Canadian grocer Loblaw’s apparently started a thing where you have to scan your receipt to exit the self-checkout bagging area. Not tried it. If you believe the papers, people don’t like it.
Here in my parts of the USA I’ve never encountered a store that offers scan-as-you-go. I’m certainly amenable to trying it, and especially now with the professional insights @Mighty_Mouse just gave us about the learning curve for such systems.
Which learning curve seems not unlike that of the self-checkout stations. Each store brand has a different system with different prompts, different cadences, etc. There are overarching similarities for sure, but ISTM all the frustration is in the ever-differing details.
Heck, I still get annoyed at the 17 different places you might need to tap your credit card on a terminal to get it to register. My favorites are the ones with the prominent NFC logo-thingy exactly where you don’t tap. [/rant] 
As to scan-as-you-go, I have a couple questions:
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How does that work for those of us who will not bring reusable bags and expect to be supplied a fresh pile of single-use store bags to carry our stuff home?
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In many US big box stores I find cellular connectivity really sucks. It’s almost as if they have jammers to prevent online price comparisons with the competition or something. How is that problem resolved for scan-as-you-go apps on customer’s mobiles?
We did that in a Google sheet during the pandemic, when we did huge grocery trips rarely. Now that we are back to lots of small grocery trips, we are also back to a piece of paper attached to a fridge magnet that we write on when we notice something we need.
But if you like that, it’s not too hard to build in Google sheets. You just need to create a column for “aisle in store x” for each shop, and a column for “buy in this trip”. Then sort the sheet first but “buy” and second by aisle and i usually also sorted alphabetically within each aisle.
You can access your Google sheet from any phone, share it with any family member, and print it out if you like having a piece of paper more than fiddling with your phone.
Back when stores in my area were allowed to give out free bags, they were right there near the store entrance with the scanning devices. I’m not sure what they do now - but since there are no more free bags, people usually do bring their own. And of course, some warehouse stores never provided bags.
I haven’t noticed that recently - but I also definitely get better reception in casinos than I used to. Maybe things ae changing.
We absolutely considered doing just this. Main problem we haven’t is that it’s not as easy to see on the phone as a custom-designed app, but it would indeed meet all the requirements I talked about. Just hide the columns for the store you’re not shopping at, and hide anything that isn’t checked as needed.
We just experienced scan as you go at Ikea in Halifax. It was very convenient. Use the app from my phone, scan the bar codes, use a dedicated lane that had nobody else in it and off you go. Saved maybe 5 min over what the self checkout line was. I was pleased and would do it again. I’d be happy if the local Walmart or Superstore put the system in place. I tend to use bins for my shopping so reorganizing into bags wouldn’t be an issue.
I didn’t hide anything. I sorted the columns i would use to the left, (by mentally moving them) and since my to level sort of the rows is “buy this trip”, everything i want is above everything i don’t want. I just didn’t scroll down farther than the last item i plan to buy.
In practice, i prefer paper even to custom shopping apps, and printed out the relevant parts of the sheet. But if i forgot, i used my phone and it was perfectly legible. And my husband routinely used his phone when it was his turn to shop.
I wasn’t clear. The columns I’d hide would be the aisle info for the stores I’m not shopping at. So the columns would be item, quantity needed, quantity bought (if you want, to update as you get them), and one column for each of the stores you shop at. If you’re at store X today, hide the others then sort by the column for store X.
The app I used to use would even let me input a price for each item - at each store. So in theory I could look at my list, and see that it would be XX dollars at Safeway and YY dollars at Giant. I never bothered with that.
Yeah, i understood. I didn’t hide the columns for other stores, i moved them to the right of the columns i was using today. Works the same either way, i just found it easier to move the unneeded columns out of the way.
I agree, very convenient. The store I shop at has its own app that is very versatile. As I scan an item if there’s a coupon it will pop up and allow me to clip it. I can search an item and it shows me a picture and which aisle it’s in. If I’m building an order at home for pick up I can compare product labels and read reviews, Hellmans or dukes, I read the labels and reviews and made my choice. Whip! Booya lol no it’s Hellmans to bring out the best
The scanner is sensitive and it will scan multiples if you’re careless and waving the phone around. But it’s easy to adjust quantities. I use the app to check prices sometimes I find a discount that’s not indicated on the shelf price. I’ve scored some good deals on grass fed meats checking prices otherwise not noted. I also catch when an item is marked reduced but not in the system. I grab a photo and show it at the register and I get the deal.
It sometimes crashes my cart and usually it reloads sometimes not. Seems to happen always in the dairy aisle 
for some reason. I keep data on and never bother with the store wifi.
I’m still in the “refuse to use them unless I must” category.
I find the whole process of self-check out overwhelming. Not enough space to work in (at the last place I went to, the cart could only be positioned behind and to my right while the machine expected me to work left to right), too many buttons and visual elements on screen (including moving ads and/or a shitty video feed of my face), too much beeping and annunciation of everything and I can’t be bothered to mess with volume settings and whatnot. Nevermind the random items that need an attendant -bananas, last time, despite a weight and PLU.
