Ever use a "self-checkout" at a superstore?

[Archae]

Our local Wal-Mart has gone to "superstore" status, and they now have "self-checkout" stations.

I used one yesterday, and it worked fine.
Best part was it actually took less time than had I got into line for a clerk.

[Generic Brad]

1. Do not use them at a grocery store

They are fine for a few items, but if you attempt to check out a cart full of groceries you will regret it.

[Archae]

3. Why is that?

Overloads the gadget?

[Generic Brad]

13. The regular checkers have problems scanning

The problems compound when you do it yourself. Plus it is highly frustrating when you scan an item, it doesn't register, and then the computer tells instructs you to set it down in a specific spot repeatedly after you have already placed it where it instructed you to set it.

I love it for quick check out, but I highly recommend you go to a live clerk if you have any volume.

[Phentex]

22. I agree. I've done it successfully a couple of times

but I usually end up having to get help from a clerk because it keeps telling me to place my item in the bag when I have already done that. I'll do it when I only have one or 2 items, but more than that and I'll find a cashier.

[madinmaryland]

24. Actually they were great for a cart full of groceries.

When we lived in CT, we used them all the time at Stop and Shop. The only thing we needed help with was the beer, which required an ID check. Otherwise, my wife would scan and pay, and I would bag. Much easier and normally not much of line for the self check-out.

[Deja Q]

2. They're annoying.

I'd rather fiddle with a person's buttons instead of a machine's.

[u4ic]

4. No

I refuse to do the work that an employee should be doing.

[wain]

17. I'm with you on this. Includes gas stations too

I don't think we ever saw the cost saving to pump our own gas. With the really high price of gas, why do we have to get out of our car, stand out in the rain or snow and get back into the car smelling of gasoline?

x(

[Gormy Cuss]

40. In two states, you don't.

NJ doesn't allow self-service gas stations and the price is no different than in neighboring NY. Eliminating attended pumps is one of the great corporate con jobs.

[huskerlaw]

52. What is this "full service" gas of which you speak?

Honest to god, I've seen anything other than self-serve at ONE gas station out here. ONE.

Same thing back in Nebraska. One gas station had a full-service option in the entire city.

And both times I happened upon the full service option, it completely freaked me out.

[wain]

53. Full service means

You pay for what used free. NJ gets a lot of things wrong, but they got this one right.

[DainBramaged]

5. They are the devil's machines, they take away jobs

and to shop at the devil's own store is worse.

[Archae]

6. If we ever get a cheaper store here, I'll go.

But Wally's is the cheapest store in town.

[DainBramaged]

14. Kmart, Target?

[philosophie_en_rose]

20. I agree. And overhead is built into the price of the product.

[madinmaryland]

26. Unfortunately, they do take away jobs, because the grocers

will not redeploy those employees to other jobs in the store. Like RESTOCKING the damn shelves!

[some guy]

7. I will on rare occasion

use them. There's a 24-hour grocery near me, so if I need to go to the grocery between 2-6 AM (and I do that some times) I will use them, if there isn't a real-person register open.

But I don't like 'em, and I'm not good at it. I'd rather stand online and wait for a real-person register, with a real person running it. :)

[RoyGBiv]

8. Never ...

Wait until you have a problem with one and then see how much of a time-saver it is.

I don't use payment kiosks either, for the same reason. They're fine when they're working. When they don't work, or are programmed improperly, they can ruin your week.

I also habitually check prices as they are rung up against price tags or advertised sale prices. Studies have been done of this showing the error rate, and I've experienced it enough myself to know it's a problem at least, even if it's not intentional. Using a self-checkout makes correcting these issues harder, and I suspect a lot of people who do bother to notice these discrepancies don't report them because the reason they're using the self-check in the first place is speed. I also suspect stores that utilize self-checkouts don't mind this a bit.

[driver8]

9. I hate those freakin' things.

They take away jobs, and the couple that I have used had trouble with my debit card (maybe it's worn out from overuse? The card, not the machine.).

Anyhow, I avoid them when possible.

[carlydenise]

10. I always use them

at the Walmart here....because it's always SOOO BUSY in the checkout lines, no one wants to use the self-checkout.. I get out of the store faster...I am not a walmart wanderer, I go in there and hurry and get out as fast as I can.
Carly

[ikojo]

11. I don't use them because I view this

as yet another way of eliminating jobs. In St Louis many of the grocery stores are unionized so it's another way of sticking it to the unions. Also, why should I do all of the work? It's not like the cost of groceries is going to decrease because the store has a few less clerks to pay and provide benefits for.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. Me too.

