:dubious: I don’t think morality factors into it at all. The only person I’ve really seen crucifying themselves in the name of morality is… you… for not doing so.
Huh. As I said upthread, I’ve never even heard of this being a common problem. I’d say the issue was more with the gas station rather than the method of payment.
This is more a regional thing, for sure. For those of us that do use toll roads daily, the EZPass saves quite a bit of time. I can cruise through at highway speed and never even notice the 15 minute backup for the cash lanes off to the side.
I feel like you’re living your entire life as “the exception.” I do pay attention when my groceries are scanned (either by cashier or by myself), and I’ve only noticed a price discrepancy… twice? Only once that I can actually remember, but I’ll play along and give you a freebie.
So, the gas station always double charges you and the grocery store commonly tries to overcharge you. How do these places stay in business! :rolleyes:
I only use “modern conveniences” when they are convenient to me - otherwise I’m perfectly happy to do things the old fashioned way, like paying in cash. Doubly so when it absolutely prevents problems like being overcharged for something.
I’m with Martini Enfield here, I’ll use it when it’s convenient for me not just a way for them to get rid of some employees and leave me in the same length line-up while they pocket the difference. Plus, I get to scan, bag, and carry out my own things too. I don’t mind doing those things but I don’t like being made to feel they’re offering me a service by letting me do more work but paying the same.
I don’t use on-line banking either. I like to go out and pay the bills. I make my living from automation, I certainly don’t oppose it but it’s not always necessary. I evaluate it on a case by case basis, the grocery store hasn’t made self-serve checkouts worth my time. The gas station has made pumping my own gas worth my time so I do that.
The store might have had three or four clerks employed during the day and swing shifts previously, but now they only have one on duty, which is rather troublesome when he has to go pee, or wants to eat lunch, or do anything else that’s not purely robotic in nature.
I admit that I do use the cardpay at gas stations because it’s actually something that will save me time. I don’t like going in, leaving my card or some cash, going out, pumping, going in to retrieve my card or change, and possibly buying something while I’m there. I’ve never had problems with the price being wrong at gas stations.
On the other hand, my husband usually goes in instead of using the card. This is because he wants to get a lottery ticket.
I have had prices rung up wrong at grocery and general stores, though, so I try to keep an eye on things. Oddly enough, the prices are never wrong in my favor. And yes, I’d call attention to it if it was.
Thus defeating the entire point of “saving time” by paying at the pump, since you’re going to have to go instead to get a receipt anyway. Might as well pay while you’re in there and save on EFTPOS fees in the process.
Also, in Queensland, you fill your car with petrol first, then go and pay for it- so again, it’s not like the US where you have to walk over, pay first, fill your car, then come back to sort out the change or pay the extra or whatever. Pay at pump isn’t really a convenience here, and as I mentioned before, the EFTPOS at pump terminals aren’t very reliable, so there’s no incentive to change just yet.
Interestingly, most of the petrol stations I’ve visited lately either do not have EFTPOS at pump or it’s got “PLEASE PAY INSIDE” displayed on the LCD screen. There’s usually only one or two staff on anyway, and you have to pump your own petrol- I’ve never come across a petrol station with full service in the nearly 10 years I’ve been living in Queensland.
You don’t know how to bag? Your cashiers have NEVER ever have any problems scanning items? I’m surprised…
When I was a little kid, most of the times when I went with mom (or dad) grocery shopping, there was no bagger. So I ended up bagging the food while my parents paid. It wasn’t hard to learn.
When there were baggers, and almost everytime since I’ve moved out and do my own grocery shopping, the baggers have SUCKED. They just put the things in the bag, completely random. I think the only thing they tell them is “don’t squash the bread nor break the eggs” because everything is so random… I think the exception to that has been some Kroger’s baggers in my recent trips. I’ve been surprised to see my things bagged in an organized way.
