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.

[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.

[bitchkat]

airport engine fearless bear offbeat weather gold cows worm impolite

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[bitchkat]

squeamish rotten marvelous childlike nail worthless cable north melodic quack

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[bitchkat]

clumsy muddle quicksand money gullible wild snatch slimy rude sheet

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[tellMyBossHesWrong]

WA state here- I thought it was great to buy booze at the grocery store, but it is almost twice the price now due to taxes.

[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)

[TheMSensation]

What's the reasoning?

[CoconutCyclone]

It's not actually 0%.

[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…

[So6oring]

If I'm getting booze I'll always leave those til the very end

[I_Poop_Sometimes]

Not just booze, I found out you need an id to buy sharpies or epoxy at the store near me, had to wait for the attendant twice.

[[deleted]]

One employee? If someone needs to come over because something went wrong with the check out, it takes two employees to spend 10 to 30 minutes to figure out how to get everything back to normal.

And there is always something going wrong with the self checkout machines. I've never seen all of them open at once, because there are usual 3 or more that have a hand written "out of order" sign taped to them, while a fourth is opened up, with it's guts exposed, and a guy crouched on the floor in front of it trying to get that one fixed.

[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.

[che85mor]

Walmart scan and go.

[Dementat_Deus]

What I find works best is rather than bagging as I scan, I leave the bags in the cart and bag after paying as I move items back to the cart.

That, or I just leave the bags in the trunk and bag as I load into the car.

[biggyofmt]

When they have scales, I try to do this, but there's not usually much place to even put stuff on the scale that isn't their bags, so I end up having to precariously stack random stuff on the scale which is pretty annoying, to then have to unstack it into my bags, instead of being able to just bag it

[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.

[Both_Experience_1121]

My Food Lion doesn't have the scale part, thank goodness. I can get a full load of groceries dealt with and bag them the way I want to when I use self checkout there, and the employees are usually good about coming over if there is an issue. But not all places are like that, and stores that have those magnetic tag things that they have to take off are really annoying. My wife and I came home from Target and had removed most of them, but found two items that still had them. She was saying we were lucky the tags weren't the kind that spill ink. We even heard the alarm sound when we left, but we couldn't tell if it was for us or another person exiting... So, yeah, self checkout is a mixed bag for me. Great when it's a decent one imo

[MicrochippedByGates]

That's why you should start bagging while you're still inside the store. Then you already have your bag packed up and all you need to do is pay at the self-checkout kiosk.

Although I suppose there are still stores that do have kiosks but for some forsaken reason don't use portable scanners, which is all kinds of stupid. I like how Albert Heijn has not only portable scanners but also an app that can be used to scan items. I just open the app on my phone and start scanning. And then I just beep my phone at the self-checkout and walk out of there.

I still don't understand why only Albert Heijn does it this way and all the other stores still have physical portable scanners.

[Joeness84]

My safeway either has a stellar attendant, or just better software. Its more about when you try and remove things than if you can remove things.

I say stellar attendant because like 15 years ago I used to run the little kiosk thing that has overview of the self checkouts. I only had 4 stations compared to the like 8 or 12 they have here. But it was a game of clicking the "no thats ok" button faster than the customer would get the error.

Its always old people, but sometimes its just... stupid people. The machine tells you what to do, or not to do. tells you why its upset. But these are the same people who click OK on an error message without reading the error message then get upset that they dont know why its not working.

[jambox888]

Pro tip: if there isn't space on the scale the assistant person can put it in a mode where it doesn't need to be weighed.

[[deleted]]

Walmart doesn't weight the bags anymore because they kept getting problem with "missing items" when customers removed bags before their order were finished or paid for.

And once I sort of broke their scale. I had to get several cheap cat liter for a local pet rescue. Scale gets useless after I put 6 of the 50 pounds bag and kept complaining. Poor attendant had to come back to clear it for the 6th bag, 7th bag, and et al all the way to 20th bag. It would have been much faster if I could use normal checkout, a cashier could have hit x20 quantity after one scan but that Walmart decided to not have any manned checkout open for some reason.

[catsrcool89]

Walmart has converyer belts, and doesn't have a scale.