:toast:

[hippywife]

23. I never use them, either,

for the same reasons. It's just one more way to put people out of work and keep the bottom line profits for themselves. No one shopping for groceries will see the benefit of the cost savings. Even if they did, I would still refuse to use them due to putting someone out of work.

[SeattleGirl]

12. I use the on occasion at my local grocery store. Items limited

to 15, like the fast check-out lines with clerks. I usually don't take more than 5-6 items through. First couple of times I used it, it drove me crazy, but I got the hang of it.

[Dulcinea]

16. I use them if I have just a few things.

But for the big weekly grocery load, I go to a clerk. I'm a coupon clipper & coupons are a big hassle with self-checkouts, plus I like having someone bag my groceries.

[Crabby Appleton]

18. I hate them

I go shopping early so there is rarely a line to avoid. I quit going to one store because that was the only checkout available early, when I shop.

[AirmensMom]

19. I use them all the time.

OK, so sometimes I have to call for help. It comes fast enough. There's always someone standing at that special self-checkout desk waiting for someone like me to have a problem. The best thing is that the cashier isn't handling my groceries.

[jonnyblitz]

21. when the store has them I use them. there is never a line. nt

[Pool Hall Ace]

25. I use self-checkouts whenever possible.

Whenever I get in a checker's line, it seems that things go wrong.

Once at Best Buy, I was the next in line to a woman who seemed to have issues checking out. I don't know if responsibility for the delay was on her part, or the cashier's, or the equipment, but for some reason it took forever. People behind me were just leaving items behind and walking out of the store. I considered doing the same.

Another time at the grocery store, I had almost finished unloading my cart when the cashier said, "Ma'am? Number 8 is open."

Oh, thanks Nickelnuts, I wouldn't want to interfere with your cigarette break, it's no problem for me to load up my basket again and move. In fact I'm happy to do it. :eyes:

The Harris-Teeter near me has 4 self-checkouts, and there's one person on duty to handle any issues with the scanners. I really doubt that in absence of the self-checkouts, the store would hire 3 more clerks, or pass the savings on to consumers.

[Deep13]

27. Nope. Self-scanner doesn't have a union card.

Besides, I'm done running cash registers.

[TommyO]

28. I use them when I have a small order

Several of the local grocery stores have self-checkouts and I use them if I have a hand-basket or less of things to check out (or just a few large items).

My favorite grocery store, Wegmans, doesn't offer self-checkout, but their staff is decently paid and continually give this private employer a high placement in Fortune's 100 best companies to work for.

[mzteris]

29. I used them all the time

"back home". They don't seem to have them here in Wisconsin.

I hate having to wait for someone else to check me out. I never ever went to a real person unless I had no other choice.

It's faster and more organized. I can scan - and therefore have bagged - in the order I want. I actually prefer to bag my own groceries, too. All the cold stuff together. All the cleaning supplies together. The upstairs bathroom stuff, together. The laundry stuff - together.

And NO squished bread or grapes because some ijut put cans on top of them! It makes MUCH more sense to just do it myself.

[1gobluedem]

30. I hate them

Maybe, maybe for one or two items. But, if you have alcohol, coupons, bottle return slips, and have to weigh produce they are a major, MAJOR pain. You end up dealing with the cashier who oversees the self checkout more than you would with the cashier in line.

And if you scan an item and don't 'place it in the bag,' like laundry detergent or a twelve pack of cans that you don't plan to bag the machine won't go further until you do; just keeps saying 'place the item in the bag' over and over.

Not a fan. Plus I hate to see machines replacing people's jobs.

[mitchum]

31. Well, if you like killing jobs, carry on...

I never use them

[L A Woman]

33. oh give me a break

i went to albertson's yesterday and the lady was chatting non-stop to the bagger while scanning my items. didn't say a WORD to me. then i got some cash back from my debit purchase and she forgot to give it to me. so i went back to get it and she acted like she was doing me a favor by giving me the money she forgot to give me. no apology, nothing.

if you can get better customer service from a machine, that's what you're going to use. i prefer people, but the reality is that they are usually incompetent and rude. their jobs are in their own hands, really.

[mitchum]

42. Mr Stossel Risin'?

And when so many of those jobs are eliminated, where will those employees who are not "rude and incompetent" work? Frankly, those companies could care less about the "quality" of their customer service. It's all about their corporate profits, and they thank you for playing. Well, actually they don't thank you...
Also, did they pass the savings along to you? After all, you did labor in their store.

