Or just anyone who likes the convenience
Or just anyone who likes the convenience
381 comments
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The 'job killers' argument is kinda bullshit. I want to kill jobs - I want to eliminate all labor that can be automated, such that in the ideal perfect future, no human ever has to work; they can spend every moment doing things they enjoy without worry.
But self checkout is not automation. No human work has been eliminated. It is the same exact fucking checkout process, only now the customer does it instead, and the store doesn't pay the cashier. And no they don't pass that savings on to you because of course they don't, they just pocket the difference.
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That's all true, but just to be a bit nitpicky I'd argue some human work has indeed been eliminated by self checkout.
Cashiers main job is to scan your stuff, but in order to do that they also have to stand around waiting for you and other customers for hours on end, and when you arrive they have to do emotional labor of acting cheerful and upbeat
Still I wish we didn't live in a society where increased efficiency leads to people being homeless with no jobs.
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With normal checkout the customer is still the one putting groceries on the belt, and in most cases putting the bags back into the cart. Hell, at Aldi's you have to bag the shit yourself anyways.
I don't see how "scan and bag" is any more intensive than "place everything on belt(which is annoying tetris when you have lots of shit), stand around waiting for cashier to scan and bag".
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Aldi backs up that tradeoff with commensurately lower prices, though.
"intensive" isn't the right term here, IMO. Pushing me to do the cashier work via self-checkout is more effort than what I do at Aldi. It doesn't need to be "carry this pallet across the Grand Canyon" to be objectionable.
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And the cashier is probably going to screw up the bagging. Does the ice cream go in the insulated re-usable bag, or does it go in a regular bag next to the room temperature canned goods? Pretty good chance it goes into the uninsulated bag, the tomatoes end up in the insulated bag with the milk, etc.
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I love your spirit, but that world doesn't exist. Capitalists and conservatives will never allow for a utopian society where people can enjoy their lives on the masses, no matter how advanced production or whatever elses automation becomes. It's always going to be millions suffering and a small majority having more wealth and power than they can even use in a lifetime.
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I've encountered checkouts where you just put your hand basket in a container, and it scans everything inside at the same time.
It can and will be automated further.
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This is a bad, regressive argument.
We need to legislate the benefit of automation for society.
Trying to bury the technology never works if it is indeed an improvement. Technology is benign, people twist it for malice.
This is the same argument as still using oil based street lamps, just to maintain a the lamplighting jobs that don't need to be done anymore.
It's a Bizaare hill to die on to fight to maintain jobs a robot can do faster and better, rather than fighting to make society the beneficiary of such advances through taxation. Either way, you have to fight the billionaires and will probably lose, so why not fight for a better outcome than maintaining shitty, menial jobs?
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This isn't automation though. The self checkout tech is the same tech that a cashier uses. It's not automated. A human still does the work, they just don't get paid for it.
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I mean, technically the self-checkout package has automation in it, a scale and cameras to "automate" the process of ensuring what was scanned was what was bagged, a process by which the station determines when employee intervention is necessary, etc. Automation tech is in there, things a person used to do are being done by technology, but again it wasn't created to improve the way it was done before, merely to make the owner more money.
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Past advancements in medicine has destroyed a lot of jobs... in funeral business. Some jobs should be let go of, if it makes everyone's lives easier ultimately
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I disagree with your analogy. The death rate has held steady at 100% for quite some time now. The only difference is how wrinkly the corpses are.
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Lamp lighters, cotton pickers, wooden teeth makers, wool socks knitters, muck rakers, medical leech farmers... the list of jobs and entire industries destroyed in the name of "progress" goes on and on. We're going to be totally out of jobs any day now!
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I remembered Mr Omar from Everybody Hates Chris trying to get the mayor that wouldn't care for safety elected so his funeral business gets more, well, dead people.
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I would love a "robotax" where automation is encouraged, but with the caveat that it is also heavily taxed. Not so much that it's cheaper to have employees, but enough so that the people who's jobs have been replaced can still get an income. Be it through major subsidies or the ultimate subsidy: universal basic income
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Your instinct to use a systemic solution is good. My concern would be the tax gives corporations the wrong incentive (Some percentage of jobs could be automated but would still be cheaper to hire people). As another approach I like worker cooperatives because if they automate some task the financial benefit goes to the employees. The problem is there aren't enough large scale worker co-ops, so I'd like to see them get tax advantages, preference on government contracts, grants, etc to drive their development.
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Tbf, shouldn't we be doing both? Legislation is slow and in the meantime, people need to be paid. Honestly, to me, this doesn't feel that dissimilar to the argument around tipping. Yes, we absolutely SHOULD be paying waitstaff a living wage so tipping isn't needed but in the meantime, you should still tip your server.
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Tbf the owners will get 100% of what they want because this country was bought decades ago. I was talking decent world. This will be inflicted on us, and used purely to further satiate the greed of the owners whether we protest for it not to be used and/or to be taxed.
I was just saying it would be stupid to put half our effort into both when one has a much better today outcome in a decent country. But in practical terms? The people are brainwashed, the owners hold all the cards, and this will be used to fuck us all, because the people gave up their voice in the 80s in exchange for the lie that giving the owners everything would benefit everyone. Now we're trapped in this workcamp of a country until collapse, likely long after everyone alive today is dead, because anyone who lives here paying attention knows the peasants are too chickenshit and/or brainwashed to revolt.
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Okay but fuck those stores where the self checkout “bagging area” is smaller than the size of a hand cart. Like what fucking idiot designed those.
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Heh. I know that idiot, at least one of them. Personally. At least for some of the major retailers that are making the switch who have very small bagging areas.
It's not his fault, it really isn't.
He got a list of requirements. Table is so big, scale is so big, computer is so big, and so many checkouts in so much area.
Every component has a minimum size requirement, and when the client isn't willing to bend on how many check outs must fit, the only other option is to shrink the one thing that can, and that's the bagging area.
Then they pile a bunch of shit in the bagging area, they have these giant caddies to hold thousands of bags, and they put three of them up there.
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My gripe is there's not enough room to put items from my bag to scan.
Need to put my bag on the bagging side, but it's full. Gotta take stuff out until scanned. No where to put the stuff, so I pile it on the floor.
Fuck me for bringing my own bag I guess
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My understanding is that it's about loss prevention.
They think that self checkout is a high risk for shoplifting, so they want it to be a manageable amount. They need confidence in their security monitoring strategy before they go all in.
