this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023
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I love self-checkouts.
I also absolutely hate multi-line setups. There should be one line that feeds into all register. I don't want to have to gamble on which register won't get held up by something when I'm on my way out.
Those overly negative comments often come from USA. I've never had any major problems with self checkout in Europe and I generally go there as it's faster and you don't have to race against the cashier. Of course some chains have worse self checkouts, some have better but overall many people like it a lot. Even some older people who are not tech savvy use them.
I'm in the US, the general hyperbole against self check here doesn't come close to matching my experience.
I've never tried them really I just either get help or leave once I realize self checkout is the only option
They're usually pretty simple. I became attached to them when I was living as a foreigner abroad and didn't have much language skills. But I could understand the graphical prompts and numbers on a self-checkout machine!
I hate self checkout generally, but if I can get one that just has a hand scanner and doesn't force you to put everything into the bagging area, it's about the fastest way to checkout there is
The easiest way to get self checkouts that are awesome and not time consuming is by moving out of the US at this point.
Or go to Sam's Club... Their self checkout is pretty much the only one that didn't make me feel like I was a suspected criminal and actually let me check out quickly.
Then they make me feel like a suspected criminal by re-scanning half my basket before I can leave, but I guess you win some and you lose some
I noticed that lol I was just at Sams a few days ago and only bought three items. The guy at the exit not only stared at my receipt for an oddly long time but scanned two of the three items to I guess verify? Is it that hard to read three things lol?
Yeah, I still prefer the overall experience from Costco. More crowded, I'll only use the regular checkout, but even with long lines they get you out FAST. They also never adopted that stupid hand scanner at the door, because they actually treat their employees decently and trust them enough to be able to visually verify, and oh boy is that a lot faster than Sam's method.
But Sam's did nail the self checkout. I've not tried the app to scan as you go and pay automatically because I'm not interested in putting an app on my phone for every company I do business with
I agree honestly. People don’t know how to queue at sams lol
Yeah, there are some stores near me that don't have a hand scanner, but at least don't make you place items into the "bagged area" one by one. I can scan things and drop them into my bags/cart no problem. I really enjoy that experience.
It's funny how divided a topic this is.
Could just be my area but the machines always fail in some way or another.
Give me 10%off if I am doing the job of an absentee cashier... Always cool seeing many checkouts all decked out in gear with noone there to run them. Ever.
OR, even better, use some decades old tech and spend a penny to put RFID tags on everything so I can just run my cart through and verify the list of stuff and click Yes, No, Maybe.
Somewhat related.. is it just me or are liquor stores the best at this? I never even stop moving and I'm out. Then i go next door to the pet store to grab some animal chow and I stand in line for 10mins because just one register of 6 is staffed.
At least we can order everything online for the most part now.
I've never had a failure, but one chain near me is a bit annoying with its "place your item in the bagged area" setting... I'd rather just put it in my cart directly, especially when I'm running out of room.
I find it easier to sort my items the way I like and to verify prices immediately, rather than having to watch the cashier and look at the machine, then ask the cashier to stop and remove/question something that scanned wrong...
And I'm surprised at how often I've had cashiers punch in the wrong produce code to something that's more expensive than my item. Have they stopped training cashiers in hopes that they'll make up for the 4011 phenomenon? They can't be doing it on purpose, but it's just weird to me.
It's always the bagging thing that fails for me. I'm not the smartest person in the world but I can scan an item and place it in the bagging area. It's kinda out of my hands at that point. Be it calibration or incorrect data sometimes it won't recognize and after a couple attempts locks and some underpaid person has to come roll their eyes at me and swipe a card to let it go through.
I've probably just been unlucky and gave up 10yrs ago on that.
No they don't train cashiers beyond what button to press. Produce is interesting. It's been a while (love curbside service) since I've been in a grocery store but ours has tags on produce you show to a scale and it weighs it and prints out a sticker with a barcode.
And I just realized how abusable that is. I'm going shopping tomorrow!
Oh what's the 4011 thing? Doesn't ring a bell.
4011 is bananas, which are one of the cheapest things by weight
Preach