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SnotFlickerman , (edited )
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Oh no, did your attempt to cut labor costs and make shoppers do more of the labor that checkers used to do end up increasing shrink?

Oh no, how awful for you that you aren’t able to properly afford more *checks notes… Stock Buybacks.

https://media1.tenor.com/m/_BIfNDiEmNQAAAAd/crying-wiping-tears-with-money.gif

This is how I imagine retailers complaining about this.

Badeendje ,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

Not only that, but the reduced shrink during Covid, tucked up to “normal” levels… but this was then presented as a 100pct increase compared to last year… and thus a huuuge increase.

SnotFlickerman , (edited )
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I mean to be fair, everyone pulled that shit.

The jobs numbers tanking during COVID because everyone had to be let go or furloughed apparently has nothing to do with Biden “bringing America more jobs faster than any previous President” bullshit.

Nah dude, the jobs that left just came back, you didn’t do shit to make that happen, Biden.

As a Democrat voter, makes me sick how hard they are back to pushing “The economy is doing great, you whiners need to just fucking vote for us already, all right!” while holding Trump and Fascism over our heads like a veritable Sword of Damocles. They don’t feel the need to do more because it’s easier to sit on their haunches and yell “But if you don’t vote for us, Trump will turn the US into a fascist state” as if that isn’t an implicit admission that they won’t do anything to stop Trump if he wins (even illegitimately!!!) and will let him run roughshod over US citizens as punishment for not voting Democrat sufficiently enough.

kaitco ,

Not just that. When self-checkouts were first introduced, the argument was that even with the added shrink, the benefits outweighed the costs of employing an actual person. Now, of course, the shrink rates have no longer made this profitable and shareholders are crying.

Personally, I’m fine with self-checkout since I can bag my own groceries exactly how I want them and without having to interact with anyone. That said, I will not be stopping for anyone to check my receipt and my items. If they don’t want the possibility of shrink, then they shouldn’t have gone this route in the first place.

XEAL ,

I was cool with using them (less social interaction, scan and bag at my own pace), but over time I’m getting lazier and lazier

bionicjoey ,

I never understood the “less social interaction” argument. Cashiers don’t care if you go through the whole interaction with them without making eye contact and only saying what’s absolutely necessary for the transaction. Plus, self checkouts are very picky and if you mess anything up even a little bit they start loudly inviting someone to come help you anyway.

TimeSquirrel , (edited )
@TimeSquirrel@kbin.social avatar

A human at the other end of the exchange forces you to think about that human, to consider that human, and to acknowledge the existence of that human, whether they speak or not. Don't have to feel that way with a machine.

Yes, some people are that bad that even silent interaction produces anxiety. It's why I prefer emails and texts instead of live phone calls. I can communicate on my own time after thinking it through and not feel obligated to respond immediately (that's what Asperger's does to a MF)

Semi-Hemi-Demigod ,
@Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social avatar

Standing near someone is too much social interaction for me and I can do the self checkout blindfolded.

TheEntity ,

It's not about whether they actually care. It's about whether I'm worried they might care. It's very stressful for neurodivergent people.

Ottomateeverything ,

Tell me you don’t understand introversion and social anxiety without telling me you don’t understand introversion and social anxiety.

bionicjoey ,

Lol I’m autistic and like a 10/10 on the MBTI introversion scale.

I just preferred the interaction with an employee who wears a large button saying “I really wish I weren’t here right now” compared to using a machine which would loudly announce that you’re an idiot if you don’t follow its instructions precisely.

XEAL ,

Well, some days I just fell more comfortable not interacting at all with a cashier if possible,

Regarding machine issues, yes, they sometimes ruin the flow, but it’s something occasional.

tburkhol ,

I would rather spend (modestly) more time checking my own than less time standing idly with nothing to do but watch some kid checking out my goods. It feels better to be an active participant. Where it breaks down for me and my 12 items is when all the self-check lanes are clogged with people trying to ring up a full cart of groceries, who still haven’t figured out how to work self-checks, who are encumbered by a baby in one arm and a phone in the other hand, or who just can’t move all that well.