After a long trial here including employees monitoring and AI monitored video, the store near me now has maybe 30 self checkouts, with 10 having nice big bagging areas. I never have to wait in line anymore.
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People who want you to suffer.
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"job killer" automation in a reasonable society should mean less need for work and the same amount of resources available (if not more).
But we will never reach the point where we consider picnics, parties and painting more valuable than manipulative marketing, unnecessary polluting but profitable industry, and especially the all-important busywork. Do something profitable. Anything profitable. It doesn't even matter if it's a net negative to society, just do something.
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Personal hobbies aren't valuable to a society, they're valuable to individuals. A guy playing video games 6 hours a day is probably okay with it, but it's not contributing anything to society. There's an argument to be made for people to be guaranteed time to themselves for their well being, but the idea that an economy can function off of picnics and parties is stupid. Automation is not going to make work obsolete, it'll just shift the economy in a different direction. Just like what happened in industrial revolution 200 years ago.
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Automation, AI, should be there to make people have more time doing things that they want to do. Means less "mindless" work, more time for art, reading, philosophy, education, spending time with family, etc. The "banal" work which can be automated should be automated so that more people have more time doing things above. I think the concept of universal income with free education, free health care (and maybe free housing) can work with the automation of work.
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A guy playing video games 6 hours a day is probably okay with it, but it’s not contributing anything to society.
Unlike profitable activities like manipulative marketing, unnecessary and polluting industry, and meaningless busywork?
Oh and yeah, mobile game developers. Whale-catching sure is a huge contributor to the rest of us, right? It's so much better that they're putting 8 hours a day into catching whales/addicts, than wasting time just chilling. Right?
My argument, since you need it clarified, unlike the majority; A lot of work doesn't contribute to society. We might as well let them not work.
Saying "You need to work no matter what no matter how!" with our policy decisions and then hoping people will pick something important has so far led us into a civilization of extreme over-production of useless goods, successfully marketed to easily manipulated apes. A civilization of high pressure/intensity and low focus. The amount of stress experienced in video game development studios is a ridiculous example of this culture of ours.
Additionally, I have personally been told by an instructor at a metalworking/welding shop that it's a huge part of my job to ensure I'm not replaceable, that is my priority. And automation/efficiency will only hurt me by making me and my time less valuable, and I should not pursue it. That kind of cynicism frankly makes me completely disinterested in continued participation.
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Self checkout is so much faster than waiting in like with all the other goobers
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If self checkout is optional, yes it's great for small order quick shops. However too many stores are moving to 100% self checkout with just a single lane or two for full service and that's when it becomes a problem.
Grandma's got a cart full of clothes, no computer experience, and all day to scan and fold each item one at a time...
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100% self checkout with just a single lane or two for full service
It's not 100% if there are other lanes.
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Plus there are some items that are genuinely easier to deal with with an actual human, like anything really light or anything with purchasing age restrictions. If you try and go through a self check with a birthday card and a box of cold medicine it's pretty much a guaranteed bad time.
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Only if the goobers aren't also using the self checkout in front of you and fucking up every other item somehow requiring assistance.
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Some machines will just randomly choke too.
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Where I live there's usually a load of machines in the same space they'd have two conveyors, so even with slow people it ends up being a lot faster.
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only if you're lucky enough to not have to wait in line for the self checkout
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Nah, self checkout is WAY faster when there's no line, but self checkout waiting behind a line of those goobers would be WAY slower. One time I scanned, bagged, paid, and loaded up an entire cart of groceries in the time it took the dude next to me to scan like a handful of items.
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I don't want to interact with a cashier either but fuck if I want to scan my own shit either.
It's also way more awkward when something goes wrong and now I have to initiate.
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"Warning! Shopping bag content is 0.00003pg heavier than expected. Please call an assistant or remove the excess items."
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Thankfully, Walmart stopped weighing items entirely. Not sure how it affects theft, but it sure makes the checkout process smoother. Don't need to wait after scanning each item. Don't need take reusable bags out of your cart. And they replaced almost all of their checkout lanes with self checkouts.
Too bad Walmart is evil, because their checkout is 👌 and Sam's scan-and-go is just 💦. Every other store is just bad UX.
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I think that a lot of people here are confusing "introversion" with having social anxiety.
Being an introvert doesn't mean that you're scared of socialization. It means you generally prefer quiet time over socializing.
From Merriam Webster:
A person whose personality is characterized by introversion : a typically reserved or quiet person who tends to be introspective and enjoys spending time alone.
You can be both, but they are definitely not the same thing.
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Yes! I'm quite an introvert but I prefer a cashier so I can remain in my mind until I need to pay.
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I'm an introvert and I prefer self-checkout because I never have to pause my podcast. With regular check-out I have to pause it for a few minutes while they're scanning my stuff in case they have a question like "do you need bags? do you have a loyalty card?" Other people might enjoy those interactions, or might want to make small-talk with the cashier. I just want to keep listening to the podcast.
I'm willing to do a bit more work and spend a bit more time if I don't have to stand there being attentive to the cashier.
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Me too, I feel like there's too much going on and people watching my "performance" of how well I self-checkout and I worry they're getting mad at me for not being all smooth about it. It's always crowed in that area too, not for me.
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Also, i dont know any of the produce codes and i have no idea what they have scallions classified under in their search system.
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Exactly. Generally, I have fun when talking to people, but social anxiety makes me prefer to stay at home and talk to less people.
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I would like self-checkout a lot more if those cost savings were passed on to the consumer instead of being hoarded by ownership.
It's the classic paradox. Technology and automation could be used to reduce the amount everyone needs to work and enrich everyone's lives as long as those gains are distributed properly. The distribution is the problem.
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Exactly. They implemented self checkout, then two years or so later damn near doubled the cost of everything. It's wild
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While I love self-checkout systems, I fully agree with you. It would be nice if they distributed the savings to everyone. They probably SAY they do it, which is how they "keep prices low" but it's almost definitely a lie.
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I completely agree with you, but people should be aware of consumer-owned cooperatives. They are quite big in Europe, I don't know about America.
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no one wants to be a checkout clerk at walmart for $6 an hour. This is a good thing. The problem is that the people displaced aren't taken care of. We should be pushing for ubi instead
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Nobody in the United States is legally being paid $6 an hour as a cashier. Federal minimum wage is $7.25, and most of the big cities are $15-$20 an hour.
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I think the problem that needs to be solved is the distribution of wealth and how we value people the moment they aren't producing stuff for their bosses. I just read that back and realize I'm a Marxist.
