Current Events > Why do they say self check out is a scam?

(+) Yeah! (+)

A seldom discussed benefit of self-checkout is the complete elimination of an entire category of young adult anxiety, when purchasing sex and sex health products.

CheshireSimper posted...

A seldom discussed benefit of self-checkout is the complete elimination of an entire category of young adult anxiety, when purchasing sex and sex health products.

I never understood why this is embarrassing. At least for stuff like condoms. Youre gettin laid bro be proud of it

Self checkout is awesome. I'm just as fast if not faster than a cashier, no bs small talk, and no weirdo touching and handling my food who may or may not have showered that day.

Only thing I don't like about it is sometimes I accidentally ring my beefsteak tomatoes as romas which are way cheaper or enter a wrong qty. Oopsie, can't blame me, I don't work there nor was I trained to be a cashier lmao

I just dont like it or support it, so I dont use it. I dont see it as a scam, though

Dungeater posted...

idt that makes it a scam tho cuz the time saved is

Time is only saved if you dont have a lot of stuff

LinkPizza posted...

Time is only saved if you dont have a lot of stuff

Bullcrap, it doesn't take me any longer even if I have a ton of stuff.

KLouD_KoNNeCteD posted...

Bullcrap, it doesn't take me any longer even if I have a ton of stuff.

Ok. I honestly dont believe that. Unless you just have a bad cashier. When you have a cashier (and especially if they have a bagger), youre getting multiple things done at once. Which is faster than one person doing everything. At least, when you have a lot of stuff, like a careful. If you only have a handful, then its probably not much different, unless you save a minute or something

If you have a cashier, while youre taking stuff out of the cart, they are scanning and bagging, or just scanner if they have a bagger bagging. Meaning that by the time youre done taking shit out, they may be close to finishing up scanning, and the bagging is probably close to done (or possibly done) by the time you get your receipt Thats just common sense. Instead of one person doing everything, you split the work, and it gets done faster

LinkPizza posted...

Ok. I honestly dont believe that. Unless you just have a bad cashier. When you have a cashier (and especially if they have a bagger), youre getting multiple things done at once. Which is faster than one person doing everything. At least, when you have a lot of stuff, like a careful. If you only have a handful, then its probably not much different, unless you save a minute or something

If you have a cashier, while youre taking stuff out of the cart, they are scanning and bagging, or just scanner if they have a bagger bagging. Meaning that by the time youre done taking shit out, they may be close to finishing up scanning, and the bagging is probably close to done (or possibly done) by the time you get your receipt Thats just common sense. Instead of one person doing everything, you split the work, and it gets done faster

Depends on where you live. Ive never heard of a cashier bagging stuff and baggers dont exist in most countries. They just scan and throw it aside here on some rollers, you bag stuff yourself. Youre twice as fast with self checkout here.

Zwijn posted...

Depends on where you live. Ive never heard of a cashier bagging stuff and baggers dont exist in most countries. They just scan and throw it aside here on some rollers, you bag stuff yourself. Youre twice as fast with self checkout here.

If youre bagging yourself, if could change things. But not enough to make self-checkout faster with a full cart of things. In that case, youre still bagging as they are scanning. Youre still getting 2 completely separate things done at once

LinkPizza posted...

If youre bagging yourself, if could change things. But not enough to make self-checkout faster with a full cart of things. In that case, youre still bagging as they are scanning. Youre still getting 2 completely separate things done at once

Even with a full cart Im faster here since scanning is either a single movement from the cart into the bag or from the shelves into the cart if Im using the cart scanner. Thats faster than putting everything on a conveyor belt, then moving forward and putting all that in a bag again. Its a very annoying process.

Zwijn posted...

Even with a full cart Im faster here since scanning is either a single movement from the cart into the bag or from the shelves into the cart if Im using the cart scanner. Thats faster than putting everything on a conveyor belt, then moving forward and putting all that in a bag again. Its a very annoying process.

