# How do you feel about self-checkout now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 10, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725 "2022-07-10T20:24:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/241 "2022-07-21T12:45:47Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Ask me a hard one, like dragonfruit or eggplant. 🙂 > > 3040 and 4082 I also know that shallots are 4662, which is something that most of the actual checkers _don’t_ know, and I have to tell them, as it’s not in the reference sheet to look up. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/242 "2022-07-21T12:50:01Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > My understanding on that would be that they were not really creating a matter of shrinkage, but skewing inventory. Someone comes up with 48 cans of soup, and you scan one and type in 48, even though there were 8 varieties of soup. Correct. It was messing up their inventory spreadsheets. Although in a practical sense, at the store level, orders are created with a handheld device at the shelf, not just by looking at the inventory on a computer, so when I was doing the ordering later on when I got promoted, I knew what to order and what not to because I was literally looking at the items on the shelf. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/243 "2022-07-21T13:01:48Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Although in a practical sense, at the store level, orders are created with a handheld device at the shelf, not just by looking at the inventory on a computer At the same time, sometimes customers ask if a product is in stock, and you could look at the shelf, or you could look at the computer. I could even look at the inventory of other stores in the market. So, if someone wanted to buy a bunch of a particular type of soup, I could tell them what store nearby had it, assuming that their inventory was accurate. This probably doesn’t actually happen all that much with soup, but I spent most of my grocery store career in the lawn and garden section, where people _were_ driving to all the stores in town to pick up a couple hundred pavers for their home improvement project, and it was quite annoying when you couldn’t count on inventories to be accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/244 "2022-07-21T13:22:56Z")
If I have just a handful of items and there is no line, I’m fine with it. I’m not doing self-checkout with a cart full of groceries, however, nor will I stand in a self-checkout line. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/245 "2022-07-21T13:35:04Z")
My one complaint in self checkout and looking up produce codes is that there is not enough differentiation between “organic - thing” and “thing”. I almost paid the price for “organic yellow squash” because (alphabetical order) the picture came up several screens before “yellow squash”. Thinking about this - I wonder how many time people just look at the produce in the pictures and pay for the wrong item. Pay for “organic” when it’s not and vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/246 "2022-07-21T13:47:10Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It isn’t. Our loss prevention doesn’t confront anyone unless they’ve watched them, in real-time and without interruption, select an item off the shelf and attempt to leave without paying for it. Anything less than that and we’d be risking a lawsuit. Absolutely nobody in LP is going to be poring over hours of footage from months ago and track you down unless the amount of stuff you’re stealing is in the tens of thousands. And this is the reason I’m pretty sure that self-scan lanes aren’t saving anybody any money (except the store). People take stuff (intentionally or otherwise), and the store doesn’t even make an attempt to _advise_ the customer that they have unpaid inventory. How do they make up the loss? By raising prices of course. How is this profitable? Because however much people steal, the company still comes out ahead by not paying wages to humans. I was once at a self-scan lane and watched a woman roll up to the station, place half her groceries in the bagging area, and simply walk out with the rest. Attendant came up to me confused, and I pointed a finger and said “that woman put down half her items and then just walked out without scanning the other half.” Her response? Shrugged shoulders, “oh”. So that’s when I stopped trying to win the “unpaid employee of the month” award. If the paid cashiers aren’t exerting any effort for loss prevention, why should I bother? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/247 "2022-07-21T13:53:05Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > And this is the reason I’m pretty sure that self-scan lanes aren’t saving anybody any money (except the store). People take stuff (intentionally or otherwise), and the store doesn’t even make an attempt to _advise_ the customer that they have unpaid inventory. How do they make up the loss? By raising prices of course. How is this profitable? Because however much people steal, the company still comes out ahead by not paying wages to humans. I mean, people might be a bit more bold, but it’s not like people can’t steal if there’s no self checkouts. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/248 "2022-07-21T13:53:32Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > When was this? This is similar to my experience way back when self-checkouts first became a thing, but lately the process has been much more smooth and seamless—and, judging by the posts in this thread, I’m not alone in this. The scanner now just yells at you “PLEASE PUT YOUR ITEM IN THE BAG” 3 milliseconds after you scan it. Like, even though I’m literally scanning and bagging in one fluid, graceful, and coordinated motion, and the machine still nags me to hell and back. About 25% of the time the machine gets confused if I do it _too_ fast, and then I have to wait for the attendant to leisurely drop by and hit “override” (of course without checking what actually happened). ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/249 "2022-07-21T13:57:45Z")
[quote=“HMS\_Irruncible, post:246, topic:967725”] > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > How do they make up the loss? By raising prices of course. How is this profitable? Because however much people steal, the company still comes out ahead by not paying wages to humans. Humans are still paid in the supply chain, it’s not as though the items appear on the shelves without any human intervention. But yeah, if the average customer steals less than a couple of dollars, then it saves money over paying someone to check them out. Some people may steal a bunch, but the vast majority don’t steal anything at all. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I was once at a self-scan lane and watched a woman roll up to the station, place half her groceries in the bagging area, and simply walk out with the rest. Attendant came up to me confused, and I pointed a finger and said “that woman put down half her items and then just walked out without scanning the other half.” > > Her response? Shrugged shoulders, “oh”. I do the same thing. I scan my barcode on my phone, and there are occasions when something or other has to be actually scanned at the check-out. If you watched me check-out, you might think that I was walking out with most of my groceries unpaid for. Then occasionally someone at the door will do a bit of a spot audit, where they pick a couple items out of my cart and make sure that they are on the receipt. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > So that’s when I stopped trying to win the “unpaid employee of the month” award. If the paid cashiers aren’t exerting any effort for loss prevention, why should I bother? You aren’t paid, nor an employee, so you _shouldn’t_ be expected to or wanted to participate in loss prevention. If she did in fact steal those groceries, then her picture is known to the actual loss prevention team, and if she comes in again, she will be monitored by people actually trained and authorized to confront a potential thief. And even as a cashier, my job was _not_ to stop a thief, the limit of my responsibilities and authorization was to report it to loss prevention. