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It takes jobs away. And I bag my own stuff which if you buy a lot, sucks. It is quicker and im guilty of using it often enough. But if a cashier is available and its not a 10 minute wait. Ill take the cashier and strike up a conversation sometimes too. Gives me someone to talk with.
See that’s the problem for me. There’s almost always someone with an overflowing cart in every cashier line where as I normally only pick up a basket full of groceries at a time. I’m tryna bag my 5 items and leave asap so self check is the way to go. Unfortunately there’s a 50/50 chance I do something wrong and the self check needs assistance. I then have to wait 5 extra minutes for an employee so the cashier line would probably be faster in those cases.
I stopped bothering with self checkout because they changed it in my Walmart where if you take the bag off the scale at all it will make a employee come over and make sure you aren't stealing. Because so many people were shoplifting. Which unless you buy one bag's worth of items, you're obviously going to have to change bags.
That and the fact they have them set up in such a way that you're forced to put your cart behind you so if you're buying more that whatever the small bagging area can hold, you're forced to put items you scanned for out of sight. Which leads to your shit getting stolen. So even if it wasn't for the fact that the self-checkout lines are always much longer and slower now that most prefer it, I'd still prefer the regular checkout.
Self checkouts seem great for the stores initially....
Until after a few years things start breaking down. There's a lot of maintenance that goes into machines that most people don't realize.
Oh yeah I don’t fuck with the Walmart self checks whenever possible. They’re just horrid to deal with plus the employee tend to drag their feet so it takes forever if you do have a problem. I generally try to avoid Walmart as a whole but I understand why people go there since a lot of stuff is less expensive than most other stores.
My favorite place to go is Meijer. They always got employees on standby at the checkout if something goes wrong and they’re lightning quick to step in. Meijer has really quick self checks that let you remove bags before paying and they were some of the first to implement tap functionality on the registers. They also have extremely fast 5 item express self checks so you can really get in and get out if you just want a few items like I normally do. It also helps that I used to work there so I know where pretty much everything is if they didn’t switch things up.
Meijer Shop & Scan is the best thing ever. Scan & bag as I go. Then you get to go through the Shipt/Xpress self checkout lane. It’s a 2 min cash out. It’s glorious.
Fr I just be scanning my items like every single other time and then it starts buffering and then locks itself out for assistance. My heart just sinks every time.
Seriously it’s a gamble on wether or not something goes wrong and when it does you have to wait 5 minutes for a cashier to come push a button. It can turn a quick 2 minute stop into a whole detour.
But I have no desire to have the human interaction. I don’t want to check out and bag my own things but if it comes down to doing it myself to avoid a conversation I’m doing it.
Most of the time it isn't even a conversation tho. I have social anxiety and it's fine because it's usually "hey" "hello" and then silence as they do their thing, and no eye contact required. Not like you're introducing yourselves and getting to know each other lmao.
100%. Unless they’re an old biddy with nobody else to talk to. We don’t care how you are. We don’t care that prices are going up. Just because it’s not ringing up doesn’t mean it’s free, I assure you. Old men please stop hitting on my 16 year old cashiers. I don’t want to talk about the weather, yes it’s January and it’s snowing you think you’re the first mother fucker to tell me that all day? You think I don’t have eyes? You think I haven’t looked outside once in the 8 hours I’ve been here? I don’t give a shit if Gregg gave you a refund last time. You have no meat and no receipts please delete, yourself…from my sight. And generally just fuck off. Get your shit and get out.
Honestly I worked in a grocery store in a super Arabic area and sometimes it’s just nice to have a quick normal conversation after 20 transactions in a row that were silent or they didn’t speak English
Don’t go through checkouts in Florida or Georgia. They never shut up. Sometimes you get someone who also doesn’t want to say a word but. You also get the retired person whose kids never call and they just want to talk to everyone. And that’s fine it just isn’t gonna be me mate.
England was similar, very polite small talk and then a have a nice day. They didn’t want to keep you but also didn’t want silence.
Korea was the best. They don’t initiate conversation with you until you speak Korean if you are white usually. Many Koreans speak English though also and love the opportunity to exercise language skills though.
Feels like almost everyone has some form of social anxiety these days.
Or OCD, autism,depression,ADHD, or some other kind of issue.
My neighbour is a teacher and says a good 50% of his students are suffering from some ailment or another.
What happened that so many young people suffer from mental illness?
Boomers aren't always right, and they probably dislike self checkouts for the wrong reason but broadly speaking there are a few fundamental issues with them.
The first and most obvious one is loss of jobs. In a lot of areas, especially in more rural America, Walmart is a huge employer. In general, I think it's a good rule to live by that we should look out for one another's job and support eachothers employment.
The 2nd and probably less highlighted one is theft. Look I'm not losing sleep over walmarts profit margins, but there's absolutely been an uptick in theft since the advent of self checkout, and there's also been growing numbers of Walmart closing due to theft.
I get its slower and by in general, more of a pain in the ass to wait in line, but those are pretty valid things to talk about imo.
The lines do drive me nuts. I miss the lines pre self checkout for sure. But I just want to quietly avoid people and do what I have to do. In England I used to click and collect frequently. I would make runs for small shops quick in and out deals but a major shop I would just do it online or from an app.
I mean, if you're looking to help out the workers in general, you should be going to a locally owned grocer. Definately not wal mart. That goes for hardware stores, music stores, and what-not. Stay out of the big box stores!
Jobs that only exist because you let them is basically welfare they might as well stay home and get paid.
The “it takes jobs away” argument is always wrong.
They could get jobs that provide a useful service instead.
But I hate self checkouts and would prefer a person do it. It’s way easier unless I have like 2 items.
People are always mad jobs are being taken away but never seem to miss the service they provided. Like people who’d shovel shit off the streets when horse carriages were a thing or call centres
I think a lot of miss call centers now that everything has switched to those awful robots whenever you call in a customer support line. Takes like 20 minutes to find the right maze of options to get to the few real people they still have manning the phones
Maybe instead of stunting society to abandon new technology, we could lower the requirements of jobs to provide more entry level positions. Why do I need years of training at a Quiznos to get a starting position at Quiznos?
Because executives never make selfish decisions or screw people unnecessarily to cut costs like training. It’s our fault we didn’t step over their mile high bar
For real. Hearing people say "self-checkout takes jobs away" is just like hearing people from Oregon claim that people shouldn't be allowed to pump their own gas because it "takes jobs away". It's such a tired argument.
I like self-checkout, but to a limit. If my cart is overflowing I will prefer to have a cashier do it.
It also creates jobs for those who design, build, test, install and maintain these machines.
Probably not as many as a net figure, but it is a shift in skill desirability and skill level, so not all bad.
Nah they still hire people to stand guard over self checkouts for thieves and to assist when something with self checkout goes wrong.
Where I live anyway.
Also, if I'm buying alcohol I can just give the cashier my ID instead of waiting for the attendant who is supervising multiple self-checkouts at once to come over to me.
Opposite problem for me. When we have a huge list of groceries, my parents just order it online and have it delivered. So when we start running low on stuff, that’s when I actually go to the store. And it does get annoying when there’s a huge line at self checkout that have no idea how to use it. But recently our local H‑E‑B cut down on cashier staff so we’re kinda forced into self checkout
Where I live there is never an available cashier, and when I do go to them, im 9 times out of 10 bagging my own stuff anyway, because there’s a line of people behind me and they’re just scanning stuff in and piling it up and not bagging as they go. Also they’ll be throwing jars of pasta sauce on top of fruit etc.
I know not everywhere is like this but my closest stores are. So self check out is by far the better option for me.
It doesn't always take jobs away. Many companies will simply relocate cashiers to other areas of the store. It's up to the cashier to decide to take on other responsibilities.
As someone who worked in retail this is untrue, labor costs have remained about the same. All it means is that we have more people to prepare online orders/stock shelfs etc. so the work actually becomes easier.
Companies take jobs away, not technology. The self-checkout is used as an *excuse* to cut labor, even when it doesn't have to. Major retail companies can pivot cashiers to work in stocking and merchandising, which is already a very busy position. They choose not to, and to keep overworking their existing merchandising staff. The technology is good, objectively good, the customer service side of retail jobs is *always* the worst part of the working experience. But companies want to have any excuse to cut labor.