If the cart scanner is that thing that lets you scan as you pick up stuff, thats faster. But thats also different from just regular self-checkout And like Ive said, Ive never seen a person (even people who are good cashiers) who go faster at self-checkout with a full cart over a regular cashier. Maybe its different where you are, but I havent seen it here, now do I think I will At least, when it comes to regular people Idk. I still think doing multiple things at once is faster than one thing at a time Cart to scanner to bag always seemed pretty slow to me, but Idk

LinkPizza posted...

If the cart scanner is that thing that lets you scan as you pick up stuff, thats faster. But thats also different from just regular self-checkout And like Ive said, Ive never seen a person (even people who are good cashiers) who go faster at self-checkout with a full cart over a regular cashier. Maybe its different where you are, but I havent seen it here, now do I think I will At least, when it comes to regular people Idk. I still think doing multiple things at once is faster than one thing at a time Cart to scanner to bag always seemed pretty slow to me, but Idk

Yeah these things that I posted earlier
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/6/61031c58.jpg

Should have been standard by now, its a very old idea
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/d2e568c8.jpg

Yeah. Ive seen those at a few places. Those are different than regular self-checkout. But both that and self-checkout are old ideas. I think the first self-checkout machine was used in 1986

Though, even these days, they apparently arent super popular Idk. I have my own reasons why I avoid them (from they dont want to scan, to the specific items they buy, to having to wait for a cashier for some stuff). But it seems like they arent super popular Or, they werent. Idk if things changed in the last couple of years

LinkPizza posted...

Idk if things changed in the last couple of years

They have, I've not encountered any of those kinds of issues in years.

Those scanner guns look great, these are what they have at my store, well minus sponge Bob obviously. (Sorry best image I could find)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/dcdc89f9.jpg

So getting a large amount of groceries checked out can be a pain imo.

KLouD_KoNNeCteD posted...

They have, I've not encountered any of those kinds of issues in years.

I meant people perceptions of them. The issues I mentioned I still see daily But I wonder what the general perception of the self-checkout machines are. Many I see still avoid them. And I know older articles mentioned how they had maybe only 30% of customers using them. But I wonder if things have changed

Apparently, a chain in northern England is just getting rid of them out of most of their stores

I never have a single problem at the Walmart SCOs

Didn't even know this was a controversy, its a god sense for me. Long live self checkout

Idk if ours changed, but the ones we had at Walmart sucked because you couldnt scan more than one item. You had to scan and bag it. And the weight had to be similar or match And I think they had to get someone over to help with the fruits and veggies Or alcohol. Those were the main things at the Walmarts around here

Toonstrack posted...

Didn't even know this was a controversy, its a god sense for me. Long live self checkout

Yeah. Ever since they came out, its been a thing for people to love or hate them. Its seems like most people were on one side or the other I know old reception was more people avoiding them In my area, it seems like people still avoid them, but they thrive in other areas. I think younger areas, for example

LinkPizza posted...

Yeah. Ever since they came out, its been a thing for people to love or hate them. Its seems like most people were on one side or the other I know old reception was more people avoiding them In my area, it seems like people still avoid them, but they thrive in other areas. I think younger areas, for example

I live in western PA and I've never even had this discussion. I dont even remember when they first popped up here but its been a while and we still have cashiers. Heck I worse as a cashier right now and folks using self checkout saves me time and energy.

Toonstrack posted...

I live in western PA and I've never even had this discussion. I dont even remember when they first popped up here but its been a while and we still have cashiers. Heck I worse as a cashier right now and folks using self checkout saves me time and energy.

IRL, the conversation have died down in most places, AFAIK It was a little bigger when they first started showing up en masse in a bunch of places at once So, if they werent getting to you around the same time, that could have stopped discussion. Cant say for sure since I dont live there

Online, the discussion pops up more often, though Less than when they first came out, but I think there are like three topics on this board about self-checkout right now, so And theyre on Reddit a lot But everything is on Reddit a lot

Most places here still have cashiers along with self-checkout. Most people still seem to flock to the cashiers, though

LinkPizza posted...

Idk if ours changed, but the ones we had at Walmart sucked because you couldnt scan more than one item. You had to scan and bag it. And the weight had to be similar or match And I think they had to get someone over to help with the fruits and veggies Or alcohol. Those were the main things at the Walmarts around here

Those were the issues I haven't seen at Walmarts self check out in a long tine.

