Thanks for the info. I knew you could be counted on for the straight dope.
Time to redirect my fire at the head. As in “Boom! Headshot!!”
Since I started using self-checkout I have a new appreciation for the job that the cashier has been doing. (And remember BEFORE scanning, when they had to enter every price by hand? - clickityclickityclickityclickity, grindgrindgrind “Here’s your total.” Those cashiers were FAST and kept this up while conversing with the customer.)
I do like the new system of being able to scan an item and then put it back in the cart instead of on a scale because I try to use as few store bags as possible - maybe one or two just to show the door checker that I did go though a checkout. I keep a plastic crate in the car (my greengrocer gets cilantro in them - then discards them) that’s easier to carry into the house.
If I’m buying large quantities of the same item, say packets of ramen, I’ll hold one in my left hand and scan it over and over, while the right hand moves the other packets into the (one) bag on the scale. Now I wonder if I security has been watching me very carefully when I did this.
Yes, they may be watching you. The self-checkouts at Target make it obvious, with a small screen above that displays “MONITORING IN PROGRESS” that shows the camera view of the customer at the self-checkout. Sample photo here.
The odds of stores paying someone to continually keep an eagle eye on the self-checkouts strike me as low, on the order of aircraft actually monitoring your highway speed.
Sure, it’s probably mostly a scare tactic. But I also believe that Target retains the captured video for some time, in case they need to go back and review it. And perhaps once they’re aware that a certain customer is untrustworthy, they can review any interactions they’ve had with the self-checkouts.
The video could come in handy if it turns out there wasn’t an innocent reason for a customer buying a shovel, tarp and gallon jugs of muriatic acid.
I assume you’re joking, but the Target corporation in particular is famous for having a state-of-the-art internal crime lab. They even assist police forces with crimes outside their stores.
I prefer not to play oopsie games for free or reduced groceries. If I have reduced meat that will only scan in at the register I will dig it out of the cart and scan it. If I buy organic I plug in the correct organic code.
Sometimes I screw up my shop and scan order with multiple scans only to catch it at home. I could try and even the score by stealing items
of equal value on my next trip but nope I go to the service counter and plead my case, and I get my refund there for the over scanned items.
I once scanned a 15 pack of beer but didn’t put it in my cart. I got distracted in the booze aisle. I realized it after checkout. I went straight to the service counter, they called up security to review the camera and said okay go get it and come back. I did and there was the 15 pack upside down with the bar code exposed like I left it. I felt like waving to the camera but where was it? Way up there on the ceiling? They’re watching you!
Heck, a guy’s gotta buy his murder supplies somewhere. Why not Target? Good prices and generally pleasant employees. And there’s always one not far away.
Whaaat??
For smaller runs, I greatly prefer self scan. The less human interaction, the better. The computer isn’t going to ask how I am or if I could find everything ok. I get to bag the groceries and put items according to where they’re going in the house. The only problems I have is that sometimes it’s freaking impossible to peel open a single plastic bag to put your groceries in. It’s like when the put the plastic bags in bundles to put in the shopping lanes they use a 1000 ton press to squeeze them into the absolute minimum space.
Did we meet at the check out aisle once? Lol!
I ask because I noticed the guy behind me was having a devil of a time picking off a plastic bag. He left a pile of them scattered around when all he needed was one.
I demonstrated the fingertip swipe down that pulls open one bag at a time. But yeah I try to bring my own canvas bags.
As the resident “young person” on the SDMB (35!) I’ve been all aboard with self-checkouts since they first popped up. Pretty much the only time I don’t use them is if I have an absolutely full cart of groceries.
I have encountered this on the newest self checkouts (3.0?) at a Meijer. I passed my hand over the scanner to grab something and it stopped because it thought I moved something over the scanner without scanning it.
Have you tried the shop and scan app from Meijer? Shop, scan the upc on items using your smart phone and checkout when done. It automatically adds your Mperks coupons and suggests available coupons if you haven’t clipped them.
I’ve used it on mega hauls but sometimes they crash the app and that’s a pita to rescan so its off to a cashier or self checkout. I get better results avoiding their wifi and using my data.
I’m having trouble verifying this on wiktionary.org and etymonline.com. Can you point me to some better information?
No preference, at all. I just get in the shortest line.
I’m not a cashier, but otherwise, I agree with the above.
The self-checkout registers at my local grocery store are pretty good now – I rarely run into issues with something not scanning, not being in the database, etc.
One of the head-scratching things I see is people who use the self-checkout when they have an entire grocery cart full of stuff. Yes, there’s usually a line at the traditional checkouts, but the self-checkout doesn’t have room for a lot of items in the bagging area, so I see them having to fool around with bagging some things, putting those back in the cart (and dealing with the register scolding them for removing items), etc. I have to believe that, even if there’s a line in the other checkout, it’d still be faster for them than spending 10 minutes doing self-checkout.
Seems a lot of stores started the self check outs with the conveyor belts in place to accommodate the large hauls. You could separate the bagging area from the next order coming down with an arm that divided the area.
Then those disappeared and were replaced with bagging carousels at the register which cannot accommodate large hauls easily if at all. Our local grocer did install one self checkout lane with the conveyor belt, I really like it.
I think people at self checkout were able to steal carts full of groceries easier with the conveyor system.
Saw a lady sneak 2 things of salad dressing through one of these at the Wallyworld Mart the other day, by scanning something else while holding the bottles behind them (thus shielding them from the scanner). I almost told the clerk on duty, but he was some airheaded teen more interested in his phone than in doing his job, plus this is Wallyworld we’re talking about, so didn’t say anything.
So, what I’m getting from this is that i should try self checkout at the grocery store again, next time i only have a couple of items. That’s rare, because since the pandemic we’ve being trying to reduce the number of shopping excursions, so i usually show up with a long list. But it sometimes happens.
My local grocery store has replaced two “few items” staffed lanes with six self checkout stations and one clerk monitoring them. And the last time i tried it, i messed up something and she was right there to help me. So… Yeah, i guess i should try it more often, and learn the ropes.
“Working for the store” seems like a silly complaint. As someone said, it’s an arbitrary line. I push my cart through the store, too. That’s work. I load my groceries into my car. (And the same store used to have staff to do that, until the great resignation left then understaffed.) What i really care about is how long it takes me to check out, and how many hassles it causes me. The clerks are great (usually zero hassles) but maybe once i get accustomed to it, self checkout will be great, too.