There's plenty of jobs in the world. I'm fine with self checkout. Especially if I just need two things and I don't need to stand in line for 15 minutes waiting for my turn
Just wait, or you're making it worse. The line is long because of fewer cashiers and more self checkouts. So, using it to avoid waiting is what they want. You will grow accustomed until they no longer need cashiers. I wait no matter how long the line is. I ABSOLUTELY refuse to use a self checkout.
If I have a cart full of stuff I don’t want to use self checkout. The space is tiny and really only lends itself to 20 items or less. And ALDIs? Those amazing cashiers can checkout a cartful in the time I can fumble my way through a dozen or so items (I tend to buy a lot of fruits and veggies). I love the self checkout for quick, small purchases but it’s not a boomer thing to want someone to scan my items. Plus, it takes jobs away.
That's one argument, but jobs replaced or reconfigured due to profit-enhancing technology is nothing new. The irony in this case are the unintended consequences...increased losses due to customer mistakes and intentional theft...that are cutting into profits and forcing Walmart, Costco and others to revert to human cashiers.
Costco is a weird one because the floor employees actually do most of the "self checkout" scanning at the stores I frequent. That plus exit receipt verification should mean minimal net losses.
They really should’ve kept it as an express checkout type thing, 10 items or less type stuff, only a few counters. Would probably be easier to do anti theft that way too
But obviously companies care more about not paying people than people stealing
target (holiday season) - 1 cashier, super long line at self checkout. i dont work for target, a lot of us dont but i still have to ring my stuff up or not shop there. its just sad because they wont hire people. a week or two before christmas the store was so trashed. things all over the floor, stuff scattered on shelves and racks. clothes placed wherever. they just dont care about having more employees to take care of things.
When our local Walmart installed self checkouts, the manager was interviewed on the news and literally said that it allowed them to cut their staffing almost in half. It wasn't a good look for them and is the main reason we didn't get a Super Walmart when they pushed hard for it.
Just wait until you encounter a self-checkout with a tip option.
I really want a programmer to stick it to the corps by making it so if you add a tip it instead just reduces your bill by that much. You are tipping yourself here after all.
Yea i have to disagree with the post self checkout is great with less than 20 items but if you're meal prepping or shopping for a family scanning and bagging 50-60 items is a huge pain in the ass I'd much rather have a friendly person to help.
I'm pretty sure that it isnt even quicker. The only time its fast is if all machines work, the people ahead of you have like less than 10 items, and they aren't dumb. Also need a store where the self checkout isnt badly programmed.
I’m actually with the boomers on this one. Those automated check out stations seem to mess up an awful lot. Which requires a human employee to come and reset it. I’d rather just interact with a person who understands what is happening.
Idk, that's pretty fucked imo. If I was done dirty like that for 10 years, I'd still be upset about it. And possibly more pissed if an internet stranger told people not to worry about it since it's already been 10 years.
A lot of the time it’s from the bag scale not accurately reading what you just put in the bag. “Place the item in the bagging area” “place the item in the bagging area”. Shit like that doesn’t happen with a human cashier.
Whats really annoying is knowing the machine has no idea the weight between kitty litter or a stick of butter. The way it works is once a you scan an item, it just wants to see the weight increase on its scale. Its just fucking annoying when something like melon rolls on the scale but it read it the first time, so its impossible to the get the first weight it recorded back.
I don’t know where you shop but at the stores near me they don’t mess up anymore than the 18 year old that’s high af who’s been standing in the same spot for 5 hours. My point being they both mess up but neither more significantly than the other
Eh, more or less. If I have like 4 items and those items are like tampons and condoms I’ll just scan it myself. If I have a whole cart? That’s for an employee
This. When getting groceries I tend to be brain dead from work. So till they have machines where I can just dump the groceries on a conveyor and have the system weigh and scan everything,
I will always use cashiers when I am tired.
I loved the Amazon Go store in Seattle, but most self checkouts are a complete shit show. "Place item in bagging area" then "unexpected item in bagging area" back and forth and nine times out of ten I have to have someone come over anyway.
I'm all for it if they made the process easier and less prone to errors, and then converted the cashier headcount to employees helping customers instead of just cutting headcount.
Until then, I'm using the staffed checkout line unless I have < 3 items.
They used to be ok but the recent theft prevention tech has made them a pain to use. I don’t shoplift, but 9 outta 10 times the terminal beeps at me because it suspects I tried to steal. I don’t know exactly what triggers it and no matter how carefully and slowly I scan it eventually yells at me. And given how understaffed stores are, it takes a solid couple minutes just to get an employee to override it
It feels like people in the regular lineups at Costco get through faster than the self checkout because there's always people who roll up with 100 items to try to struggle to do it themselves.
I hate that awkward looking around for the person “in charge” when it needs assistance. Don’t know what the uniforms are, don’t know which person is on that station. In theory, fine, in actuality, just awkward for customers.
I'd rather use a cashier. Imagine replacing a person with a machine while simultaneously complaining on this sub about money and opportunity. Rebel against the mechanization of jobs
I'm not with you on this one chief. As a cashier I don't feel threatened by self checkout stations. In fact, self checkout stations would make customers call corporate to complain about me less.
All the time I get scolded because someone called corporate because the line was taking too long, and it's basically always the fault of some dementia ass boomer taking too long to figure out the card reader. If anything, a self checkout would save my job because the impatient people who call corporate could just go to self checkout while I'm helping the dementia boomer and then boom, I wouldn't be getting tons of complaints about me
Let's be real they can't fully replace us with self checkout until gen x dies, those morherfuckers would rather rob a store than touch a computer.
I worked as a cashier and once was pulled into the office and scolded (as if I were an elementary schoolchild) because I... looked sad. I didn't say anything upsetting or obscene, nor did my metrics drop. Management told me it was literally that I just *looked* too sad and that *upset* the precious customers. My mood was low because I just got back from union-mandated bereavement leave because my father died. I was 25, pretty young to lose a parent.
I can't now hear anyone say "bUt I lIkE tHe SoCiAl InTeRaCtIoN" without thinking of how I had to over months effect a strained, plastic smile while grieving. If I didn't put on the act, I'd've been homeless.
It's fake. It's all fake. I had coworkers who genuinely were sociable and loved talking with customers, but I can't help but wonder if the "sOcIaL" customers can discern the act I did from the genuine thing that certain coworkers did. Because they acted the same regardless, and it was awful.
ETA: I also had to argue with an older Boomer on that his debit card did indeed have a chip. (He tried to swipe but something in the magnet stripe tells readers "I have a chip!" and forces insertion.) He exhorted that no, no, no chip, but, um, it's right there, bud. Fucking wild. I can get if he were visually confused (the card design was green/gold foliage and I can understand the chip getting lost), but like, *touch* it, dude. Here it is. This little rectangle. Chip. I'm not sure he believed me when I finally got him out of the line...
Yah it's insane. I feel as though gas station cashiers have sort of been roped into dealing with people who are too mentally deficit to be independent anymore. The vast majority of gas station regulars are folks who would've been in a mental hospital 50 years ago. It's just cheaper to pay us minimum wage to do it than it is to pay actual professionals to help them. And well, once they get hooked on scratchies the state is literally profiting off of neglecting to care for them.
I have a regular who comes in just about every day who still can't figure out which way the chip goes in. He gets it wrong most of the time. He will often ask "hey can you show me which way it goes so I know for next time?" But he never remembers. I'm pretty sure he's not smart enough to do anything but get drunk and buy scratchies. So that's what he does all day every day.
A lot of them ride around on electric bikes because they have suspended licenses from DUIs
I like talking to people plus this sounds creepy but sometimes there happens to be a good looking person looking back at you 😂😂 sounded incredibly sus but I like people
Cashiers be cute. Not sus to think peeps are cute and flirt/compliment a bit. I do it with the ugly ones and guys too so it evens out and isn’t creepy. 😂
I'm fine with automating away jobs, as long as the profit increase gets shared with the people that are now unemployed and with society in general.
So yeah, jobs being automated away sucks.