KLouD_KoNNeCteD posted...

Those were the issues I haven't seen at Walmarts self check out in a long tine.

While Im not sure if the weight things is still a problem there (because I dont use them), I know Ive still seen some people struggling with fruits or veggies, or having to wait for a cashier for alcohol, or certain products. Just tonight, I was at a store where someone went to buy pizza. And scanned it. And the cashier who was off sweeping somewhere had to come over to scan his badge because you apparently cant scan the pizza box, even though it has a barcode. You have to tap through a bunch of screens to add it for some reason Which, is something they could probably fix

I haven't had any weight check problems in years, of course not all self scans are the same so that issue may apply depending where you shop. Not sure about the pizza thing though, you can scan them where I shop.

KLouD_KoNNeCteD posted...

I haven't had any weight check problems in years, of course not all self scans are the same so that issue may apply depending where you shop. Not sure about the pizza thing though, you can scan them where I shop.

The pizza thing is kinda weird at my store. Not sure why it works like that, but thats how it works there a few other things, as well, apparently

Cocytus posted...

But they still have most of the cashier stands staffed...

Not in the UK they don't

I always use the one at Walmart and never had any problems. Didn't really understand people's problems with them. Then I used the one at Kroger. Every second or third item fucked up and we had to keep getting someone there to fix it. If that had been my regular experience with self-checkout, I would hate it.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

I never have issues with the Keogers by me, the only time I ever need an attendant is when I'm buying beer.

voldothegr8 posted...

I've never once had to wait more than 2 minutes to get a station, usually no wait at all.

Must be nice. The Walmarts near me usually have long waits at the self checkout and the line is usually pretty disorganized so people don't go when they're supposed to. The grocery store I go to has so many employee checks that if the weight of the bagging area isn't exactly what was expected an employee will have to come over and verify the items before it can be unlocked. Some items barely have enough weight to sometimes be detected which can trigger the weight check to constantly fail.

Thud posted...

Self checkout is awesome. I'm just as fast if not faster than a cashier, no bs small talk, and no weirdo touching and handling my food who may or may not have showered that day.

Only thing I don't like about it is sometimes I accidentally ring my beefsteak tomatoes as romas which are way cheaper or enter a wrong qty. Oopsie, can't blame me, I don't work there nor was I trained to be a cashier lmao

The Walmarts where I live all check for this now and loss prevention will bring you back to their office for doing this as they wait for the police to arrive

voldothegr8 posted...

I've never once had to wait more than 2 minutes to get a station, usually no wait at all.

Probably depends on where you are. Where I am, you can get self-checkout lines fast because rarely anyone uses them. When I go to other places where everyone is trying to use them, it usually takes forever since people will go there with full carts

LinkPizza posted...

Probably depends on where you are. Where I am, you can get self-checkout lines fast because rarely anyone uses them. When I go to other places where everyone is trying to use them, it usually takes forever since people will go there with full carts

Ya, It seems this entire discussion is simply based upon variables that influence your decisions :

1). How many items are you buying?
2). How many normal cashiers are available and the lines for those cashiers?
3). How easy it is to get a self-checkout station and how busy they are?

Depending on those...your mileage will vary.

Anyone do online grocery shopping?

youre still bumping this shit?

I soft quit my job at the self checkout

R1masher posted...

I soft quit my job at the self checkout

For real?

Cocytus posted...

For real?

yeah, now I just stand there until an employee comes over and helps

I can see where they're coming from, from a really ultra strict standpoint, but the criticism just doesn't hold up in the light of competitive economics.

Strictly speaking, you're getting less for your money if you use self checkout, because the price is the same regardless and that, I dunno, ten or twenty cents' difference in labor isn't provided. In case you really care about that.

But the grocery space is largely retail, which in turn is one of the more competitive spaces, so the existence of the self-checkout reduces overall cost, and in the long run pushes profit back to zero.

Note, though, that profit being zero in the long run is both kind of misleading and an idealized notion.