[mduffy31]

32. All the time

that way I don't have to deal with the checkout people. Some of them are scary :scared:

[Crandor]

34. And what about those new looms, they're going to destroy tons of textile jobs!

Sigh. Every time some new technology appears everybody has to rant about how the end of the world is nigh.

Should we ban agriculture because it eliminates hunter-gatherer jobs?

[bluedogyellowdog]

38. Ah, I see somebody has been watching too much

John Stossel.

[Crandor]

58. I didn't even know who he was until now

I just looked him up and apparently he's a "libertarian" (code word for extreme RWer). I am nearly as far from that as you can possibly get. You do not have to be some insane Randroid in order to think that technology isn't the Great Satan.

[bluedogyellowdog]

60. Stossel and other Randroids

..refuse to distinguish between technology which can empower people if properly used (such as that thing I'm using to type this as we speak), and technology which can pose a threat to liberty, privacy, jobs, unions, wages, or the planet's ecosystems. They welcome it all with starry eyes. They fail to recognize that the most pressing threat to the liberty and privacy that libertarians are supposed to be so much in favor of comes from unregulated technology (surveillance technology in particular). They accuse anyone who seeks reasonable restrictions on the use of technology of being against that technology, instead of merely seeking to limit its legal uses. They accuse anyone who raises questions about any one technology of being anti-all technology and use argumentum ad absurdum strawman arguments - such as "the Luddites said looms would destroy textile jobs too".

You may not be one of them, but if you aren't, please don't use their talking points.

[mitchum]

43. Maybe you could use that strawman as a scarecrow...

since you brought up agriculture and all...

[Crandor]

59. Straw man?

Take a closer look at your own posts - I notice you accused someone else of being a Stossel fan.

[mitchum]

61. Is a question actually accusatory?

I stand by the points that I make.

[XNASA]

35. Yes. It wasn't what I thought it would be either. nt

[SacredCow]

36. I use them now....

when they first came out, you had to scan your stuff THEN go to a cashier to pay. Of course, there was 1 cashier per 20 self-checkout register....

[bluedogyellowdog]

37. Job killers

The nearby supermarket has them. I tried them a couple of times until I realized the implications.

Companies are always looking for ways to cut costs - such as by putting fewer people on the payroll. I suppose in some cases a case could be made that their "innovations" are more convenient, such as self-service gas. But I never found self-service checkouts more convenient.

[bridgit]

39. yeah, they're cool...

:thumbsup:

[MissMillie]

41. only for very small orders

it works ok.

[mondo joe]

44. I love them - except when there's a slow poke ahead of me.

[BrotherBuzz]

45. I used a "self-checkout" exactly half a time....

I tried to buy a twenty dollar item, and quicker then you can sneeze, the damn machine was asking for sixty bucks. I left the item on the counter and left the damn store. Them machines are cold hearted crooks and not to be trusted!

[snooper2]

46. you shouldn't have scanned it 3 times

:)

[BrotherBuzz]

47. I didn't scan it three times....

The dishonest machine did while I wasn't looking. This Luddite has no need for those evil devices! Evil, I tell you, evil!

[crispini]

48. I'll do it every now and then.

But I like to encourage the grocery store to keep real people around. :D

[bleedingheart]

49. I don't like them...

I shop in a store, I am purchasing items from the store...and yet they want me to check out and bag these items...and yet prices aren't going down...hmmmm

in addition, when I did use one once, it took forever because...I had to not only scan my groceries and pack them and when I shop I buy the groceries for the week or two...I don't need to do all that work when I am spending enough money...

[One_Life_To_Give]

50. I keep finding new 'Age Restricted" products

Dry Gas, Brake Clean, etc.
And when buying a case of something. The machine isn't calibrated to know you grabbed the whole case and complains because the product in the bagging area is too heavy.

[Spirochete]

51. I use them sometimes

when I have just a few items. I have learned not to use them if I'm buying packs of Kool-Aid ("please place the item in the bag.please place the item in the bag.please place the item in the bag....")
When I have more things, I go through the checkstand, because they can do a better job of bagging than I ever could.

[eppur_se_muova]

54. I don't work there, so no. They can PAY someone to do the work which keeps them in business. nt

[Akoto]

55. Occasionally, when I shop at BJs ...

It's reserved for only a certain number of items, though. It's a bulk store and most of the registers are run by people.

[skygazer]

56. I work grocery

I'll never use a self-checkout. To me, it represents one of my fellow workers collecting unemployment. If they're lucky.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

57. Yeah, once

at Albertson's. Sheesh. Heard Albertson's is closing. I'll pay a little more for good customer service.

[applegrove]

62. As long as they have the shortest line..I'll use them.