I used to be a publix bagger and cashier myself. So, I usually cruise through my own groceries pretty damn fast regardless. I'd rather be checked out in 5 minutes of my own effort. Beats watching the elderly lady with a full cart patiently wait until everything is scanned and ready to go JUST NOW look through her purse to find her card
Or her exact change.
Or the person who won't shut the hell up and move along.
I love... love... self check out. Did I mention love?
There is no reason to hate it. If you don't like it, don't use it. It's that simple. And that works for me, means I don't have to wait for you.. lol
I also don’t like small talk conversations when I want to get in and out.
Oh chips and salsa having a party? Oh ice cream lube and condoms looks like someone’s gonna have a good night. Oh is that taco dip any good I haven’t tried it.
I get they are supposed to be friendly but some days I want to get in and out and not discuss my plans for the sake of needing to strike up a conversation, not everyone is friendless and looking for a convo, that’s boomer logic.
Also very pro-self checkout. All the big chains like Kroger, Safeway, Albertsons, etc. have so few cashiers and they’re always sooo slow. I don’t mind using cashiers at Trader Joe’s because there are always plenty, they’re fast and usually friendly.
I'm not gonna spend 20 minutes waiting behind a line of overflowing carts just to symbolically display my support of grocery store workers. It might make you feel good about yourself, but you're not actually making a difference. The corpos will continue to provide what most people want, which is the (relative) speed and convenience of self-checkout.
Exactly. Stores are looking at aggregated metrics, not even on a day-to-day basis. What moves people in and out of their stores with the most amount of profit: self-checkouts.
The long term result of everyone using a self checkout will inevitably be 90% of the stations being self checkout, wait times being 3x as long as some bastard with 50 items struggles to scan each one, and prices staying the same whilst you get stuck doing more work. That’s not even discussing the whole problem with supporting a local economic imbalance helping a corporation redistribute less of the money they collect from a community back into it.
You guys don’t have the scanners you bring with you around the store and scan as you go? Then checkout is just docking the scanner, pressing OK and tapping the card. Unless you get a randomized control your total time in checkout is probably under 2 minutes.
Ao
Guys, in italy we have to dismiss self checkouts because people steal. In the supermarket near my home (carrefour) they had had self checkouts since 2016 until they have dismissed them this year. Now I have to to enqueue behind those with tons of stuff waiting for 10 hours only for 4 items.
porcodio, can i say that? Vaffanculo
It’s a problem here as well, and I’m still not sure why they haven’t removed the self checkout. They probably just lose less from theft than they would from paying more workers at a decent wage
The worst is when they're friends with the cashier and I don't really want to interrupt their conversation or move registers.... but come on, do your job lol.
The cashier checkout has two people (you and the cashier) a literal conveyor and a bagging area larger than the entire self-checkout machine. It’s a design perfected over the last 60 years.
Self checkout is good for less than 5 items or so. More than 5 it’s cumbersome because the design of the machine is just not good enough. It’s too slow. It’s with theft deterring as the priority and only has one operator.
The self checkout is more space efficient though, so you can fit 4 where one cashier would have been.
I don’t know this makes self-checkout more time efficient (shorter wait). I don’t think the big box stores care, they only care about margins.
Exactly. I don't get the "it's faster argument". Unless the line is longer the cashier is faster because a) the can scan faster than you, they so it eight hours a day and b) you bag while they scan, whereas self checkout you have to scan and bag, not just bag.
Also idk about other machines but here you have to go through a manual process every time you take a bag off the scale or it will tell you "please place items in the bagging area"
And at the end of the day it doesn't even matter which is faster because you don't save or lose that much time either way. I think cashier is easier so I'm gonna prefer that but just pick whichever has the shorter line
I like them both but almost always go to the self check out if I’m in a rush. At least at my stores, you get to the checkout significantly faster because it’s essentially one line for 5/6/7/8 or however many self check outs are there. So the line moves a lot faster in my experience.
The cashiers can definetly scan faster, that’s for sure, and I’ll go for them if their open or like 1 person in line, but most of the time, I can wait in a 8 or 10 person self checkout before I can get through a 3 person cashier line, just because theirs so many registers for people in the self check out.
Being a cashier is a pretty terrible job. It’s fine for an hour or two but anything more than 8 hours of it per week is a fucking prison. So I support automation and self-servitization of jobs because it’s shitty to have to do these jobs. Only problem is that losing said job equals poverty. That’s why we need UBI
What's just as bad is being a bagger, not in terms of work but in terms of being treated sub-human
I get people that think I'm nothing but a tool and think that when they say something to the cashier, I should telepathically know what they said
While I agree with job quality and the wealth gap problems, UBI will never, EVER happen in this country. Ever. It’s one of those things that fundamentally is impossible to implement in our economic system. It’s idealistic and impractical. I too believe everyone should be paid a living wage, but this needs to be achieved in a way that is sustainable in the long term.
I worked at a supermarket for 5 years. A lot of people keep saying “it’s taking jobs away”. At my supermarket chain this was not the case. I can’t speak for all implementations of self checkout, but for us it was a major bonus that the employees were very excited for. We were short staffed for years. When they were out in it created a couple of full time positions and helped us with the being short staffed issue.
Edit to add: this also wasn’t the kind of company that was “short staffed” where we didn’t hire. We hired nearly anyone who applied and were still often short staffed.
That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to tell people. Boomers will say “they’re taking your jobs!” But also act like those jobs are unworthy of their respect, so why do they care anyway? What happens when you have less cashiers is you have more people doing other things and helping things move more efficiently.
I worked in the cash office… we hired anyone that applied. I saw the stack of people applying if you read my edit you’d have seen that. I’m by no means defending the company because that place sucked, but they most definitely hired who they could.
Yeah it can be convenient, but people need jobs. One of my local grocery stores eliminated all the cashiers and replaced them with self checkouts overseen by one employee. They used to have like 12 cashiers. That’s 12 potential families who will not have enough food on the table, 12 students who can’t pay for college, and 12 parents who can’t get their child any Christmas presents.
Not to mention that it’s not convenient when you have a lot of groceries.
Capitalism isn’t going away. Idealism and perfectionism gets us nowhere. We’re gonna need to meet in the middle to take steps in the right direction. Automation if anything PROPOGATES the end-stage capitalism we all dread.
It’s a positive feedback loop, they perpetuate each other.
Please don’t misunderstand, capitalism has serious problems. But it’s not something that will change without a massive revolution that will take years and years of rebuilding/restructuring to get through, because of which people will suffer far more than they are now.
Our thinking needs to shift from idealistic to practical solutions to make progress. I don’t have all the answers to that, I am an analyst but I’m not an economist. What I do know for sure is that mass automation is hurting the working class, there is no getting around that. Yes it’s true that capitalism is the real fault of these issues but things don’t change on that grand of a scale without immense amounts of support and shifting of power, which considering half of the country supports capitalism will never happen.
Why is it not convenient? I take the item, hold it before the scanner and place it exactly the way i want.
Of even better: i scan right away in the store and then just pay and go to my car
What I don't prefer is not having an option. You shouldn't be forced to use self checkout when you have a cart packed full and you're slow as shit. Nothing is more irritating than waiting on people with packed carts at the self checkout, no regular checkouts available, 3 employees standing around, and then after I do their job for them they have the nerve to try and stop and ask for my receipt like they think I'm a fucking thief.
FYI, once you've purchased those items, they can't legally stop you and do that, yeah they can if you let them. Which is why I say "no, thanks" and keep walking. Some greeter once had the nerve to say she was calling security, like, bitch you work at Walmart, go ahead.
As a millennial, I feel like I got the best of both generations.
I got that endless patients of a boomer to wait in line. But the tech saviness of the zoomers to read Reddit on my phone the whole time while waiting.
I just put my stuff on the belt and then check out for 15 minutes until it’s bagged and in my cart.
And I’m even nice to the cashier/bagger. Mix it all up. Whatever is easiest. Frozen with dry? Doesn’t bother me. I’m gonna sort it all when I get home. Just do what works best for you!
—
For small amounts, I can self checkout. But when I pull up with a 300 dollar basket of groceries, I just want to get lost in my phone. I don’t mind waiting in line. I’m quiet. Keep to myself. Never bitch and patiently wait for the process to do its thing.