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/250 "2022-07-21T13:59:19Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I mean, people might be a bit more bold, but it’s not like people can’t steal if there’s no self checkouts. Well sure, but self checkouts create a situation like where I described… a person can go through the motions of payment and walk out with a half-cart or more of items. It creates a situation where both customer and cashier can stage a sufficiently convincing performance of “I tried my hardest” that nobody’s going to challenge it, as Smapti said, and as I have observed. Yet stores continue (and expand) the practice, which means the losses aren’t cutting into the bottom line enough to change procedures, which means that the combination of raising prices and eliminating labor costs must more than make up for it. Loss is baked into the model. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/251 "2022-07-21T14:05:35Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Humans are still paid in the supply chain, it’s not as though the items appear on the shelves without any human intervention. Come now. I am talking about the elimination of _cashiers_, those whose work is being replaced by the topic of this thread. I’m not suggesting that corn picks itself and rides a bicycle to the grocery store shelf. Though it does go without saying that management would cheerfully take any opportunity to cut every last human from their supply chain, if they could. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/252 "2022-07-21T14:14:42Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I am talking about the elimination of _cashiers_, those whose work is being replaced by the topic of this thread. I’m not suggesting that corn picks itself and rides a bicycle to the grocery store shelf. I was simply clarifying. People still do get paid plenty to get that item into your cart, even if you are reducing the workforce in what really is usually a pretty shitty and low paying job at that last point of contact. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Though it does go without saying that management would cheerfully take any opportunity to cut every last human from their supply chain, if they could. Sure, as labor is generally the biggest driver of costs, every human cut from the supply chain makes the product cost both the store and the consumer less. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/253 "2022-07-21T14:51:04Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > > And how does the number of jobs lost to self-checkouts compare with the number of jobs gained from assembling and fulfilling online/app grocery orders? > > Serious question: are those jobs, or are they gigs? I think that depends on whether you’re talking about online/app orders fulfilled by the store itself, or apps/services where you’re essentially paying a third party to shop for you. I had in mind the former. Locally, the one place I’ve really seen self-checkout replace human cashiers is Walmart. And from what I can see, it’s Walmart employees who go through the store and assemble orders for pickup that are placed through their app. It looks like [the overall number of people employed by Walmart has gone up recently](https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/number-of-employees), though there are so many factors that could influence that that I have no idea what effect self-checkout and order fulfillment have on that. (And for what it’s worth, it looks like [more of those employees are full-time rather than part-time](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/14/walmart-makes-more-workers-full-time-in-effort-to-retain-employees.html).) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/254 "2022-07-21T16:25:25Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Sure, as labor is generally the biggest driver of costs, every human cut from the supply chain makes the product cost both the store and the consumer less. Cost the store less? Sure. What makes you think the store automatically passes the savings to the customer? Perhaps they will, but not after shareholder dividends are distributed, manager bonuses are paid, business expansions are funded. Consumers are quite literally the last people to see the benefit of cost reductions (except maybe labor). As I said upthread, there’s no indication that the introduction of automated scanners has reduced consumer costs _at all_. Grocery prices haven’t gone anywhere but up. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/255 "2022-07-21T16:30:25Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Grocery prices haven’t gone anywhere but up. Right, because of factors like the rising price of fuel (which increases the cost of transporting goods to the store). So, while I don’t know for sure that they are doing so, it makes sense to me that stores would be looking for ways to cut their costs so that they don’t have to raise their prices as much as they otherwise would (or as much as their competitors would). ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/256 "2022-07-21T16:42:51Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Cost the store less? Sure. What makes you think the store automatically passes the savings to the customer? Perhaps they will, but not after shareholder dividends are distributed, manager bonuses are paid, business expansions are funded. I didn’t say they did. However, the store that _does_ is the store that people shop at. Grocery prices are very competitive, I’ve got 4 grocery stores to choose from within a half mile of eachother. They can’t just stick that money in their pockets and expect to stay in buisness. > [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > As I said upthread, there’s no indication that the introduction of automated scanners has reduced consumer costs _at all_. Grocery prices haven’t gone anywhere but up. The costs of _everything_ have gone up. Even more reason to introduce cost cutting measures to keep prices as low as they can to stay competitive. ---
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/257 "2022-07-21T16:49:41Z")
I would rather use real, human cashiers as I support the workers. Not everybody should be replaced by a machine. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/258 "2022-07-21T17:13:15Z")
I assume that means that you still employ a chambermaid to empty the contents of your chamber pots, rather than employing the job killing technology of interior plumbing. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/259 "2022-07-21T19:30:52Z")
I like self-checkout better now that I don’t have to deal with the “unexpected item in bagging area” prompts of Version 1, and having to get someone to help me. But I still don’t like them. Give me a cashier I can talk to, any day. I’m a people person. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725/260 "2022-07-21T20:27:50Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The store I work at has you use your phone as your bar-code scanner for the shopping app. Solves all sorts of problems, like whether or not a hand-scanner is available or customers accidentally going home with a scanner. > > Not so convenient for customers that don’t have smart phones, though. Awww, Hell no.! Most of the time I just enter [Jenny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WTdTwcmxyo)’s # at the register to get the discounts. Back in the days when I wanted the free turkey at Thanksgiving the phone # on my acct was madeup, usually a combo of old phone #s in my life. I don’t care if the store has buying info on _a_ customer but I don’t give anyone that kind of marketing info on me. Creepy A F [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-self-checkout-now/967725.md?page=14)