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Stop shopping at walmart unless you don't have any other options. Walmart sucks and has been an evil empire as long as it has existed. Walmart has killed more mom and pop businesses than any other store I can think of in my life time. They are predatory on communities, especially small ones.
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I prefer self checkout but I do feel you should be getting a discount for using it.
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You can give yourself a discount, if you know what I mean
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If I try scanning something 5 times and it doesn't register, I'm moving onto the next item. It's a discount for not teaching me how to use the machine properly.
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I dunno about this one, like what kind of a discount would apply here? How big?
I think in a vacuum a self checkout saves a buck or two per purchase for the store. But that is in a vacuum, you still have a cashier assisting the checkout, maintenance for scanners, probably security watching the scanners etc. I don’t doubt it saves cash, but like probably cents per purchase.
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Eh, you have one cashier watching like 7 checkouts. Security would be a thing regardless, because they'd otherwise be watching to make sure nobody walks out with an item or steals from the register.
I'm not really convinced they do a lot of maintenance on those things, for how well they function, but I also wouldn't be surprised if that's the machine at its best.
Wouldn't know how much they really cost per machine in order to account for that, either, but the Walmart near me only ever has one person watching the self-checkout, doesn't even always have anyone on an available lane, and they've had those things forever.
That one, at least, didn't buy more tech for covid. They just fired some people and redirected the customers. They're saving more than enough in wages.
The fact that, from experience, my average customers per hour divided by pay (and thus, the rightful customer discount for doing my job) still adds up to a matter of cents probably says more about how much I was being paid.
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Fuck me I love self checkout.
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Makes stealing so much easier too.
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I would too if they offered lower price on items. But they don't so I am not doing their work for them and paying the regular price. Same thing with gas stations. It's a way for owners to earn even more money on top of premium they are already scalping off of us.
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Gas stations do not make money on gasoline. They only get a few pennies per gallon. They make their money on the inside sales of pop/beer/twinkies/roller dogs. The oil distributors set the gas prices, not the station, it's real time pricing. The station doesn't even own the gas, until it comes out of the pump. While it is in the tanks in the ground, it is still the distributors. It's one of the few real Just In Time pricings you will see.
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The real job killers are the employers
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The irony
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I use it because it's faster.
I'm not waiting in line for someone else to scan my 5 items.
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Exactly. With with self checkout, customer throughput is increased because if you have 2 cashiers and 20 customers, you're being limited by the 2 people doing all the work while everyone else waits. If you have 6 self checkout instead, average wait time is 1/3.
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It’s faster when you have 5 items. When you have like 100 items, it’s not faster.
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It's definitely still faster, even more so if you didn't go to the store alone.
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I use it even if it's slower because I don't have to pause my podcast to make smalltalk or answer questions like "do you need a bag?"
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For a few items, sure. But even I, a rabid introvert, will seek out a cashier for my weekly shopping. To say hello and goodbye. You all forget to be human beings. Stop making being InTrOvErT yet another singular form of personal identity.
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I describe myself as a introvert too and never felt the need to make small talk with people I don't know. Even if I haven't talked to anyone in weeks. Does this make me non-human?
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I'm a massive introvert, yet outside of IKEA I avoid self checkout like the plague. (Okay, I'll do self checkout if I'm just buying a snack and a drink or something) I just find that saying "Hello" and "Bye" to a cashier is much less bothersome than the potential of needing help when the SCO eventually breaks.
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It's not breaking, you're just doing something wrong.
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For a big trip, you're not supposed to use SCO anyways. They are normally for 10 items or less. Yet, I still see asshats with a full shopping cart or sometime two of them go through SCO.
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Store near me has unlimited self checkout, "express" self checkout which is for a few items, and "shop and scan", which is a payment terminal for if you scanned the items with your phone while shopping.
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I'm so tired of people with social anxiety always trying to appropriate introversion. Introverts don't have that kind of phobia of personal interaction.
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...many do
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If you do, that's social anxiety, not introversion. It's attempts like these that make life for us introverts so hard, because everybody thinks we have that condition when in reality, we just need less socialization. A majority of us are socially functional.
Just because you have one condition doesn't mean you can go around appropriating and encroaching on others identities, that's hella offensive.
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That doesn't mean they are related
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I only use self checkouts, it eliminates like the only major variable of shopping.
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I don't mind using a self checkout except that they're all terrible. The rep has to come over so often, it's just a regular checkout with extra steps.
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As not just an introvert, but an introvert who had to deal with a language barrier for a long time, I don't love going through the normal checkout, but I actively dread the idea of having the support person come over because the balance can't read my tomatoes or whatever.
I'd say online ordering works around both, social anxiety-wise, but then you have to live in fear of when they inevitably call you to say that they don't have this particular type of banana and maybe you'd like some identical type of banana but we definitely need to have a conversation about it first.
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If it smells like shit everywhere you go, check your shoe.
I rarely have problems and I don't have to bother taking out my headphones.
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Not that that saying never had the last four letters of DARVO written all over it to begin with, mind, but I'm so used to seeing it in the context of discrediting trauma that I had to stare at it for several minutes to realize it meant, "If the machine constantly fucks up, maybe you're just too stupid for touchscreens."
Not gonna lie, my time in customer service has notably damaged my impression of people. But really, my dude? The contribution is a more insulting version of "works fine for me?"
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I don't have a problem with self checkout. It has its place. If you're just grabbing an item or two, and want to get out quick and not wait in line, or if you are buying something that you may find personally embarrassing, or any of a number of other reasons.
Cashiers also have their place, for when you have larger checkouts and what have you.
What pisses me off is they are firing cashiers, and replacing them with more self checkouts.. So you have to take your big monthly load of groceries through self checkout, cause theres no cashier, or worse.. one overworked cashier with a huge line.
And its all to have less jobs, less pay checks, and more profits for the C-Suits.
And lets not even get into the fact that its easy for a screw up to happen then some overzealous dickwad comes screaming calling you a thief, and gets you tresspasssed because either you accidentally mis-scanned something or because they THINK you mis-scanned something and thanks to their stupidity you can no longer shop at your local, convenient store.
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Cashiers also have their place, for when you have larger checkouts and what have you.
In my grocery stores they've gone so far as making self checkouts with conveyor belts so you can do those large checkouts yourself.
I refuse to use them. If I have a couple small items, then sure self-checkout makes sense. I don't get cost savings, but I do get the convenience of a speedy checkout; faster than the single express lane they used to have.
