It's terrible.
I loathe it. I always go to a person if possible, whereas I go to the self-checkout at the grocer's. The technical performance and the menu navigation of those kiosks is unbearable, and I'm a 30s techie.
Watch next time an employee has to "help" you with self checkout: they scan their badge and then can press buttons as quickly as they like.
I've noticed recent iterations of self-checkouts are much easier to use. Feels like they've relaxed the weight-on-tray requirements.
And at self checkouts with the option of a handheld scanner, use it. Often the handheld scanner seems to bypass the place-item-in-bagging-area thing.
So that is why ... it makes sense since I distincly remember the kiosks working fine in the beginning.
They should add a "turbo button".
The kiosks infuriate me by the sluggish UI. Also the 3 or 4 sellup spam ads you get make it even slower.
"Please place item in bagging area. Please place item in bagging area. Please place item in bagging area. Thank y... Please place item in bagging area. Please wait for assistance." Yeah, no thanks. I only use those crappy fail machines when I have no choice because there are no open checkout lanes with people manning them.
For a few small items, CVS and HEB do well.
The registers are hidden behind a counter and there's no obvious place to order, unless you use the kiosk.
If you stand at the empty counter for ~5 minutes, a staff member will eventually appear for something else (e.g. to give out an order) and serve you reluctantly - it's awful.
With few items, I can be in and out in a minute and never have to wait in line because there are so many self checkouts. If I have a lot of items, then I can wait in line for cashier because scanning all of them is more work than I care for.
I rarely have issues using them, at a variety of retailers.
Easily, the best self checkout I’ve ever used.
It's a really quick way of doing checkouts, i.e. you pretty much just walk out, unless you bought alcohol, in which case you'll need to wait for someone to check that you're 18.
My main issue with it is that it makes shopping terribly slow and mentally stressful. The whole process of scanning items as you pick them up is less convenient that you'd think. Some items, like vegetables don't have barcode... now what? I found myself constantly checking that I've scanned everything and focused more on the app than anything else. It's a great way to ensure that people only get what's on their shopping list.
Except for the fast checkout, which is really nice, I can't recommend it.
Sometimes though, when all the checkout lanes are in use, I dream of a licensing scheme for use. So many people take _forever_ to checkout, you would think this technology was introduced in the last month.
When this happens I like to play a game where I race to check myself out before everyone else (that has already started since I am taking the latest emptied spot). I would say I win this game probably 80% of the time.