Should get a discount or something
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We were talking about this the other day. Is it faster, or does it appear faster since they have removed so many cashiers? Like 20 lanes and 1 cashier, with 4 self checkouts.
Well, most stores over here have around 10-16 self checkouts in the space that would be occupied by 4-6 regular lanes. So I'd say it is faster even accounting for people taking longer.
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UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA. Sorry, Jandro, I'm not here to get yelled at by a clanker.
clanker
*Claptrap
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if they didn't have self checkout, they'd need more checkout people
They would certainly need more checkout people, but speaking from grocery cashier experience they wouldn’t necessarily have them. I remember my manager’s indifference as I was the only one to show up on Thanksgiving and there were literally 30 people in my line.
That's a perennial problem. How do you connect the responsibility to the authority? The cashiers are the ones who have to face 30 angry customers, (face the responsibility) not the manager. (the one who has the authority to change things) Customers can complain to the cashier, but they have no authority. They can complain to the manager, but the manager is getting a portion of the money not spent on hiring full staff in the form of a bonus, so they're encouraged to ignore the complaint. It takes a certain critical mass of customers all spending less at the store before there's even a possibility of someone noticing a revenue drop, and no guarantee the blame will be put where it belongs if it happens.
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That's a perennial problem. How do you connect the responsibility to the authority? The cashiers are the ones who have to face 30 angry customers, (face the responsibility) not the manager. (the one who has the authority to change things) Customers can complain to the cashier, but they have no authority. They can complain to the manager, but the manager is getting a portion of the money not spent on hiring full staff in the form of a bonus, so they're encouraged to ignore the complaint. It takes a certain critical mass of customers all spending less at the store before there's even a possibility of someone noticing a revenue drop, and no guarantee the blame will be put where it belongs if it happens.
I think that’s one of the things that bothered me most. My manager was standing right there about 30 feet away, but the customers were directing all of their anger at me, by choice. One would think a rational person would understand where to direct that anger, but I’m increasingly convinced every year that rational people don’t exist.
I remember checking groceries at frankly unprecedented speed while being a polite as possible, but one guy started yelling names at me from five or so people back. I decided to ignore him and continue serving my current customer with a smile and he yelled “Stop smiling!”. This was so shocking to me that I looked at the other customers in line to share a “Can you believe this guy?” moment to find them all nodding along in angry agreement.
I didn’t even need that job. I’m so angry at my naive younger self for not quitting on the spot and making sure all of them knew exactly why.
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I have add. Proper diagnosis from a doctor and everything.
I've had to learn how to curb impatience. It is not a permanent affliction, it is a bad habit. Patience is a virtue that can be nurtured.
Yes cultivating patience is a great skill, but I have no interest in spending more time in line than I have to.
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I went to the US for a few days. Their self checkouts seem to be universally awful, compared to the UK or German equivalent.
While the hardware is far less reliable, and more convoluted, it's the users that seem the main issue. Self checkout is generally intended (over here) to shift the fast, small shops out of the main queues. 1 big line and a dozen or more tills. In the states they treat it as just another till. Built for trollies, and 1 queue per till. Combined with a slow user and it becomes hell rapidly.
My local grocery store limits self checkout to 10 items or less. My guess is that people have a hard time counting to 10 and just assume that their cart full of groceries is probably 10 items or less.
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You get a discount depending on how you scan.
I've never been able to do that. It seems like it always gets me on weight. Any tips?
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Hearing about small talk an the checkout never ceases to be bizzare to me. In all the countries I've been to, the cashiers only say the sum to pay and then goodbye.
Are cashiers in the United States of America really required to initiate meaningless conversations? I've also heard of the occupation of a door greater, which sounds even crazier.
Are cashiers in the United States of America really required to initiate meaningless conversations? I’ve also heard of the occupation of a door greater, which sounds even crazier.
The corporate ideal has their weird idea that everyone desperately wants to have conversations with employees. I think it comes from positive feedback often taking the form of, "Your employee was so warm and helpful and we had a delightful chat about X." and never, "Your employee was polite and didn't bother me with needless conversation." One of the trainings my employer has even includes a scenario, which is presented as ideal service, where the employee ends up chatting with a complete stranger about his dead wife including sharing pictures from his wallet.
That said, while I'm sure corporate cares none of my in store managers cared when I was a cashier. Indeed, I had regulars who would seek me out because I specifically didn't attempt to inject small talk into the interaction. I'd still get pulled into it by customers who initiated such but otherwise it was mostly, "Morning. Coupons? That'll be $X.XX. Have a good one."