But I'll be damed if I'm going to be a free cashier for them and scan an entire cart load of groceries and get nothing in return. At the very least pay for a bagger, wtf. Those are the real job killers right there.
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I've always been fine with it. It doesn't feel like I'm forced to do someone else's job to me because they can be convenient if you have a small order, and it reduces lines. That said, I'd much rather see people employed and sometimes I like the personal interaction.
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Same, self checkout is just 9 times out of 10 the most convenient option for people who don't buy a cart full of stuff.
It's not like stores are hiring people just to man the registers either.. They hire X amount of people and if they need to open another register that's someone who has to stop doing something else in the store, so self-checkout just lets them always have a bunch of registers open with only one employee overseeing them all and helping people out.
At least this is how it works in sweden, maybe in the US stores do it differently since they seem to have great difficulty making something as basic as scanning a barcode work.
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In my experience with the US the strategy is to minimize cashiers, ideally have one person running a full service lane and managing the self checkouts between their customer line. Oh and they can handle returns and exchanges too. And online order pickup. Oh and also "frontline" customer complaints. $10 an hour should cover this.
The stocking crew is separate and it's a 50/50 chance if they're trained on registers.
Edit: this obviously depends on the store and staff size, but this seems to be the procedure for most big box retailers.
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From what I’ve seen in stores and job applications, the checkout clerks do have a separate job position, but if needed other people will stop what they’re doing and help.
Most IT systems work as expected here, except sometimes it misses discounts even from their stupid apps (“digital coupons”) and mysteriously some stores like Walmart, who should be technologically flawless, end up charging more at the register than was listed in the aisles.
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Everywhere near me has the anti-theft devices turned up on self checkouts to the point that traditional checkouts are both faster and require less human interaction.
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I’m fairly allergic to human interaction, but there is now way I’m manually scanning 12 packs of the same soda 4 times.
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Self checkout for heavy items is usually even easier than normal checkout. With normal checkout, I'm expected to lift the stuff and put it on the belt. With self checkout, I can grab the scanner gun and pew pew them while still in my cart.
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Many stores where I live don't offer a scanner gun to customers, only like a small amount of big stores offer it. In self-checkout, we have to move the barcodes over a scanner to get them scanned.
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Are your arms made of toothpicks or something? That seems like the most negligible problem to have ever. If you said bags of chips then yeah, because those fuckers are always all crinkled up at the barcode and impossible to scan and I can't be bothered to try to unfold them and get it just right
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As a weekly shopper who only gets 20-30 items at a time, self checkout is better. The cashiers tend to have customers with 100+ items and I usually have to wait 5-10 minutes. At the self checkout, I'm done and out the door in 3.
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The people who deny self-checkout sometimes have quarrels with the cashiers.
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Wait, you’re supposed to pay for groceries?
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No these people are just confused. They think the laser beep machine is serious business. We know it to be an optional plaything.
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WHAT? People love self check out, what is this tomfoolery?! lol
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Yeah of course, you can just go at your own pace and do it in your own time. Don't have to have 20 people breathing down your neck and judging you for taking 5 seconds too long to find your debit card. Don't have to talk to anyone, it's great. People just prefer different things.
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My elderly parents don't do so well with self checkout, its definitely not for everyone. I will use them if I have a few items but they are really finnicky at least the ones my local grocery store has. I wish there was an option to mute them so I don't have to hear 'PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG, PLEASE SCAN ITEM, PLEASE PUT THE ITEM IN THE BAG' on loop. also an 'I know how to bag things please fuck off' button
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I used to be against these, but when it became clear that jobs were not actually being cut to accommodate these things, I slowly caved that said there's a register open I'm going to use it instead of self service
Because as boomer as it sounds... "I don't work here."
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My parents (who are 70 and 71) have their mindset too. I disagree with that "I don't work here" argument - who said scanning items HAS to be something that only a cashier does? Why is it considered work compared to something like choosing and weighing vegetables, which is something no one ever expects a worker to do for them nowadays?
For me, the merit of those self checkout stations is that you can do this easy thing (scanning items) yourself. I don't need someone to scan items for me. It was the only thing that I still wasn't allowed to do by myself, and I'm glad it eliminated having to interact with cashiers. All I need the place to do is stock up items and make sure the place is clean.
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You can bet a lot of people who hate self-checkouts only hate it because they can't yell at and order the employee around to do their bidding.
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I hate them because I have a toddler and making sure they don't run off, move things from the scale, grab candy from the very child friendly height displays, all while trying to scan and bag my groceries.
At staff checkouts we load on conveyor belt together. I can keep control of my child. And then we leave.
I hate self serve. Staffed checkouts are much more relaxed for me. I did like self serve better before kids though.
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I hate using them most of the time because it's a bullshit hassle for me to unload and scan and bag all of my groceries, when there used to be an employee to do that for me. I don't work for the fucking store, their employees do, so they should do that work and get paid for it. The stores where I shop have gradually scaled back real cashiers for machines to the point that it's more inconvenient for all.
The only time I like using the self checkout is when I'm buying rubbers and sex lube. The cashiers always laugh or make a face when I put the Magnum condoms on the belt.
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I can relate to this so much :D Greatest invention of the 21st century :D
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me too
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Everything less than 5 pounds is a banana. Mistakes happen when untrained people do the job for the company
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What do you mean this iPhone isn't a fruit? I see an apple right there. I must have gotten confused.
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iPhone 15 Pro Max Red Delicious version
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As an introvert I'd rather not use self checkouts. The possibility that something will go wrong and I'll have to call someone over and explain it and have them fix it is much higher than letting someone qualified scan and bag my shit while I stand there silently waiting to pay as both the cashier and myself refuse to talk or make eye contact.
Plus I worked at a walmart for a year as right as they rolled out their mostly self checkout system. So many people lost jobs and the store lost so much money to shrinkage (theft). It's the dumbest fucking thing. Makes perfect sense to have a few for people with only a handful of items but the vast majority should be cashiers.
This meme was brought to us by big self checkout and makes no sense at all IMO.
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Yep, no damn way I’m using self checkout when I’m buying, say, a cart full of groceries. And I’m as introverted as can be.
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Honestly it's among the main reasons I switched grocery stores from Dillons (Kroger owned) to Aldi. Over the last three years Dillons has added more self checkout lanes, routinely staffed the bare minimum human checkout lanes, and regularly has looooong lines to checkout at peak hour. Going to Aldi I tend to save both money and time; their cashiers scan shit so damn fast.
