this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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Technology
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For real. The wait is often shorter than the cashiers' lines, and I don't have to interact with anyone. 99% of the time that someone has a problem with them it's user error. Though I do hate that the ones near me can no longer be muted.
Agreed, also i like to stack my bag very methodically with heavier and more sturdy items at the bottom, cold things together, interlock and tetris everything so the bag has its own integrity and doesnt collapse and spill items out into the car after a corner.
Yes i know the checkout person also stacks in a similar fashion but they are paid the slap it through and into a bag as fast as possible to serve the next customer and i dont mind sacrificing an extra 15seconds of my day over the bag stacking operation to do it right.
Man, where does everyone in the comments live that it still works like this? Where I'm at, they basically have attempted to replace like 90% of cashier jobs with these machines. There is often either no cashier at all, or one single cashier with like 5 people in their line, each with shopping carts filled to the brim.
The self checkout lines routinely reach lines of 10+ people with many old people who struggle using the machines forced to use them and gumming up the operations more. I avoid going to the grocery store like the plague during any kind of higher traffic time because I don't want to wait in line for 15 mins.
Other issue with self checkout machines is that some places (Kroger, looking at you) weigh the bag every time you scan an item before you can scan the next, which makes things go soooooo slow.
That’s how it is by me too; very few lines open with an actual person. I’d prefer not interacting with anyone, but the self checkouts are just a reason to hire fewer people. Years ago, they used to have two people at every register at grocery stores; one to ring people up and the other to pack the bags up. You rarely see this anymore unless the cashier is being trained.
In addition to that, on the occasions that I do use self checkout, I almost always have an issue with one of the items and then the one person they have overseeing ten checkout lanes needs to finish what they’re doing and come over to me just to fix the issue so I can finish scanning the rest of my stuff.
So when I’m using self checkout, I’m doing unpaid labor just because the store wants to increase profits and it often ends up being slower depending on how much produce I’m buying.
The weighing thing is really the biggest unsolved issue so far. Too often they freeze the process and call for a checker on any little bump where the weight appears to momentarily change.
Not to mention that I prefer using my own bag(s) when I can, and whenever I go up to a manned checkout especially with a bagger and hand them my bag to use, at least half the time they start to panic as if they haven't seen this before, and then they're eager to start using the plastic bags after my bag is barely half full. This is even in stores that sell their own reusable checkout bags. At the self checkout, I can use my own bag worry-free and fill it however full I want, and if I overfill it, that's my problem and not on the store, so they don't have to worry either.