Why Self-Checkout Is and Has Always Been the Worst
gizmodo.com
gizmodo.com
Sounds like a "you" problem, mate
I average maybe 3 or 4 calls/year (and I self checkout substantially more frequently than not (and across multiple stores that offer the option))
People who have trouble with self-checkouts remind me of drivers who never get an oil change and then complain about how crappy their car is when it breaks down, or people who take more than 25 seconds to complete an ATM transaction.
no self-checkout options at either
If I need to buy something that requires a human employee (like alcohol), I just use regular checkout.
I've used self-checkout 4 times in 4 different stores in the last week and had a problem 2 out of 4 times. 50% success is not success.
Every store is different:
- Do they weigh stuff in the bagging area?
- Do they scan produce bar codes?
- Does it take cash, or card only?
- Is there annoying lag? (Frequently, yes!)
- Is it going to scan something twice because I hovered, because it lagged?
Also, let me ask:
- Why isn't there space for my cart?
- Why am I juggling stuff in a tiny bagging area?
- Why do the bagging area hooks suck?
- Why is there only one attendant in the stores that have really sucky systems?
- Why are half the self-checkout kiosks closed?
Self-checkout is not made for shoppers. I prefer self-checkout, but I wish good systems were more common.
Dislike self-checkout you want, but still sounds like a "you" problem, and not a "self-checkout" problem
Neat fact! You don't have to self-checkout at any store I've been to in the last 5 years (unless it's super weird hours ... and even then - you're probably there by yourself, so the attendant's likely to come over to "help" just to have something to do)
2nd problem: 2 barcodes on the product.
Not sure which one of these is a "me" problem. You also misread my comment.
Sounds like you just want to throw around low-effort personal insults instead of addressing anything I said. This is HN, you can do better.
You're insulting my success (and, quite frankly, the overwhelming majority of people I've observed over the last close to decade) with self-checkout by saying you have had 2 bad experiences?
You can do better
Or maybe you can't?
I don't recognize the situation that you describe, and I have been using these several times a week for a decade.
You mention paying by cash, which tells me you are probably an American (I pay by card or an app). It could be that your systems are worse, but there's nothing wrong with self checkout in general
cash or card, have a couple issues per year total (across hundreds upon hundreds of transactions)
The one flaw I've found is, don't scan the twelve pack of 1 litre apple juice bricks (assuming you can even lift it) and then try to heft it onto the tray (like every thing else). Because, just as you do that it then tells you "Don't but the apple juice in the tray, like everything else.". A real back breaker.
Pro tip, ask an attendant to scan your apple juice and leave it in the cart.
Walmart's implementation used to be superpicky about bagging, but even there's has become relatively pain-free in my experience and almost always better than waiting in line. I wish there were more self-checkout lines at walmart.
As an added bonus, since you're bagging as you put things in the cart, you can now also sort the items in different bags according to where in the house you're going to put the items when you get home, so you'll save time unpacking, too.
And lamenting the loss of store greeters... makes me think that perhaps the real issue here is the same as why some people actually want to tip at restaurants: It's not about getting the job done, but rather the feeling of having other people working for you.
There's a huge section of the store that is now cursed by these absurd idiotic monster's incessant bleetings.
That's one of the things that makes me hate self-checkout. I wish those things would just shut up. At least human cashiers don't loudly announce the price (and sometimes the product) of every thing I'm buying.
Here in Finland, there's some babbling at the start/end of each stage, but as for scanning each individual item, it just BEEPs when a barcode registers successfully.
Did people simply forget when a cashier had to jump on the intercom and call for service because an item wouldn't scan?
It feels awkward to me that I need to unload my groceries onto a belt, so that someone else can pick them up, scan them and bag them, when I can do all of that myself. I completely understand if you're elderly or if you have a lot of groceries, but apart from that, it's better for me as a customer.
Skill issue. It's not like I've never had a checker have to call for a price check or have someone do a bad job bagging my groceries. Especially if I just have one or two things, it's nice. Sometimes I just don't want to talk to anyone.
But also some people just plain don't know what they are doing. I don't mind them as much but they should still go to the cashiers.
People emptying a whole cart and scanning and bagging take forever.
It is much more efficient for them to go to a cashier for their larger orders.
The comment I made about space was just that the lack of space should be an indicator that they should not be using the self checkout with their large order.
It’s far faster with an experienced cashier, once you have more than a few items.
Yet nobody complains about the shift to having to walk around to fetch and carry their own groceries.
It’s just a cultural shift.
I'm expected to pay the same price for less service and be okay with that.
Just my perspective - seems like as long as there are both options, everyone can pick what they prefer.
Now, it's become a habit and I realize we prefer not to have the distracted or rushed staff smashing all our groceries into bags in the worst order possible. It's also become almost a towers of hanoi game for me to carefully unload our full cart onto that little weighing platform and then back into the cart. I will defer buying alcohol since it requires regular cashier service here.
Early on, I fought the systems and swore at terrible UX, until I found how to pace myself for the machine. It's also a team sport. While I amuse myself with the object packing problem, my wife likes to audit the pricing system. Almost all our calls for support have to do with her principled refusal to accept their errors, which are almost always in the store's favor. It borders on fraud how often the scanned prices do not match what was published in weekly ads or posted on the shelf.
The shop owners are deciding to install self check out just, as shop owner Clarence Saunders decided to do away with clerks in 1916 in order to increase profits.
He also expected customers to pay the same price for less service and be okay with that.