Opinion on "express self scan" checkouts?

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted by Kestas
I use them as an opportunity to get rid of my excess pennies and small change, and to break a $20 bill.


Never though of that, I'll give that a try. Thanks.

I use them because I don't like to wait in line much, and self checkout usually has a shorter line.

Regarding to losing jobs, many people will say the same about union screwing up manufacturing in the auto industry, or shopping in a box store vs mom and pop. The reality is in 2019 this is already over, and jobs for simple interaction with customers and repetitive work are gone. Delivering like uber / UPS / warehouse pickers / etc may last another 10 years until they are more automated but those will also be gone eventually. Customers in general will pick eliminating a job instead of paying $1 more for their purchases.

 

[DBMaster]

Originally Posted by PandaBear
Customers in general will pick eliminating a job instead of paying $1 more for their purchases.


Yes, they will.

 

[spasm3]

They stores must save enough to offset the theft costs. There has to be more theft with the self checkout.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted by George7941
I use self checkouts 95% of the time, don't have anything against them.
Reminds me of the self-serve gas pumps debate when they were first introduced. I actually prefer to pump gas myself. I would rather check the engine oil and tire pressures myself, thank you very much. Some folks still dislike self-serve pumps.


Back when I first started driving (1983) self serve pumps gave you a discount per gallon on gas. I would gladly use self checkout at the grocery store if I got a discount.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted by javacontour
I have most of the codes I use memorized. It's often the machine. I can key in 4011 for bananas, but the machine isn't ready for me and takes forever. I've usually tapped all four digits before it will display the first

Okay, I have noticed that, too, and it's not just me then.

I don't buy a lot of produce or bulk items, so it's not a huge deal. The real flaw I notice with dealing with produce is their search system. It makes search function from DOS look years ahead. When there is a sticker on the fruit, great. Something else, the search engine is a nightmare. If I buy water softening salt, I don't bother at the self checkout.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Originally Posted by Spector
My issue is with beer, it mandates that a cashier come over and verify the DOB which defeats the purpose of the time saving device. Cashier is usually occupied with someone else and takes forever!


It's not a time saving device for the customer, it's a money saving device for the store. There's a difference.


It's both.

It's also nice to not have sandwich rolls bagged under canned fruit, or raw meat with insecticide!

 

[Garak]

Yes, that's another thing. Some places, when they do bag for you, you'd rather they had not done so. Some are pretty cautious, though. Our Sobey's chain here has no self-checkouts, at least not at the locations I frequent, and they bag quite carefully. Things like raw meat or things from the olive bar are double bagged and segregated as necessary.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted by PimTac
Some just do not want to change. Remember the old cash registers where the number keys were depressed and then the cashier pulled on the side lever? I do.
These scan it yourself machines are getting better and better. What is better is the technology to scan the items yourself as you shop rather than doing it up front. Either a scan device at the store or using your smartphone.
Fred Meyers (Kroger) near me is doing this now with a device you get at the entrance. This is the next step.
What I also like about Fred Meyers is that they have assistants at the scan stations. Last week she did all the scanning for me since we had a bit of stuff. I really appreciated that.

It's jarring just to think about when every grocery item except produce had a little price tag on it that the cashier had to read and tap into the cash register, mechanical or electronic. Lots of chances to mess up there, and then you had to get a price check if the tag had fallen off or never been applied. And all the employees in the aisles going nuts attaching the tags with their price guns...
Was it Bush I who was amazed to see a scanner in operation at a grocery store during his presidency, making it evident that as a blueblood politician he probably hadn't been shopping himself in at least 15 years or so?

 

[jeepman3071]

I'll use them if I have only a few things and there is a line at the regular cashier.

As far as eliminating cashiers altogether and only having self checkout, F-that! I didn't know I became a volunteer for the grocery store. Maybe if costs went down, but you know they wouldn't. That is like going to subway and you have to make your own sandwich but it costs the same amount.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by jeepman3071
I'll use them if I have only a few things and there is a line at the regular cashier.

As far as eliminating cashiers altogether and only having self checkout, F-that! I didn't know I became a volunteer for the grocery store. Maybe if costs went down, but you know they wouldn't. That is like going to subway and you have to make your own sandwich but it costs the same amount.