Managers using the presence of self-check as an excuse to understaff the actual checkouts makes all of those problems worse, and makes the checkout process suck for everyone.

will_a113 ,

I know this isn’t the most popular opinion, but I love self-checkout systems when they’re available and used correctly. My local supermarket closed 2 10-item-or-less lanes and put 6 self-checkouts in the same space. I probably make 2 trips/week to the store for fewer than 10 items, and being able to check myself out has been a huge time saver. There are still another 8 lanes with cashiers for larger shopping trips. If the supermarket can avoid the race to the bottom thinking of "well, we replaced 2 lanes, maybe we can also replace the other 8), it’ll be a nice compromise.

Now contrast that with my local Home Depot, which typically has 1-2 cashiers MAX at any given time. They have turned the checkout process into a tedious pain in the ass, and I’ve more or less stopped shopping there as a result.

SnotFlickerman ,
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

When self-checkouts were first rolled out, my friends and I loved them.

As twenty-something introverted nerds, it helped a lot when buying “embarrassing” things like condoms.

You didn’t have to have the checkout person giving you the stink-eye because they’re ultra religious or something.

Now, twenty-some years on, they’ve been abused to the point that some places they’re all that’s ever open, Target and Walmart seem to be the biggest offenders there. When there’s a line down three different aisles because the self-checked is so backed up, it’s defeated the purpose of creating “efficiency.”

However, I’ve noticed that about a lot of business practices lately. We’ve rounded the bend and they’re still doing things that aren’t actually producing efficiency anymore. Like staffing with nothing but a skeleton crew, so anytime someone calls out sick, everything falls apart because you’re short a person. Personal opinion, but if one person missing work wrecks everything, that’s not an efficient way to schedule people.

It’s proof that these MBA business school chucklefucks are just repeating the shit they tell each other ad nauseum, because when it comes to real-world results the results are abysmal and inefficient.

Badeendje ,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

No it’s probably the method that lands the most euros into the shareholders pockets, regardless of the effects in other places. Dollarstore in the US is this but then at an extreme, John Oliver did a nice piece on it.

can ,

Link to said piece

cogman ,

The Walmart self checkout layout is generally just bad. Because they are paranoid about theft, it’s setup to make it easy for the worker monitoring to make sure nothing fishy is going on. However, that means that the customers that want to checkout often can’t see what’s open.

This creates lines as the machines aren’t fully utilized.

But further, it’s often the case that for whatever reason these machines need an employee to interact. With 10 machines running at full capacity, that means longer waits for everyone because 3 machines are waiting for an id badge scan.

Walmart can solve some of these problems with more employees but that cost money.

felbane ,

Walmart is the only place where I’ve been stopped during the checkout process because the camera system thinks I’m stealing.

I’m a nerd that tries to minmax my self checkout by putting items in the cart or handbasket in a manner conducive to efficient removal. I’ll position the cart on my left, scanner in front, bags on right, and go as fast as the scanner will register the barcode and display the item on screen.

This works wonderfully everywhere else and I find it rather fun. I can count on Walmart to flag me at least once every trip (even though I slow down there for this reason), with the screen showing the flashing “POSSIBLE THEFT” message and video of me swiping an item quickly across the reader.

Maybe I should start parking the cart in the middle of the pathway like every other Walmart shopper and taking twenty seconds to dig every item out of the bottom of the cart before meandering around looking for where I set down the handheld scanner.

Hamartiogonic , (edited )
@Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz avatar

That’s just lean. If one employee is sick, everything falls apart. If the delivery of a specific part to the production line is delayed, everything stops.

It’s all very intentional, because it’s lean. Having buffers of any kind costs money, while making everything lean makes it cheaper to run your company. As usual, all of this is also reflected on profits and dividend income.

edit: splling and gremmar

nilloc ,

And it pushes the cost of redundancy into the backs of the workers who didn’t call in sick, and have to work more hours or more tasks in a day or risk being responsible for an underperforming store.

If it actually hurt monthly profits, they wouldn’t do it. The fact that it may hurt longer term profits—through delays, employee retention, or quality control—either isn’t understood by the C suite, or they just don’t care.

RattlerSix ,

Your store did it smart. My local grocery store has 8 self checkouts by one door and 8 more on the other end by the other door. Although there are 10 or more normal checkouts with human cashiers, Ive never seen more that two open at a time.

CheesyGordita ,

They’re a godsend at Costco when I have like 5 items and the normal lines are super long.

mp3 ,
@mp3@lemmy.ca avatar

My supermarket implemented these barcode scanner you can carry in the store so that you can scan and put your stuff in your grocery bags in your cart as you go, as well as some scales so that you can also scan those items paid by weight, which you can then scan at the self-checkout terminal. They also spot-check every 4th scanners and scan for random items in the cart to make sure you actually added them to your list as a theft-deterrent.

