Should get a discount or something
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I know I'm in the minority but I prefer self checkout so I don't have to talk to people. Same reason I quit customer service work. I do not want to hear about your day I want to pay for my shit and leave.
I know I'm in the minority
Dude look around the comment section. 90% talk about prefering self checkout
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Speaking as someone who worked cash as a teenager/young adult, no we don't want to fucking talk to you. I was there because I liked money and that was a reliable way to make minimum wage. That's it. I didn't have a passion for scanning items and asking for payment. I had tuition to pay and debt racking up. I wasn't there to chat with you, or improve the customer experience. I was there to get paid and I can tell you that most if not all of the other cashier's were in the same boat.
That's what I'm saying! Not 1 in 20 cashiers give a shit to chat you up. And I'm in the American South!
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The self checkout prints a receipt with a bar code on it and you have to scan it to leave the store.
Is there something physically preventing you? That sounds like a thing the fire department would shit all over.
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Ever since I saw that the grocery store near the train station in my city (which is famously one of the worst in the country in terms of crime) had self checkout without even a gate to scan your receipt for a while (they added it now) and has the handheld scanners, I've been assuming that the added theft from either really can't be that bad, or is a result of poor security. Clearly it's worth it for the higher customer throughput for that store, so I kinda doubt it could be that bad especially in safer areas.
I guess the store I went lost more money than what the cost of maintaining these barcode scanners and the system itself was.
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In Europe it's becoming popular to have scanners at the store entrance that you can take and scan your products as you go. Sometimes you can also do it with a phone app instead. Then, at the self-checkout, you just scan one code instead and pay right away. I love this system because it's quicker and you get to avoid the anxiety of packing your bags too slowly.
I would kill for this. Maybe not kil, it's not a big deal. But I used to walk into my local grocer and just drop shit in the reusable bags I always bring. Then people were stealing, obviously, so they said you gotta use the baskets or a cart. So I use a cart, and it's not a big deal, it doesn't matter, but if I could scan, drop in my bag, and walk on, it would save a couple minutes. But as I said, it's not a big deal, nothing matters.
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Wait, is this a thing? What's wrong with you people?
I love my self-checkout, so much better than waiting in line for a slow cashier to make chitchat.
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I will never understand those who are afraid to face down a cashier. Is it REALLY that bad?
So many people complain about how modern society is isolating, but then go running to do stuff where they further isolate themselves.
I've never even considered it. If I have too many items, I go cashier. We shoot the poop or we don't, I bag my groceries and go home. If I have few items, I qualify for the self-checkout, I do my shit, say "Thank you" to the person who monitors the lanes, and then I go home. I give none of it a second thought because it's such a meaningless part of my day.
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I don't use self checkout because I'm afraid of messing up something and getting judged by people
Aww.
Well, I know this doesn't help, but you know you're never going to get over this without messing up a few times, yeah?
When I learned to sing, I was so overcome with embarrassment that I could barely do it in a big building I knew was empty (I was the closing manager for a while). I only got over that feeling by singing anyway. I would get loud, my voice would crack, I would stop and apologize to the ghosts nearby, and then I'd steel myself and try again. This built a lot of confidence, though. I learned not to fear the embarrassment and eventually stopped feeling it altogether.
If this matters at all: to the right kinds of people, being a little embarrassed is endearing anyway. I would help somebody learn the self-checkout if they didn't know.
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You don't need a tucking specialist to pump gas lmao
tucking specialist
Is this a type of drag queen? I agree you probably wouldn't need one to pump gas.
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Self checkout is the greatest thing ever and I will never understand why so many people seem to prefer waiting in line for a few minutes instead of just using the self checkout.
No human interaction, usually faster because I don't have to wait. What's not to love? Sure occassionally you might get selected for a random check and have to wait a bit, but that still beats the line.
They used to be awful here 10-15 years ago, with a scale for your scanned items that would complain over nothing all the time, but now everywhere I've been has done away with that in favor of random controls and the receipt for opening the gate. I think my highlight so far was the clothing store where you didn't even have to scan, you just put your items in a box and it told you what you have to pay.
wrote last edited by [email protected]So Idk where you guys live and how your self checkouts look but here is my German perspective.
- If I need a new gas cylinder I have to exchange it at the cashier's
- If I buy alcohol or cigarettes I also have to get my ID checked. The self checkout will then be put on pause until some worker shows up and realizes I am well in my 30s. I can also not buy things like razorblades at self checkout.
- Often the stuff will be weighted to ensure I put it in the bag and not more or less. When I buy something light, think a small back of herbs of like 15 grams, the scale doesn't realize it and again a problem occurs and a worker has to come
- If I make a mistake like scanning twice I cannot cancel and again a worker has to come
- It usually is a much more crammed space. I don't even need a whole trolley for it to become uncomfortable. More than 5-10 items just don't work because I have no space. Putting everything out of the trolley on the conveyor belt, getting it scanned, and then putting it back in the trolley is much easier.
- If there are any items with a sale (30% off because BB date is approaching) I cannot scan this and again a worker needs to come.
