They also saves us from hearing the privileged “can you open a line more” idiots and playing the game where old people pretend that they never learned how to queue.
If I want human interaction, I will go to a human, not a grocery store.
I’d actually be happy if they can remove the cashier job completely, so nobody has to waste their life ringing up other people 's shit, while getting abused by same people.
Hardly anyone takes pride in doing that job anyway.
Despite machines and AI we don’t really see increasing unemployment. People simply do more interesting things.
I’m all for protecting workers, but we don’t do that by keeping them in dead end jobs.
Or you streamline and speed up the cashier like Aldi. Two areas where the groceries can go, with two card readers as well. They are scanning the next person while the previous is waiting for money processing and does the bagging
That’s pretty much the norm here. Two card readers is the only thing I haven’t seen somewhere else. Some supermarkets have two bagging areas, but it’s a bit rare. Other discount supermarkets rather go for one tiny bagging area and rather short belt.
I like not having to make smalltalk, or answer dumb questions, or refuse to donate to their charity. If I’m listening to a podcast, I like not having to pause it.
Even before they banned plastic bags, I was biking to the grocery store, so I’d either be loading up panniers or a big cargo backpack (or sometimes both). Because of that, I want heavy and/or sturdy things at the bottom and things I don’t want crushed at the top. Even if I load things onto a conveyor belt in that order for a cashier, they somehow manage to pile them up so I have to fix the sorting later.
So, I’d like a self-checkout system…
IF IT WORKED!
Problem 1 is that the bags I bring to load up don’t work with their system. Apparently if my bag flops over while it’s on the loading area scale, the machine detects that as my trying to scam the system, so it lights up red lights demanding action from the supervisor human. So, even though we’re supposed to bring our own bags, and they don’t let us have plastic bags anymore, their stupid self-checkout system is still basically designed to only work with plastic bags.
To avoid the problem with bags, I’ve had to put my bag on the floor and just load up the scale with groceries, and only then to slowly load up my bag. That takes a lot of the efficiency of self-bagging away. But, even if that works, a lot of time the things don’t scan properly. A lot of the time when there’s a 2 for 1 deal, or 30% off deal, or something, it still scans at full price. How do you get the proper price? You have to call over the supervisor human… who is often dealing with someone else’s problem.
So, most of the time, I deal with the smalltalk, the dumb questions, and all the frustrating parts of dealing with human checkout even though I’d prefer to deal with a machine.
The best system I’ve tried works by an app. You scan the items with your phone as you pick them up and put them in your bag while still in the app store. Pay in the app and then just leave.
They can check your bag if they want to, and there’s camera surveillance.
The self-check out systems don’t really do anything better than that anyway. It a waste of time in my opinion and only encourages people to cheat.
They still need to do random checks and camera surveillance.
Fuck that, they can do their own market research. I am not their marketing department, I am not helping them build profiles of their customers for a few cents bonus. That shit is straight out of a 2000s dystopian speculative documentation.
They also saves us from hearing the privileged “can you open a line more” idiots and playing the game where old people pretend that they never learned how to queue.
If I want human interaction, I will go to a human, not a grocery store.
I’d actually be happy if they can remove the cashier job completely, so nobody has to waste their life ringing up other people 's shit, while getting abused by same people. Hardly anyone takes pride in doing that job anyway.
Despite machines and AI we don’t really see increasing unemployment. People simply do more interesting things.
I’m all for protecting workers, but we don’t do that by keeping them in dead end jobs.
What you call a “dead end job”, many people call the “first job in my resume”.
And, as anyone early in life had discovered the hard way, getting a reasonable job with zero work experience on your resume is almost impossible.
Or you streamline and speed up the cashier like Aldi. Two areas where the groceries can go, with two card readers as well. They are scanning the next person while the previous is waiting for money processing and does the bagging
Also, they get to sit down. Like I need to have a cashier on their feet all day. The fuck does that do for me? Let em sit.
That’s pretty much the norm here. Two card readers is the only thing I haven’t seen somewhere else. Some supermarkets have two bagging areas, but it’s a bit rare. Other discount supermarkets rather go for one tiny bagging area and rather short belt.
I like not having to make smalltalk, or answer dumb questions, or refuse to donate to their charity. If I’m listening to a podcast, I like not having to pause it.
Even before they banned plastic bags, I was biking to the grocery store, so I’d either be loading up panniers or a big cargo backpack (or sometimes both). Because of that, I want heavy and/or sturdy things at the bottom and things I don’t want crushed at the top. Even if I load things onto a conveyor belt in that order for a cashier, they somehow manage to pile them up so I have to fix the sorting later.
So, I’d like a self-checkout system…
IF IT WORKED!
Problem 1 is that the bags I bring to load up don’t work with their system. Apparently if my bag flops over while it’s on the loading area scale, the machine detects that as my trying to scam the system, so it lights up red lights demanding action from the supervisor human. So, even though we’re supposed to bring our own bags, and they don’t let us have plastic bags anymore, their stupid self-checkout system is still basically designed to only work with plastic bags.
To avoid the problem with bags, I’ve had to put my bag on the floor and just load up the scale with groceries, and only then to slowly load up my bag. That takes a lot of the efficiency of self-bagging away. But, even if that works, a lot of time the things don’t scan properly. A lot of the time when there’s a 2 for 1 deal, or 30% off deal, or something, it still scans at full price. How do you get the proper price? You have to call over the supervisor human… who is often dealing with someone else’s problem.
So, most of the time, I deal with the smalltalk, the dumb questions, and all the frustrating parts of dealing with human checkout even though I’d prefer to deal with a machine.
By biggest gripe is that they’re always so low to the ground. Like they’re worried a kindergartner won’t be able to use it.
The best system I’ve tried works by an app. You scan the items with your phone as you pick them up and put them in your bag while still in the app store. Pay in the app and then just leave. They can check your bag if they want to, and there’s camera surveillance.
The self-check out systems don’t really do anything better than that anyway. It a waste of time in my opinion and only encourages people to cheat. They still need to do random checks and camera surveillance.
Fuck that, they can do their own market research. I am not their marketing department, I am not helping them build profiles of their customers for a few cents bonus. That shit is straight out of a 2000s dystopian speculative documentation.