I’m rarely in such a hurry that I can’t wait for a cashier who will also bag my stuff (and have car loading service depending on the store I’m at), often just as quickly if not more.
I just find interacting with unfamiliar machines to be a stressful and overwhelming activity and avoid it when I can. I definitely see the advantage for a lot of people, but it’s not for me.
Last weekend I encountered a Girl Scout troop selling cookies on my way into Target. I bought two boxes. I placed them in my reusable bag, went into the store, did my shopping, and went to the self checkout like I usually do. But I was really paranoid that someone would notice the two boxes of cookies in my bag and think they were two items from the store that I hadn’t scanned. But no one said anything. I even placed the bag with the cookies in it in the bagging area before scanning my items and it didn’t complain.
Of course if someone had said anything it would have been easy to clear up, since Girl Scout Cookies are obviously not an item Target sells, and everything I did buy from them would have been accounted for on my receipt.
This varies enormously from shop to shop.
Technically, the first place i regularly used self checkout is a 24 hour honor-system farm stand. I would go there at 11pm during the lockdowns, and be the only person there. I had to work out how to use the scanner, but there was zero time pressure. No ads, moving or otherwise. Not too many buttons. A helpful sign with instructions.
My recent experience with my local supermarket and my local CVS were worlds apart, and I’ll probably use self checkout at the supermarket when i only have a couple of items. I may go to a different drug store to avoid the self checkout at CVS.
mnemosyne’s description of the cluttered interface and noisy experience made me immediately think of CVS. Publix’s checkouts are much friendlier.
I do consider trying to unload a cart at a self-checkout to be user error, not a problem with the system. They’re simply not built to accommodate carts, nor the amount of merchandise a cart can hold. Self-checkout should be strictly for people using shopping baskets (or their hands, I guess).
And as unfriendly as the CVS machines are, it’s still generally faster than waiting on the one employee who is supposed to be simultaneously restocking and manning the register.
My local CVS has stopped manning the cash register. Instead, there’s a guy who is hovering around who can help you with self checkout, or if you really whine, can process your purchase at the register. So yes, it’s faster to use the self checkout, but only because they force you to fail at it before allowing you to check out with a clerk. Between the wildly cluttered interface, with moving pictures, and the weirdly low scale you are supposed to rest your bottle of aspirin on after scanning it, it’s a really unpleasant experience.
As an aside: In the local dialect (SE Louisiana), “shopping cart” and “shopping basket” are completely synonymous – both are generally made of metal and have four castered wheels.
To specify the object pictured below, you have to call it a “hand basket”.
I agree, it was my decision to use the self check out with a cart even though I knew the space was awkward. I didn’t actually have many items, but they were bulky (soda cans, milk cartons, cereal boxes…).
This wasn’t at a store I normally shop at, and the last time I stopped there they didn’t have self check out kiosks. Now they had 6, I think, and a single regular lane that easily had 15+ people waiting in line. I wasn’t in a hurry, so figured I’d try self check out as it certainly wouldn’t be slower, and it was precisely as awkward and annoying as I remembered it.
I did use one at a Canadian Tire while on vacation to buy a tea strainer. That was a good use case, and it was pretty quick, though there was still too much beeping for me.
I still just prefer waiting in line with phone and music. It’s down time to be able to just space out and not feel like I should be doing something else!
I hate self checkout and never use it.
I’m sort of late to the party — My feelings about self checkout vary by store. In general, I’ll head for self checkout if I don’t want to interact with employees…sometimes I’ve just had enough people for one day, and other times the available checkers and/or baggers are just plain incompetent.
Publix: terrible system, with sluggish computers and poor weight sensors in the bagging area. I avoid these. In fact, I avoid the entire store unless there’s some item that I can’t find anywhere else.
CVS: decent, except it’s very easy for the system to trick you into using your rewards dollars if you’re paying with Citi.
Target: excellent systems, but always overcrowded, which is probably what prompted them to limit how many items you can take through line. I also like using these because I don’t have to deal with cranky employees slamming my items into the bags.
Wegmans: until recently they had the best self checkouts I’ve ever used; the computers are quick, but the weight sensors in the bagging area have been “upgraded” recently, and are far too sensitive. Shifting an item slightly is enough to lock the system and trigger a visit from an employee.
Lowe’s: no complaints so far, especially since they have a handheld scanner for bulky/heavy items. I’ve even purchased gift cards at their self-checkouts (with employee observation, of course).
Whole Foods: the one near me has converted their self checkouts into a glorified express lane; at one point they barred carts, but now it’s just an item limit. Great option if you’ve just dashed in for one thing, especially since item lookup is easy and payment is super fast thanks to integration with Amazon.
Meh. It is often faster for small orders, but it can be a pain.