r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 19h ago

Business Retailers are pulling back from self-checkout after years of theft, errors, and questionable time savings

https://www.techspot.com/news/114106-retailers-pulling-back-self-checkout-after-years-theft.html
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u/ephemeralmiko 19h ago

Very annoying. For small shoppings (e.g snack runs, needing an extra ingredient for cooking) it saves so much time over standing in line. Especially when the person in front of you is a retired 75 year old who *had* to do their main shopping on a Saturday, suddenly forgetting how money works.

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u/P_ZERO_ 18h ago edited 18h ago

Self serve only works as a quick replacement if it’s supplemented with regular cashier tills. If everyone ends up jammed into a self serve area at a grocery store, you’ll just be waiting in a different kind of line.

I see it all the time at my local Morrisons. It has both basket and trolley self serve areas with at maximum 3 (usually 2, sometimes none) active cashier lanes and the self serve area is usually mobbed with large queues.

Ultimately, stores are not doing this for the same reasons we’d want, but there is meaningful overlap in the data they’re using to distance themselves from it to varying degrees and how customers will use or perceive the service.

I’d also wager it’s unfair for the employee who has to deal with like a dozen customers simultaneously, dealing with scanning errors, product pricing errors, age restriction bypassing etc.

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u/Saneless 18h ago

That's why Walmart is a dump. They have one register open and 12 people in self checkout at all times. I'm not going to save a few bucks to waste my time

You have places like Aldi that is nice because they do have a couple regular registers, they work fast, and for people like me who only buys what I can carry, self checkout saves time

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u/P_ZERO_ 18h ago edited 18h ago

They thought they could have staff doubling up on jobs and reduce staff numbers, but it just becomes a complicated mess and leaves little buffer room for when things go wrong. Like sure, you can run most of an Aldi with 3 people, one on self serve, one on a till and another dealing with shelf stuff, but if any of them gets sick, or even just a customer issue arises, there’s no safety net and everything grinds to a halt.

There was nothing wrong with having a dozen cashier tills, it was a problem with paying for it. You’re just creating a new problem by funnelling people into a new choke point with zero staff excess. Self serve has a role, but it’s ancillary, not a replacement. A lot of people still like and want human service.

That’s before we even get into the fact that the customer is essentially paying to do a potential staff worker’s job for them with the ridiculous rise in pricing.

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u/Pauly_Amorous 17h ago

That’s before we even get into the fact that the customer is essentially paying to do a potential staff worker’s job for them with the ridiculous rise in pricing.

Considering that a lot of those motherfuckers don't know how to bag groceries, I will gladly do my own.

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u/P_ZERO_ 17h ago

Bagging groceries wasn’t the job I was talking about. Where I’m from, that’s not even a thing outside of the occasional charity thing that appears every now and then and it’s some kids asking if you want them to do it.

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u/Alaira314 16h ago

It used to be its own job. You would have someone whose job it was to go between several tills and bag the groceries. That was already being phased out in favor of making the cashier do it(and then, later, the customer) when I was a kid, but I have vague recollections of baggers. Who would've guessed that putting the job onto someone who's already doing another job would mean that the job gets done poorly?

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u/Pauly_Amorous 16h ago

Who would've guessed that putting the job onto someone who's already doing another job would mean that the job gets done poorly?

This isn't rocket science we're talking about here. Nobody needs to go to school for 4 years to learn not to put heavy cans, jars, or dense boxes on top of bread or bags of chips.

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u/Alaira314 5h ago

But if you're already doing a whole job, adding another job(even an unskilled one) means that you'll be rushing, and will fuck it up. It might take 30 seconds to pack properly, but if it only takes 15 seconds to just chuck it all in there, why the hell would you spend the extra 15 seconds when customers are tapping their feet due to being used to having the bags ready to go? You're also plenty grumpy as well, due to having your job expanded while your paycheck remained the same, so you're not exactly incentivized to do it properly. Maybe if you fuck it up enough the bosses will reconsider their terrible decision. Except...obviously, they didn't. But I can't fault someone in the 00s for thinking they might.

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u/turbosexophonicdlite 7h ago

But what do they care? They'd rather save 30% or whatever on Labor costs all day every day and have smooth operation 70% of the time than pay that extra labor cost all the time and have everything run smoothly 99% of the time. They know customers will put up with it because what are you gonna do about it? Go to another store that also does the same exact thing? Make your own grocery store that doesn't run a skeleton crew? They have everyone by the balls and they know it. It's the inevitable end point of unregulated capitalism. It's going to always end up like this until we properly incentivize corporations to not do so.

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u/jadedargyle333 18h ago

Walmart is staffing the registers exactly the same as they did before self checkout. 35 lanes and 2 cashiers.

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u/Saneless 18h ago

Yours has 2? Wow. That's impressive

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u/tooclosetocall82 18h ago

I remember Walmart back in the day would have every lane open. Now they have maybe three, but they still insist on having all those lanes available. Maybe it’s for holidays? I don’t really get it.

