True enough, but my kid is not ever going to get a message from me that says receiving abuse is something he has to do. He didn’t need that job specifically, there are many others (every shop and restaurant in town has a help wanted sign).
As a middle aged dude I can still remember the times 30+ years ago that I put up with bullshit or abuse from customers.
Bloody hell! They don’t have that in the Japanese stores.
Muji has self-scan in Japan. Zara has self-scan in the UK.
I like self-scan when I have maybe a half dozen items. If I’m doing a big supermarket shop I prefer to use the phaser gun and scan as I go.
Come to think of it, you don’t really see RFIDs in Japan at all. So few shops have theft prevention scanners at the doors, I’m trying to think of when I last saw one and drawing a blank.
Good point, if I’m stocking up on heavy stuff like soda, I’ll drive to the store and use a cart and cashier. 95% of my trips to the store, though, are on foot and I’m willing a handheld basket. The store itself seems have only one or two checkout lines manned most of the time, so the lines can get bad pretty easily,
I work with (but not actually in) the operations department at a large UK retailer that has a big investment in self-checkouts (“SCOs”)
Comments here about how you prefer SCOs or hate them are fun and interesting! But I’m afraid none of it matters. The ops crews don’t care about customers (they install back-office systems too you know - have you ever used one of those?). Only money matters. And money (the saving of) was what the supermarkets were promised by the big hardware vendors and the supermarkets’ own bean counters in the 90’s. But now that promise hasn’t materialised it as it was supposed to. The no-brainer of SCOs freeing retail from its traditional margin straight-jacket isn’t happening. Online orders have had to bring that boat in instead (but the costs of that are another sad story for the supermarkets).
Well before any cost of living crises turned up, SCOs were responsible for more shrink than they’d predicted. The hardware was (even after a few years teething) significantly less reliable than they’d been told (re-calibration costs and other maintenance is huge), and they need staff around to help people (now also to help them not steal stuff). That was emphatically not part of the plan. But by then it was all too late to do much because they’d signed ridiculously long contracts they couldn’t get out of.
So in short: sunk costs, poor decisions, and a whiff of some backhanders along the way too perhaps. So I think SCOs are pretty much here to stay really - they’re just part of the fabric now.
BTW I’ve been told by old hands that early research into the use of SCOs in the UK found that most people wanted to “be served” at shops. At the time, they saw the existing checkouts as already rather insulting as they had to pack their own shopping bags. So they saw SCOs as doubly bad, regardless of whether they worked not. I bet that’s changed now though. We’re all just cogs in the machine.
Leave the leading 9 off when entering codes for organic produce at the self checkout for a secret special discount!
You’re telling people to steal. Not cool.
I’m conflicted on self checkout. On the one hand, it’s nice to just scan a few things, pay and go, but stores that only offer self checkout are annoying if you’re buying a lot of stuff. I had an incident at Walmart buying groceries where no lines were open for the traditional checkout, so I used the self checkout. After checking out over $200 worth of stuff, I scanned a recalled item, which locked my terminal out until a manager unlocked it. Of course, no manager could be found so they wanted me to start over from the beginning. I just abandoned my cart, no way I’m spending 20 minutes to check out.
On the other hand, cashier operated lines, while they are better for large shopping carts have led to other bullshit. A few weeks ago, as I got to the front of the line, the cashier at Superstore invited me to a freaking ‘men’s conference’ at a local church. I was wearing a dress, carrying a purse, and generally being my femme self. I did complain and I haven’t seen the cashier again at that store, but it did impact my mental health negatively for the rest of the day.
Even with that, for groceries I still prefer cashiers, while for small trips the self checkout is fine.
back when my mom lived in EIEIO california, it was a solid 90 min from the supermarket (there was a gas station/ bar/ quickie mart/ showers place about 15 min from the house but that was it). So coolers were our solution too. Lot of unappreciated meal planning went into minimizing shopping trips (as well as a walk-in fridge).
I only know those kinds of machines from the UK, and it is really annoying. Here in Norway, and in Germany, the bagging area isn’t surveilled, which makes everything faster and easier. In the UK they sometimes even have cameras in the self-check out, warning you you’re being recorded. All that surveillance makes you think they think everyone is a potential criminal
Equally, self checkouts here don’t talk to you. They just beep when you scan something. Customers are expected to be able to read.
Where/how did the author get “Everyone…” for this article. I LOVE self checkouts. My only discourage is that self checkout counter space does not allow me to checkout more than 5 items.
When a new Safeway opened up by our house years ago, I was annoyed (as an introvert and former New Yorker) at the super friendly, chatty employees. Years later, it felt like home. I joked that I’d be moving the couch in. I miss that place. We’ve moved, and I’m getting texts from a neighbor- One of the cranky old timers has less than 6 months to live, and he’s telling his life’s story at the checkout.
My heroes.
I’ve been known to tell the bagger to go away if there is one. I’ve been complemented by cashiers about speed keeping up with them, ones that were very efficient. Nothing makes me more mad in line then where there is no bagger and the person checking out in front of me expects the cashier to both scan and bag. Just stands there looking like they’re above bagging waiting impatiently. Adds all kinds of extra wasted time.
On the self check out front, it is the post scanning process and quantity of items that will have me prefer one vs the other.
At Home Depot, with all the bar codes face up in the cart, either is fine and only takes a minute to check out. That’s how everyone organizes their cart in line, right? A cashier if I have items with no barcode. Also, always smile and be clear you’ve scanned it all for the security footage.
At a grocery store, it’s the scale and post scanning platform. If the entire purchase isn’t going to fit in the post scanning area, then no thank you. If it does, it’s still wasted time by not scanning and bagging at the same time. Those scan as you go methods avoid this problem, but I don’t personally like that method while I’m shopping.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