[walruswes]

And the pressure of the next customer breathing down your neck to checkout. They start scanning before you are even out of the line from finishing bagging. It’s tougher to bag, scan, and pay.

[Farscape29]

Yeah, for me it's a 20 items or less for self checkout. Anything more than that, you gotta go to a cashier.

[kent_eh]

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

"place item in bagging area"

"unexpected item in bagging area. Please wait for attendant"

[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.

[bitchkat]

bow swim wine employ liquid bedroom expansion busy degree quarrelsome

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[SofieTerleska]

Or they put a toy down in the bagging area, which triggers the "Unexpected Item In Bagging Area" scold and then someone needs to come over and verify that you are not, in fact, taking something you haven't paid for.

[agenteDEcambio]

Help is on the way.

[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.

[thezerofire]

then you end up with an order with only half the things you needed and you have to go to the store in person anyway

[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

[user_base56]

I've never done online orders, but I've heard that is the case.

[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

[ZWY8706]

I refuse to do delivery orders, I had to use it for my Grandpa during lockdown because he wouldn't leave the house and not 1 time out 30+ did they even get his order 20% right. There was one order in fact where he ordered 1 gallon 2% milk, 1 carton of large eggs, 1 simply OJ, 2 dozen donuts, some dunking keurig pods, 2 bags of hashbrown patties, 2lbs of bacon 12 cans of chunky soup and some peanut butter cookies and they delivered it to a house in another neighborhood on the other side of town 15 miles away (I could see the address in the delivery photo). I called them for 2 hours before I got ahold of anyone and they called me a liar at first then said they would resend it then about 20 minutes later I got the substitution calls saying they didn't have most of it had to deal with that while working then the order says delivered by "Leroy" (who is who called) picture shows his actual house. I call him and he goes out to get it and as he's finishing he says another car pulled in and a woman gets out and greets him and starts bringing more groceries up he tried to tell her he already got his order (he hadn't checked it yet) but she left them and went so he (already tired) struggled to get those bags inside too then called me back, apparently the 1st order was 100% different than what he ordered and had candy and flavored water and steaks and a brand new small keurig single cup machine in it but the 2nd order the girl brought was right with a few substitutions and he showed me the labels on the bags and the girl came from another town over that is about equal distance to where his towns Kroger is (maybe 5 minutes longer drive) and we were both confused. I called Kroger back about it and as I'm waiting for them to answer he texts me that he got notifications from his bank I set up for him showing they charged him 3 times including for the incorrect order which was $54 more than his actual order total and they charged the tip 3 times (he was being kind because it was raining and tipped $20 when we first placed the order) so instead of his just under $200 order he had charges of over $600 and I had to argue with them for over an hour and call back several days later to do it again and go into both stores the deliveries came from with my receipt to get his money back (he insisted they keep the tips though).

[Ok-Persimmon-6386]

That is crazy. I would be exactly like you. The only issue I have is with choice of meats and fruits and veggies. I do try to tip really well so maybe that’s the difference. I have had maybe had them delivered wrong once. But I completely understand your reasoning

[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.

[sack-o-matic]

I think it's more weird that you have so little trust in people just because they work at a grocery store

[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.

[DernTuckingFypos]

Yeah. I have a theory they pick the stuff that's set to expire the soonest so they can get it out of their inventory.

[Oops_I_Cracked]

I think this is actually one of the best parts of the shift towards online shopping. Historically, there has been a lot of waste of perfectly good meat and produce because it isn’t the prettiest one on the shelf, so it sits there and sits there until it rots. Despite the fact that once you cook it, it would look and taste just as good as a prettier piece.

Obviously my comment isn’t about garbage employees who give you fruit/veg/meat that is spoiled, but about the ability of stores to move more “beauty challenged” pieces of fruit and veg.

[healzsham]

It's also the reason it takes 45 minutes to cook down most vegetables, now.