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agreed. Plus the arrangement surrounds you with people whereas each checkout has its nice little safty walls and people are only in front and behind you but not to the sides. That being said I will use self checkout if I have 3 or less easily scannable things.
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I just saved hundreds on my groceries by switching to self checkout and fucking stealing.
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I prefer the stores that let you scan your items on your smartphone and just pay via it or at least go through a fast lane where you just tally it up at the self checkout and go. Especially if they have convoluted coupons or bonuses that o can track as I go.
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I do feel like I ought to be paid when a business offloads their work onto me. Not much, I suppose. But something.
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You do get paid something, freedom from bullshit small talk and judgment of your purchases
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I do not experience bullshit small talk or judgement of my purchases. Since I'm not getting that benefit, I'm happy to be paid. Thanks!
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Why? Do you also want to be paid for taking products off the shelves or choosing the good vegetables?
This is just how the place works and you are not entitled to anything just because it does things a certain way. You can keep going to the regular cashier lane if you don't like "doing work for the company".
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You get to tip a smaller amount to the self checkout kiosk
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Wtf y'all tip cashiers???
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No tipping where I live so I don't benefit from that. Happy to accept a lower charge for my groceries in lieu of pay, though.
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That you tip cashiers is already bonkers.
But that you guys tip at a self-checkout really takes the cake.
"Thank you computer for doing the job you were programmed to do, here is a tip, don't spend it all at once!"
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Theoretically, the money the supermarket saves not having to hire cashiers will be passed on to the consumer through lower prices. In practice though...
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Just so.
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Self-checkout is the best thing to happen in recent history, imo.
It's super annoying to need to queue at the counter and talk to the staff. It's not that I have social anxiety and can't talk to them. I just don't want to. I rather use a machine and get my shopping done. I'm there to get stuff, not to talk to people.
I don't mind if the entire store converts to self-checkout save for 1 or 2 counters for those who are unable to use the machine for the time being. Eventually, it should all be converted to self-checkout.
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I love self-checkout. I'm introverted and the last thing I have energy for when doing grocery shopping after work is holding another conversation. Self checkout allows me to check out at my own speed and without having to talk to anyone. It's a blessing.
I do get why people dislike it, so I think we should have both ways of checking out.
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Since when are introverts not people?
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Introvert, but I've purposely stopped using self-checkouts, even if it means longer wait times and having to actually interact with people. In addition to taking jobs away from people, there's no other benefit that's being given to me, the consumer, for using it. It's not like you get a special discount on your purchase for using the self-checkout, it's purely a cost-savings on the store's end. It's also insulting to see rows and rows of checkout lines only staffed by a single person, no matter the time of day. I'll just keep using the people-checkout lanes, just to drive up demand.
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Different take, but as a former cashier I greatly enjoyed the self checkouts being a thing, because it frees me up to do other tasks and prevents situations where "YoU nEed tO AlWAyS Be at tHE rEgiStER, WhAT if a CuStOMer cOmEs??!"
Like, I will walk up to the register dale, I can see it from the aisles you make me also take care of and I don't want to stay late tonight
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I've stopped using self checkout due to the number of news stories around stores accusing people of shoplifting for scanning something the wrong way.
Don't tell me to do your job if you're going to accuse me of doing it poorly and then have the police arrest me for it.
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Grocery stores where I recently lived (Denver) don’t even stop people walking out with entire carts of groceries. It’s corporate policy not to because the risk of injury to employees or the shoplifter outweighs the cost of the lost merchandise.
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I find self checkout significantly faster if I only have a couple items. For a big shop like weekly groceries I always go to a cashier
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I don't think going through self-checkout with a shopping cart is even socially acceptable around here
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I love them. the only downside is people who are really fuckin' slow at scanning their groceries.
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Ah I am the opposite, I prefer the self check outs so that I don't have to talk to anyone. I don't know why but I always feel obligated to think of something to say when going through human checkout. If there's an issue with the machine during check out that can be a bit anxiety inducing but the issues are fairly common so I just sort of shrug and am like "it just started beeping" and they make it stop within a few seconds.
For the same reason I've been cutting my own hair for nearly 6 years now lol
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I've been cutting my own hair for the last 14 years for this exact same reason. I still have the same pair of clippers too so I must have hundreds by now
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I like it when I'm going for two or three items I forgot or when buying some lunch for work and don't have enough time, but for usual, big grocery shopping... Nope.
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Lolol I loved them at first when they still employed all the cashier's so the slow people didn't get in my way
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What bothers me the most is the fucking Walmart recipt checkers.
Don't make me check out my own shit if you don't trust me.
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The correct response to them is a wave and a "no, I'm good" as you walk past.
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I don't even bother with the no thank you, I just ignore them. It's nothing but security theatre anyway.
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The ones at Costco seem pretty serious. They want to count the total items sold and how many you have. At Walmart all I’ve ever gotten is “uh… it’s fine” probably because it’s too much trouble.
One Napoleon Dynamite-looking cuntbag gave me trouble at Costco one time because he couldn’t fucking count… I had my items on my own dolly vs a cart, which seemed to make him think I was an indigent shoplifter (really I was walking to my house 2 blocks away). He counted … 11!! Receipt says 10!! Okay, so which item did the clerk miss? He counted again… 9!! Uh, okay, am I missing something? He counted again… 11!! Then he found an item he missed and said , oh, that explains it (? Isn’t that 12?) Just turned to someone else and went on like nothing happened.
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I don't so much mind it at the membership stores because it's part of the membership.
But my local Walmart recently hired some new woman for it. Most others just glance at it an say "you're good" to every 10th person but this one takes your recipt and checks every item in every bag, and does this to every person and then freaks out if people walk past the line. It's bad enough there was a whole thing on the town facebook page with hundreds of people complaining about it.
The most recent time I tried to ignore her and keep walking but a traffic jam stopped me and this bitch walks up and grabs the cart and starts reaching for my recipt.
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Lately Walmart self checkout gives you an option to just text you the receipt which I always choose because I don't need an extra piece of paper that I'm just going to lose in 2 seconds. I think it makes me look extra sus to the receipt checkers though because now they try to stop me every time. I really don't care though, Walmart's problem with shrinkage is not my problem, and I'm not going to take the time to stop, take my phone out of my pocket, and pull up the receipt just to satisfy them. Like Walmart, you gave me the option not to print a receipt, and you're confused that I don't have one?
