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Comment by pravda | Hacker News Reader

I love the self-serve checkout!

Also the electronic ordering screen at the local Wendys. Less chance of screwing-up the order.

I think fast food should be more automated -- do you really need an actual human to lower french fries into oil and wait for the beep?

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Of course you (and I!) do - we are HN readers. While I think there’s a change afoot in the direction of not minding ordering or receiving goods without the help of a human, there’s still a large swath of the population who wants a consultation and help when they are shelling out money. I also don’t think it’s entirely generational.

Self-checkout is significantly slower and more error-prone than using a cashier. It would be one thing if you could just walk your cart under a scanner and get a bill. But self-checkout is exactly the same as regular checkout, but with nobody there to help you. It's hideous for any orders with 10+ items.

What sort of issues do you actually see with increased number of items? I can't imagine how that could be difficult

increased probability of false positive on weight in the bags: needs to be manually reset before continuing checkout

fruit whose code is not in the system

fruit without a code

The self checkouts I have used are explicitly worse than if they let you operate the regular checkout. I'd happily use the cashier's workspace and check myself out. Self checkout kiosks are a nightmare of user unfriendly design that assumes you are going to steal every chance you get. The workflow of cart --> scanner --> bag is hideous, the weight sensors to prevent theft fail to detect items all the time, entering produce codes takes forever since unlike the cashier you don't get dedicated controls, the bagging area is too small even if you have minimal items and since 6 other people are getting the exact same voice feedback nearby you can't distinguish which instructions are for you.

> the weight sensors to prevent theft fail to detect items all the time

I've noted the local stores I go to with self checkout have disabled the weight sensors. I think they've decided the slowdown and annoyance isn't worth the reduction in shrinkage. Also possible the reduction is nil.

I try to go through a line with a cashier if I can just to get my support for a human workforce into their metrics, but sometimes I have to use the self-checkout (often because it is the only option after certain hours.) I've noticed that when there is a problem with the anti-theft scale (usually because something has failed to scan because I am moving faster than the weight-check) the sole attendant will just cancel the "bagging alert" from their command station.

I imagine it's impossible to investigate every time the machine stops when one person is "monitoring" a dozen or more of these things.

I've stopped trying to rectify these errors and now just consider it as a discount for me having to take on the work they used to pay someone for. Perhaps the stores see it the same way and the loss is still way less than the cost of employees?

Usually one person suffices for that, no? Like the single cashier handling self-checkouts or the old times elevator operators. I doubt we'll get rid of humans entirely, especially if a building requires upkeep, etc.

Oh please no. Getting one pump of liquid sugar in my McDonalds coffee instead of 3 takes me 6 seconds to tell a cashier and 1-2 minutes at the Dante’s Inferno near my office with the automated kiosk.

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