- I am not as fast. Not only because it is not a conveyor belt and I am not sitting at a scanner deck, but also I am just slower than a cashier who knows the code for fairtrade bananas and the avocados from spain but not from peru by heart. It's my first time scanning this can of beans, where is the bar code? While it is 9 am and the cashier has already scanned this can of beans 25 times today.
(8. In some supermarkets my kid gets a free fruit which it not necessary but I find super cute. This is only a thing at the cashier's)
All I have to say is "hello", "card please", and "good day". And I can also just wave these things. So yeah, I am absolutely standing in line if it is possible. It is so much faster and more convenient and going to self checkout to then get an error code and wait for help to arrive for 10 minutes is absolutely not worth it. (Looking at you, cursed Rewe in Munich). Then I also have to explain what's the problem much more embarrassingly than any "hi thanks yeah with card please have a great day you to bye" conversation could ever be.
Edit:
I just thought of an important 9.- I feel so much more anxious and pressured in the self checkout. How fast I am done with scanning, paying, and packing things up depends entirely on me. And I feel the stares of the people in line at self checkout stabbing my back. Telling me to hurry. I try to be fast but the more I try the more I fuck up. So for all the folks who don't like cashiers because of social interaction, don't you feel the angst of the line?
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They ask me for my receipt so I just hand it to them and keep walking.
They asked for my receipt, not to stop.
Lol that hilarious I might do that and see what happens
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So Idk where you guys live and how your self checkouts look but here is my German perspective.
- If I need a new gas cylinder I have to exchange it at the cashier's
- If I buy alcohol or cigarettes I also have to get my ID checked. The self checkout will then be put on pause until some worker shows up and realizes I am well in my 30s. I can also not buy things like razorblades at self checkout.
- Often the stuff will be weighted to ensure I put it in the bag and not more or less. When I buy something light, think a small back of herbs of like 15 grams, the scale doesn't realize it and again a problem occurs and a worker has to come
- If I make a mistake like scanning twice I cannot cancel and again a worker has to come
- It usually is a much more crammed space. I don't even need a whole trolley for it to become uncomfortable. More than 5-10 items just don't work because I have no space. Putting everything out of the trolley on the conveyor belt, getting it scanned, and then putting it back in the trolley is much easier.
- If there are any items with a sale (30% off because BB date is approaching) I cannot scan this and again a worker needs to come.
- I am not as fast. Not only because it is not a conveyor belt and I am not sitting at a scanner deck, but also I am just slower than a cashier who knows the code for fairtrade bananas and the avocados from spain but not from peru by heart. It's my first time scanning this can of beans, where is the bar code? While it is 9 am and the cashier has already scanned this can of beans 25 times today.
(8. In some supermarkets my kid gets a free fruit which it not necessary but I find super cute. This is only a thing at the cashier's)
All I have to say is "hello", "card please", and "good day". And I can also just wave these things. So yeah, I am absolutely standing in line if it is possible. It is so much faster and more convenient and going to self checkout to then get an error code and wait for help to arrive for 10 minutes is absolutely not worth it. (Looking at you, cursed Rewe in Munich). Then I also have to explain what's the problem much more embarrassingly than any "hi thanks yeah with card please have a great day you to bye" conversation could ever be.
Edit:
I just thought of an important 9.- I feel so much more anxious and pressured in the self checkout. How fast I am done with scanning, paying, and packing things up depends entirely on me. And I feel the stares of the people in line at self checkout stabbing my back. Telling me to hurry. I try to be fast but the more I try the more I fuck up. So for all the folks who don't like cashiers because of social interaction, don't you feel the angst of the line?
Also germany, but yea makes sense, I don't have gas canisters, rarely buy alcohol, the self checkouts around here stopped with the weighing, and I rarely buy more than 5 things at once+am decently fast at scanning, so it maybe costs me 15 seconds.
Also I did scan an item twice today and the lidl self checkout actually allowed me to delete it, at first I also thought I'd have to get an employee.
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I won't help the company save what they should give to their staff. Fuck self-checkouts.
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A store near me has RFID tags on all products, and simply approaching the self-checkout machine is enough to have all products detected.
On one hand, that's handy.
On the other hand, that's so much ewaste...
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Genx here
Ok boomer
Some of us prefer non-human interaction
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I know I'm in the minority
Dude look around the comment section. 90% talk about prefering self checkout
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
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oh nooooo, how dare they offer you a convenient option that saves time
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Is there something physically preventing you? That sounds like a thing the fire department would shit all over.
It's a normal gate like those you have at entrances to stores.
I am sure they open automatically when the fire alarm rings. You can of course just go out through the normal cashier's line.
If this country obsesses over one thing excessively, then it's fire safety, so I have no concerns about that here.
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Am I afraid to face down a cashier? No.
Is it REALLY that bad? No.
Can I make awkward small talk with a stranger? Yes.
Do I want to make awkward small talk with a stranger? No.
Am I relieved that I’m not forced to interact with a stranger and can continue to have to my own inner thoughts and not have to spend time rehearsing in my head what to say if they ask me how I am because I feel weirdly compelled to answer it honestly instead of simply saying “fine” like most do? Absolutely.
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.
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fun fact: you can get a discount at a self-checkout! grocery stores hate this one trick!
