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Comment by josefresco | Hacker News Reader

Talk about a downward spiral of terrible decisions. Cut staff and add checkout machines to save money. Customers start stealing (legit or not) so they lock down items behind glass, but have no staff to help customers so they see less sales! Wild.

I hope the shareholders who accepted these changes feel pain.

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In civilized, high-trust societies self-checkout works well and is very convenient.

Of course if you refuse to prosecute crime you will have everything locked.

The problem with self-checkouts is that (1) it shifts the work to me without any benefit to me. I don't get a % off (and often asks you to tip [0]). And (2) it actually presents a legal risk. If I genuinely forget to scan I can still be banned from a store, or worse, charged, because I am doing a job I am not trained for, or because of a glitch in the system.

[0]: https://nypost.com/2023/05/15/self-checkout-machines-now-ask...

> The problem with self-checkouts is that (1) it shifts the work to me without any benefit to me.

A well implemented self-checkout is much faster than waiting in line for a cashier. Ever since the local supermarket implemented self-scan I haven't had to wait for a register to become available for more than maybe 30 seconds.

Of course if the self-checkout is of the "UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA" variety it'll be infuriating and much slower than a regular cash register.

> In civilized, high-trust societies self-checkout works well and is very convenient.

There's nothing convenient about me having to do the cashier's job, but badly, while having a tiny space to do my bagging in, while a computer yells at me.

Maybe for someone with truly crippling social anxiety, this is preferable to an actually functional check-out counter, but I'm blessed to not be afflicted by it.

And someone with truly crippling social anxiety isn't going to be standing there in the store with a line of people staring at them while a computer yells at them. They are gonna be sitting at home waiting for the gig worker to drop off their stuff.

Some people with social anxiety aren't able to afford to have their groceries delivered to them.

yes, people are stealing because of cut staff at checkout machines.

Walmart locks their spraypaint now. Lowes does not. I'll go to lowes since it's easier than tracking down a associate at Walmart.

I would assume that is more tied to vandalism then theft though

How so?

My assumption was that they are looking to stop kids from spraying the cans; in-store vandalism

Ok, that makes sense

At least in my jurisdiction, you have to be 18 or 21 to buy spray paint in an attempt to stop kids from spraying graffiti so the store legally has to check id before selling spray paint.

Breaking news; stores lock and store ammo separately from guns.

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