It’s way faster and less finicky than dealing with the scale that checks if you added the item you just scanned (and complains often that something’s wrong).

I hope this kind of system will stay, it’s really nice going to a self-checkout terminal and pay with your bags already filled.

CarbonIceDragon ,
@CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social avatar

when I worked at a grocery store for a bit (until a year go), we had that kind of system alongside the regular and self checkouts. It was interesting to see as I had never heard of it before, but it was very fast when it worked. That being said, almost nobody actually used it, and whenever the random checks happened it was almost always when someone had bought more items than usual (not sure if that actually triggers anything or if it was just coincidence) and the system for looking through everything was frustratingly slow for both me and the customers. I feel like the scanners are a great idea, but the theft-deterrent system for it could use a rethink, though Im not sure what exactly could best replace it

Rivalarrival ,

Meijers uses your own phone and their app as the scanner. GF loves it, but I find it’s more of a pain in the ass than it’s worth.

The only advantages I’ve seen are that you can use your own bags, and that nobody else uses it, so there are always 4 kiosks available to finalize your transaction.

ColeSloth ,

Yeah. I’m fine with using them at wal mart most of the time, but the grocery store where I load up at once every other week just went full send on self checkout and outside of being a pita dealing with so many bags and no place to set them without going into the cart with stuff you haven’t even scanned yet, some have a stupid conveyor belt after you scan and if you let like ten items get on it the damned machines locks you out until a worker comes by and unlocks it after the belt has been cleared off. Total piece of junk, but there’s now usually only 1 real person.

LordKitsuna ,

Is there something weird about how your Home Depot did it? I absolutely love the self-checkout at the Home Depots in my state. They all have the wireless hand scanners so I just pull my cart up, beep beep beep beep beep beep beep and off I go I fucking hated before they had self checkout at Home Depots it always took for fucking ever now I’m in and out regardless of whether I need one thing or 20 things

will_a113 ,

There are two in my area and both have the same problem: there will be a single non-pro bank of 8 self-checkout lanes, and then a bunch of empty lanes, one or two of which will have cashiers. Of the 8 self check-outs , one or two are always broken, so that leaves 6. Add in a bunch of large/heavy/bulky items that are hard to scan and now the line for self check-out is pushed back into the store, blocking multiple lanes and aisles. And as soon as you have certain items in your cart (molding/lumber by the LF, loose fasteners, etc.) you need an assistant to come help you anyway. Maybe it’s just the customers in my stores, but it’s just a terrible, slow, inefficient process.

LordKitsuna ,

Maybe it is just the customers in your area, mine is usually not backed up. I don’t have any problem with the various loose items there is always a barcode somewhere and if I don’t see one on the product I’ll take a picture of the one on the Shelf so I can just scan it right off my phone at the checkout¯_(ツ)_/¯

mundane , (edited )

I don’t recognize these pain points. I always use the self checkout and it’s usually quick and painless. My experience is.

Edit: seems I made the assumption that everyone uses wireless scanner handles.

  1. When we enter the store we scan the ID to get a wireless scanner handle.
  2. Collect your wares, scan with the handle, placing them directly into the bags along the way.
  3. Put the handle back and blip your membership id (card or qr code on phone) again to start the checkout.
  4. Blip your payment card.
  5. Walk out

Every once in a while I get caught in a random check, which is kind of a pain, but it’s so infrequent that it is acceptable.

Is this not how it usually works?

Zitronensaft ,

Ok now I am curious where you live that you have to provide ID to shop. Here in the US we scan the items and then swipe our payment card, the ID is only used to check your age for tobacco and alcohol purchases which can’t be sold to minors. An employee has to come look at the ID to make sure a minor hasn’t borrowed someone else’s, so it doesn’t even get scanned. Employees just swipe their work badge and confirm that they checked your age.

As for the pain, a lot of self checkout systems have very limited space and can be awkward to run all your items through. Manned stations have the conveyor so you can unload multiple items from your cart at a time to be scanned. They also have more end space so you can have room to bag everything if you are doing a big shopping trip.

SnotFlickerman ,
@SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

I would assume they meant something like a CostCo proof of membership ID.

