Current Events > Self checkouts are still such a pain in the ass to use

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First of all, Im very good at actually using it. I know its quirks and I know to weigh my produce and how to enter an ID# if the barcode isnt there.

I will scan every item correctly and then when I go to pay, help is on the way! Uhh, I dont need help. I didnt ask for help. I just want to pay so I can get out of the massive crowds of people pressing against me.

Then the ONE employee stuck dealing with all of it goes and helps everyone else before me. This is how people forget to scan something. Then you have twelve checkout lanes and only two of them are open. Youve got some asshole trying to bring two months worth of groceries in a self checkout with bag space for three bags. They want to make sure youre not trying to steal something and thats disrespectful and it holds things up.

The bagging areas are too small, they dont limit people to 20 items, and the thing makes you wait for an employee to come make sure youre not stealing. Obviously, they dont want to pay enough workers to help people, so maybe make more self checkouts with bigger bag space.

The employees seem so put out when they have to come fix the machine, too.

*scans everything correctly and hit Pay*

Help is on the way!

I dont need help, youre trying to send an employee to go through my shit to make sure Im not stealing anything. So inconvenient and disrespectful to the customer.

If stores are trying to short staff and not put workers on registers, then they need to make sure these pieces of shit actually work. The ones at Walmart work fine, but Krogers machines and Safeways machines always hold up the line. Also, someone literally cut in front of me with a shopping cart full to the brim with shit. Like, seriously, get your ass in line and wait. These are for people who only have a few things.

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I agree there should be an item limit. Self checkout should be all about speed.

Lmao it is hilarious that people are buying tons of items and have to use the self check out. It is going to be counterproductive because people will get so fed up with the way the store handles business that they will go somewhere else instead. Self checkout only at grocery stores is seriously stupid. Those who buy tons of groceries at once are going to be so upset.

TrollTrace posted...

Lmao it is hilarious that people are buying tons of items and have to use the self check out. It is going to be counterproductive because people will get so fed up with the way the store handles business that they will go somewhere else instead. Self checkout only at grocery stores is seriously stupid. Those who buy tons of groceries at once are going to be so upset.

Are there places like that? A lot of stores have at least 1 or 2 actual lanes open for people.

Payzmaykr posted...

Obviously, they dont want to pay enough workers to help people

There is one of the core issue with the Country - Capitalism

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Nah, learn about how technology works boomer

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Most automated customer service/retail shit is terrible.

Even those tablets at shitty restaurants that let you order appetizers or drinks. There's absolutely no point for those lol
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Last time I used a self checkout, it locked up four consecutive times.

First, I removed a bag too early so it didn't finish weighing my fruit. Second, it couldn't figure out what a bottle of orange juice was. Third and fourth it froze while I tried to get to the pay screen. Third time it got unlocked by an employee and promptly froze again while she was still sitting there.

I was a fan of 'em for small purchases, but fuck it. If technology isn't convenient, what is it?

Smashingpmkns posted...

Most automated customer service/retail shit is terrible.

Even those tablets at shitty restaurants that let you order appetizers or drinks. There's absolutely no point for those lol

Sure there is - They don't want to hire people to take your order, so the company can make more money.

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You will learn how to use it with time. I doubt it's for everybody also. And for the are, I guess it's for those who don't take that much. Otherwise it's the cashier.

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Bad_Mojo posted...

Sure there is - They don't want to hire people to take your order, so the company can make more money.

Exactly. Short staff, cut cost, screw the customer and the worker over for more corporate profit. CEO pay has increased SO much over the past few decades while minimum wage has barely even gone up.

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Bad_Mojo posted...

Sure there is - They don't want to hire people to take your order, so the company can make more money.

No they still have servers at those restaurants. I'm talking about at like Chilis or Applebees or whatever the fuck. They have table tablets you can order things on (not entrees tho), play games on, and eventually pay your tab on.

Their only purpose is upselling but when I worked at a restaurant no one used them. Older people absolutely hated them and people with kids already have tablets to distract their kids with. Restaurants are straight up getting scammed by these services lol
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Smashingpmkns posted...

No they still have servers at those restaurants.

For now

Smashingpmkns posted...

I'm talking about at like Chilis or Applebees or whatever the fuck. They have table tablets you can order things on (not entrees tho), play games on, and eventually pay your tab on.

Yes, I've ordered at a restaurant in the past 3 years. Thanks >_<

Smashingpmkns posted...

Their only purpose is upselling but when I worked at a restaurant no one used them. Older people absolutely hated them and people with kids already have tablets to distract their kids with. Restaurants are straight up getting scammed by these services lol

But yeah, I do get your point. Since they do have people to bring your food still, there isn't any point for those devices.

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GMAK2442 posted...

You will learn how to use it with time.

We already do. They just suck.
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Notti posted...

We already do. They just suck.

I don't. I never use them. I did, once, but hated it

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No one uses them over here and they amount for half the check outs. Sometimes there would be lines for 3 checkout lanes and maybe one or two people in the self check out. They always bug out and can't correlate the weight of the product and scanned products. The technology is so old.

And I suspect theives know that and steal a few items here and there and if they get caught they'll blame the self check out and return the item (which will get thrown in the trash since it's been 'purchased' already)

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I love self checkouts. So much faster than waiting in line these days.
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Notti posted...

We already do. They just suck.

Thats the thing. Im actually pretty good at using them because I have years of experience with them. You scan everything the right way, then it wants the worker to go through your stuff to see if you forgot to scan something. The point is to avoid writing paychecks, so theyre going to have to understand that more stuff is going to get stolen this way.