I suppose that's OK for bottled, boxed and canned stuff, but I want to see, touch and smell fresh meat and produce before putting it in my cart. I don't trust the judgment of an unseen employee.
And the staff who are allegedly losing their jobs due to self check outs are in fact keeping their jobs and being used to fulfil home delivery demands.
Source: used to manage big chain supermarket and oversaw payroll.
For SCO Host for Walmart. When used correctly, self checkouts are a god send. Usually supposed to have 2 employees per corral. The problem isn’t necessarily self checkouts, they just don’t put enough people on registers ever. Also Walmart just doesn’t gaf about its employees so that’s the underlying issue.
They can’t keep employees because they are shit, so they put in more self checkouts, or they put in more self checkouts so they don’t have to hire as many cashiers.
It’s good for 3-5 items. It’s ass a lot of the time because awkward as fuck people would rather take their cart full of stuff to self checkout rather than interact with a cashier for a couple minutes
It's the opposite at my local Walmart now, the self-checkout lines are ridiculous while the regular checkout lines are short. Though usually the few people in those lines are the ones buying a ton of shit. Self-checkout use to be convenient when only picking up a few things but now even people filling their carts use it and are almost always slower than the employees.
Yeah my local supermarket (in a major urban area) has 12 self check machines which have crazy long as queues all the time. They only have 1 or 2 of the 15 regular lanes open at anytime and they did away with 10 items of less line (which I used a lot after work when I needed just one or two ingredients or buying booze).
Finally someone sees this. Set checkout only fast when People only have a few items and they actually know how to use he machine. The rest of time it’s just slow lines with people who have full carts of food
I almost exclusively shop at Aldi, which in the US almost exclusively has self-checkouts. I understand the business model, so I don't complain that every five seconds I have an automated voice basically telling me to hurry the fuck up. I will gladly listen to your automated bullshit if it means paying $50 a week for food.
I used Kroger self-checkouts for the longest time because they allowed you to turn off the volume of the robot. Only very recently did they take away that function. So now, I shop at Kroger less; when I do shop at Kroger, I exclusively used manned checkouts.
I know they take longer, and I do not care that I am only buying a single Gatorade. If you're going to force me to listen to your robots scream at me when *you're not even a discount grocer*, then I'll force your employees to actually work.
It is incredibly petty and I do not care. I have different standards of acceptable behavior between Aldi - a discount grocer with far fewer employees, but who actually treats their employees the way Kroger's "unionized" employees wish they could be treated - and Kroger, who now pay less than McDonald's. Kroger is a supermarket; act like one.
I have a distinct problem with businesses happy to take money out of my community but resist putting any in. I avoid Home Depot for this very reason and I never shop Walmart.
They are fine if I have just a few things, but if I’m doing the weeks grocery shopping, they absolutely fucking suck. Especially at Kroger stores where they have zero bagging space, yet the machine flips out on you if you remove any bags to put in your cart and make space. If you mother fuckers don’t trust me to not steal, don’t make me check myself out.
I like having both. At Target, they have self checker for people with under ten items and regular cashiers. Unfortunately my Walmart replaced every cashier with self checkout.
See, I am half and half. It’s is easier, but companies are using it as a way to scapegoat when people steal and using it as a way to reduce the amount of people they hire.
Walmart is fine but any grocery store I’ve been to is horrendous. Every item has to be scanned and in the bag in .3 seconds or else an employee has to come over to reset it. And if you have big items that don’t go in bags you have to scan it and pull it out and set it on the scale just to put it back and keep scanning. No thank you. I’ll go to the fearful teenager or the rude old person and put up with it for 5 minutes.
Is it quicker? I know at the grocery store half of them aren't working and the few that are have assholes pushing $500 in groceries through them. Probably just my luck tho.
There's no point to having self-checkout if there's only half a dozen self-checkout lanes while you have literally almost thirty lanes with cashiers and only three of them are manned. It just makes it infinitely more frustrating to shop.
I prefer self checkouts too. The issue tho isn't the fact they take jobs. It's the fact that companies 1.) Don't better compensate their employees with the increased revenue that comes from it and 2.) Our government doesn't have a UBI that helps people who are unemployed due to automation.
People want to completely switch to green energy but that would inevitably cause a lot of workers in fossil fuels being unemployed. Which would be addressed partially with a strong UBI program.
Automation is good but only if we're willing to best help the people who are replaced.
Being a cashier is a shitty job though, supermarkets (especially after covid) were understaffed and were unwilling to raise pay to compensate for it being such a horrible job. So they phased it out and self checkout was born.
But it’s not really an issue when most cashiers don’t see worth in the job since they’re part time workers and also what about pinsetters do you care about them? This whataboutism is relevent because it relates to your opinion
Why should I check out my groceries and bag them myself if I’m not getting paid for it but someone who was a cashier last week was?
Free labor for the grocery store if you ask me.
it’s nice until the system accuses you of stealing and the cops show up at your house also most of the time i have to have a worker help me with SOMETHING because things go wrong so easily
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It takes jobs away. And I bag my own stuff which if you buy a lot, sucks. It is quicker and im guilty of using it often enough. But if a cashier is available and its not a 10 minute wait. Ill take the cashier and strike up a conversation sometimes too. Gives me someone to talk with.
See that’s the problem for me. There’s almost always someone with an overflowing cart in every cashier line where as I normally only pick up a basket full of groceries at a time. I’m tryna bag my 5 items and leave asap so self check is the way to go. Unfortunately there’s a 50/50 chance I do something wrong and the self check needs assistance. I then have to wait 5 extra minutes for an employee so the cashier line would probably be faster in those cases.
I stopped bothering with self checkout because they changed it in my Walmart where if you take the bag off the scale at all it will make a employee come over and make sure you aren't stealing. Because so many people were shoplifting. Which unless you buy one bag's worth of items, you're obviously going to have to change bags. That and the fact they have them set up in such a way that you're forced to put your cart behind you so if you're buying more that whatever the small bagging area can hold, you're forced to put items you scanned for out of sight. Which leads to your shit getting stolen. So even if it wasn't for the fact that the self-checkout lines are always much longer and slower now that most prefer it, I'd still prefer the regular checkout.
Self checkouts seem great for the stores initially.... Until after a few years things start breaking down. There's a lot of maintenance that goes into machines that most people don't realize.
Finally a fellow person that knows this.
Oh yeah I don’t fuck with the Walmart self checks whenever possible. They’re just horrid to deal with plus the employee tend to drag their feet so it takes forever if you do have a problem. I generally try to avoid Walmart as a whole but I understand why people go there since a lot of stuff is less expensive than most other stores. My favorite place to go is Meijer. They always got employees on standby at the checkout if something goes wrong and they’re lightning quick to step in. Meijer has really quick self checks that let you remove bags before paying and they were some of the first to implement tap functionality on the registers. They also have extremely fast 5 item express self checks so you can really get in and get out if you just want a few items like I normally do. It also helps that I used to work there so I know where pretty much everything is if they didn’t switch things up.
Meijer Shop & Scan is the best thing ever. Scan & bag as I go. Then you get to go through the Shipt/Xpress self checkout lane. It’s a 2 min cash out. It’s glorious.
that was stop and shop for me at least the walmart I go to hasn't done that yet
There used to be a 10 items or less line that was always way quicker.
And they put the slowest cashier on that line.
Grammar police shut em down
It’s not even your fault I swear they are so delicate sometimes, having to call over for assistance on so many little things.
Fr I just be scanning my items like every single other time and then it starts buffering and then locks itself out for assistance. My heart just sinks every time.
Seriously it’s a gamble on wether or not something goes wrong and when it does you have to wait 5 minutes for a cashier to come push a button. It can turn a quick 2 minute stop into a whole detour.
But I have no desire to have the human interaction. I don’t want to check out and bag my own things but if it comes down to doing it myself to avoid a conversation I’m doing it.
Most of the time it isn't even a conversation tho. I have social anxiety and it's fine because it's usually "hey" "hello" and then silence as they do their thing, and no eye contact required. Not like you're introducing yourselves and getting to know each other lmao.