This is how self checkouts at CostCo work in the US, however they are pretty good about having plenty of regular cashiers available as well.

mundane ,

Exactly, a membership id to checkout the wireless scanner that you have with you in the store.

IHeartBadCode ,
@IHeartBadCode@kbin.social avatar

I think they mean ID as store loyalty card and/or membership card. Not actual government issued ID.

runefehay ,

I think they may be talking about the "discount" tracker cards. The ones which you fill out an application to get, so you can get the special "discount" (really what the price used to be).

zout ,

Not for me. Take in consideration that I don't do a lot of shopping. Two of the maybe four times times I used a self check-out last year;

  1. So I go to the self check-out. One of my items is on clearance. I scan it. It shows full price. turns out I needed to scan a different bar-code for the clearance. However, I can't remove the already scanned bar-code from the list, so now I need to call assistance.
  2. My kids drink a lot of coke zero, so when it goes on sale I usually buy a lot of it. In this case, I took all that's left in the store. I scan one bottle, do a quick count and adjust the number of bottles accordingly. I place the bottle in my cart and realize I've counted one too many. I can't take it off, and now need to call assistance.
mundane ,

This sounds like a terrible user experience. Is this a case of “we have implemented a terrible self checkout system and now no one likes to use it”?

Zagorath ,
@Zagorath@aussie.zone avatar

Are you Dutch? I recall an old NJB video describing how Dutch supermarkets worked like this. (Plus, Martin is a name I associate with the Netherlands…)

But no. Most often, you put stuff in your trolley or basket, then when you get to the checkout, you scan the things and bag them yourself one-by-one, then pay.

Here in Australia, one of our two main supermarket chains in the last 2 years rolled out something similar to what the Netherlands has had for at least half a decade. You use their app on your phone and scan things with the app as you go, before paying through the app and scanning a QR code at the exit.

The other main chain, and the two main smaller chains, have made no moves to follow, so you’re stuck with a long line for a small number of open checkouts, or the self-checkout where you have to scan everything after you get to the checkout.

mundane ,

I live in Sweden. The system in the Netherlands sounds similar to what we have. There are also wireless scanners you can use throughout the store if you don’t want to use your phone.

drml ,
@drml@mastodontti.fi avatar

@mundane @Zagorath

In 🇫🇮 these mostly are hybrids: conventional checkouts plus a variable nr. of self-checkout points. Some chains have also portable scanners but only recently (I recall that in 🇸🇪 they have existed for years).

Based on my own N of 1 -experience I use the "human check out" slightly more often than machine. Why? Hmmm. The conveyor belt makes everything roll a bit smoother ;D

The BBC article, I understood, was maybe more about the totally or almost totally cashier-less stores.

Entertainmeonly ,

Wait, you don’t have to scan every item at the checkout?

Skua ,

At least here in the UK a lot of larger supermarkets give you the option of taking a little handheld scanner with you and doing it as you shop. When you go to the till you just scan a barcode that's on the till and it connects the till to the scanner so you can pay for everything. I don't personally use it because I'm too disorganised a person to pack as I go and also remember to scan everything, but it's fairly popular. It typically exists as an alternative way of using the self checkouts, the option to scan everything at the checkout itself is still there

key ,

Some places near me trialed that. It got dropped post covid because “forgetting” to scan things was an even bigger problem than with regular self checkout.

mundane ,

No, we (most supermarkets in Sweden) get a wireless scanner handle that we have with us in the store. So we scan each item when we take it from the shelf and put it in the bag/cart. When we get to the self checkout we just put the handle back and pay.

Badeendje ,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

I bet it depends heavily on what stores you frequent and where. Also which country ofc. In from the Netherlands and have similar experience, some stores even have portable DIY scanners… so I scan while I shop and just hand in the scanner and pay.

mundane ,

I forgot to mention the wireless scanner in my op, but that is part of the steps I listed.

AnneBonny ,

It works like that for me too. Even better if your list is short enough to avoid getting a cart.

Thorry84 ,

My local shop around the corner doesn’t even require scanning a card or anything like that. Just get the handscanner at the entrance by pressing the button on the screen. Scan your shit and put it in the bag, go to the self checkout, put the scanner in the machine, touch your phone to pay and it’s done. I love it, I can be in and out in about 1 minute if I only need a couple of things. They’ve put in about 10 self checkout machines in the place of 3 old fashioned checkouts. Usually there is only one oldskool checkout open with a large line of old people.

