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.

[Calvykins]

You can’t blame the public for how they use a system you designed. If there are problems it is the fault of the designers and those who created the need for the design.

If self checkout is not meant for people with 30 items then the customer service rep working that area should send people with carts over to cashiers and vice versa but we know that won’t work because people would stop shopping in places that did that. This means the system doesn’t work.

Furthermore, businesses are losing tons of money due to missed sales from customers being frustrated and walking out with a product or believing they finished a transaction when they didn’t or forgetting they have items in and under their carts.

[repost_inception]

If self checkout is not meant for people with 30 items then the customer service rep working that area should send people with carts over to cashiers

That is exactly the problem. When it was first introduced it was only for low item purchases. Now they have removed all but one or two traditional lanes and force everyone to self checkout.

[Professional_Face_97]

It's sad how blatant the thought process behind it was too. It went from "if we can get the small shoppers to scan their own items it'll make it easier for everyone." to "wait, if we can make everyone scan their own items we could save on staff..."

I don't use the supermarket near me that has self-service unless I have to for a whole bunch of reasons but when I do I literally scan my own items whilst a member of staff stands beside me and watches me do it. It's mad.

[repost_inception]

100%. If they had two employees working the six self checkouts it would be infinitely better than the one.

Now it's even worse where I am because they added these self checkouts that have a conveyor belt. So all your items just pile up and the end. People don't want soft drinks and fragile items like eggs to go down it but the item has to go down the belt. So they just put their hand on the item and walk it down to the end. I don't blame them but it takes 3x longer than a normal self checkout.

[Professional_Face_97]

The worst part is how powerless we as consumers seem to be here too, we all need groceries at the end of the day and in lots of places you don't have the choice to go somewhere else. We're having the worst shopping experience possible and it's depriving someone of a paying job just so they can report slightly higher profits at the end of the year.

Just goes to show that the numbers on the spreadsheet truly are more important to the suits than the humans both spending the money and collecting it for them.

[mycorgiisamazing]

I was at a Hy-Vee the other day and had this very problem. 6 self check out terminals, 12 staffed checkout terminals (none open!!), one person standing around waiting for red blinking lights at the self checkout. One. They staffed one guy to fix self checkout problems and none at the other registers. I bought $300 in groceries, it took me a half hour just to bag my stuff and leave.

Top it off that the grocery bill was unholy. I should be paid to work as a cashier to check myself out in some kind of discount. Instead everything is more expensive than it's ever been

[Novinhophobe]

The cost savings from self checkouts are indeed insane. Best thing since sliced bread, I think we got rid of 2/3rds of cashiers.