I avoid personal checkouts at all costs, because it just encourages bad behaviour from the store in terms of customer service.
When Wal-Mart started the trend of bagging your own items, I said, “The next thing will be checking ourselves out.” So true.
The thing is, I would (probably) not have a problem using one- However, your average cashier who does this for a living screws things up on a regular basis- what the hell is life going to be like when we have one full-service counter, and fifteen automated ones? Do you want to stand behind the person who (with kids in tow) tries to figure out how to use the machine? Furthermore, I haven’t seen that it saves that much time, as pretty much every trip to the grocery store has me buying beer for the week. So much fun being treated to standing there like an idiot while the “cashier” gives me a blank stare…then continues talking to a coworker about how his/her hair looks, before casually strolling over to check my ID.
Another instance of technology being used before it really should.
As an aside: The device Catsix described sounds awesome.
Maybe I’ve lived in Boston too long, but I try to avoid surly checkout employees as much as possible. Unless there are lanes open, or I have beer, I go to the SCO.
I ranted about the line thing a while back in the Pit. Who the hell would ever think of queueing up for each machine, or even two of the four? :rolleyes: These are the same morons who create extra lanes on wide roads. I hate these people.
The correct procedure when a register opens up and the person in front of you doesn’t move is to do what The Sonoran Lizard King suggested. Again, it’s like tapping your horn when the person at the stop line is spaced out or whatever. It’s pretty douche-like to swerve around them.
I’m amazed at the number of people who walk to the SCO with beer, or who have never used the machines when there’s a line. The first time I used it, I waited for a time when I didn’t see anyone around it. Today there were three newcomers using the machines simultaneously, and the fourth was out of order. One couple was marveling each scan. The other two? Guy#1 slowly scans his stuff, then stops mid-scan to help the girlfriend who is at the final SCO. Took freakin’ forever!
I don’t let alcohol stop me from using the SC, but I do flag down the slackjawed employee right when I get there, and then ignore her futile efforts to ignore me while I scan my other stuff. By the time her lugubrious central nervous system has gotten the message that her presence is requested, I’m just about done scanning the rest of my items and I hand her my ID (already in my hand) so the booze is the last thing scanned.
It’s actually quicker than underestimating the age of the cashier and getting an underaged one who has to page the manager to swipe my $6 bottle of girlywine.
That is a pain, and fairly bizarre. Growing up in Texas, I think either we had some slack enforcement of the law or it wasn’t a law at all. I used to sack groceries at the Air Force base, at the age of 14, touching champers and red wine all the time. Most of the cashiers at H-E-B are high school kids and I can’t remember them having to call someone over to handle the alcohol.
I have more of a problem with the machines themselves. Don’t know how they’re calibrated, but in my experience, if you somehow don’t manage to dump the scanned item in the plastic bag in .5 seconds, it gives the red light “unexpected item in bagging area” signal, which Bay State supermarket workers are trained to ignore. I hate this because a lot of times I’d rather use paper or my own canvas bag. So if I have a small amount, I just drop the stuff directly on the bagging area and bag it after I’ve finished and paid. Even then the machine sometimes squeals out “unexpected item in bagging area.” :rolleyes:
When you go through the drive-thru window, there is usually a sign saying “please have your money ready”. I see no such signs asking not to use SCO’s when buying beer.
Also, wouldn’t it be the cashier’s job to see what items you have anyway (to defray theft), and be proactive? I refer back to what I said earlier- Someone doing this on one machine, all day, every day, can’t do it without problems…How do you ecpect them to monitor 4-6 machines?
That seems like an open invitation to shoplift unless I’m missing something.
The Home Depot here has 4 SCOs in one area and signs saying to form 2 lines, one for each pair. It makes no sense since 1 line means nobody is penalized for being behind somebody who has never used one before.
Yep, here in Illinois it has to be a store employee over 21. Back when I was a kid, my mother would be asked to drag her own bottle of wine over the scanner at the checkout, but nowadays they won’t let you do even that (except, of course, at the self-checkout). Every ID must not only be checked, but a birthdate entered into the register so that people don’t have to do math. Even 80 year olds are asked for ID at most places I go to.
So at the self-checkout, an employee has to come verify your ID and punch in her little override number and my birthdate.
A (very) cursory search seems to indicate that it varies by state. The lowest age I saw was 16, most states seem to be 18, and a few set it at 21.
I was hip to this law at a young age and used it liberally at family gatherings whenever some lazy-ass would ask my lazier-ass to grab them a beer from the refrigerator.
“You don’t want to be an accessory to a minor illegally distributing alcohol, do you?”
It really depends on who is up there at the little stand. Myself, I’m walking around a lot, tidying up and checking on customers. Sometimes, you have TWO people up there talking to each other, and ignoring all of the customers.
The SCOs in the Boston area supermarkets (Shaws/Star) aren’t manned, typically. They are at Home Depot, which is what I’d prefer, personally. The point was if you’re buying beer at the SCO, there is no way you’re getting out of the store without showing ID to someone… and it is unlikely that someone is around to see your ID and override.
Yeah. I read the article expecting to hear them address it.
The SCO leaves enough room for it, too. I suspect that grocery stores figure that a small amount of theft makes up for it.
Anyway – the SCO’s with two on either side make sense on a space-saving level, but the “line problem” is ever present. They really just need a good sign, or just a couple feet of velvet rope to properly direct shoppers into a single line.
Ahhhh…OK. Where I live, there is someone who stands at a central terminal, and is supposed to do things like check ID’s, price corrections, etc. (and come reset the machine when you set something too lightly on the scale, and it thinks you have stolen something…grrrrr)
Which doesn’t happen with any speed, or regularity.
That is my other gripe- At my grocery store, they are actively pushing us to use SCO’s by having fewer cashiers during peak times- This from the same store that a couple of years back gauranteed to have every lane staffed during rush periods- Yet I have not seen ANY price reduction whatsoever.
Don’t get me wrong- I am a capitalist at heart, and I believe anyone has the right to make as much profit as possible. I, in turn, have the right not to shop there. Unfortunately, because people are willing to give up a lot of convenience for a few moments of supposedly saved time, they are everywhere now, and I have no choice.
Funny you should say that… I have been mulling it over and I have a dissertation revision to complete today/tomorrow… I have been on the Dope all day procrastinating. I’m a little scared of meeting y’all! But I think I will do it. Nice save, tdn!
The Star on Mt. Auburn, right on the H20town/Cambridge border. Apparently each supermarket chain is allowed something like two or three stores in the state that stock liquor. The Star is one of them.