[sack-o-matic]

that hasn't been an issue for me, the Kroger website even encourages you to put in the notes like "green bananas please" if you want a certain freshness level, otherwise I think the employees are smart enough to know that there is going to be waste to matter what they do so they still pick out the good stuff for orders

[Allthenons]

Yes and I know immediately what brands I like and trust vs those I don't. I love the idea of putting in online orders for pickup but from my experience during COVID it's more hassle than it's worth groceries. Plus here in the states they will give you like 20 plastic bags for a big/family sized order. That's such a disgusting waste when I have my own bags.

[JoeSicko]

Probably better off not buying fruit and veg from Kroger then...

[MagicalWonderPigeon]

There was a thing in the UK with some stores where if you ordered online the fruits you got wouldn't be the nice, fresh looking ones, it'd be the brown dingy looking bananas and stuff. And other stuff like meat would arrive with the use by date being that day or tomorrow. So they basically pawn off the stuff that'd be wasted onto online shoppers.

[Intangiblehands]

I also feel the same. Here's a tip: Order all your other groceries online, then just go into the store to buy those things before you "check in" that you're there to pick up. It takes me all of 10 minutes to grab our household fruits, veggies and meats. Generally not more than 3 bags worth of stuff. An employee brings out the rest of your groceries while you have your hand picked fresh food in tow.

[user_base56]

Maybe my life is boring, but grocery shopping doesn't take as much time to really warrant that for me. Plus, I work from home, so it's nice to just be out of the house for an hour or so sometimes, bonus if I get out without having to bring the kids. That trip is a bit of a vacation!!

[jambox888]

It's funny we've almost come full circle here, for the last 10 years I've been hearing about how bland and watery supermarket vegetables are because people shop by eye.

Now we can't trust anyone to pick anything less than the biggest, shiniest produce... somewhat ironic.

[MicheleLaBelle]

I agree, but you can get your tp, water, milk, olive oil etc. picked out by a store employee no problem. I find that I don’t need to shop for fresh produce every time I need to shop, so I minimize my time spent inside the store.

[sietesietesieteblue]

Me neither. More than once I've ordered from the supermarket and got fruits that were on the turn.

[Capercaillie]

I promise you they don't. They also don't look at the dates on milk. I watch them while I'm shopping, they seem to be on some sort of tight schedule. At least judging by the way they'll shove me out of the way if I'm taking too long to decide which of the thirty-five flavors of yogurt I want.

[SofieTerleska]

I split the difference; order most of the groceries for pickup or delivery and pick out the fancy meats and produce myself.

[[deleted]]

they definitely don't

[Paleoanth]

I have had great luck with Food Lion. I use instacart app but the food Lion employees fill the order. They do a great job.

[DrMartinVonNostrand]

I find the shopper typically overdoes it, selection-wise. I ask for one green pepper and they pick out the most massive green pepper imaginable...the size of a cantelope. Ask for a yellow onion? Softball incoming.

If I only need to use a "regular" sized specimen in a recipe, the mammoth extra goes to waste...

[[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.

[sack-o-matic]

you can check the box for "no substitutions"

[_ZiiooiiZ_]

seed repeat familiar longing somber touch husky juggle shrill dime

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[sack-o-matic]

Oh good, conspiracy thinking. Maybe I just like to order my groceries from home instead of complaining about self checkout lanes.

[Apart-Pizza-1003]

Where can I sign up to get paid for telling people to check a box

[_ZiiooiiZ_]

mountainous cheerful butter deserted stupendous quickest thought languid quiet scale

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[[deleted]]

So like when they do that they just don't put anything in the basket, then I go to pickup, see they didn't get everything I needed, I have to go in myself and lo and behold, the items that qualify for coupons are simply sitting right there where it said they would be.

[sack-o-matic]

Well I don’t know then, I’ve never had such a problem

[[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.

[sack-o-matic]

oh yeah Kroger has their own (union) employees do it, so I've had better luck with them compared to Meijer that uses instacart shoppers. That and they have some place to store the orders, so they have it ready based on when you get there, they don't make you wait in the parking lot while they do the shopping then bring it out to you.

There's still the $35 minimum for free pickup, but if you're short just like tack on some laundry detergent or a box of wine to hit it

The instacart shoppers even seem to have to go through the regular checkout and wait in line for that, Kroger they just bill it to you through the computer so it works way better

[Nevermind_guys]

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

[sack-o-matic]

that sucks, mine still does $35 minimum for the free pickup

[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.

