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Comment by JohnFen | Hacker News Reader

I have developed an extreme distrust of self-checkout systems generally, in part because of the risk of this sort of thing. As a result, I simply don't use them at all anymore.

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I don't use them when it's an option - but Home Depot in particular often has zero actual cashiers. They've always got a couple people standing around in self checkout to assist when the system (inevitably?) doesn't work properly, though...

HD has really good self checkouts though. They don't require any interaction with the touch screen except hitting "Done", nor do they have over-sensitive anti-theft scale systems.

It's just a wireless barcode scanner on a table with a receipt printer and a payment terminal. The screen shows everything you've scanned with pictures! and legible product descriptions, which makes it really easy to make sure you scanned everything correctly.

When they were first rolled out you had to weigh everything or get a person to come over _per item_ ... It was total Insanity.

Target and Aldi don't use a scale. Costco does, but I bet it works better for Costco because they carry much less items so weights are more unique?

HyVee actually removed all self-checkouts. This sucks because they had awesome self-checkouts with conveyor belts.

I bet it works better for Costco because they don't stock any items with weights low enough not to be registered by the scale.

Also, the last time I went to my local Costco, you were no longer permitted to check yourself out at the self-checkouts. They didn't remove them, but they had started using them as cashier-staffed checkouts.

Mine still lets you scan your own items. I bet they only have employees scan items at stores with higher loss rates.

That was the old NCR Fastlane implementation, done wrong. They left the item security feature enabled and left the bag scales turned on. This also happened at IKEA US (which lead to them being pulled out for a long while).

A lot of retailers have dumped NCR and gone in-house for their self checkout software packages now and made it so much better. Home Depot took their custom point-of-sale and built their own self checkout frontend on top of it to allow all checkout lanes to “convert” to self checkout.

Target also did the same, dumping NCR’s software and rolling in-house software on top of the hardware to make it Not Suck.

They do indeed often have zero ordinary cashiers.

... except at the "PRO" checkouts. Which are actually just ordinary check-out lanes. Anybody can go through them. The signs mean nothing whatsoever.

I never go through their self-checkouts unless I've only got one or two pre-packaged items. I usually park on the "PRO" side, enter through those doors, check out on that side, and leave through those doors.

When I am being abused by a faceless corporation I simply withdraw my business entirely and direct my capital towards a competitor. Sometimes this is very inconvenient for me, but change has to start somewhere, right?

Exactly this, last time I went to HD I had a cart with maybe 20 items, NONE of the working self-checkouts accepted cash so I just walked out with empty hands. Now I decided that if a place doesn’t have human cashiers I just don’t shop there and give priority to small stores, I might pay more but at least I know the profits are for a neighbor.

I have not used cash in years. My Citi doublecash card gets 2% cashback.

> NONE of the working self-checkouts accepted cash so I just walked out with empty hands.

I'm pretty sure this is illegal. All businesses need to accept cash somewhere, somehow. I am curious what would happen if you forced the issue and announced to the attendant that you intend to pay in cash.

As far as I know this is not accurate. A business may be required to accept cash in order to settle an outstanding debt that it is owed, but I don't think anything prevents them from simply refusing to do business with you from the outset if you don't accept their payment terms.

>As far as I know this is not accurate. A business may be required to accept cash in order to settle an outstanding debt that it is owed, but I don't think anything prevents them from simply refusing to do business with you from the outset if you don't accept their payment terms.

That depends on where you are. In NYC, businesses have been required to accept cash in person since 2020[0]. In 2025, New York State[1] followed suit.

[0] https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3...

[1] https://qns.com/2025/06/cash-payments-to-protect-unbanked-sh...

You're right. And I'm surprised. There are states and cities that mandate a cash option, but most don't, including my own. I now side with the OP. There was a time I carried $50 around at all times to avoid being tracked by my card data, but then got lazy. Need to return to this habit.

The only store where I insist on paying cash is (maybe not surprisingly) Home Depot, because they have this odd, shameless practice of tying your in-store purchases with your web account, and sending emails in response. No thank you.

In the HDs I've seen the customer service counter has a couple cash registers and is staffed. I assume the registers are there so they can check out people who are there to pick up an item that they ordered for pickup, but they will also handle regular checkouts.

If home depot wanted to reduce shoplifting, perhaps they should go back to employing cashiers.

Isn't it safe to assume there's face or gait recognition all around stores though? In general, if not most places yet then inevitably soon. It's only an issue here because of an Illinois law, how many states don't have that?

Well, I do try to choose where I shop in part to reduce the amount of spying I'm subjected to, but yes, this is of course a risk.

However, where a store might be spying on me when I'm just doing my shopping, it's guaranteed they're spying on me if I'm using self-checkout.

Honestly, though, the privacy invasion is only part of why I don't do self-checkout. Another major part is that I don't want to risk the store thinking that I stole something from them.

I exclusively use self-checkout because the lines move faster because one line feeds multiple self-checkouts vs each regular checkout having its own line. This leads to head of line blocking from very customers with a lot more items than you.

This is not an exclusive feature of self-checkout. I have shopped at many places where one line is fed into an array of human cashiers.

What store? I have not seen a single store with this setup.

I see it most often at independant or franchise retailers. Places where providing a pleasant customer experience still seems to have an impact on their bottom line.

I believe some Kohls, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, and Dollar General stores do it.

Yep, those are stores I never go to.

You've never been to a CVS, Walgreens, or RiteAid?

Technically I go to a CVS pharmacy in a Target. RiteAids are not near where I live. And have been in Walgreens a few times.

Also Ross, CVS, Walgreens, Kohls, Dicks, Ulta, Burlington, Sephora, most clothing stores, many large gas stations.

Similar here. If you want me to deal with your dystopian self-checkout, how about you pay me?

(Conveniently, I live in a large-enough city for there to be plenty of other options. Including small or high-touch stores, which do not have self-checkout.)

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