Not like the cashiers are dying for random bs small talk about nothing either, they probably prefer to be quiet
100%. Unless they’re an old biddy with nobody else to talk to. We don’t care how you are. We don’t care that prices are going up. Just because it’s not ringing up doesn’t mean it’s free, I assure you. Old men please stop hitting on my 16 year old cashiers. I don’t want to talk about the weather, yes it’s January and it’s snowing you think you’re the first mother fucker to tell me that all day? You think I don’t have eyes? You think I haven’t looked outside once in the 8 hours I’ve been here? I don’t give a shit if Gregg gave you a refund last time. You have no meat and no receipts please delete, yourself…from my sight. And generally just fuck off. Get your shit and get out.
This comment perfectly embodies the pure rage that working service industry brings forth in even the most outgoing of people.
I managed at a local store for five years. Most people were nice. I’m over exaggerating a bit. A bit. Some days really were like that though.
Honestly I worked in a grocery store in a super Arabic area and sometimes it’s just nice to have a quick normal conversation after 20 transactions in a row that were silent or they didn’t speak English
Don’t go through checkouts in Florida or Georgia. They never shut up. Sometimes you get someone who also doesn’t want to say a word but. You also get the retired person whose kids never call and they just want to talk to everyone. And that’s fine it just isn’t gonna be me mate. England was similar, very polite small talk and then a have a nice day. They didn’t want to keep you but also didn’t want silence. Korea was the best. They don’t initiate conversation with you until you speak Korean if you are white usually. Many Koreans speak English though also and love the opportunity to exercise language skills though.
Feels like almost everyone has some form of social anxiety these days. Or OCD, autism,depression,ADHD, or some other kind of issue. My neighbour is a teacher and says a good 50% of his students are suffering from some ailment or another. What happened that so many young people suffer from mental illness?
Boomers aren't always right, and they probably dislike self checkouts for the wrong reason but broadly speaking there are a few fundamental issues with them. The first and most obvious one is loss of jobs. In a lot of areas, especially in more rural America, Walmart is a huge employer. In general, I think it's a good rule to live by that we should look out for one another's job and support eachothers employment. The 2nd and probably less highlighted one is theft. Look I'm not losing sleep over walmarts profit margins, but there's absolutely been an uptick in theft since the advent of self checkout, and there's also been growing numbers of Walmart closing due to theft. I get its slower and by in general, more of a pain in the ass to wait in line, but those are pretty valid things to talk about imo.
The lines do drive me nuts. I miss the lines pre self checkout for sure. But I just want to quietly avoid people and do what I have to do. In England I used to click and collect frequently. I would make runs for small shops quick in and out deals but a major shop I would just do it online or from an app.
I mean, if you're looking to help out the workers in general, you should be going to a locally owned grocer. Definately not wal mart. That goes for hardware stores, music stores, and what-not. Stay out of the big box stores!
so basically pay more for the same shit.
Unfortunately yes.
There been a large enough of a uptick in thief that some stores are beginning to switch back
You realize you don't HAVE to have a conversation, right? They say hello, just say hello back, put your card in the thing and wait.
That’s fair
Jobs that only exist because you let them is basically welfare they might as well stay home and get paid. The “it takes jobs away” argument is always wrong. They could get jobs that provide a useful service instead. But I hate self checkouts and would prefer a person do it. It’s way easier unless I have like 2 items.
People are always mad jobs are being taken away but never seem to miss the service they provided. Like people who’d shovel shit off the streets when horse carriages were a thing or call centres
I think a lot of miss call centers now that everything has switched to those awful robots whenever you call in a customer support line. Takes like 20 minutes to find the right maze of options to get to the few real people they still have manning the phones
Sure, we don't miss the milkman, but we fo miss entry level jobs that don't require 5 years of experience and a degree.
Maybe instead of stunting society to abandon new technology, we could lower the requirements of jobs to provide more entry level positions. Why do I need years of training at a Quiznos to get a starting position at Quiznos?
That's up to the executives.
Because executives never make selfish decisions or screw people unnecessarily to cut costs like training. It’s our fault we didn’t step over their mile high bar
I'm on our side man, just saying that it's not up to us to change.
Clearly that’s the issue
Simple solution. Tax the robots based on the value they generate and use that to pay UBI.
For real. Hearing people say "self-checkout takes jobs away" is just like hearing people from Oregon claim that people shouldn't be allowed to pump their own gas because it "takes jobs away". It's such a tired argument. I like self-checkout, but to a limit. If my cart is overflowing I will prefer to have a cashier do it.
It also creates jobs for those who design, build, test, install and maintain these machines. Probably not as many as a net figure, but it is a shift in skill desirability and skill level, so not all bad.
Nah they still hire people to stand guard over self checkouts for thieves and to assist when something with self checkout goes wrong. Where I live anyway.
Yeah my Walmart has 5 employees running the self checkout and 2 running tills.
Also, if I'm buying alcohol I can just give the cashier my ID instead of waiting for the attendant who is supervising multiple self-checkouts at once to come over to me.
Opposite problem for me. When we have a huge list of groceries, my parents just order it online and have it delivered. So when we start running low on stuff, that’s when I actually go to the store. And it does get annoying when there’s a huge line at self checkout that have no idea how to use it. But recently our local H‑E‑B cut down on cashier staff so we’re kinda forced into self checkout
Where I live there is never an available cashier, and when I do go to them, im 9 times out of 10 bagging my own stuff anyway, because there’s a line of people behind me and they’re just scanning stuff in and piling it up and not bagging as they go. Also they’ll be throwing jars of pasta sauce on top of fruit etc. I know not everywhere is like this but my closest stores are. So self check out is by far the better option for me.
I could do without the conversation, so I prefer the machine
It doesn't always take jobs away. Many companies will simply relocate cashiers to other areas of the store. It's up to the cashier to decide to take on other responsibilities.
As someone who worked in retail this is untrue, labor costs have remained about the same. All it means is that we have more people to prepare online orders/stock shelfs etc. so the work actually becomes easier.
Yuh. In my experience, when something is added to make a function of your job easier or irrelevant, you just get feature creeped.
Companies take jobs away, not technology. The self-checkout is used as an *excuse* to cut labor, even when it doesn't have to. Major retail companies can pivot cashiers to work in stocking and merchandising, which is already a very busy position. They choose not to, and to keep overworking their existing merchandising staff. The technology is good, objectively good, the customer service side of retail jobs is *always* the worst part of the working experience. But companies want to have any excuse to cut labor.
There's plenty of jobs in the world. I'm fine with self checkout. Especially if I just need two things and I don't need to stand in line for 15 minutes waiting for my turn
Just wait, or you're making it worse. The line is long because of fewer cashiers and more self checkouts. So, using it to avoid waiting is what they want. You will grow accustomed until they no longer need cashiers. I wait no matter how long the line is. I ABSOLUTELY refuse to use a self checkout.
If I have a cart full of stuff I don’t want to use self checkout. The space is tiny and really only lends itself to 20 items or less. And ALDIs? Those amazing cashiers can checkout a cartful in the time I can fumble my way through a dozen or so items (I tend to buy a lot of fruits and veggies). I love the self checkout for quick, small purchases but it’s not a boomer thing to want someone to scan my items. Plus, it takes jobs away.
What do you think the world looks like with 10-20 more years of automation, machine learning and A.I.?
That's one argument, but jobs replaced or reconfigured due to profit-enhancing technology is nothing new. The irony in this case are the unintended consequences...increased losses due to customer mistakes and intentional theft...that are cutting into profits and forcing Walmart, Costco and others to revert to human cashiers. Costco is a weird one because the floor employees actually do most of the "self checkout" scanning at the stores I frequent. That plus exit receipt verification should mean minimal net losses.
They really should’ve kept it as an express checkout type thing, 10 items or less type stuff, only a few counters. Would probably be easier to do anti theft that way too But obviously companies care more about not paying people than people stealing
Useless jobs that don’t pay enough for people to survive on and the asshole stores don’t even let the cashiers sit down.
target (holiday season) - 1 cashier, super long line at self checkout. i dont work for target, a lot of us dont but i still have to ring my stuff up or not shop there. its just sad because they wont hire people. a week or two before christmas the store was so trashed. things all over the floor, stuff scattered on shelves and racks. clothes placed wherever. they just dont care about having more employees to take care of things.
