Self Checkouts

[Herdfan]

Looks like things may be shifting back towards actual cashiers.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/business/self-checkout-dollar-general-retail/index.html

Now, I know I may be in the minority, but I prefer self-checkouts. You don't get held up behind chatty customers telling the cashier their life story and the lines used to be shorter.

Now the lines at self check are as long as the other lines.

Your thoughts?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Looks like things may be shifting back towards actual cashiers.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/business/self-checkout-dollar-general-retail/index.html

Now, I know I may be in the minority, but I prefer self-checkouts. You don't get held up behind chatty customers telling the cashier their life story and the lines used to be shorter.

Now the lines at self check are as long as the other lines.

Your thoughts?

I (very much) prefer staffed (with human beings), in other words, manned check outs.

And I have long loathed self check outs for a variety of reasons.

 

[jedimasterkyle]

I'm fine with this. I can deal with a chatty cashier telling me their life story because in the end, it makes no difference to me. What I despise is an entire front end of the store being loaded with self checkouts and only one or two manned checkouts as a "cost saving measure" as the company rakes in BILLIONS. Also, is said company paying me to checkout my groceries? Nope.

I'd rather have a person to talk to and know they hate their job instead of staring at screen knowing that it is completely soulless.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Whenever there is a choice between a manned checkout and a non manned one, I will chose the manned one.

Sadly that is rarely the case these days.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Whenever there is a choice between a manned checkout and a non manned one, I will chose the manned one.

Sadly that is rarely the case these days.

Hopefully, the demand for manned checkouts will mean an increase in their availability.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Hopefully, the demand for manned checkouts will mean an increase in their availability.

We can live in hope. But only if they put customer wants above profits.

To be fair I rarely go to the shops. Most of our groceries get delivered.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

We can live in hope.

We can and do.

But only if they put customer wants above profits.

Yes, agreed.

Most of our groceries get delivered.

Many of mine, do, too, but, as a result of chats with actual people in small, local, stores.

 

[eyoungren]

I hold the opposite opinion.

Long ago my wife and I used to go to Food4Less, which is a grocery owned by Ralphs in California. F4L cost less because, while the registers were manned, you the buyer were the one who bagged your groceries. There's a similar thing at WinCo, which is in Arizona where I live. Unfortunately, the nearest WinCo is 30 minutes away. My wife and I got used to bagging our own groceries and were willing to do this to save a few dollars.

The majority of our grocery shopping is done at Walmart, which is less than 10 minutes away. Before they brought in self-checkout this particular store had a very bad habit of only having a few registers open. Your only choice was which long line to stand in. You could spend 10-15 minutes just waiting to be next. As annoyed as this made me I preferred cashiers until one particular incident.

Walmart does not accept Apple Pay. But they DO accept Walmart Pay. This is Walmart's own financial instrument where you open their app and use it to scan a QR code on the POS device. The code, the app and your Walmart account are all tied to a credit/debit card you have saved and your card gets charged. On the cashier's side it involves them hitting a series of buttons to prepare the system to accept a Walmart Pay transaction.

In this particular incident, the clerk was lazy and did not want to do her job. She flat out told me that Walmart does not accept Walmart Pay. I argued and she realized 'Oh crap, I'm dealing with someone who knows what they are talking about!' So, she made one half-hearted attempt at stabbing buttons and then told me 'It's not working'.

By this point, people behind me are starting to get pissed. I have become the customer I abhore, not ready, doesn't understand how to use the payment system, etc, etc. So I used my debit card and went on my way. But after that I decided to stick solely with the self-checkouts. If I have a problem, I can call a dedicated employee over.

I now refuse to further subsidize the continued employment of lazy and willfully ignorant employees by using a manned checkout.

 

[Tdude96]

I'm versatile, I'll go to either depending on what I'm buying. Something small and light that won't register on the bagging scale? Register with cashier. Something that requires ID or the physical removal of inventory control tags? Register with cashier.

Everything else? Self. Except for Costco. Last time I used self checkout there, two different employees came by and demanded that I present my membership card to them for examination before they'd let me scan it to start checking out, and each of them was slow about it. Would have been faster and easier to use a regular staffed checkout at that point.

 

[eyoungren]

I'm versatile, I'll go to either depending on what I'm buying. Something small and light that won't register on the bagging scale? Register with cashier. Something that requires ID or the physical removal of inventory control tags? Register with cashier.

The thing about self checkout in these situations is that you can call an employee over. With Walmart, the dedicated employee is supposed to be paying attention to the registers that flag them. And stuff like this is an automatic flag. You can keep going at scanning and by the time you're done (or shortly thereafter) they have appeared and you have that person's full and immediate attention. You're then on your way.

While it's pretty much the same thing at a manned register, I do not enjoy the wait in the line. Our local Walmart has two self-checkout areas and only one is busy enough at a time to actually have a line. Just walk down to the unoccupied one and there you go.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I don't mind either these days, but when I was young and dating as much as possible, I did like a few of the cashiers. Oops!

