Maddeningly, this article wanders around without really making the key points. The self-checkout experience could be done reasonably well, but hasn't been. Why? The article doesn't talk about it.

Yes, companies want to cut costs, but there's nothing wrong with that. It is true, though, that there needs to be something in it for the user, or else why bother? So, for example, how about a 5% discount for self-checking?

I've noticed also that huge kiosk rollout at McDonald's has apparently failed. They're not as bad as grocery self-checks, but they're not good. And few people are using them. Who thought this was going to work?