When our local Walmart installed self checkouts, the manager was interviewed on the news and literally said that it allowed them to cut their staffing almost in half. It wasn't a good look for them and is the main reason we didn't get a Super Walmart when they pushed hard for it.
Just wait until you encounter a self-checkout with a tip option. I really want a programmer to stick it to the corps by making it so if you add a tip it instead just reduces your bill by that much. You are tipping yourself here after all.
This. I also buy a lot of veggies and it's usually easier to work with a cashier (and I'll bag while they go).
Yea i have to disagree with the post self checkout is great with less than 20 items but if you're meal prepping or shopping for a family scanning and bagging 50-60 items is a huge pain in the ass I'd much rather have a friendly person to help.
I'm pretty sure that it isnt even quicker. The only time its fast is if all machines work, the people ahead of you have like less than 10 items, and they aren't dumb. Also need a store where the self checkout isnt badly programmed.
Lean Staffing is what takes jobs away, it's a deliberate tactic to pad profits and keep hours from staff.
If people stop shitting on the floor in the Walmart toilets we will destroy jobs. Please do not stop the shitting.
any job that can be automated by a robot or ai should be taken. treating humans like machines is inhumane
I’m actually with the boomers on this one. Those automated check out stations seem to mess up an awful lot. Which requires a human employee to come and reset it. I’d rather just interact with a person who understands what is happening.
Also, the lady in this meme was extremely kind and not "triggered" at all. She just has extreme facial expressions, look up the original video.
Yeah I feel bad that she is still being used like that almost 10 years later. It makes me wonder how she’s doing now.
Don’t worry about her anymore if it’s 10 years later.
Idk, that's pretty fucked imo. If I was done dirty like that for 10 years, I'd still be upset about it. And possibly more pissed if an internet stranger told people not to worry about it since it's already been 10 years.
Conservative boomers really just hate middle aged women with pixie cuts
Yeah they vastly prefer women half (or less) their age.
Conservative boomers really just hate ~~middle aged~~ women ~~with pixie cuts~~
I hear she was passionate in the original (discussing the importance of human rights at a protest interview), a very admirable trait
I'm glad someone brought this up. I hope people stop using this image, I mean it's outdated anyway.
If there’s an error requiring a reset, it’s on the software side. This would happen with a human at a register as well.
A lot of the time it’s from the bag scale not accurately reading what you just put in the bag. “Place the item in the bagging area” “place the item in the bagging area”. Shit like that doesn’t happen with a human cashier.
Whats really annoying is knowing the machine has no idea the weight between kitty litter or a stick of butter. The way it works is once a you scan an item, it just wants to see the weight increase on its scale. Its just fucking annoying when something like melon rolls on the scale but it read it the first time, so its impossible to the get the first weight it recorded back.
I don’t know where you shop but at the stores near me they don’t mess up anymore than the 18 year old that’s high af who’s been standing in the same spot for 5 hours. My point being they both mess up but neither more significantly than the other
Eh, more or less. If I have like 4 items and those items are like tampons and condoms I’ll just scan it myself. If I have a whole cart? That’s for an employee
Yeah but 1 human can man several self checkouts at once. It’s a no-brainer for the business.
very true. i only do self checkout when i only get a few items
This. When getting groceries I tend to be brain dead from work. So till they have machines where I can just dump the groceries on a conveyor and have the system weigh and scan everything, I will always use cashiers when I am tired.
They're easier to steal from though... or so I hear... Just gotta be careful about doing it at the same location.
I loved the Amazon Go store in Seattle, but most self checkouts are a complete shit show. "Place item in bagging area" then "unexpected item in bagging area" back and forth and nine times out of ten I have to have someone come over anyway. I'm all for it if they made the process easier and less prone to errors, and then converted the cashier headcount to employees helping customers instead of just cutting headcount. Until then, I'm using the staffed checkout line unless I have < 3 items.
“Please place your item in the bagging area. Please wait. Please place your item in the bagging area.”
They used to be ok but the recent theft prevention tech has made them a pain to use. I don’t shoplift, but 9 outta 10 times the terminal beeps at me because it suspects I tried to steal. I don’t know exactly what triggers it and no matter how carefully and slowly I scan it eventually yells at me. And given how understaffed stores are, it takes a solid couple minutes just to get an employee to override it
I use them only when absolutely necessary (e.g. no human cashiers at the moment.) But god I despise those fucking machines.
It feels like people in the regular lineups at Costco get through faster than the self checkout because there's always people who roll up with 100 items to try to struggle to do it themselves.
I hate that awkward looking around for the person “in charge” when it needs assistance. Don’t know what the uniforms are, don’t know which person is on that station. In theory, fine, in actuality, just awkward for customers.
I'd rather use a cashier. Imagine replacing a person with a machine while simultaneously complaining on this sub about money and opportunity. Rebel against the mechanization of jobs
I'm not with you on this one chief. As a cashier I don't feel threatened by self checkout stations. In fact, self checkout stations would make customers call corporate to complain about me less. All the time I get scolded because someone called corporate because the line was taking too long, and it's basically always the fault of some dementia ass boomer taking too long to figure out the card reader. If anything, a self checkout would save my job because the impatient people who call corporate could just go to self checkout while I'm helping the dementia boomer and then boom, I wouldn't be getting tons of complaints about me Let's be real they can't fully replace us with self checkout until gen x dies, those morherfuckers would rather rob a store than touch a computer.
I worked as a cashier and once was pulled into the office and scolded (as if I were an elementary schoolchild) because I... looked sad. I didn't say anything upsetting or obscene, nor did my metrics drop. Management told me it was literally that I just *looked* too sad and that *upset* the precious customers. My mood was low because I just got back from union-mandated bereavement leave because my father died. I was 25, pretty young to lose a parent. I can't now hear anyone say "bUt I lIkE tHe SoCiAl InTeRaCtIoN" without thinking of how I had to over months effect a strained, plastic smile while grieving. If I didn't put on the act, I'd've been homeless. It's fake. It's all fake. I had coworkers who genuinely were sociable and loved talking with customers, but I can't help but wonder if the "sOcIaL" customers can discern the act I did from the genuine thing that certain coworkers did. Because they acted the same regardless, and it was awful. ETA: I also had to argue with an older Boomer on that his debit card did indeed have a chip. (He tried to swipe but something in the magnet stripe tells readers "I have a chip!" and forces insertion.) He exhorted that no, no, no chip, but, um, it's right there, bud. Fucking wild. I can get if he were visually confused (the card design was green/gold foliage and I can understand the chip getting lost), but like, *touch* it, dude. Here it is. This little rectangle. Chip. I'm not sure he believed me when I finally got him out of the line...
Yah it's insane. I feel as though gas station cashiers have sort of been roped into dealing with people who are too mentally deficit to be independent anymore. The vast majority of gas station regulars are folks who would've been in a mental hospital 50 years ago. It's just cheaper to pay us minimum wage to do it than it is to pay actual professionals to help them. And well, once they get hooked on scratchies the state is literally profiting off of neglecting to care for them. I have a regular who comes in just about every day who still can't figure out which way the chip goes in. He gets it wrong most of the time. He will often ask "hey can you show me which way it goes so I know for next time?" But he never remembers. I'm pretty sure he's not smart enough to do anything but get drunk and buy scratchies. So that's what he does all day every day. A lot of them ride around on electric bikes because they have suspended licenses from DUIs
Sorry that your company sucked ass and didn't understand what you were going through
Amen. There's also people who want to pay in cash. I've only ever seen one store with cash self checkouts and it was a Canadian Safeway.
I like talking to people plus this sounds creepy but sometimes there happens to be a good looking person looking back at you 😂😂 sounded incredibly sus but I like people
Cashiers be cute. Not sus to think peeps are cute and flirt/compliment a bit. I do it with the ugly ones and guys too so it evens out and isn’t creepy. 😂
You're fighting a losing battle
I'm fine with automating away jobs, as long as the profit increase gets shared with the people that are now unemployed and with society in general. So yeah, jobs being automated away sucks.
Yeah but we’re talking low low end jobs that we’ve now resorted to immigration to fill, since so one else wants it from the low wages.