On the serious side, I have always preferred having a person at the register. Some can be polite and helpful, or even uplifting at times. I try to be "uplifting" toward the ones who seem to care for me as a customer.

 

[someoldguy]

I despise self checkouts . Avoid them as much as possible . Nothing like having a real human take your money .

 

[eyoungren]

I despise self checkouts . Avoid them as much as possible . Nothing like having a real human take your money .

I'm guessing you're still paying with cash (or a check)? Or is that just a colloquialism?

Not that I dislike either of those (cash and check), but cashier or self-checkout, the majority of the time there is a machine taking 'my money' via a debit card. I'm not actually handing a cashier anything they can actually 'take'.

 

[someoldguy]

Yup , still using real money as much as possible . Forces me to budget myself . I pull out a set amount each month . Watching the pile go down as the month progresses is a reality check . I'll use a credit card for big purchases/travel and pay it off at months' end . Been debt free for 25-30 years and trying to stay that way .

 

[splifingate]

Looks like things may be shifting back towards actual cashiers.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/08/business/self-checkout-dollar-general-retail/index.html

Now, I know I may be in the minority, but I prefer self-checkouts. You don't get held up behind chatty customers telling the cashier their life story and the lines used to be shorter.

Now the lines at self check are as long as the other lines.

Your thoughts?

I'm totally fine with self-checkouts (even-though I am ultimately irritated with the automated admonishments and declamations as to what I should do, and when).

What I really miss is the human interaction . . doing-so affords one a few moments of interpersonal contact, affirmation, and (usually) well-received palaver

 

[Bodhitree]

I despise self checkouts. I value the human interaction of having an actual cashier, and I’m in favour of protecting their jobs against the cost-cutting measures of the big supermarket chains.

 

[KaliYoni]

Long live the staffed checkout!!!

 

[Apple fanboy]

I'm guessing you're still paying with cash (or a check)? Or is that just a colloquialism?

Not that I dislike either of those (cash and check), but cashier or self-checkout, the majority of the time there is a machine taking 'my money' via a debit card. I'm not actually handing a cashier anything they can actually 'take'.

You can’t pay by cheque in the UK anymore. Probably for 10 years or more. Lots of bars etc won’t even take cash anymore. We don’t at the stores we have at work. That stopped around Covid and many didn’t start again.

 

[Bodhitree]

A cheque for 69 cents, post dated…

 

[Scepticalscribe]

You can’t pay by cheque in the UK anymore. Probably for 10 years or more. Lots of bars etc won’t even take cash anymore. We don’t at the stores we have at work. That stopped around Covid and many didn’t start again.

My mother loved her cheque book, (she used to study the stubs closely, keeping an eye on expenditure), but never really got the hang of cards.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I prefer self-check for smaller orders, 10-15 items at most. Anything larger I go to a lane with a cashier.

 

[Apple fanboy]

My mother loved her cheque book, (she used to study the stubs closely, keeping an eye on expenditure), but never really got the hang of cards.

Personally it took me a while to embrace online banking. But I now use my debit card (usually via my my AW when out and about) pretty much exclusively). It’s great for looking up when you purchased something. I have very few transactions to go through each month which probably helps.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Personally it took me a while to embrace online banking. But I now use my debit card (usually via my my AW when out and about) pretty much exclusively). It’s great for looking up when you purchased something. I have very few transactions to go through each month which probably helps.

Some of the stalls in the market still use (only) cash, hence, I withdrew some cash prior to heading in today.

For the rest, yes, debit card (and I use my card; the AW is not for me).

Now, while Mother never got the hang of debit cards (and was perfectly content with cash), or ATMs, she did use her credit card, but never adapted to a world of tapping with the card or PIN numbers; her world dated from the days when you signed a receipt when using a credit card.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Some of the stalls in the market still use (only) cash, hence, I withdrew some cash prior to heading in today.

For the rest, yes, debit card (and I use my card; the AW is not for me).

Now, while Mother never got the hang of debit cards (and was perfectly content with cash), or ATMs, she did use her credit card, but never adapted to a world of tapping with the card or PIN numbers; her world dated from the days when you signed a receipt when using a credit card.

These days I don’t usually even sign the back of my card. But yes I’m old enough to remember working where cheques were taken with a cheque guarantee card.
Those little machines you would run over the card with and it would print on the carbon paper. Then a signature to match.
That was my first job actually. Working on a market stall at 15.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I generally despise self-checkouts for a couple reasons. Firstly, I should at the least be getting a discount for doing "their" job. Secondly... well I very stubbornly refuse to get store VIP cards.. Everybody and their mother want me to have one and it cheeses me off. Why can't I just get your best price and be done with it? So all the grocery stores I go to... the cashier will use the store's VIP card for you if you don't have one. So I get the discounts anyway. If I do self-checkout? Naw. I do all the work AND pay full price.