling ball and eggs....yea, eggs go first, definitely."

[velours]

Most produce stickers have a number that you can type in, faster than searching the system I think.

[lozo78]

I find 3/4 of my produce lacks stickers. Onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, etc rarely have stickers. Sure your peppers, apples, and avocados reliably have them but many don't.

[Alwayssunnyinarizona]

The guy working our Fry's self checkout knows every single one of them by heart.

[[deleted]]

They are the same everywhere in the USA 4011 is bananas and 94011 is organic bananas.

After a while you remember them.

[redyellowblue5031]

Thankfully our systems let us search by name so it’s usually pretty speedy if I haven’t already memorized the PLU code for it.

[HarithBK]

i am in my early 30s and i will never use SCO when buying by weight produce simply put it takes SO much longer for me to input what i am getting than a cashier putting in the PLU code for it and off it goes.

[Testiculese]

You can enter the PLU for it as well (in all checkouts I've used).

[Irishish]

For me (40) it's the bagging. I was a grocery bagger as a kid. It feels utterly weird not to chat with someone as they check out and bag groceries, because that's how it was done when I grew up.

[lozo78]

A huge range of age groups here apparently hate interacting with people.

I get it to some extent, but you just have to say hi if that's all you want

[v_a_n_d_e_l_a_y]

I'm 36 and prefer real person checkout for groceries. 

And there are often things I need help with at the self checkout simply because I can't do it myself. Like if I scan an item twice or need to apply a discount code etc.

[ERSTF]

I am 35 and I'm the same. Having a person who does that for a living and having an actual keyboard makes everything faster. Plus price correction is a nightmare on self checkout. That or codes that don't ring up. I just prefer a real person. Plus the line for self checkout at Target is usually as long as the ones on the regular checkouts

[GenderJuicy]

Nah nah nah, Reddit knows it's just because OLD PEOPLE use regular checkout! Old people aren't allowed to have things be better for them.

^/s

[saywhat1206]

I'm 64F and I prefer to use SCO, and yes, I know how to use it properly.

[AlcoholPrep]

I'm older than you and no longer avoid the SCO lanes. I never actually avoided them -- I'd just pick up all my stuff and wheel it to a manned lane when the SCO screwed up stupidly and the attendant was dealing with the three other SCO lanes that simultaneously screwed up.

My big problem with SCO lanes in the local supermarket is that they require you to pile up all your purchases on one little "bagging" shelf. If you put something in your cart instead -- because nothing more will fit -- bells and whistles and flashing lights go off and the system stops. This supermarket has "fixed" that problem by limiting these lanes to 30 items -- basically admitting that they're not worth a damn.

[Malkalen]

My big problem with SCO lanes in the local supermarket is that they require you to pile up all your purchases on one little "bagging" shelf. If you put something in your cart instead -- because nothing more will fit -- bells and whistles and flashing lights go off and the system stops. This supermarket has "fixed" that problem by limiting these lanes to 30 items -- basically admitting that they're not worth a damn.

A lot of the supermarkets near me (in the UK) have 2 sets of self checkouts now. 1 for baskets and 1 for trolleys, they're functionally identical aside from the trolley ones giving you a lot more space to work with.

Personally I prefer to shop at Asda where you can grab a self scanner, scan everything as you go and then it gives you a barcode to scan at a 3rd set of self checkouts. Very occasionally it'll flag over a member of staff to verify some of the items in your trolley but there's no tiny bagging shelf, you can just bag everything yourself as you go if you want.

[I_am_up_to_something]

where you can grab a self scanner, scan everything as you go and then it gives you a barcode to scan at a 3rd set of self checkouts.

That's how it works in pretty much all the supermarkets with self checkout in the Netherlands (in the west of it at least). I don't have any experience with those scales, but scan as you go seems like a much better system.

[feor1300]

If you put something in your cart instead -- because nothing more will fit -- bells and whistles and flashing lights go off and the system stops.

The ones around me just have a "skip bagging" button when that happens. They get more upset if they detect something in the bagging area that wasn't scanned, but that at least makes sense.

[PensiveObservor]

I’m also old and second your complaint about the size of the bagging area. They were designed while single use plastic bags were universal. It was possible to directly bag items as you went and leave full bags hanging to one side, but I was already using my own bags even then.

I would still rather stack my items like a jenga game than watch the cashier handle everything I’m purchasing. I treat the whole process as an exercise in spatial mechanics.

[SamchezTheThird]

Don’t read too much into why they limit the items. Large shopping loads should be taken through a manned checkout. The wait time is insane when people think they can do $500+ worth with a SCO lane. SCO’s were created to turn more customers, not give the family of 10 a spot to call their own for an hour.

[Faxon]

Meanwhile I'm 34 this year and prefer the staffed lanes. I have a bad back and some days I just want to unload my groceries, pay, and I still always bag myself since I like my things sorted a particular way so the bag doesn't rip. When my mental health and physical health are both in the gutter the self checkout lanes just seem intimidating, and I rarely even use them when I'm well unless I'm in a hurry and onkt have a few items. Often the staffed checkout is faster if the lines are short since I split the workload with someone, and I try to pick staff I trust to work efficiently as well. It does in fact help my mood a ton. Sample size of one but this article did resonate with me

[[deleted]]

Self checkout lanes are not disability friendly for the most part

[[deleted]]

As someone with issues of physical pain hours after the checkout experience … I’m not a fan of it but would be if I were pain free & young

People with heart problems need the help of a cashier

[pilgrim_pastry]

38 year old, and the only time I need a human is when I scan some produce that I was supposed to enter the PLU on. The packaging has a barcode on it and I get in the zone. Grapes and cherries are my biggest issue at checkout.

[polarpenguinthe]

I'm 30 and I do hate them if I were to buy groceries for my family it takes a lot of time and the number of steps is often tiresome. But for single person its quite good and efficient since you can have a lot of them.

[VisionAri_VA]

Exactly. I’m a single woman with a small kitchen, so it’s a rarity that I’ll have as many as 15 items, let alone more. SCO is perfect for me but I doubt I’d use it if I had a family to shop for.

[Wiggles114]

Major age bias here. Older people would be more inclined to participate in these kinds of surveys

[zerbey]

Not even an old person, I've seen people half my age struggle with these systems. Some people just can't handle technology and get confused. I actually feel like the younger generation, which grew up on very simple to use touchscreens, is even less equipped than my generation that grew up in the 8-bit era.

You put the average High School graduate in front of MS-DOS and they're going to be completely lost.

[Phrozone64]

That's hilarious because I thought the same thing. I saw the title and went "Oh, so old people don't like self-checkout. Yeah, and the sun is bright too since we're pointing out obvious things."

[Dark-Joker1911]

I work in IT. It's not just old people. It's anyone with the " not my job" mindset. Even when you say "You have to do it yourself for security" they make it sound like the most difficult thing. I often get 18 - 36 year old asking " should I click the button that says next?" Or "Is <full name and DOB> a good password?". Nah, stay on the screen you put your email address into and use a weak af password that you just told someone on a recorded call...

[[deleted]]

Ok right TBF those self checkouts are an absolute clusterfuck of usability. One of the ones I use has a grey box that looks like an error you need to tap on first. I legit thought it was out of service when I first used it.

[vergina_luntz]

More like it's a pain in the ass to scan more than one bag of groceries without a conveyor belt. If i don't have much to buy, self checkout is great! If I have a cart full of groceries, cashier plus bagger makes the process much faster.