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We all love to hate on Walmart, but in my part of the world, it's got the closest implementation to what I consider acceptable self-checkouts.
The biggest quality of life feature is that they don't use the the weight sensors in the bagging area. You can use the hand scanner to scan every item in your cart sans weighted produce, as fast as your body will allow.
On the flip side, most of the chain grocery stores in my area have the bagging area scanners that need constant overrides, use AI cameras that lock up after every third item and require an override each time, slow machines that seem to have to compute the pi to the 10 sextillionth digit after each item is scanned before it will be ready for you to place it in the bagging area, and things of that nature. Those suck for sure.
use AI cameras that lock up after every third item and require an override each time
As a customer than once I've had those cameras trigger because I leaned in a bit too much to press a prompt on the touch screen and it flagged my head as some item I'm trying to fake scan. As an employee it is also fun to watch the cameras trigger on purses and children and grind things to a halt so it can warn me that someone's kid hasn't been scanned. Though my absolutely 'favorite' interaction with those cameras as an employee is having them trigger over me attempting to sign in using my name badge on the scanner. So it would interrupt my attempt to sign in to do something for the customer to make me sign in and reassure it I wasn't trying to steal something and then I had to sign in again to actually help the customer.
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Genx here
Ok boomer
Some of us prefer non-human interaction
Still ought to be discounted since it's eliminating jobs.
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Also, trust myself better.
I have some soft bread, I at least know I won't put something heavy on it.
I have some items that are fragile, I can keep track of them packing and keep them separate.
I won't end up single-bagging a bunch of stuff that could be bagged together (e.g. if they scanned some window cleaner, they bag it separate, not knowing that some dishwasher detergent is coming that it could be packed with).
Got some product with a markdown barcode? I can be sure the discounted barcode gets scanned not the full price one.
To the extent possible, I can also just skip bagging most of the time. If I have some very small things sure I might use a bag, but mostly I just scan and put in cart.
I won’t end up single-bagging a bunch of stuff that could be bagged together (e.g. if they scanned some window cleaner, they bag it separate, not knowing that some dishwasher detergent is coming that it could be packed with).
Not that it is foolproof but unloading your cart in an organized manner helps with that. Though maybe you're talking about helpless baggers, I've seen plenty of both clueless baggers and customers who toss things onto the belt willy-nilly.
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I feel seen!
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I'm with him, though, every few months the anti-self-checkout crowd is all up in arms
I somehow don't remember the anti-ATM machine crowd angry about putting tellers out of work or the anti-microwave crowd putting restaurant workers out of work, or the anti-car crowd upset about putting trolley drivers out of work
Automated teller machine machine
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My local grocery store limits self checkout to 10 items or less. My guess is that people have a hard time counting to 10 and just assume that their cart full of groceries is probably 10 items or less.
To be fair, that's a fairly universal problem. In the UK it's a basket Vs trolley split. They do have trolley self checkouts, but it's separate, and mainly intended for scan as you shop.
On a side note, what's with American supermarkets not having baskets at all. Did I just have really weird luck?
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To be fair, that's a fairly universal problem. In the UK it's a basket Vs trolley split. They do have trolley self checkouts, but it's separate, and mainly intended for scan as you shop.
On a side note, what's with American supermarkets not having baskets at all. Did I just have really weird luck?
Might've just been bad timing where baskets were piled up at the end of the checkout counters and the staff hadn't had the chance to bring them back near the entrances.
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Silly take. The problem isn't having to move my own items around across a scanner. The problem is me doing more, the store doing less, and the prices just keep going up anyways. You'd rather just silently get less?
Oh, and also the ridiculous cameras they stick right in your face pre-accusing me of stealing in the checkout. And having to juggle a whole cart of groceries while the machine asks me to move the item off and on the bagging area.
Maybe if they had implemented the system better I wouldn't mind using it?
OK Boomer.
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This was funny like a decade ago when it was commonplace.
Stores in my area solved that at least 6 years ago, maybe even earlier than that.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Yeah, even in South Central area of LA where I am, the system is quite responsive at the Food 4 Less.
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Still ought to be discounted since it's eliminating jobs.
there's a five finger discount
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I've heard self checkout is terrible in the US, however in Europe they're generally pretty nice
idk why people say it's bad! even at fucking Walmart i don't have issues
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You support taking away jobs
if you wanna know my actual beliefs on the matter, people shouldn't have to do meaningless labor to live