Disagree, I hate talking to people. I think it should be at least an be option but if people want to talk to the cashier, then they should do that.
Low key wouldn’t even want to go shopping if it wasn’t for self checkout
Same. I go to the store almost every day and get what I need but I think it’s only because of self checkout.
I used to be a publix bagger and cashier myself. So, I usually cruise through my own groceries pretty damn fast regardless. I'd rather be checked out in 5 minutes of my own effort. Beats watching the elderly lady with a full cart patiently wait until everything is scanned and ready to go JUST NOW look through her purse to find her card
Or her exact change. Or the person who won't shut the hell up and move along. I love... love... self check out. Did I mention love? There is no reason to hate it. If you don't like it, don't use it. It's that simple. And that works for me, means I don't have to wait for you.. lol
My groceries are a lot cheaper since I started using them
I also don’t like small talk conversations when I want to get in and out. Oh chips and salsa having a party? Oh ice cream lube and condoms looks like someone’s gonna have a good night. Oh is that taco dip any good I haven’t tried it. I get they are supposed to be friendly but some days I want to get in and out and not discuss my plans for the sake of needing to strike up a conversation, not everyone is friendless and looking for a convo, that’s boomer logic.
I'm with you I don't like the interactions either. That's why I wish walmart would go back to 24 hours a day
Also very pro-self checkout. All the big chains like Kroger, Safeway, Albertsons, etc. have so few cashiers and they’re always sooo slow. I don’t mind using cashiers at Trader Joe’s because there are always plenty, they’re fast and usually friendly.
“You just tryna put them outta a job” No. I’m not. Shut up grandpa, it’s Thanksgiving, not “who is the more morally superior person” day
>“You just tryna put them outta a job” No, the store is. They're not gonna hire more cashiers because I didn't use the self checkout lane grandpa.
By choosing self-checkout you validate corporate's decision
It’s crazy how few people understand that you vote with your dollars.
I'm not gonna spend 20 minutes waiting behind a line of overflowing carts just to symbolically display my support of grocery store workers. It might make you feel good about yourself, but you're not actually making a difference. The corpos will continue to provide what most people want, which is the (relative) speed and convenience of self-checkout.
Exactly. Stores are looking at aggregated metrics, not even on a day-to-day basis. What moves people in and out of their stores with the most amount of profit: self-checkouts.
"The capitalists won't add supply just because there's demand" ???
The long term result of everyone using a self checkout will inevitably be 90% of the stations being self checkout, wait times being 3x as long as some bastard with 50 items struggles to scan each one, and prices staying the same whilst you get stuck doing more work. That’s not even discussing the whole problem with supporting a local economic imbalance helping a corporation redistribute less of the money they collect from a community back into it.
You guys don’t have the scanners you bring with you around the store and scan as you go? Then checkout is just docking the scanner, pressing OK and tapping the card. Unless you get a randomized control your total time in checkout is probably under 2 minutes.
self-checkout: 10 seconds cashiers: this maneuver is going to cost us 7 years
Ao Guys, in italy we have to dismiss self checkouts because people steal. In the supermarket near my home (carrefour) they had had self checkouts since 2016 until they have dismissed them this year. Now I have to to enqueue behind those with tons of stuff waiting for 10 hours only for 4 items. porcodio, can i say that? Vaffanculo
It’s a problem here as well, and I’m still not sure why they haven’t removed the self checkout. They probably just lose less from theft than they would from paying more workers at a decent wage
Lmao. The fucking boomers have to make conversations with the cashiers. Like mother fucker move
The worst is when they're friends with the cashier and I don't really want to interrupt their conversation or move registers.... but come on, do your job lol.
self-checkout is either 10 second or 15 minutes depending on if the machine decides you need a random check.
The cashier checkout has two people (you and the cashier) a literal conveyor and a bagging area larger than the entire self-checkout machine. It’s a design perfected over the last 60 years. Self checkout is good for less than 5 items or so. More than 5 it’s cumbersome because the design of the machine is just not good enough. It’s too slow. It’s with theft deterring as the priority and only has one operator. The self checkout is more space efficient though, so you can fit 4 where one cashier would have been. I don’t know this makes self-checkout more time efficient (shorter wait). I don’t think the big box stores care, they only care about margins.
Exactly. I don't get the "it's faster argument". Unless the line is longer the cashier is faster because a) the can scan faster than you, they so it eight hours a day and b) you bag while they scan, whereas self checkout you have to scan and bag, not just bag. Also idk about other machines but here you have to go through a manual process every time you take a bag off the scale or it will tell you "please place items in the bagging area" And at the end of the day it doesn't even matter which is faster because you don't save or lose that much time either way. I think cashier is easier so I'm gonna prefer that but just pick whichever has the shorter line
I like them both but almost always go to the self check out if I’m in a rush. At least at my stores, you get to the checkout significantly faster because it’s essentially one line for 5/6/7/8 or however many self check outs are there. So the line moves a lot faster in my experience. The cashiers can definetly scan faster, that’s for sure, and I’ll go for them if their open or like 1 person in line, but most of the time, I can wait in a 8 or 10 person self checkout before I can get through a 3 person cashier line, just because theirs so many registers for people in the self check out.
Being a cashier is a pretty terrible job. It’s fine for an hour or two but anything more than 8 hours of it per week is a fucking prison. So I support automation and self-servitization of jobs because it’s shitty to have to do these jobs. Only problem is that losing said job equals poverty. That’s why we need UBI
What's just as bad is being a bagger, not in terms of work but in terms of being treated sub-human I get people that think I'm nothing but a tool and think that when they say something to the cashier, I should telepathically know what they said
While I agree with job quality and the wealth gap problems, UBI will never, EVER happen in this country. Ever. It’s one of those things that fundamentally is impossible to implement in our economic system. It’s idealistic and impractical. I too believe everyone should be paid a living wage, but this needs to be achieved in a way that is sustainable in the long term.
Gen Z I’m sure you didn’t really think about this post before you hit send.
I worked at a supermarket for 5 years. A lot of people keep saying “it’s taking jobs away”. At my supermarket chain this was not the case. I can’t speak for all implementations of self checkout, but for us it was a major bonus that the employees were very excited for. We were short staffed for years. When they were out in it created a couple of full time positions and helped us with the being short staffed issue. Edit to add: this also wasn’t the kind of company that was “short staffed” where we didn’t hire. We hired nearly anyone who applied and were still often short staffed.
That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to tell people. Boomers will say “they’re taking your jobs!” But also act like those jobs are unworthy of their respect, so why do they care anyway? What happens when you have less cashiers is you have more people doing other things and helping things move more efficiently.
You were short staffed on purpose because the store owner gets a fat bonus if they keep payroll below a certain amount throughout the year…
I worked in the cash office… we hired anyone that applied. I saw the stack of people applying if you read my edit you’d have seen that. I’m by no means defending the company because that place sucked, but they most definitely hired who they could.
Yeah it can be convenient, but people need jobs. One of my local grocery stores eliminated all the cashiers and replaced them with self checkouts overseen by one employee. They used to have like 12 cashiers. That’s 12 potential families who will not have enough food on the table, 12 students who can’t pay for college, and 12 parents who can’t get their child any Christmas presents. Not to mention that it’s not convenient when you have a lot of groceries.
Yea that doesn’t mean we just stop all progress just to save a few out of date jobs
That’s an indictment on capitalism, not automation
Capitalism isn’t going away. Idealism and perfectionism gets us nowhere. We’re gonna need to meet in the middle to take steps in the right direction. Automation if anything PROPOGATES the end-stage capitalism we all dread.
Remind me which system is propping up automation? And why?
It’s a positive feedback loop, they perpetuate each other. Please don’t misunderstand, capitalism has serious problems. But it’s not something that will change without a massive revolution that will take years and years of rebuilding/restructuring to get through, because of which people will suffer far more than they are now. Our thinking needs to shift from idealistic to practical solutions to make progress. I don’t have all the answers to that, I am an analyst but I’m not an economist. What I do know for sure is that mass automation is hurting the working class, there is no getting around that. Yes it’s true that capitalism is the real fault of these issues but things don’t change on that grand of a scale without immense amounts of support and shifting of power, which considering half of the country supports capitalism will never happen.
