Next thing you know they’ll want us to pump our own gas and operate our own elevators!
As a former grocery clerk, I can tell you that they aren’t going to do anything to stop shoplifters. At most, they might say “hey, I think you forgot to scan that.” It’s a liability issue.
There was a recent story about one chain that was prosecuting people quite ruthlessly even in circumstances where it was completely plausible that the customer had just made an error.
I suspect their policy is to make an example of a few customers every now and again, and publicise it when they do.
Yeah I’ve not seen this anywhere I shop regularly (except maybe Target, now that I think about it? But definitely none of the supermarkets I shop at.). They still suck, still have to get an assistant to press the “shut up machine, no one is trying to steal anything” button a good 25-50% of the time. They may have got a little bit better than when they first came out, but not that much. It especially bugs me as computer vision and associated technologies have improved loads in that time, it seems like you could have a completely hassle-free experience if they really tried, but its cheaper to stay in the stone age?
One thing that really bugs me is the Giant supermarket near me will sometimes only have self-service late at night. Which is the worst when you need to do an enormous shop for a party the next day, which as well as sucking generally, the self-service checkouts are totally not designed for.
I’m okay with them. They have certain advantages…
Tip: Scan your heaviest item first, put it in the bag, then the bag down in the bagging area. No problem! Always works for me.
I like to shop and scan if I’m buying a bunch of big items (like at Sam’s Club). I find that it just slows me down if I’m doing my regular grocery shopping.
Probably not going to work–I have a big insulated zipper bag and a couple heavy canvas bags from Trader Joe’s and no sensor is gonna believe that much of a weight difference is legit. I’ve gotten really good at alerting the person in charge, then I set my bags on the platform ready to accept items, hit the “I brought my own bags” button on the scanner, the clerk okays it and I’m on my way–usually less than ten seconds. Alcohol purchases likewise not a problem, the scanner asks for an okay, I show the clerk my wrinkly face and silver hair and they hit the approval button from their station–five seconds. I seldom buy alcohol anyway so it’s never an issue for me.
I use the self check even with a full cart because I am fast–used to be one of those old fashioned cashiers who learned the job before scanners existed and I can whip those items through like lightning. I can look up produce PLUs using at most four letters of the name and get it right every time. I can pull items from the cart in the order they need to go into the bags and that saves SO much time because going to a cashier means pulling everything out of the cart to put it on the conveyor belt (and if some nasty person has put down a package of leaky meat on the belt then I run the risk of salmonella just touching my items at home to put them away, let alone if I didn’t notice the wet stuff and put my items into the fridge or pantry shelf with the contaminated water on them) then after the cashier has scanned them in higgledy-piggledy order I then have to sort them out again to pack them into bags, all while juggling money and change and why the fuck do they insist on putting the receipt in my hand rather than tossing it into a bag? I don’t need to hold it, FFS!
I don’t mind the cashiers at Trader Joe’s because they call for another person any time a line develops, they’re fast and personable and they know how to pack a shopping bag–especially if I tell them it’s cool to pack it completely full because I can handle the weight. Anywhere else, though, I’m heading for the self check.
For me, it’s almost never faster. The machine gets confused, I have to stop and wave over a clerk, the clerk enters in an override code without even bothering to inspect my bag to see if I’m stealing. Wasteful and stupid. It’s almost always more efficient for this to be done by someone who is trained (and paid) to do it.
Interesting that nobody gets excited about the company stealing my time by recruiting me for unpaid labor, but if I don’t do the unpaid labor to their standard, I’m the bad guy.
If they want accurate inventory control, they can pay someone to do it. I don’t work for them.
I don’t need numbers for produce explicitly. I just go by the pictures. It’s pretty easy. I don’t do the household shopping much, so I usually am only checking out a few items when I do go. So, if there’s no free checker, I go to the machine. Quick and easy.
My wife and I disagree about this. I like the self checkout because they are usually faster. She won’t use them because, as a huge labor union supporter, she would rather help save a cashier’s job.
Even if we accept your premise that they’re somehow stealing from you by giving you the option of self-checkout, you’re not balancing the scales by stealing from them in return. You’re just a thief.
Unless you’re exaggerating for effect and would not in fact pocket an item if the scanner glitched, and would indeed put forth the very minor effort needed to ensure you’re paying for what you’re taking home. In that case I respectfully withdraw my statement.
Whoa, where did you live? 60 years ago in New York anyhow the supermarkets were the same as today, though I’ve read about when the clerks got stuff for you.
We go to Safeway once a week, and we have way too much stuff for self checkout. Plus the veteran checkers have the authority to fix small problems themselves.
If I have to get one or two things then they are fine, and have gotten better. The Lucky’s machines are better than the Safeway ones still. However sometimes the lines at regular checkouts are so much smaller than self checkout that self isn’t that much faster.
For some odd reason I got just a few things at Costco once, and used their self checkout. It was great, like just about everything at Costco.
I’m usually only buying two or three items at Costco, so I often use the self-checkout there,
What’s the supply and demand like for cashier jobs these days?
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?
I would love to do self check at Costco but the machines won’t take cash here. Dammit!
Does the store where you shop have an online ordering service? Because from what I can tell those services are booming and new jobs were created by the existence of this service, so I can’t imagine stores are hiring fewer people. They’re all hiring for order pickers.
I love self checkout, myself. Our Wal Mart has like 20 of these “2.0” lanes. They have 4 bag areas as opposed to just 1 (as in, you can pack 4 bags at once before having to remove the bags and put them in your cart). You only have to stand in line a couple minutes, if that, before checking out.
My grocery store (Giant Eagle) has Scan-N-Go which is an absolute marvel. I scan my stuff as I buy it and put it in my re-useable bags and it takes about 3 minutes to check out. Loooooove it. I was in the store at a very crowded time, with people stacked 10-deep at the checkouts, and I felt like a goddamn queen pushing past everyone to pay and get out. SO cool. I haven’t used the services of a regular cashier since 2020.
From what I gather at the local stores I shop at (Giant Eagle, Wal Mart, Target, Home Depot) there are still as many cashiers as before. They never had every lane staffed, at least not the times/days I went in there. Now we all just get out of the store more quickly and I’m down with it.
I don’t think it’s a matter of making cashiers unemployed, given that most employers are just not able to hire enough people to fill all of the jobs.
You are of course free to hold a wrong opinion.
I am not my wife, so I can’t speak for her. All I know is what she says.