The bagging space is tiny and they get upset when you try to put your bags back in the cart to use more bag space. Either so like Walmart and make it to where the weight sensor lets you move the groceries or make more bagging space.

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Literally git gud at self checkouts.

Rowdy54 posted...

I love self checkouts. So much faster than waiting in line these days.

Same

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Correction: self checkout is only a pain in the ass to use when it's closed.

it's worth only if it's a bag full of item anything over that. causes issues.
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I don't believe anything you wrote TC, you honestly suck at self checkout. I have had no problems the past 2-3 years, and have gotten out of the store much quicker and saved hours of my life thanks to self checkout. Self checkout for lyfe. There is no excuses for simple minded folks who have no clue what they are doing.

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I hate them. The last time I bought groceries the check-out girl was flirting with me and asking what time I got off work. I should have took that as a sign but I was buying groceries on my lunch break and was in a hurry.

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Some of the grocery stores near me have little handheld scanners you can choose to use, so you just scan and bag everything as you shop, then go through the self checkout lane and scan the scanner (or something, I don't remember exactly how it works) to pull up your order and pay. I've only used it once, but I'm not really sure why, because it was pretty convenient.

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Kroger has a system where you pick up a handheld scanner and scan as you put items into your cart. When you scan an item that needs to be weighed, it keeps a note of it so that at any time you can go to a weighing station to weigh those items for it to calculate the price. Then when you're done shopping, you go to a self-checkout station and scan the special barcode posted on the station for "scan & go". Since everything was already scanned, you simply pay and go.

I like to use the system when I go to Kroger (though I'm usually going to Aldi) for convenience. I'm a little surprised that it exists, since it seems like it'd be easy for someone to cheat the system. I think once or twice someone "checked" my cart, but it was the quickly glance ever at a full cart. Either they don't care or I "don't look like someone who'd steal".

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Self-checkout 100% of the time. Never have an issue, always faster than waiting in lines for someone else to do what I can do in seconds.

I'm all self checkout. Even for big grocery shopping. I can do a cart full faster than the cashiers and I don't have some person touching all my stuff and making dumbass comments about what I'm having for dinner lol
Occasionally the machine wants to act up, but it's usually no big deal.

KingThing posted...

I don't believe anything you wrote TC, you honestly suck at self checkout. I have had no problems the past 2-3 years, and have gotten out of the store much quicker and saved hours of my life thanks to self checkout. Self checkout for lyfe. There is no excuses for simple minded folks who have no clue what they are doing.

I guess you struggled reading the first paragraph of my first post, then.

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Walmart is great. Krogers sucks ass because you have to actually place each item in the bag so that its weight is sensed by the platform before it lets you scan the next item. Makes it take so much longer than the Walmart check out.

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My Whole Foods has some, and they're always breaking down and freezing even though they're less than a year old.
Also, each one is really small, but customers often try to bring carts with dozens of items to them, and get pissy when the attendant tells them to go to a register.
Sometimes, they even try to get the attendant to bag for them, which is funny, because there's really only enough space at the things for one person to stand.

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*has to tell them to void my entire order because it decides it wants to be card only*

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When they function, I don't mind using them. But when they are finicky, I always seem to get scenarios like:

Machine - "Please place item in bagging area."
Me - *Placed item in bagging area and go to scan next item*
Machine - "Please place previous item in bagging area."
Me - "Rocks the item in bagging area to get prompt to go away and tries to scan next item."
Machine - "Please remove unidentified object from bagging area"
Me *-.- Removed first bagged items and goes to scan next item.*
Machine "Please place previous item in bagging area."
Me *...... hits do not want to bag this item*
Machine "A sales associate will assist you shortly."
ME*..............*
Finally get to pay and the card reader is down, cash only.

Please hope that you scan your item twice accidentally and not realize it, to pay for something you didn't actually have.

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Payzmaykr posted...

they need

do they, though?

i moved to mostly grocery delivery services because i decided my time was worth the extra cost and hassle, but most haven't done this, so it seems like the crap customer service is worth the cost savings to many

fwiw what i find far more annoying is non-self checkout areas where some old person is trying to pay with exact change cash using a ton of coins and is slowly counting them out then arguing with the staff

seems like that eats far more time in the long run

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walmart seems to have the best machines for this. maybe their tolerance is set way high since they're less apt to give a fuck if someone steals a couple groceries? either way the only time i have to wait at one of those machines is if i'm buying wine and need to get carded.

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Gotta love when they decide to close half of them for "reasons? even though it shouldn't really matter what time it is.

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For having a couple items they are great but id never use one w a full cart of groceries

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VigorouslySwish posted...

For having a couple items they are great but id never use one w a full cart of groceries

i've done it multiple times, its best if you're with someone who can bag as you're scanning.

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dolomedes posted...

where do they let you scan an item before bagging the previous one?

one of the big things i don't like about self-check is the speed. i'm trying to scan the next item while i'm bagging the previous one and it won't let me. or i'll grab a few like items, scan 'em quickly, bag 'em neatly. can't do that, either.

my previous experience as a cashier makes me awful at self-check XD

walmart i go to does. i think there's a bit of delay between each item but its only a second or two. one thing i've noticed is that lots of self checkouts have lights telling you when its ok to scan, use those as a guide.

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Payzmaykr posted...

I guess you struggled reading the first paragraph of my first post, then.

No he's right, you suck at self scans.

help is on the way when i want to cash out and gtfo is the most infuriating part of self checkouts

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I hate when I dont want to bag something but it wont let me continue until i do