northernguitar
Poster Extraordinaire
It'll be soon enough that tech will go into security and consumers will scan using their own phones.
Hate Self Checkout? Seeware Uses AI to Do it For You
- Thread starter GeneB
- Start date
northernguitar
Poster Extraordinaire
I don't disagree. But in this case, we're actually doing more for ourselves, taking out a last step being done for us.
Sparky472
Tele-Afflicted
Yes, this is always the case at my local grocery store. I stopped using it there for that reason. I’ve used it at target with no issue and I’d rather do that than be frustrated by a checkout clerk who refuses to say hello, look at me, say thank you, etc.
For me, more than I am bothered by the idea of a self checkout (which, in fact, I’m not bothered by at all conceptually), is the expectation that’s been created that people should bag their own groceries at a standard checkout line. I remember when I started seeing people doing this and as someone who worked in a service industry at the time, it really bothered me. Customers pay for that service and the people who provide the service, in my experience, didn’t want people doing their job. Now my kids get mad at me when I don’t do it. I tell them to go ahead and do it if it bothers them so much. Turns out, they aren’t that committed to their point of view on the matter!
Marc Morfei
Friend of Leo's
Lots of stores offer self-checkout. But I have yet to see one that forced you to use it. Every store I’ve ever been in still has regular cashiers if that’s what you want. I LOVE self-checkout. It is so much faster. There in nothing on earth I hate more than waiting in slow lines.
And bagging groceries? Yes please, let me do it myself. I know to put all the frozen stuff together in one bag. And not to put the bread on the bottom and pile cans on top.
And bagging groceries? Yes please, let me do it myself. I know to put all the frozen stuff together in one bag. And not to put the bread on the bottom and pile cans on top.
DesmoDog
Tele-Afflicted
When our local place started putting in self check stations there was the same "It's someone's job!" uproar. Thing is, that same store had help wanted ads for cashiers and still does to this day.
If you don't want to use them, no problem. Wait in line for a cashier. I tend to use the self checkout even when there is no line for the cashier. Except the times when I don't. It's an option, doesn't bother me to use it. I don't expect to be waited on at a grocery store.
If you don't want to use them, no problem. Wait in line for a cashier. I tend to use the self checkout even when there is no line for the cashier. Except the times when I don't. It's an option, doesn't bother me to use it. I don't expect to be waited on at a grocery store.
Not me. I drink Nabob Bold Full City Dark; strong and black without sugar. But only a few cups in the mornings.Love self checkout myself. Our local Walmart doesn't have the 20 item limit to use the self checkout machines, which I find very convenient. I can zip through in practically no time, while those buying booze or cigarettes are still waiting in line.
Just out of curiosity, of those who reject the self checkout, which of you have the comorbidity of bizarre coffee rituals? (Grinding/ roasting/ growing your own beans, weird European coffee presses, etc.)
If the line-ups are long at the checkout, I will go to the self-checkout as well.
Willie Johnson
Friend of Leo's
Seefood: not hot dog.
Clarification: if the line-ups at the checkouts are really long, I will use the self-checkout.
Maybe your town is big enough you can lose a few people without noticing, but the checkers at our town's grocery stores are kind of like neighbors, some are even like friends. I am not going to support their being replaced by gizmos.
Knows3Chords
Tele-Afflicted
Remember when the stores actually had enough cashiers and baggers?
The grocery store I go to most often put in a six-person self-checkout area a while back.
Then, they removed a traditional checkout aisle next to it and put in another lane with six more scanning & paying stations.
But, there's always a yellow plastic chain blocking one or the other, and a line of people stretching halfway down an aisle waiting for the one that's open.
I could say more, but I'll stop here.
Then, they removed a traditional checkout aisle next to it and put in another lane with six more scanning & paying stations.
But, there's always a yellow plastic chain blocking one or the other, and a line of people stretching halfway down an aisle waiting for the one that's open.
I could say more, but I'll stop here.
bowman
Friend of Leo's
I love self checkout and use it every time it’s available. I much prefer to pack my own stuff. And I also don’t have to wait for the completely uninterested store employee to tell her friend about her horrible neighbors while my frozen items slowly thaw on the conveyor. As for the broccoli scenario in the OP: the store I go to has a scale in the produce section where you can look up, weigh, and print a label right there, so that when you’re in the checkout line, you don’t have to do any of that. Just scan and pack.
I didn't mind the local self checkout as long as I could mute it, but then one day the updated the machines and they disabled that button.
staxman
Tele-Afflicted
I take it you folks wouldn’t shop at an Amazon Fresh with Dash Cart and Just Walk Out shopping.
thesamhill
Tele-Afflicted
I like the self checkouts except at the very beginning when it says, "please select your language" and I accidentally push the button for a language in something other than English and then I'm like "what's Mandarin Chinese for 'please go back to the previous screen?'"
Actual lol on that one!
Actual lol on that one!
I'm not a fan of self checkouts. Much preferred the old way where they would scan and bag your goods for you.
Actually with technology this day and age, why have a checkout at all? You could scan your goods with your phone as you pick it up off the shelf, therefore eliminating errors, and pay for it automatically using your phone all before you leave the shop. The trolley is already lined with your own bags that you lift in your car etc.
Dang I should've had a career in systems or process management. You read it here first
Edit: just read some of the posts above ha ha!
Actually with technology this day and age, why have a checkout at all? You could scan your goods with your phone as you pick it up off the shelf, therefore eliminating errors, and pay for it automatically using your phone all before you leave the shop. The trolley is already lined with your own bags that you lift in your car etc.
Dang I should've had a career in systems or process management. You read it here first
Edit: just read some of the posts above ha ha!
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Manual Slim
Poster Extraordinaire
Maybe we should create more jobs by going back to the pre-Piggly Wiggly model of grocery clerks picking our orders for us.
imwjl
Doctor of Teleocity
I'm in grocery IT. Artificial intelligence for grocery tech makes me smile because like most industries and niches we will take any intelligence we can get. It can be natural or artificial.
For self-checks, customers demand them more than we like them. The SCOs (self check out) are expensive, complex and not very reliable just like a lot of people.
More seriously about some stuff that comes up here.... Staffing stores remains really hard even as a very good employer. We are very old fashioned as some like but that is expensive whether it is stocking good stuff or staff compensation.
For self-checks, customers demand them more than we like them. The SCOs (self check out) are expensive, complex and not very reliable just like a lot of people.
More seriously about some stuff that comes up here.... Staffing stores remains really hard even as a very good employer. We are very old fashioned as some like but that is expensive whether it is stocking good stuff or staff compensation.
