Do you use self checkouts at big box stores?

[cmd]

Just wondering how you feel about self-checkout lines. I refuse to use them because I believe it takes jobs away from Americans.

[OnyxCollie]

1. I use the self-checkout at the grocery store.

I can do it quicker and I don't have to talk to anyone.

[Silverhair]

2. Sometimes.

The grocery self checkouts aren't that good yet. I have tried them. If I have only a few items, and the other lines are busy, I will use them.

[brainshrub]

3. I don't shop at box-stores.

[graywarrior]

4. The only thing worse than having a conversation with a cashier

is not having a conversation with a cashier. Self checkouts were made for people like me who grunt through most transactions.

[durablend]

9. I find that you still can't get away from the cashier

More often than not, there's SOME problem with the self checkout terminal that I get grief from. Usually it's an item that gets rejected due to the price and weight/mass sensor not agreeing, sometimes it's a coupon that it doesn't want, other times it just seems like it wants to be a pain in the ass that day.

[graywarrior]

17. I KNOW! When that happens I don't buy it.

I can't stand it when I pay at the pump for gas and no sales slip prints out so I have to go into the 7-11 or whatever it is, wait in line for all the coke and twinkie and cigarette buyers, then ask the cashier for a receipt and they can't figure out how to do it.

Completely ruins my day so I have to go home and have a nap.

[mtowngman]

5. not so much that I hate lines

I figure it's like computers, atm's and Spanish, the way of the future.

[gauguin57]

6. I use them at the grocery store.

Most of the time, there's someone there to bag my groceries in the self-check line -- so there is a human working there. At another grocery store there's one person stationed in the middle of the four self-check stations to help with problems.

[ButterflyBlood]

7. the only one in my town is at Wal-Mart

Which I refuse to ever shop at, so the answer is no by default.

[IDemo]

11. Wal what? What are you talking about? :)

[BR_Parkway]

8. It's not just that they take the jobs away, but the company simply

keeps that un-written paycheck in their own pockets. it's not like they offer me a discount if I do the work myself and save them the cost of an employee.

[_testify_]

10. And if I cart return the empty cart to its corral, am I taking jobs away

from the cart retrieval guys and gals?

I'm being half-serious here.

[MojoXN]

34. Who cares about cart monkeys?

By eliminating their job, you're doing them a favor. Who the hell would want to be outside all the time in the middle of winter, for minimum wage no less? :sarcasm:

MojoXN

[Bjornsdotter]

12. When I have a lot of change

...it's a great place to get rid your change.

Cheers!

[durablend]

19. Hey--think of the employee that has to empty that coin bin

You're not doing him/her any favors with that self-centered attitude of yours!

:silly: :sarcasm:

[Bjornsdotter]

25. LOL n/t

[Kolesar]

13. Now ya' got me feeling guilty!

I guess using the self check out at a Walmart would be the worst transgression.

[HereSince1628]

14. The next step is customers buying directly off the trucks

so that there are no clerks to pay.

[Robb]

35. I get my best bargains that way

"...It fell offa th' truck." ;)

[CrispyQ]

15. At the grocery store I use them whenever I can.

At first I was opposed because I felt, like your last option, that they take away jobs. But I have become totally pissed off that the checkers do not say "thank you" at the end of my order. At most, I get "have a good one" but never a "thank you." Call me old fashioned, but "have a good one" is not the same as "thank you."

After 3 letters to my 2 local grocery stores it still hasn't changed. If they can't even thank me for my business then fuck them. I'll go to self-checkout.

[chaska]

20. You seriously need to lighten up, CrispyQ.

[CrispyQ]

26. I guess courtesy & manners are more important to some than others.

[shanti]

23. ha, that's a peeve of mine too

i am usually the one saying 'thank you', but why, i dunno. guess they don't care about keeping our business...:shrug:

[pitohui]

39. where do you live?

cashiers never fail to thank me in southeast louisiana or mississippi

[donheld]

16. I don't go to big box stores much

But I always use the self-checkout lines at King Soopers.

[chaska]

18. I agree completely cmd, I preach to people about those things...

every time I shop. I can't believe any Dem would use those damned things.

[Pool Hall Ace]

21. I use self-checkouts whenever possible. I wish there was one at

the party store I go to to purchase greeting cards. I've only been there a few times, but so far, every single time I've been there, the cashier acts like it's a huge inconvenience to check me out.

The last time I went, there were two cashiers. One had a CLOSED sign, so I went to the other one. She signaled me to go other cashier, so I went back over to her. Both cashiers were on the phone, so no one said anything to me. The cashier continued with her conversation during the transaction.

Oh, and the conversation? She was trying to help her friend decide whether or not she should go to work.

I will continue to use self-checkouts whenever they are available.

