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.
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.
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.
From what I’ve seen it’s a lot of incompetence ( Doing it wrong causing constant approvals) or pure laziness (I’m not gunna do your job for you!)
Very rarely nowadays it’ll be from just shit machines. I’ve seen the box ones you are talking about, no scanning, just throw it all in. It’s a great solution.
I prefer the human checkout and it’s not for any of those reasons.
For one thing I have a family of 5 and scanning that many groceries at a self checkout is super painful.
Next the grocery store made its money off of the backs of their workers then when it wasn’t convenient anymore they fired a bunch of them and replaced them with machines. Now you have 2 humans in the front of the store doing the job of 10. Their only motivation for adding them was money and not convenience based on how it’s been implemented. I still have to wait in a huge line that wouldn’t be there if they had cashiers and machines together.
I love the idea of them it’s just not being implemented in the right way to make it super helpful for the customer.
Completely agree with you, I never buy huge amounts when I shop (single guy), big orders are better with human cashier.
There are also zero places around me where there is only self checkout. Having zero cashiers is terrible. There’s always going to be large orders, elderly or disabled people that might not easily use self checkout.
The people that complain probably have had far worse experiences with self checkout. I’ve been to a few stores where it was absolute hell between the machines working terribly and unhelpful staff, but on the opposite side all of the grocery stores near me solved the self checkout issues years ago and it is the best thing ever where it works well.
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.
So Idk where you guys live and how your self checkouts look but here is my German perspective.
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.
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.
From what I’ve seen it’s a lot of incompetence ( Doing it wrong causing constant approvals) or pure laziness (I’m not gunna do your job for you!)
Very rarely nowadays it’ll be from just shit machines. I’ve seen the box ones you are talking about, no scanning, just throw it all in. It’s a great solution.
I prefer the human checkout and it’s not for any of those reasons.
For one thing I have a family of 5 and scanning that many groceries at a self checkout is super painful.
Next the grocery store made its money off of the backs of their workers then when it wasn’t convenient anymore they fired a bunch of them and replaced them with machines. Now you have 2 humans in the front of the store doing the job of 10. Their only motivation for adding them was money and not convenience based on how it’s been implemented. I still have to wait in a huge line that wouldn’t be there if they had cashiers and machines together.
I love the idea of them it’s just not being implemented in the right way to make it super helpful for the customer.
Completely agree with you, I never buy huge amounts when I shop (single guy), big orders are better with human cashier.
There are also zero places around me where there is only self checkout. Having zero cashiers is terrible. There’s always going to be large orders, elderly or disabled people that might not easily use self checkout.
I’ve recently experienced that magic box at a sports equipment store! I was amazed by how it just works.
What is that?
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.
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.
The people that complain probably have had far worse experiences with self checkout. I’ve been to a few stores where it was absolute hell between the machines working terribly and unhelpful staff, but on the opposite side all of the grocery stores near me solved the self checkout issues years ago and it is the best thing ever where it works well.