Only irritating thing is people with like 100 items scanning all their shit at the checkout (if you don’t want to use the handscanner), it takes forever. I don’t get why people do that, but luckily there are enough self checkouts there is always one free.

lemmytellyousomething ,

Is this not how it usually works?

I want to shop without them generating a profile of me. I want to pay with cash. I don’t even want them to know who I am. And I don’t want random checks…

Fortunately, I have never seen your scenario in Germany where I’m living…

AA5B ,

I don’t get their point that shoppers “need to be socialized into using self-checkout”. Who ever needed to be persuaded? It’s just that they try hard to make it painful. Self checkout was always an over-complicated conglomeration of parts with poor usability, then poorly thought out additions to try to control theft and no counter space . It just never works well. Maybe we should “socialize” retailers into getting their shit together she it can work more smoothly

homesweethomeMrL ,

Consumers want this technology to work, and welcomed it with open arms.

That’s an actual sentence from that actual article. The fuck? I read it, like, four times. Is that even - what??

guyrocket ,
@guyrocket@kbin.social avatar

I think I used self checkout once in my life. I very quickly realized that they're pushing their work onto me and never went to self checkout again.

I also think those jobs matter. Not great jobs, sure. But they are jobs. I'm sure tech will eliminate cashier jobs someday but I don't see self checkout doing so.

AA5B ,

Those jobs may be important but they’re not the customer’s responsibility. My goal is to get out of there as conveniently as possibly for me, and sometimes that involves self-checkout.

Of course I was recently on the other side of this conversation when trying to buy beer at self-checkout. The other person claimed it’s easy, but I claimed the extra steps and edit made it less convenient

Nilz ,

Over here stores are increasing their prices because people steal at the self-checkout. So they reduce costs by not having cashiers but then increase prices due to theft. Quite some logic.

You’d assume it’s an easy balance to make: if (saving on cashiers - loss due to theft) > 0 implement self-checkout else don’t implement.

dual_sport_dork , (edited )
@dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world avatar

Yes, but: They can shift the cost of theft onto consumers this way, without having to make their line item budget for payroll any bigger. The retailers don’t give a fuck as long as they’re not the ones paying.

AlwaysNowNeverNotMe ,
@AlwaysNowNeverNotMe@kbin.social avatar

Insurance is more likely to pay for shrink than paychecks.

bane_killgrind ,

Recurring shrink isn't going to be claimable. These customers are walking out with an extra case of Snapple not a TV.

Ottomateeverything ,

Quite some logic.

Yeah, it’s win/win to the company. They save money on workers and charge more for the goods. They’re double dipping. It’s great… For them. But that’s the way the capitalist machine works and is going to continue working until we fix the whole damn thing. As unfortunate as it is, this is basically expected behavior in our current society.

Deceptichum ,
@Deceptichum@kbin.social avatar

Over here they increase their costs because we have no choice but to pay it.

and frankly the amount they lose is nothing to the amount they steal.

JoMiran ,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

Got a dozen cans of soup. Scanned ten cans of soup. Got two pounds of bulk pine nuts ($34.99/lb). Paid for two pounds of bulk barley ($2.49/lb). Etc.

“One thing that we have learned is that piracy is not a pricing issue. It’s a service issue" – Gabe Newell

ooli OP ,

You go mate !

trolske ,

Oh come on, really?
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t care about some big chain losing some money, for me it’s a matter of principle to not fuck with the system unless really needed.
Two cans of soup, I don’t care. But pine nuts? Cheating the system for some “luxury” goods and not some essentials is pretty low.

minibyte ,

Corporate is cheating the system just to save a few bucks in wages. I see it as OP balancing the books.

trolske ,

I would have been more understanding if it was always on the level of two extra cans of soup or comparable.
But 2 lbs of pine nuts is not balancing the scales, that’s abusing the system.

TopRamenBinLaden ,

It depends on the country, but in the US I see nothing wrong with this. Wage disparity is so high here that taking items from a store owned by billionaires doesn’t feel like much of a crime. I wouldnt do it, personally, unless I was less well off financially, but I am most definitely not going to judge someone else for doing it.

trolske ,

I mean I could understand (but not necessarily approve) if it would be a few everyday groceries here and there. But pine nuts? 2 lbs? Sorry, but that’s just ridiculous.
I can completely understand if people have to steal food to make ends meet. It’s a tragedy that they have to do it, but it’s the system’s fault and not theirs.
But OP doesn’t seem to fit into that category.