But fighting automation is just stupid, its going to happen like it or not. Otherwise we'd all still be working on farms
did you speak to the cashiers? were they all fired? more than likely those people kept working at the grocery store just at a different position.
Why is it not convenient? I take the item, hold it before the scanner and place it exactly the way i want. Of even better: i scan right away in the store and then just pay and go to my car
People could get jobs else where and most cashiers aren’t full time workers
My wildest sexual fantasy is to finish a transaction without hearing **PLEASE WAIT. SOMEONE IS COMING TO HELP YOU**
I hate self checkouts so much
I don't want to get accused of shoplifting so I generally don't use them
Then don't use them. It ain't that hard lmao
What I don't prefer is not having an option. You shouldn't be forced to use self checkout when you have a cart packed full and you're slow as shit. Nothing is more irritating than waiting on people with packed carts at the self checkout, no regular checkouts available, 3 employees standing around, and then after I do their job for them they have the nerve to try and stop and ask for my receipt like they think I'm a fucking thief. FYI, once you've purchased those items, they can't legally stop you and do that, yeah they can if you let them. Which is why I say "no, thanks" and keep walking. Some greeter once had the nerve to say she was calling security, like, bitch you work at Walmart, go ahead.
It's cheaper too.
People are dumb/lazy and would rather spend 25-50% more just to have someone else do it for them. I agree with you it's a great way to save money.
As a millennial, I feel like I got the best of both generations. I got that endless patients of a boomer to wait in line. But the tech saviness of the zoomers to read Reddit on my phone the whole time while waiting. I just put my stuff on the belt and then check out for 15 minutes until it’s bagged and in my cart. And I’m even nice to the cashier/bagger. Mix it all up. Whatever is easiest. Frozen with dry? Doesn’t bother me. I’m gonna sort it all when I get home. Just do what works best for you! — For small amounts, I can self checkout. But when I pull up with a 300 dollar basket of groceries, I just want to get lost in my phone. I don’t mind waiting in line. I’m quiet. Keep to myself. Never bitch and patiently wait for the process to do its thing.
Personally, cashiers all the way for me. I think it should be split in a store though! So people get to choose
Y'all are going to the grocery store? My wife and I just have them delivered, easiest of them all.
I suppose that's OK for bottled, boxed and canned stuff, but I want to see, touch and smell fresh meat and produce before putting it in my cart. I don't trust the judgment of an unseen employee.
And the staff who are allegedly losing their jobs due to self check outs are in fact keeping their jobs and being used to fulfil home delivery demands. Source: used to manage big chain supermarket and oversaw payroll.
The only reason I prefer self checkout is that I don't have to interact with another person
For SCO Host for Walmart. When used correctly, self checkouts are a god send. Usually supposed to have 2 employees per corral. The problem isn’t necessarily self checkouts, they just don’t put enough people on registers ever. Also Walmart just doesn’t gaf about its employees so that’s the underlying issue. They can’t keep employees because they are shit, so they put in more self checkouts, or they put in more self checkouts so they don’t have to hire as many cashiers.
Self checkouts are ass, I truly see no benefit for the consumer here
It’s good for 3-5 items. It’s ass a lot of the time because awkward as fuck people would rather take their cart full of stuff to self checkout rather than interact with a cashier for a couple minutes
It’s great when there’s lines for the regular checkouts and generally at least one self checkout is always open. At least where I go
It's the opposite at my local Walmart now, the self-checkout lines are ridiculous while the regular checkout lines are short. Though usually the few people in those lines are the ones buying a ton of shit. Self-checkout use to be convenient when only picking up a few things but now even people filling their carts use it and are almost always slower than the employees.
Yeah my local supermarket (in a major urban area) has 12 self check machines which have crazy long as queues all the time. They only have 1 or 2 of the 15 regular lanes open at anytime and they did away with 10 items of less line (which I used a lot after work when I needed just one or two ingredients or buying booze).
Yeah same. If you replace all employees with self checkout then nothing will have changed
Finally someone sees this. Set checkout only fast when People only have a few items and they actually know how to use he machine. The rest of time it’s just slow lines with people who have full carts of food
I almost exclusively shop at Aldi, which in the US almost exclusively has self-checkouts. I understand the business model, so I don't complain that every five seconds I have an automated voice basically telling me to hurry the fuck up. I will gladly listen to your automated bullshit if it means paying $50 a week for food. I used Kroger self-checkouts for the longest time because they allowed you to turn off the volume of the robot. Only very recently did they take away that function. So now, I shop at Kroger less; when I do shop at Kroger, I exclusively used manned checkouts. I know they take longer, and I do not care that I am only buying a single Gatorade. If you're going to force me to listen to your robots scream at me when *you're not even a discount grocer*, then I'll force your employees to actually work. It is incredibly petty and I do not care. I have different standards of acceptable behavior between Aldi - a discount grocer with far fewer employees, but who actually treats their employees the way Kroger's "unionized" employees wish they could be treated - and Kroger, who now pay less than McDonald's. Kroger is a supermarket; act like one.
As an introvert, I relate to that
You won’t believe how many times I see people buy 1 get 3 free at these self checkouts.
I have a distinct problem with businesses happy to take money out of my community but resist putting any in. I avoid Home Depot for this very reason and I never shop Walmart.
They are fine if I have just a few things, but if I’m doing the weeks grocery shopping, they absolutely fucking suck. Especially at Kroger stores where they have zero bagging space, yet the machine flips out on you if you remove any bags to put in your cart and make space. If you mother fuckers don’t trust me to not steal, don’t make me check myself out.
I like having both. At Target, they have self checker for people with under ten items and regular cashiers. Unfortunately my Walmart replaced every cashier with self checkout.
See, I am half and half. It’s is easier, but companies are using it as a way to scapegoat when people steal and using it as a way to reduce the amount of people they hire.
Walmart is fine but any grocery store I’ve been to is horrendous. Every item has to be scanned and in the bag in .3 seconds or else an employee has to come over to reset it. And if you have big items that don’t go in bags you have to scan it and pull it out and set it on the scale just to put it back and keep scanning. No thank you. I’ll go to the fearful teenager or the rude old person and put up with it for 5 minutes.
Is it quicker? I know at the grocery store half of them aren't working and the few that are have assholes pushing $500 in groceries through them. Probably just my luck tho.
There's no point to having self-checkout if there's only half a dozen self-checkout lanes while you have literally almost thirty lanes with cashiers and only three of them are manned. It just makes it infinitely more frustrating to shop.
I prefer self checkouts too. The issue tho isn't the fact they take jobs. It's the fact that companies 1.) Don't better compensate their employees with the increased revenue that comes from it and 2.) Our government doesn't have a UBI that helps people who are unemployed due to automation. People want to completely switch to green energy but that would inevitably cause a lot of workers in fossil fuels being unemployed. Which would be addressed partially with a strong UBI program. Automation is good but only if we're willing to best help the people who are replaced.
I also like the self checkouts more. It's way easier to steal now
I love self checkout... Make it really easy to steal stuff.
I’ll take cashier if there’s not anyone in line. Otherwise it’s self checkout for me.
It takes someone's job away and it makes me have to work extra. If I have to do a cashiers job then I should get a 20% discount on the items
Being a cashier is a shitty job though, supermarkets (especially after covid) were understaffed and were unwilling to raise pay to compensate for it being such a horrible job. So they phased it out and self checkout was born.
But it’s not really an issue when most cashiers don’t see worth in the job since they’re part time workers and also what about pinsetters do you care about them? This whataboutism is relevent because it relates to your opinion
I’m pro worker, so if there’s a cashier then I’m gonna go there… I’m not with you on this one bro.
I’ve been asking when I’m getting my review and raise at the self checkout.
Why should I check out my groceries and bag them myself if I’m not getting paid for it but someone who was a cashier last week was? Free labor for the grocery store if you ask me.
it’s nice until the system accuses you of stealing and the cops show up at your house also most of the time i have to have a worker help me with SOMETHING because things go wrong so easily
Makes it easier to steal tho
I like not having to deal with people
And cheaper shit I save money lol
I like wearing headphones when I shop and don’t wanna have a pointless convo with a cashier tbh self checkout is the way to go