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Bishma ,
@Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

I worked every position in a grocery store during high school and college. I am now unwilling to work any of them without being paid to do so. And my current rate is many multiples of what they pay their employees.

xtr0n ,

Same. And knowing that I have been an efficient cashier in the past makes the awkwardness of the self checkout super frustrating. If you have the items coming down the belt and are in a groove and so it regularly, you can get through a cart of items so fast. Between the poor UI and theft deterrence the self checkout is way slower.

Ans what happens to the people whose jobs are eliminated by the self checkout? Yeah, it’s a crap job, I know, I’ve done it. But if the only alternative in our current system is more homelessness and absolutely desperate poverty then I’ll skip the self checkout. I’d love to live in the glorious future where machines do all the grunt work and people are free to spend their time in better ways. But it seems humanity can’t have nice things.

Kusimulkku ,

I wonder if this sentiment was common when the introduced the stores where you have to go and pick up the products instead of telling someone what you want.

Bishma ,
@Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Part of me wishes the old dry good / mercantile shops were still a thing in my area. I still make occasional trips to stand-alone butchers, bakeries, green grocers, florists, and delis but if I need shelf stable stuff my only choices are supermarkets or convenience stores.

darganon ,

We’re headed back that way with online ordering where they bring it to your car.

Kusimulkku ,

I’ve had them just deliver it to my home. Very handy if it wasn’t as expensive

johnyrocket ,

As someone who has shoped in the us but lives in europe, that only applies to the us. Self checkout is objectively bad in the us. Here, it is actually pretty good. The only anti theft mechanism is a random check wich happens like once a year to me, no weighing bs. Especially, if you use the option to scan while shopping with your phone or scanner device. Then you just pay in the app and leave, no hastle at the cash register.

MonkderZweite ,

I’m not using it only because the two retailers in the country don’t need to have my credit card info and/or phone number.

plz1 ,

Their intent was to cut jobs/costs. They worked as designed. The user experience being improved was never the real goal of these, both on the employee and customer side. I’m fine using them for a small number of items/one item, but if I’m going to buy a bunch of things or anything that requires special handling (alcohol), I just skip them. I also skip them if there’s no line at a human checkout because I don’t want to drive those folks out of jobs either.

Waldowal ,
@Waldowal@lemmy.world avatar

The article says the expected cost savings haven’t been realized because people steal stuff and generally suck at scanning & bagging their own groceries.

BearOfaTime ,

Hahaha, that’s awesome. I don’t believe it, but it is humorous.

Shoplifting was already an issue. Self checkout has scales to check what you’re bagging, and cameras. I simply don’t believe it’s caused a significant increase in theft, no matter how hard they try to claim it.

Further, any issues that stores have with theft/shoplifting is because they refuse to do anything about it. Thirty years ago we stopped shoplifters and took them to security where cameras recorded everything, and called the police to come pick em up. Hell, we usually had a cop on hand for this stuff, and much of security was staffed by cops/retired cops.

Fine, you’d rather let this be an insurance claim, then any issues you have with theft is no longer a concern to anyone, because clearly it’s not a concern to you (that is, the company).

People know they won’t be stopped/arrested. So there’s almost no risk to just walking out.

Waldowal ,
@Waldowal@lemmy.world avatar

Why would grocery stores lie that shoplifting happens more at self-checkout?

plz1 ,

Ah, the retail theft claim…

bstix ,

Self-checkout systems are already old fashioned. Most stores in my town have apps for that now, where customers scan items as they bag them in their own bags while walking through the store and then just beep out. This removes the need for a queue, the payment terminal, the receipt and the stupid exit gate. Customers are allegedly randomly checked, but I’ve never seen that.

bandwidthcrisis ,

deleted_by_author

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    bstix ,

    How are they tracking? I know it can easily be done with NFC tags, but I doubt they tag fresh produce like that?

    slumberlust ,

    It’s all cameras and ML face recognition.

    bstix ,

    I wonder how many people are needed to operate the system, and if the camera detection is really just an employee in an Asian call center.

    EngineerGaming ,
    @EngineerGaming@feddit.nl avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    mlaga97 ,

    FYI, your purchases are already thoroughly tracked like that starting as soon as you walk in the store, app or not.

    WallEx ,

    Love self Checkout, but if I can’t pay cash I’m not using it. And sadly they’re all card only here …

    TORFdot0 ,

    Honestly we all carry a barcode scanner in our pockets. If I were running a grocery store, I’d be investing in scan and go instead of self checkout

    BorgDrone ,

    Where do you live that supermarkets don’t have this?

    TORFdot0 ,

    The bigger supermarkets such as Walmart have it here, but the regional ones are still putting in the self checkouts.

    BorgDrone ,

    Here you can choose between scanning at the self checkout (easiest if you just have a basket with a few items and you don’t have a free hand for the scanner), or you get a hand scanner, or you use the app on your phone.

    xenspidey ,

    Sam’s club has this and it is amazing

    Sendbeer ,

    You got that right. It’s so great walking right by everyone queued up at the registers.

    makingStuffForFun ,
    @makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml avatar

    Many German supermarkets do this. You scan as you put items in the trolley.

    iknowitwheniseeit ,

    Same in the Netherlands.