I do use the self-checkouts if I’m doing a quick stop and it’s just my weekly/biweekly “I’ve run out of milk and cereal” stuff. If it’s my big, buying enough groceries for 4 different recipes and getting extra stuff, then I’m using the cashier.
And even though less people will be required, in the places I’ve been there is still someone overlooking the self-service machines. Things like coupons, double scanning, problems with the bag scale, selling of alchohol (or car products), trigger the machine to require assistance.
So much defense for cashiers, when most of the time, even before the self scanners, not all the lines were/are being used (at most 2/3 of the lines are open, and that is being generous).
And to add on: I do online check-in only when I’m only doing carry-on. If I’m checking-in luggage, I just do the regular line. At least when I last had to check in stuff, the airport I was at didn’t have a separate “online-check in” vs “regular check-in” distinction for people with luggage. Has it changed now, or is this something that varies with location?
And I dislike paying cash at the gas station. I’m always afraid I have to guess how much gas my car needs. I know, I can go back to add more or get my change, but I don’t like that. Especially since I tend to have my car filled (the last few times) on my way to work, on a long distance trip by myself in the middle of nowhere, or at night.
I’m not exactly sure what doing the online checkin for the airport actually gets you. Every time I’ve flown, they have those systems at the counter where you put in your credit card, put in the number of bags you have, pay for them, pick your seat, and it prints out your boarding pass and tags for you bag. Takes about 2 to 3 minutes. How much time are you saving by being able to skip printing out the boarding pass? I’m assuming you still have to do all the other steps when you check in.
The ones I’ve used allow you to print your boarding pass, so you go straight to security when you get to the airport, rather than having to go to your airline’s desk first. But of course, that’s only useful if you’re not checking any bags.
If I have lots of fiddly stuff at the grocery store I’ll wait in line for a cashier. If I have a Coinstar receipt, several bottle receipts, coupons, and maybe some produce without those numbered stickers on 'em then, yep, you do it and tell me how much I owe you.
Right, which is much better than standing in a long, slow-moving line, and then being asked ridiculous questions by the front desk, like “Have terrorists been anywhere near your bag when you weren’t looking?”
As long as we’re paying people to perform useless, non-value added jobs, we might as well start paying people to break windows and then fix them, or dig holes and then fill them back in.
As far as the post office goes, some of those people probably had packages, overnights, registered mail, etc that requires them to stand in line. Or they may not have had a dollar to use in the machine. I rarely go to the post office but when I do, I’m always standing in line for one stamp because all I have is a $20.
They have that system in the grocery store I shop at. (Stop & Shop, in Massachusetts.) I purely love it.
I also shop at Stop & Shop (in RI) and LOVE this feature. I really like the fact that I can bag my groceries the way I want them bagged. I use reusable bags by the way.
What LSLGuy said. I will use the grocery store self check out iff:
One is already open
I have a few dead simple scannable items.
Other than that I just get in a regular line and let the pros handle it. Plus, by the time I wake from my nap, my groceries are already bagged and placed in my cart!
They have it at my grocery store, too - Giant Eagle in Frederick, MD. LOVE IT. I won’t shop any other way now. Plus they have gas points, so I get several free tanks of gas a year for shopping there.
One day McDonalds Corp. will figure out how to get a vending machine to dispense the same burgers that some kid currently makes. And people will buy them. Why?
Did you hear about that Pizza Hut incident? Idiots tampering with the food and filming it? A machine won’t do that. A machine can’t do that. A mechanically prepared burger can be consistent every time and when you tell it “no onions” or “no pickle” or whatever, it doesn’t get distracted by the hot girl that just walked through the door and forget what you told it. A machine won’t get bored and go up to the roof to throw tomatoes at passing cars. A machine won’t call in sick or tell you its grandmother died so it can go to a rock concert. A machine has a defined Mean Time Between Failures. Humans don’t. So in exchange for some kid losing his McJob you get absolute consistency and food security. And a lot of people will pay extra for that.
Your cashiers have NEVER ever have any problems scanning items? 