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I hate them. They are unresponsive and slower. I walk past them, go up to the counter, and get a nice greeting and a smile from a human being. Ditto for supermarkets: those machines are even more annoying. I always try to go to a lane with a real person (granted, they're not always smiling and sometimes acknowledge you less than a computer)

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Self checkout is wildly faster for me, even with computers that feel like they're running on hardware from 15 years ago. I can have my basket organized in the same order I'm going to bag it, scan it in, bag it efficiently, pay and leave. The worst part about self checkout are the other people who don't know how to use it, have huge carts(especially at a tiny checkout kiosk that should really have a max item limit) or are just slow. In the case of lines at self checkout, I'll go to an empty lane if the whole store isn't just packed.

self checkout lanes need a "beginner" side and "express" side. :/

Depends. If I have one item, in a sealed package w/ legible barcode in my hand, the self serve lane is fine.

If I have produce, or a large basket of stuff likely to contain a "processing error" in it somewhere, no way. Go for a real clerk.

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