Definitely, assuming a reasonable number of items.
Self check-out, yay! Love it. I like to pack the bags myself because then it’s easier to unload 'em when I get home.
The self-checkouts are supposed to be for under 18 items (or 15, maybe…something like that). Every so often there is somebody there who either can’t read or can’t count. I don’t use them for the big weekly shopping trip, but then I often don’t DO the big weekly shopping trip. The self-check is for things I forgot or things I just decided I want to cook.
I use them whenever they’re available (as far as I know they’re not available in any supermarket/grocery stores in Aust yet, but they have them at some department stores.)
Does anyone know why the machines are so anal about making sure you put your items in the bagging area before you scan the next one? One of the reasons I self-checkout is the independent, self-sufficient tech-savvy feeling I get when I use it - it kind of ruins it if I’m simply plodding along following some computer’s step-by-step instructions to the letter.
It wants to verify the weight item by item to make sure you aren’t sneaking anything past it. Pain in the ass when it’s being finnicky and for whatever reason doesn’t like what you do and halts the whole process.
Hate 'em. They put people out of jobs and the stuff I’m buying isn’t any cheaper despite the fact they no longer have to pay a cashier to scan it through.
I always get stuck waiting on the moron who rang up his Fritos 17 times, because he can’t figure it out. Then he puts the bag of Fritos down and the machine starts yelling “Unexpected item.”
Nay. Sorry, I’m afraid something will go wrong.
I’ve only used the self check-out at IKEA, but I liked it just fine and will continue to do so whenever it looks like it will get me out the door faster. I don’t know if I’d use one at a grocery store, though - that involves a lot more items!
We go shopping daily and use 'em almost exclusively in the one store that has them. There have been occasional glitches but it was pretty easy to get the hang of the system so for the most part - no problem. Love 'em.
Before I went to college I worked in a grocery store for a while.
I went to college so wouldn’t have to do that kind of work.
I wont use 'em.
Both points of which I mention (and at least partly explain why it doesn’t bother me) in my very first reply. 
Weird how that happens!
Seriously, though, why do you think I’m wrong addressing those two specific points? (Chanteuse makes a further point for me also.)
I’ve tried them a handful of times, and even with a few items, something scans wrong, or the weight is off, or it tells me to put the item in the bag when I already HAVE…
So now I avoid them. I’d rather spend my time at the checkout line staring vacantly into the distance while a human being scans and rings up my items. I don’t go to the grocery store to deal with ignorant machines.
I won’t use them if I have more items than I can carry by hand - it’s just more hassle than it’s worth. But if I’m just grabbing a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread, it’s usually lots faster to check out myself.
I use them. I walk to the grocery store (no car), so I can only buy as much as I can carry home, and I prefer to bag my groceries myself so I can distribute the weight in a way that makes it less awkward/uncomfortable to carry.
Firstly, supermarkets (at least the two major ones here) make unholy, obscene amounts of money. They really are almost quite literally a licence to print money. And having worked for one of the major supermarket chains here, I can tell you that they have comparatively little interest in looking after their staff. I have no interest in effectively working for them again, for free (by scanning and bagging my own groceries) and helping them make the sort of profits that are usually associated with the GDP of small countries in the process. If they expect me to do the work of their (soon to be ex-) employees, they can pay me- in the form of lower prices or a worthwhile discount (5% at least) on the total.
Secondly, most of the people who work in supermarkets are either kids/uni students who need an after school/uni job, or mums whose kids are at school during the days and need some extra income for the family. If their jobs are replaced by self-scanners, where the hell are they supposed to work? The last time this topic came up, there were the usual suspects going on about how buggy whip and whalebone corset manufacturers had to find new jobs at one point, and yes, that’s true, they did.
But there were never that many buggy whip and whalebone corset manufacturers in the first place, and there was always unskilled factory work (or, for the comparison impared, work that a supermarket cashier can easily transfer into) available- there were other things they could do. But there isn’t much unskilled factory work these days, and so in the near future there are going to be a fair number of former supermarket cashiers without a job, and nothing for them to do instead. It’s not a good trend, and it’s not something I am prepared to support.
The global economy is shaky enough at the moment as it is without multibillion dollar corporations looking for newer and more creative ways to lay off their staff, IMHO.
Relevant quote from my nearly six-year-old OP:
As I said in my first post, far as I’m concerned, I’m being “paid” in time: not having to stand in line behind people with cartfuls of groceries, not having to engage in awkward conversation with the cashier, and sometimes scanning stuff faster than the cashier would.
And the point I was making in my first post is that I think the belief that grocery stores will try to go to all-automated is a fantasy, for reasons mentioned by Chanteuse, and the fact that there will always be people who shop with small children and/or buy hundreds of dollars worth of groceries at a time.
If they’re available, and I’m only getting a few things, I’ll do it gladly. It’s usually much faster than waiting in line.
If there is more than about a bagful of groceries, I won’t - because as I’m scanning, the area at the end of the belt is filling up and I’ll have to stop scanning and go down there and bag (our grocery only sometimes has someone helping bag in the self-checkout).
The store now has a handheld gadget where you scan and bag in your own bags as you shop. I’ve got to give that a try. You still have to go through a line, but then it’s about a 20 second process to do that.
I always use them, but I’m never buying that much stuff. Ours have four served by one line, so even if there’s someone with a full cart and someone clueless, I’m not trapped. The other two scanners keep moving That’s the biggest thing to me. Go through a regular line, and there’s always that danger.
Originally, they were 12 items or less, but now they have two sets of four, and neither are 12 items or less. Really, they should be.
I use the self-scan if I’m only buying a few things and don’t require human intervention; i.e., if I’m not buying ice or trash bags. Otherwise, I use a regular lane.