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So then go to normal cashier checkout. They haven't been abolished at my grocery stores
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They effectively have been abolished at mine. 30+ self serve, occasionally they have someone, but don't start until a hour after opening time, it's only 1 person. They don't cover breaks, so just close staffed check out then. Sometimes they are doing other jobs and you have to stand at the checkout for them to come over and open it up for you.
They are definitely discouraging it and make you feel like you are being difficult if you want to use them.
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Honestly, the thing that drives me the most crazy about self checkouts is people using them with full carts. They're perfect if you're just grabbing a few things: Just as fast, if not faster, than the 'N items or fewer' checkouts, and no need to interact with anyone. But if you're showing up with 6 bags worth of groceries, and everything in your cart has a coupon or at-cash discount with it, then you need the cashier anyway, so just GTFO of the way. Having the nanny cashier who's looking after 8 self-checkouts come over every 10 seconds to deal with another one of your discounts, or to let you swap bags because you've already filled the item placement area, slows things down for everybody.
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My local grocery store has twelve small self checkouts and three big ones for people with full carts. This does a good job of keeping the smaller ones for people with a few items.
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I remember when self checkouts were originally introduced at my local grocery store it explicitly was designed to be an X items or fewer line. However, it seems like stores have gotten away from that over the years to the point where some stores are basically self checkout only.
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Agreed. I really only use the self checkout if I have less than 15 items out of consideration for other people's time. More than that, and I just go to the checkout lane.
It'd be a different story if they just did away with 90% of the useless checkout lanes that stay closed year-round and quadrupled the number of self-check stations.
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Self Checkouts are not job killers. they still need people to run them. Most stores have 3 SCO clusters that need 3 attendants each per day. thats 9 jobs right there, add in weekend coverage, vacations, part timers, etc and most grocery stores will have a need for around 15 cashiers which is not easy for any store to fully staff.
source: ive worked grocery stores for around 10 years.
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How many people are needed to run an equivalent amount of non self checkouts? Just because they need some employees doesn't mean they aren't reducing the amount of jobs overall.
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It is not a one to one comparison, sco is significantly slower than the cashier (not sure about US but here Aldi/Lidl cashiers are madness). So i will just put a random number here but the ratio might be something lik 1:3 where 1 cashier would swap 3 SCOs. I still believe it is reducing staff and that is the whole point.
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Our sco clusters have 6 stations each. you literally couldnt fit 18 more registers in our store let alone staff them. We have 8 registers and we've not once been able to fully staff those registers. at any given time we can find staff for maybe 4 of them.
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I really hate making small talk, I'll use the scanner.
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When I can buy beer at self checkout I will never use a standard checkout lane again.
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You can do this at Woodman's in Wisconsin. It's very weird every time I do it. In theory one of the workers is supposed to be "supervising", but I must just look old or they don't care because no one has ever even talked to me.
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The grocery store by my house has their self checkout volume set to 11. I don't want to be yelled at by a machine.
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I do not like them at all, especially when I have a lot of produce to weigh.
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Do you not have to weigh your stuff before going to the counter?
That's how it works in my country, we have weighing stations where you go and weigh your things yourself, and get a barcode sticker. Then you can either go to self-checkout or the cashier, who doesn't need to waste other people's time by weighing your stuff as well.
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None of the stores where I live now do that. If the produce has a numbered sku sticker on it, you could just punch in the 4 numbers but if there's no sticker anywhere on your apples or something, you have to look them up and make sure you hit the right one because there are a lot of different types of apples and pears and whatnot. A cashier generally knows the product number by memory or can find it superfast.
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I had the anti-self-checkout mentality for a bit, because I didn't want to see cashiers losing their jobs. One day at Target I was waiting in line at the human checkout, and the cashier started yelling at everyone in line that there were multiple self-checkout machines open. It sounded like she hated our guts.
Fine! I'll use the damn machines. Haven't bothered cashiers since then if I have other options.
edit: to be clear, I'm not blaming all cashiers for her attitude, I just want to do the right thing without being a pain in anyone's ass and I've learned that sometimes that means using self-checkout
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MFW I just order groceries
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This, WFH, and no-contact delivery were some of the best things to come out of the pandemic.
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gotta love spending money to spend money
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I don't mind at all. Pay the extra few bucks to avoid obnoxious lines, cramped aisles, loud people, wasting time searching for one item or another, carrying heavy and cumbersome bags, etc. I pay like 7 bucks once a week or 2 weeks for that in Denmark. 100% worth it for me.
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It typically doesn't cost anything extra to order groceries for pickup... Delivery is obviously another story.
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agree so much :D
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I absolutely hate these. My local Aldi started doing this and the lines are longer than ever as a result. People who get paid to check out your groceries move faster than the customers themselves.
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Well, sure at Aldi. If they do it hard enough, they will launch your stuff to land on your porch from the checkout lane. But no other store has professional-level scanners.
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Especially at Tesco with Scan&Shop. I don't even need to scan the items at checkout, just scan them as I shop.
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My introversion and social anxiety is so estreme, that self checkouts make me imagine what I would do if I mess up something, or take too long to finish, or imagine people observing me and the way I interact with the machine.
Damn, I got a bit of anxiety just by writing this. The feeling is similar to using a computer while there are people constantly looking at my screen.
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Yeah, some of them are continually recording video, which is annoying. Probably a bunch of facial recognition and emotion/behavior analysis too.
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Don't forget the horrors of having to have someone's grandma sort though all your stuff since you look nervous.
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I just hate them because stores have replaced half a dozen checklanes with an employed human being each (sometimes two if they had baggers) with one minimum wage paid person watching over 20 machines. It's so blatantly disgusting to me, personally.
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Should we really be propping up jobs of dubious usefulness rather than going after a proper social safety net? We could pay people to dig random holes and others to fill them in if we just wanted to pointless jobs. Why not just hand out the money directly? Why the perverse requirement to make them jump through hoops for it? It feels... condescending to me to knowingly make someone do a task that could be automated just to give them a pay check.
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While raising prices, too.
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On smaller packages! Ain't life grand?
(DON'T FORGET TO DONATE ON YOUR WAY OUT, THERE'S HUNGRY PEOPLE OUT THERE YOU KNOW)
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It's annoying how a lot of stores ask you to join their club and get their credit card (as If I don't have enough already), before letting you into self-checkout.
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I've started stealing from stores like that. If you're going to constantly fuck with me, then I'm going to fuck with you too.