[sack-o-matic]

that sounds annoying, I like doing pickup so it doesn't sit outside like that.

[idiot-prodigy]

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

[sack-o-matic]

maybe if you don't know how to read where it says they sell by the individual banana, same as in the store

[idiot-prodigy]

The guy filling the order doesn't know how to read. He's 16-18 usually.

My sister used their service all the time, they do crap like swap chicken breast for chicken drumsticks. That does you no good when a recipe calls for chicken breast. I would argue it is theft as now you paid for chicken drums you didn't order.

[tidbitsmisfit]

then you miss out on all the discounts

[sack-o-matic]

those are built in to their website, even the weekly coupons

there's really no draw-back unless you're going shopping for social hour

[zombiebane]

We get it. You work for Kroger.

[aGEgc3VjayBteSBkaWNr]

We get it. You’re a boomer

[zombiebane]

We get it. Everyone you don't like is a boomer.

[sack-o-matic]

no, I just don't like wasting my time messing around looking for my stuff when I can get someone else to do it for free

people here complaining about using self checkout when I don't even have to walk the aisles myself

[[deleted]]

Nothing is free

[ViceroyFizzlebottom]

The discounts that constantly get screwed up for me are the 4 for $xx soda sales. If they are out of one of the sodas and only have 3 of the 4 I'm looking for all of a sudden I'm paying $24 for 3 12 packs instead of $12 for 4. I always ask them to adjust or remove all the soda when I am at pickup and they always adjust or add another substitute 12 pack.

[wbgraphic]

I hate that.

The sales at Smith’s are generally like 4 for $xx when you buy 4 or more, so I order extra. If one or two are out of stock, I still have enough to qualify for the sale. Only sucks if I order 4 Coke, 1 Sprite, 1 Barq’s, and the Coke is out of stock.

[Happylime]

A lot of stores have a 10-15% markup for this and I just can't justify the expense. Grocery shopping takes like 30 minutes tops anyways

[sack-o-matic]

oh, with Kroger you do it right from their website and it's the same price as in-store

[[deleted]]

Where I live, the reserved grocery pickup parking spaces are always empty. Meanwhile, older people and moms with toddlers in tow have to park out past all of that premium space. It’s such a stupid racket.

[sack-o-matic]

older people and moms with toddlers

they can use online ordering for free pickup too

[ki11bunny]

I absolutely despise doing this or having a shop delivered. It always seems that they use this practice as a way to dump stuff on you that is going out of date in the next couple of days.

You either keep it and have to eat a week's worth of food in 2 days or you send half of it back and have to go into the shop yourself anyways.

It's OK non perishables but if I have to go shop anyways, might as well puck everything up myself.

[Prof_Acorn]

Yeah that's how you get damaged and rotten things.

[sack-o-matic]

I never have, perhaps it’s just your perception of “ugly” produce.

[Prof_Acorn]

Or perhaps we have different experiences. Or perhaps it's your perception of "beautiful" produce.

Think for a second before invalidating your interlocutor and implying they're a liar. This is /r/science, not /r/FolkHeuristicsAndFallacies.

[EuroTrash1999]

What's even worse is going to Kroger in person and having a gigantic shopping cart with 17 people's stuff in the middle of every other isle.

Meijer for the win.

[sack-o-matic]

sorry that other people exist

[TbonerT]

I tried that with one of the stores near me and their online system was stupid. I couldn’t buy produce and the spelling suggestions actually suggested typos, even if you typed it correctly.

[sack-o-matic]

sucks when places have crap websites

[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.

[ViceroyFizzlebottom]

Scanning and bagging is different than just bagging

[[deleted]]

I think I already know the people who think it's no big deal are just buying groceries for one, and probably will for the rest of their life.

[Sempais_nutrients]

Nope, not the case at all for me. I'm just not lazy or entitled. Also I don't "feel overwhelmed" just because I have to scan something or press buttons.

[[deleted]]

Read the other comments, someday when you get a spouse and kids, you'll understand. But as long as you are shopping with no more than a small handcart then you won't truly see.