    01011 ,

    I like self checkout. Used it largely without issue for over 15 years.

    Zeshade ,

    This article really sounds like it describes an alternate reality to me. Interesting to see how many people in the comments seem to hate self checkouts but here in the UK they seem to work fine. Shops seem to have found the right balance. In the same shop you’ll have queues advancing rapidly at self checkouts and people run tills with shorter queues for customers who prefer the human interaction.

    Alph4d0g ,

    We had a CVS Pharmacy location near me that decided to leave that location. Self checkout there was based on assuming everyone was a thief. All their wounds were self inflicted. Almost everything was locked up and you could never find someone to get your item for you. The genius management thought it was going to help profitability by deterring theft. Instead it was a deterrent to willing and eager customers wanting to buy their stuff. When you step over a dollar to get to a dime, your business is on borrowed time.

    nbafantest ,

    It’s a common sight at many retail stores: a queue of people, waiting to use a self-checkout kiosk, doing their best to remain patient as a lone store worker attends to multiple malfunctioning machines.

    I have never had this happen. The only issues I’ve ever had is people not understanding something so simple as scanning a barcode and then tap to pay.

    Self checkout is one of the greatest advancements I’ve ever had. Probably the most irritating thing about California is that they made it illegal to use a self checkout to buy beer. The state literally forced me to stand in lines when i can easily scan a barcode.

    RememberTheApollo_ ,

    Really? Do you actually go shopping? It’s a phenomenally regular occurrence.

    LordKitsuna ,

    It partially depends on the store. I have found that Walmart and Fred Meyer have some of the worst fucking software in existence and it’s guaranteed I will have an issue when I go there. But I’ve never once had an issue with the Costco machines, WinCo machines, or Safeway machines. I am able to go through self-checkout even with an extremely large cart and get through it without any assistance.

    And I fucking love it, it’s faster, it’s easier, and honestly when I’m shopping I’m usually tired and don’t want to interact with anyone as it’s the last chore I will do at the end of a long day of various tasks to do

    jadedwench ,

    Wegmans is the same way over here on the East Coast. I can check out with alcohol, someone just needs to come over to scan the override. They always have an attendant or two and I rarely have to wait. Most of the time, as soon as they see the alcohol, they come over before I have even scanned it.

    When the machines don’t babysit you and treat you like a theif, it goes astoundingly fast. I love self checkout, for a lot of the same reasons you do, and I get to pack my bags how I like. I avoid places with the insane systems with cameras, sensors, and scales trying to suss out if you are a theif. Especially as they don’t let you scan the next item until the previous is on the other side and don’t have handhelds.

    Furbag ,

    It depends a lot on the specific store, but I don’t usually have to wait in a line longer than about 3 people and it moves quick.

    On one hand, I agree with the video that the system doesn’t solve the problem of lines at the supermarket. It was fairly obvious that they never anticipated queuing because there’s never a dedicated section for where to stand while you wait for the next available terminal, so the line often spills into the end of some aisle and blocks all the cross traffic trying to navigate to the other end of the store.

    On the other, it’s not like we’re going to go back to not having to stand around and wait if we get cashiers back filling the old school checkout lines.

    IMO, the way forward is going to be to eliminate pay stations altogether and do either RFID tags on all the items so you are just charged for what you take while walking out of the store, or you have a scanner in the cart so you can total up all your purchases as you shop, reducing friction at checkout.

    1984 ,
    @1984@lemmy.today avatar

    All these things are just designed to make the shop do less work, and for you to do their job for them for free.

    I’m sure in the future we won’t interact with people at all, because that’s whats cheapest for the company. We will be true “consumers”, like animals being fed by machines.

    Well, at least if capitalism continues.

    DarkThoughts ,

    I'm sure in the future we won't interact with people at all

    Oh god I wish.

    nbafantest ,

    I can scan and bag my stuff better and faster any cashier I’ve met. Fuck standing in lines for someone to do it slower and shittier for me.

    1050053 ,

    Self checkouts that require the receipt barcode to open the exit door are quite alright.

    It’s usually fast except for the idiots that bring their small children in there to play around with everybody else’s time.

    GentlemanLoser ,

    Sorry, they lock you in until you pay? What country is this?

    elshandra ,

    Think that’s dystopian? At a local here in aus, if the self service checkouts think someone is about to walk out without paying, they lock off the entire self service area, and all the trolleys in the store freeze and refuse to move - Even if you’ve been through the manned register, and already paid for your groceries… You have to wait for them to unlock all the shit. Idk how people shop there.

    Snapz ,

    Self checkout could be fine, the failure is capitalism/corporations in execution

    firadin ,

    Turns out even under socialism, I’d still rather have someone else scan and bag my things.

    BigBenis ,

    I avoid self checkouts unless the lines at the cashier checkouts are unreasonable.

    Half the time I go through one of those I get hit with an error that I’ve then gotta wait on the attendant to fix. The other half I get bogged down by the stupid process like how you’ve got to put the item down on the bagging area before you can scan another one or how you can interact with the card reader to pay but the transaction will not complete until you select a payment type on the main screen. Lately, I’ve noticed some trying to trick me into signing up for rewards or some bullshit.

    Much easier to just dump my stuff on the conveyor belt and have the cashier handle everything else.

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