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Damn, where? There's one chain of grocery stores in my area where you have to join their rewards program to get their sales, but it's just an information grab - no credit card or anything, it's free, but the points are pretty much garbage. Also, you really want to get the sale prices, because half the store is on sale at any given time and the regular prices are awful.
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Cashier is one of the worst job you can. If machines can replace us for hard work, it's for the best.
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Automation that replaces the need for work can be a good thing, but only if it is used to ease the overall burden instead of making a bunch of people unemployed so that the capitalists who own the company can increase their profits. The idea of machines doing all the work sounds great, but if that means that the handful of people who own the machines have a great quality of life and everyone else suffers then that is not a good trade-off.
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Wegmans just discontinued their app that let you scan your shit from your phone. I'm so pissed off that it got abused and they cancelled it.
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We could have such nice things if people could just be cool.
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Scan and go from walmart that let's you use the app to scan items as you shop has me now shopping at walmart again just for this one feature. Requires walmart+ though.
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Why is everything + now lol that's such lazy naming
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I hate self check out and what it's become.
It should be the '10 items or fewer' line. Not, a full cart. If you can't carry the items in a basket, you need to go in a regular line.
My local grocery store has like 9 self check outs, with 1 person sometimes staffed to fix them when they fail (not if, when) and they have 1 regular lane open. And everything ends up with a long line and it's infuriating. Oh and the manger standing in the back 'monitoring things' acting like they're doing anything, but isn't doing the right thing and opening up a new lane.
Also, far too many people are over leaving into 'im an introvert' and playing it up to poorly written teen sitcom levels.
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Starting October 1st Walmart customers will be required to unload the merchandise trucks on the back dock. This will be in addition to your self checkout duties.
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LOL! I don't see that going over so well
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I'm not sure I agree. Why does it matter if it is 10 items or 30? I do the same work as a cashier, albeit understandably at a slower pace.
Sounds like the issue for you is that the self checkouts keep failing for random reasons and stalling the lines - in which case you're trying to minimize the symptom instead of demanding them to make the self checkouts work and have the monitoring person be properly trained to handle issues if they do arise.
Where I live they are usually working fine and the line is a few people at best, even if they have a ton of items to scan.
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Because most people aren't as fast at scanning as a cashier. Mainly old people for example.
So with their cart of 50 items, they take a buttload of time holding everyone behind them hostage.
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I can only agree that there should be limits with the style of self-checkout. The little beltless ones they have tons of should have an item limit. The belted ones shouldn't.
But if that was the case, they better keep the belted ones the fuck open. About 60% of the time I go shopping, the belted check out lanes (even the ones manned by a cashier) are closed and only the small ones, designed for a small sale, self-checkouts, are open.
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Dang, you guys cannot scan all items in the store? Then pack everything already in bags within your cart, and only put the scanner back and pay?
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I wish, that sounds amazing.
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We can in one of the chains here, very convenient. Also, there's enough self checkout points so that slow check outs are not a problem.
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"You could of saved $3.27 if your subscribed to BagBois™ last month"
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i went to target the other day and they had it designed so the self checkout line emptied into 5 self checkouts and 1 normal register. i was in a bad mood and had headphones on and the lady kept trying to wave me over. was praying someone would finish up but no of course not
i happened to be buying a record so she said somewhat brashly 'you and your music huh'
look lady i don't even wanna be here
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Just wave back, and keep waiting.
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I would love to use self checkouts more often, and need to interact with people less, but the frustration of trying to get those fucking grocery bags open is more traumatic than just going to a cashier.
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As a previous cashier, best way to do it is to take your middle finger and swipe down across the center. Like a vertical slap on the bag's face. About the middle of the bag, pull your arm back towards you. It will usually separate the outside wall of the bag from the stack, and when you pull towards you, the bag will "stick" to your finger and then open at the top.
I hated moving slowly as a cashier, cause lines made me mad. So I had to find the quickest way to do everything, and that method works great (for me) until about the last 4 bags.
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I completely forgot that there would still be some places with plastic bags at the register. I have a bin I bring and everything just drops in no problem.
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In my local supermarket i can scan the stuff on my phone and then pay from my phone. I usually use the checkout, but when i just need 2 items and theres a lot of people in line.. i mean here the advabtage is absolutely no line at all.
Whats the benefit of the self checkout?
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Introvert here who loathes these fucking machines. Fuck them and their stupid errors. Yeah I put my fucking item in the bag.
Being an introvert means you get more comfortable with not chit chatting. You really don't have to.
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It puts the lotion in the basket!
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lol got a nice chuckle out of me!
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Maybe if the store is quiet. When there’s a bunch of people and you’re at the front of the line you better spot the free checkout the second it opens or people will start “helping” you.
And I hope you don’t mess anything up because everyone in line is judging you for not being able to swipe a gallon a milk or not being able to open a plastic bag and making them wait longer.
Instacart is the rich introvert’s choice.
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As an introvert as well, nah gimme my cashiers back. Annoying ass self check-out machines, make one error and you gotta talk to someone anyway. Then gotta get your receipt checked, because how do we know you scanned everything? So now we're at 2 talkings. Just scan my stuff, cashier, please.
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pLEasE RemOvE iTeM frOm THe bAggiNG aReA ...... ITEM REMOVED FROM THE BAGGING AREA! PLEASE PLACE ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA!!
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Meh, it's easier to steal with self checkouts
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I NEED self checkout. I can't go shopping unless it's in a small local store or there's a self checkout. My anxiety goes through the roof if I can't use one, so the only problem is people using self checkout with a full cart
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The only cashiers I know would rather not ever have to talk to customers either. But they are pretty sour people in general and I don't know if that's common and of course it's basically saying they wish they had a different job. So I'm with the automate whatever you can just pay more taxes crowd. There will always be a place for human customer service, but now we have choices.
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They make $9 an hour. How chipper do you want them to be?
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$7.25 an hour, and I was loudly and publicly threatened with the loss of my job because a customer thought I "wasn't smiling enough" over the Christmas rush and called the manager over.
I'd just had my brother cremated less than a week ago.
We generally aren't sour to each other when you're not looking. Can confirm years of watching customers literally stomp on shit directly in my line of sight so they can turn around and demand a discount because this item is inexplicably dirty or broken has made us very sour at everyone else.
One of them paid for a candy bar, ate the whole thing right there in line, and immediately demanded a full refund because "she didn't like it." Under the watchful direction of the same manager because "the customer is always right," I had to do that.
I wish people would come through my line and say nothing to me.