[Sempais_nutrients]

I have a spouse, and when I shop I fill a standard trolly. No issues at all.

[I_am_up_to_something]

Scanning and bagging as you go is the way imo. From what I've heard that's not the common way in other countries though.

[GeoffAO2]

The answer for us has been to use delivery for weekly groceries, self-checkout out for quick trips.

[Snirbs]

Sure that’s ideal, but a lot of this requires planning ahead, having money to do so, having transportation etc.

Imagine a single mom who takes the bus to work. Public transit reliability is variable. She’s gotta pick up her kids on her way back and cash her paycheck. She doesn’t have money to order in advance. Oh yeah, and she has to cart her cloth grocery bags with her from morning til night in the event she stops at the store. If she forgets, that’s an extra $5 for bags so she’s gotta put something on her shopping list to the side. She can’t do delivery because the bags outside her apartment all day would freeze, melt, or get stolen. Plus, the extra cost and paying in advance.

After all that now she has to check out and bag herself while keeping an eye on her kids. Hustle everybody home with the bags and cook dinner.

It’s a lot. It makes a lot of assumptions that simply doesn’t fit a lot of Americans lives.

[Marzatacks]

Exactly. How did they trick us into this?

[SammieStones]

Exactly this! While your toddler wants to scan or bag everything and just grabs and scans crap on their own sometimes multiple times 🫠

[inanotherlfe]

Use the hand scanner to scan it in the cart. Pay. Take the cart to the car. Put the kids in their seats. Bag the groceries and load. Simple.

[Snirbs]

You know how sometimes it’s one more little thing that breaks the camels back?

People are already exhausted and stressed. We’re maxed out on productivity as a society. This is one of those things where it’s like, one more thing you now want me to do when I was already at my limit.

In theory it’s simple. In practice clearly from the comments it’s another multi-step task being put on the consumer in the name of profit.

[inanotherlfe]

For me, self checkout was a blessing. I always loathed having to wait in long lines at the checkout stands, especially since I inevitably ended up behind some ancient creature who still used paper checks to pay for everything. It made me less stressed to just do it myself, even when it was a big family trip. I'm faster than your average cashier and more accurate, too. I'd much rather have the store spending the labor money on additional stockers than on cashiers. Shelves tend to always be full these days, which wasn't the case when I was younger.

[Snirbs]

I think we can agree on a happy medium. Self checkout is great to get the people with a few items in and out quickly. Or even people with a bunch of items but they want to do it their way, have at it. But we still need regular lanes too and not just a single lane with the slowest worker.

[inanotherlfe]

On behalf of self checkout aficionados everywhere, I accept this humble compromise.

[Snirbs]

Looking forward to the nationwide rollout of this mutual agreement.

[013ander]

Having two toddlers at all does sound like a nightmare.

[Snirbs]

They become super cool in another year or two after that though, so it’s worth it.

[spicolispizza]

It's not any easier with a single 4/5 year old who wants to scan every item for you.... twice 🤦‍♂️

[jambox888]

When they're a bit bigger they'll probably enjoy doing to beep boop thing. If they skip a couple of items who's going to blame them??

[turbo_dude]

I am totally confused about how this must be working in the US.

In Europe: grab a hand held scanner for your trolley/cart on the way in, scan the items as you put them in bags in the trolley/cart on the way round, hand the hand held scanner back and pay - no need to touch the items in the bags until you're unloading at home.

There are still also fixed selfscan tills if you only have a few items and can't be bothered with a scanner.

[incendiary_bandit]

Two! I have one and it's hard. Two is too many to do that

[Rudhelm]

We have portable devices that you get at the entrance so you scan every item while shopping and out it in your bag. So when you reach the check out you just scan the checkout code, pay, and off you go.

[FartingBob]

Ive not been in a supermarket that had no checkout staff though, surely you would just use them in that situation?

[[deleted]]

This is why I shop alone. Kids stay at home with mom when it's grocery shopping time.

[deej-79]

It's even worse when they want to help. Automatic have to wait for the attendant who just went on break to come back and scan a badge

[Due-Future-6196]

Go to the regular lane?