Could it be, that is how they control costs? If they didn't do that, perhaps it would cost more.

Doesn't bother me to ring up and bag my own stuff. I get that it costs jobs, but just what kind of job loss was it?

 

[PimTac]

What makes me chuckle with this thread is that I have always heard that for the most part, guys want to go into a store, get what they need and get out. These new systems make that a reality.

The newer scan as you pull from the shelves systems are the way to go, especially if you can pay as you go. It's coming.

 

[MrMoody]

Originally Posted by Virtus_Probi
Was it Bush I who was amazed to see a scanner in operation at a grocery store during his presidency, making it evident that as a blueblood politician he probably hadn't been shopping himself in at least 15 years or so?

That's about right, everything prepackaged got barcodes during Ford IIRC, and the bigger grocers got scanners at the same time. And the scanners cost a king's ransom at the time. I knew a guy later who had sold them in the early days.

 

[fdcg27]

Many grocery stores have taken the choice out of this by staffing only a few checkouts leaving most customers to have to use self-checkouts.
The Kroger only a short jog off my route home from work once had signs saying that every checkout would be open during the busy hours after people got off work.
No longer. Today, the self-checkout is usually the only quick route out of the store.
It's at a point where people with really full carts use the DIY line, greatly slowing down those of us with a half dozen items.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted by MrMoody
Originally Posted by Virtus_Probi
Was it Bush I who was amazed to see a scanner in operation at a grocery store during his presidency, making it evident that as a blueblood politician he probably hadn't been shopping himself in at least 15 years or so?

That's about right, everything prepackaged got barcodes during Ford IIRC, and the bigger grocers got scanners at the same time. And the scanners cost a king's ransom at the time. I knew a guy later who had sold them in the early days.


It was patented late in 1972, so that sounds about right.

I recall even large supermarkets not having scanners into the late 80's.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by javacontour
I have most of the codes I use memorized. It's often the machine. I can key in 4011 for bananas, but the machine isn't ready for me and takes forever. I've usually tapped all four digits before it will display the first.

In my case, it really is the designed in slowness of the machine that is the problem.

So I simply don't go unless is 3am and I have 4 or fewer items.

I'd rather stand in line and daydream than wait for a frustratingly slow machine that will not keep up with me.
Originally Posted by bbhero
^^^^^^^

Hey... Try getting behind anyone with fresh produce!!!

No bar code quite often... They look like a space ship landed in front of them

I actually like the self check out lines... Faster for me almost always...

Even when I go through a regular line with a cashier... I bag my own groceries. Because I did this in high school. And I am fast... I can keep up with cashier item for item... That's getting it done

Most people though have no idea what the codes are on produce... And they certainly don't have them memorized.

Again... They are looking bewildered and like a space ship landed in front of them

I have no doubt in your abilities... Something tells me you are quite, quite intelligent. And I mean that seriously.

 

[dlundblad]

I prefer self checkout for sure. Don't want some potentially sick or dirty cashier touching my stuff. It's bad enough when people have to touch my ID.

Back in my Kroger days, a cashier would sit in a chair and rub her feet.

 

[Andrew1972]

I realize a likely not difficult add on to these self scan stations is a HD camera that allows you to scan/show items like produce to recognize the item and then pull up potential matches on screen.

I have been playing with software libraries/cloud services to injest images and then relate data to them.

 

[DBMaster]

If we have technology that can scan fingerprints and facial features on smartphones I don't think vegetable/fruit recognition should be that great of a leap.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted by dlundblad
I prefer self checkout for sure. Don't want some potentially sick or dirty cashier touching my stuff. It's bad enough when people have to touch my ID.

Back in my Kroger days, a cashier would sit in a chair and rub her feet.


Right!!!
It's not as though dirty and unhealthy people have touched and sneezed and coughed on the self-scanner you'll use, right?
You're around dirty and unhealthy people every time you leave your house and comingle with others.
Get over it.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted by DBMaster
If we have technology that can scan fingerprints and facial features on smartphones I don't think vegetable/fruit recognition should be that great of a leap.


The problem is, in facial and finger print recognition the human wants to make it work, and will collaborate and get it to work, but in check out application, human wants to make it not work so they can steal stuff.