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$16-20 here, but yeah, that's sort of my point I guess. I mean they're renting a studio on 25 hours a week and still hate everybody, so my thought was in their case less human interaction is the true solution. Of course they hate self check, too, for same reason as half this thread which is that when you do have to interact it's more awkward.
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I prefer self checkout when I'm only buying a few items, which I usually am. The problem is when people try to bring full carts through the self checkout; that takes forever.
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On the contrary, I'm perhaps a bit slower with the scanning, but I have the time to pack every item in the correct bag, without putting stuff on belts and without the heavy breathing of another person in my neck while their items are already playing a game of bowling against mine.
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There's not really enough room for it. Most of them have one spot to put stuff, which as I recall, weighs it to make sure it adds up to what you're scanning. But there's not enough room for a full cart load to sit there, which messes up the whole point.
At least that's what I was told they're for. I've haven't seen one go off when there's extra weight there in a couple years now. Maybe they gave up on that part because people couldn't fit their stuff there.
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I don't mind them. Where I do grocery shopping there aren't any, but even if there were, I'd still prefer going to a cashier in fear of messing up something. Even if I'm somewhat introverted, saying "Hi" and "Thanks, have a nice day" isn't particularly hindering. As for whether they're job killers I'm not sure; at that same place employees that are doing check out are doing everything else around the store as well.
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50% agree!
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I identify as people.
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Oh I hate those. Not because of the job taking, that was inevitable. I hate them because while when I deal with a cashier I can do some small talk, or just smile at someone and remind myself that I am still alive. I can also mask my underperforming brain with words. When I interact with a machine, it screams at me at super high volume to put my god damned item in a bag. Like OK, you don't have to warn the neighbors that I'm a bit slow. They already know!
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Who on earth says this? Never have I heard someone complain about self-checkouts. It's faster than waiting in line for fifteen minutes when you just want to buy a slab of butter! And someone complaining they have to do the scanning sounds like a lazy, entitled jerk.
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I see it all the time, I live in a somewhat rural town. Its mostly coming from elderly people, but the store keeps 2 or 3 registers with people at them just for that reason, so I don't understand the complaint.
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I am quite introvert, but I had more than enough bad experiences with self-checkouts, I won't touch them with a ten-foot-pole. Then people say: "But you are a computer guy, this should be your thing" - No, thanks. I recognize crap when I see it, especially in my line of business.
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Burn the self checkouts to the ground
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Yes, the convenience of the machine having an error and forcing me to wait while a supervisor wanders over to fix what I, or the machine screwed up.
I fucking hate these things. If they want me to ring up my own groceries they can fucking pay me.
Edit: and to those that think these are the greatest, you're all outstanding, grade A suckers.
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As an introvert i hate it. It's always loud and temperamental and really if anything i should get a discount for using it.
Once did a late night Walmart run for a bunch of random stuff. Only to come up to no cashiers. Luckily the sweet girl at the self check out saw my panic and used a bar code scanner to get me on my way
When it just scans tags as i push my cart through I'll consider self checkout. Otherwise it just feels like I'm working for free.
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Noise cancelling headphones is almost a medical aid when it comes to shopping. You don't have to listen to any noises except ones you like, and, people are much less likely to bother you.
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What's there to "panic" about? Just scan your things and move on?
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I don't know . I had a cart full of everything from window blinds to steaks and for me it seemed like an ordeal because its an unknown.
And let's be fair, it's not a matter of scanning and moving on, that would be easy. Each item has to be scanned one at a time, and then weighed and bagged. Takes forever and in my experience something always goes wrong and I get "please wait for cashier / assistance".
Maybe just bad experiences or I am perhaps an idiot when it comes to them.
To the point of the topic: keeping my head down while someone scans my items and then swiping my card is far easier than all the attention and interactions I create with the self checkout machines.
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Slow, buggy, cramped germ covered self checkout POS are far more frustrating than dealing with a pimply cashier and are worse for the community as youth have fewer job opportunities.
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Haha corporate profits are ok as long as i can be introverted xD
5 updoots for all my socialist friends out there
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There's nothing wrong with a corporation profiting. Profit is a very powerful incentive and corporations are very effective legal entities for mass production. The issue arises when corporate executives aren't held accountable. When you have corrupt, greedy, and soulless executives running companies by doing things that are harmful, illegal, or unethical AND they keep getting away with them then that's a big problem. But if you have a system in place with strong institutions and strong legislation that makes sure that worker rights are respected, the markets are competitive, consumers are protected, the environment is protected, and illegal activity is hunted down and prosecuted then there isn't an issue.
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Here’s a tip: Get a better job.
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You probably leave no tip when you eat out, right? I say that because this phrase is the one most associated with being put on the tip line on a check. Anyway, I’m not trying to attack you. It is just frustrating to hear people think some jobs are less important than others in terms of a livelihood. In my opinion it is more appropriate to point out that replacing that job with a robot allows the person replaced to do something different within their field.
That was just a rude comment to make.
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I actually do tip, funny enough.
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381 comments
We can't feasibly stop automation, nor should we. We SHOULD be taking the profits back from billionaires that they've stolen since time immemorial. Automation means less work overall. But we need to ensure the workers actually benefit from that.
Self checkout is not automation. It's making the customer do the work.
Automation would be: Stick an RFID-tag to all your items, make me check in with my phone at the entrance. Automatically "scan" all the items when my cart and my phone leave the store at the same time. Bill me.
Yeah. That's like saying a buffet automates waiters.
As the customer you're already taking stuff out of your cart and putting it on the counter. Maybe automation isn't the right word, but it's certainly more efficient than having a human clerk. It removes a bottleneck.
Those Amazon just walk out stores like you’re describing are extremely expensive to setup though. Even a spall space requires tons of cameras and sensors, all items to be placed on shelves a certain way, lots of networking backend, etc. Most business are unable to do so right now and I’d say most buildings can’t accommodate it. My work looked into putting one of those in one of our spaces as a test and the cost/work to make it happen in even a small area of our business wasn’t worth it
Or a fuckton of cameras: https://youtu.be/NrmMk1Myrxc?si=olYDaZnChc4LN47k
I went to a gas station that had this… it was kind of incredible. Put like 10 items on a sensor and it recognized all of them. Then put them in a bag.
I think in terms is control, more people feel as though they can stop/protest automation more than they can take profits back. I think that was the luddite mentality? I speculate, it's been a while since i learned it in school.
They tried the latter, and when that failed, they tried the former.