[shanti]

22. where's the option for 'sometimes'?

because that's my answer

[newspeak]

24. I remember when they did ATMs

I had a couple of friends who were bank clerks. When ATMs first came out, it was "try our new ATMs for free". Yep, no charge and how convenient. Then my friends lost their jobs, then the supervisors who fired them, lost their jobs, then ATMs started charging. What's bad about some people using "debit", is that they don't keep track properly of their money (like my son) and when that happens, the banks make a lot of money now on overdrafts. When we went to self-serve gas, it was it's cheaper for self-serve, they got rid of customer service. It seems like we're paying more to service ourselves, while workers are getting the shaft. I will not self-serve myself in a grocery store. Not only do I take away cashier jobs and baggers jobs, I am not being paid to do my own cashiering and bagging. I refuse to give more money to greedy corporate heads who only want our money, while they take away service!!!! Pretty soon you'll be on your death bed and they'll want you to dig the hole before you die, so they can charge the same and make even more profits off of you!!!!

[SoCalDem]

27. BUT.. I DO use the 'cash-your-ticket' machines in Vegas

They have taken most of the cashiers' cages out , and since the machines do not use coins anymore, it's more convenient to just use the machines..except, they have an $800.00 limit.. any tickets over that, you still have to wait in the long line.. I happily waited to cash in my $955.00 ticket FROM A PENNY MACHINE...and my $760.00 one ALSO FROM A PENNY MACHINE while I was in line..:)

Then I stopped gambling :)

[quinnox]

28. usually self-check

Unfortunately it is not as widely available as I would like, but Albertsons has it and I always take advantage of it when shopping there.

I like it because of the no hassle aspect and I don't have to deal with rude checkers. Not saying all checkers are rude, in fact the local Safeway has a rather nice lady checker, but I prefer to do it myself.

Same with paying my phone bill, I call the automated computer line rather than the live operator line. lol, I guess people just kinda bother me in general.

[Conan_The_Barbarian]

29. I the consumer enjoy them

I use them when I'm just grabbing a couple items for whatever purpose but if I'm buying weeks worth of groceries I go to a human counter. I see no problem with machines replacing humans for simple tasks, it's just part of the industrial revolution... I'm against artifically perserving obsolete jobs for the sake of the worker. An obsolete worker that you have to pay is just dragging the company down.

Companies are always going to try to get the job done for the cheapest price in order to turn a larger profit, that's just how business is done. There is no point in holding it against them for trying something that could save them money.

[newspeak]

31. and so,

automation should wipe out human labor-tell me how do we buy things if we have no jobs? I believe the welfare of families and communities comes before someone's profit line. Let's see, manufacturing jobs are sent over seas and we're told will be emphasizing the service sector-yeah that's right, we are all going to work in the service industry--now machines can take over the service industry, where do we work next? Maybe only the wealthy will be able to afford to eat cause all of our jobs will be taken by automation, and it seems to be alright by some.

[InvisibleTouch]

30. No, because I have this nifty little talent:

I can screw up electronic equipment at 20 paces. I just know that the self checkout would go into some kind of paroxysm if I tried to use it, and then I'd be stuck there, pushing buttons and looking like an idiot, with a full cart of groceries and a line behind me. No thanks!

[TahitiNut]

32. I use my time in the checkout line to spread anti-Bush* information.

I will not be silenced. I will not be "discrete". I will make jokes about the morans in the GOP. I will talk about "welfare for the wealthy" and the "best government money can buy." I will laugh and joke. I will respond to reichbots with comments about them being "brainwashed" and "addicted to LIES." I will not shut up.

I've learned to enjoy check-out lines. It invariably brightens the checker's day.

[cmd]

33. Well done

I make every attempt to do the same. It usually begins with a comment about prices. I never blame the checker, just observe that times have certainly changed and lead into the price of oil and Bush's complicity.

[TahitiNut]

40. I make it like a game ... there's ALWAYS something that can pique a smile.

... that I can then flip into an observation regarding the vicious, dishonest, sociopathic behavior of the Bushoilini Regime. I play the same 'game' every time: (1) say something that causes a nod of the head and a grin, then (2) point out a malicious act of this regime that's related.

People are primed to agree when their head is nodding and their mouth is smiling. It's a VERY simple approach: humor and truth.

[in_cog_ni_to]

36. ONLY if I have 1 or 2 items and there's long lines at all the registers.

I couldn't vote. :(

[ncrainbowgrrl]

37. No "sometimes" option?

:shrug:

I try to go to actual human beings- it's nice to have that human contact with a real live human during my day!

[pitohui]

38. they don't work

they rip you on the coupons, don't give the right price, it sure as heck don't save any time unless you don't care what you pay

sure, i've tried it but it just don't work, i didn't bring my coupons and calculate my grocery budget only to say, oh well since you're a machine i'll pay anything you care to charge me

who are these stupid people who go along w. this, do they really not notice they're paying more