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Comment by chrisseaton | Hacker News Reader

> I enjoy the interaction with the employees.

If you want to pay for someone to be social with you why not do that separately to shopping? Seems funny to try to mix the two.

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You are stretching things out of proportion. I am not paying them for the interaction.

The casual interactivity is what I would call the 'gravy' of society. They know I recognize/know them, and I know they recognize/know me.

It's not only that, it's the fact that the stores have externalised the checkout process to customers themselves.

I could never understood why should I, as a client, do the work that someone else can do for me (and more reliably, of course)? It's win-win, I'm not stressed at doing something wrong, I can do something else while my products are checked out and that person doing the product checkout also has a job.

But because it sounds tech-y and more automatic-y lots of tech-literate people fall for all of this, I don't see what's more automatic in me doing the same work that another person used to do.

Analogously, I don't see a reason why I should be forced wait in a queue for one of the limited other humans to help me do something that I can do myself in one of the 8 self-checkout lanes whenever I'm ready to do so.

People who want the assistance of an employee can go that route, but I prefer the self-checkout process for the reduced waiting and self-service nature.

In these stores, cashiers are waiting around most of the time. That's the issue. They couldn't stay in business because they had to pay for the cashier to checkout as well as wait around. By letting customers checkout, there's no more wasted money spent on employees waiting around.

Also, the stores that are most promising don't require checkout at all, so that's an entire category of human effort eliminated, for better or worse.

Most stores keep one person up front when they are not busy, the rest of the checkout clerks wonder the store looking for things out of place, stocking shelves, finding or customers to help. Each store has their own set of duties but for the most part there are plenty of tasks to do when people aren't waiting in line.

> I can do something else while my products are checked out

But the point is we don't need the 'while my products are checked out' step. We could skip that. You save time, save more people handling what you're buying, save them having to staff a checkout and freeing them to do something else instead. That's the real win-win.

> freeing them to do something else instead.

Yes, the'll be busy looking for other jobs.

I think it's demeaning to employ people to do something that is so clearly not necessary. If we want to create and possibly subsidise jobs for people let's create useful, productive jobs.

Like what, "door dasher"? "uber driver"?

The economy is developing in the wrong direction. We are not on track for happy automation.

Hopefully something more useful to society. We still need better mousetraps.

if you want someone to ring up and bag your groceries for you, go to a high-end grocery store. meanwhile, I'll be paying less and getting out the door faster than you anyway.

I’m not aware of any decent services that let you be social for only 90 seconds.

I like human cashiers because they are faster than me+robot. So I tolerate the chitchat for their efficiency.

And I never really want to optimize for typing in codes for the price of lemons and whatnot.

Efficiency. Chat and shop. It’s a twofer. And if you like interaction but not having to get to close, it’s great.

But it's not efficient, is it? These people could be doing something more productive with their time than staffing a checkout in order to make small talk.

They are. It's called building goodwill.

More efficient for the company, perhaps (though self checkouts are typically still manned, though at a reduced rate). But much less efficient for the customers.

Who do you optimize for? IMO, ideally not the company.

> But much less efficient for the customers.

I don't know what your experience is, but I always find self-checkout massively more efficient for me and I'd always prefer it and would choose shops that offer it over those that don't.

I can just breeze through with my AirPods still in listening to my podcast, not having to wait for anyone else or have anyone else wait for me, not having to say anything, and just get on with the rest of my day and what I really want to spend my time doing.

Is it really more efficient (faster, lower effort, etc), or are you just busy (as opposed to idle)?

It’s faster because there’s 20 open machines and I don’t have to wait in a queue.

It’s lower effort because talking is a bigger cognitive burden for me than scanning a few items. Over time with experience, you get as fast as an employee would be anyway.

I have heard from employees at supermarkets that shrinkage with self checkout is elevated to the point it does not really matter.

You mean theft? Isn't shrinkage just term for employee theft?

I do mean theft. I am not a native speaker and thought shrinkage applied to both.

My understanding is shrinkage typically refers to the sum total of all product received but unsellable, whether from theft, spoilage, or or breakage.

Shrinkage is.. "an allowance made for reduction in the earnings of a business due to wastage or theft."

Actually at my favorite supermarket these people are not only staffing checkouts, they are running the store : there are no managers to be seen.

I enjoy seeing this group of young people given such a broad responsibility and I acknowledge them and their stellar job. And they acknowledge me.

But who am I, I just enjoy Old Europe.

Pay for someone to be social with you? Like RentAFriend[1]?

1. https://rentafriend.com/whatis

I don't recall getting a discount for self-checkout.

> I don't recall getting a discount for self-checkout.

I don't think I've ever seen a discount for it?

The cost is included in the prices you pay for the products.

You're paying it whether you use it or not!

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