TopRamenBinLaden ,

To be honest, my uncivilized self doesn’t even know what a pine nut is, so if you say it’s a luxury item, I’ll take your word for it. In that case, I can agree that it’s a bit ridiculous and selfish. Still I wouldn’t call the cops or anything. If it was my friends or family I’d most definitely give them a hard time about it, though.

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

gerryflap ,
@gerryflap@feddit.nl avatar

This is probably a difference between countries, but personally I love it here in the Netherlands. I go to the store after work multiple times a week and I have yet to encounter a queue or problem that stalled me longer than 1-2 minutes. Usually I can just directly walk to a self-checkout machine, check out my stuff, pay by holding my debit card (or phone) against the payment terminal, and be on my way. I like it way more than the old way of doing things, because I now have time to properly pack my bag and I don’t have to talk to anyone. It’s also way more space efficient. There’s even the option to take a scanner with you so you can scan while shopping, though I have yet to try that.

Kusimulkku ,

Yanks seems to have totally fucking bungled self-checkouts. Dunno how they managed that but almost every single complaint i hear is from them.

DarthYoshiBoy ,
@DarthYoshiBoy@kbin.social avatar

This is the second article in the last month I've found here on the Fediverse pronouncing the death of self checkout and honestly I just don't see it. Most of the stores around me have only just recently expanded their self-checkout areas and I vastly prefer using it unless I've got more than 25 items.

I'd honestly probably stop going to a store that decided to not allow me to check out on my own. Small talk and having to make a minimum wage worker suffer through it is just not something I want when I'm running to the store for a gallon of milk. I vastly prefer being able to throw in some earbuds, get my shopping, check out, and get out to having to interact with anyone while I'm just trying get my shit.

ooli OP ,

I am surprised too. Self checkout only intensified recently in my country. What is surprising is that the dislike seems to come from the corporate side. So it exist since 1990, and just now they realised they are loosing money on it. Pretty weird… But I’m all in on big corpo losing money because they didnt want to pay wages.

Mark my word: they installed self-Passport machine in Paris airport in planning for the Olympic tourists grand arrivals. It will be a disaster!! It doesnt work, it is slower than having an human check your pass, and a lot of travelers will be very angry at thoses machines. Plus I suspected you can trick them easily if you’re a criminal

r00ty Admin ,
r00ty avatar

I hate self-checkout. It's just annoying and a downgrade from an actual. cashier. I'll use it when I have to. But really it's just terrible.

However, scan as you shop. That's just great. Put your bags in the trolley, scan and put it straight in the bag. Go to checkout machine, pay and your stuff is already bagged.

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

    •
    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

    •
    mlaga97 ,

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

    AnneBonny ,

    Unstaffed tills were supposed to revolutionise shopping.

    They were?

    Binthinkin ,

    Realize that many elite schools are pay to win and these business failures make sense.

    numberfour002 ,

    Personally, I don’t think the technology is a failure. It’s the implementation that’s the pain point.

    I’m no fan of Walmart, but the local store has the lenient self checkout machines that don’t make you place and leave your items in the bagging area. And there’s a hand scanner for each machine. The hand scanner is pretty close to instant, so I can literally scan an entire cart full of items in under a minute (with caveats) and you don’t even have to take things out of the cart to scan them (with caveats). Sometimes there are hiccups and obviously some items are sold by weight, so that’ll slow things down.

    But even with all that, the implementation is the pain point because they’ll only have 1 person running the machines, so if they have to run off to help a customer or multiple people need help at the same time, you just have to wait. Also, the particular store I go to shuts down half the machines ridiculously early in the evening. When the machines break, they stay broken for weeks or months. And they have some kind of ridiculous system where some of the machines are cash-only, some are card-only, but the majority will accept either – this adds to a lot of inefficiency because a lot of customers don’t know which machines are which and if you mess up and pick the wrong one then things get tied up while you wait for a cashier to come and transfer you over to a different one so you can pay.

    The other big factor is that customers were trained on the old shitty style self checkouts where you had to scan each item one at a time, place it in the bagging area, leave it there until you pay, and if so much as a speck of dust landed in the bagging area or a piece of onion skin fell off, it would freeze up. So even with the new lenient hand scanners, people still do it the old and slow way.

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