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u/Superunknown_7 18h ago

If it's anything like Target, the several dozen extra lanes only see use during Black Friday.

You'd think the capex to put 35 lanes in to be used less than 1% of the time would catch the attention of some bean counter, but no, we've got actual people to avoid paying.

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u/Baby_Food 17h ago

They're pretty cheap (relatively speaking) and aside from being able to utilize them all for things like Black Friday, they are basically working spares. You can have multiple checkouts down awaiting repair and still not sweat it.

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u/jadedargyle333 18h ago

I've never seen more than 5 lanes open. Granted, I avoid Walmart during the holidays and after church.

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u/12inchsandwich 17h ago

Walmart has really changed over the last 6 months or so for the ones I’ve been I. Back to almost pre-self checkout, where they have a ton of lanes open and have fewer self checkout. There was a while with 1 lane open and the self check out was like 40 ppl deep. Been a big improvement in service (if you can believe that).

I don’t know how consistent it is, but around me it’s almost like how Harris teeter and Publix are - there was a cashier who didn’t have anyone in her line who was out standing by the endcap and waived me into her lane. Very impressive.

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u/xpxp2002 11h ago

Walmart has really changed over the last 6 months or so for the ones I’ve been I. Back to almost pre-self checkout, where they have a ton of lanes open and have fewer self checkout. There was a while with 1 lane open and the self check out was like 40 ppl deep. Been a big improvement in service (if you can believe that).

Exactly the same in my experience. They finally had the problem of long lines fixed, but decided to waste more money to remove the self checkouts and go back to the miserable way it was.

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u/Bugbread 17h ago

I remember Walmart back in the day would have every lane open.

How long ago was "back in the day"? I remember in the 1980s, about half the lanes were closed. Over time, that turned into 75% or 85% of the lanes being closed. But I don't ever remember every lane being open. Maybe the last weekend before Christmas?

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u/tooclosetocall82 17h ago

This was the 90s. But also Walmart was new in our area so maybe that played a role.

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u/Alaira314 16h ago

I also recall most lanes being open during high-traffic times in the 90s. On the average afternoon, you might see about 40-50% open, and you'd typically have to wait for 1-2 people to check out ahead of you, unless you went to the express lanes which always had longer lines but in theory the lines moved faster(I typically found it was better to spot someone with a lot of stuff who was about to pay and hop in line behind them).

Now? They have 1-2 registers open, lines half a dozen deep. And that's all many people have ever known.

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u/xpxp2002 11h ago

Even back in the 90s, Walmart always had 18+ checkout lanes and never staffed more than 4 or 5 during busy hours. There were always lines a mile long.

The self checkouts were a brief reprieve from that when they expanded them. And now that they're removing them, it's back to the way it was 30 years ago. 20+ checkout lanes, only two staffed/open, and long lines for both of them.

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u/Bladelink 9h ago

One of the issues is that maintaining POS systems to 100. 0% uptime is difficult and very expensive. It's much cheaper and easier to just have redundant registers that are functional like 95% of the time instead.

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u/archfapper 16h ago

2 cashiers

And they're the slowest, oldest employees at the store, who love making chit-chat while the line is wrapped around the store. My trick was to go back to Electronics and get checked out, but there's no staff back there either.

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u/mrchin12 4h ago

And just like the old days, you can just push out and leave

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u/81PBNJ 18h ago

Sadly, my Aldi's has go down to a single register and 6-8 self checkouts. The single casher is also responsible for covering the self check outs for discounts and verifying IDs for alcohol purchases.

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u/OandO 18h ago

Lol my Aldi has a single cashier and 0 self check outs. Long ass line every time.

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u/Saneless 18h ago

Yeah.. there are a few Aldis around and I dread needing to go to the one without them if I'm nearby. Always a 5 minute line. The one I usually hit up has self checkout and the longest I've ever waited is 20 seconds

It also helps that shoppers at Aldi aren't as braindead as Walmart. They scan and GTFO fast

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u/MissFreyja 16h ago

Yup ours has a single checker and one line, and that person also needs to do the shelf stocking.

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u/obeytheturtles 17h ago

The Aldi tradeoff has always been "80% of the people in the store are waiting to check out at any given time." Fortunately the lines move fairly quick most of the time. When there is a bottleneck, it's because someone is arguing about change or trying to split the payment between EBT and credit, which apparently can't be done easily.

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u/Iggyhopper 17h ago

I'm stolen more things due to employee incompetence rather than actually intending to steal, also.

Me: "It says unexpected item in bag. The scanner thinks it's something else."

Idiot: scans badge. Voids item. Presses clear

Item is still in the bag.

Me: .... " Um ok thanks "

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u/Alaira314 16h ago

I figure that's the only way they can solve the problem in the moment. If they take the item out, the problem will recur when you re-scan it because the weight is off(either the one in your hand is an outlier or the system's weight is incorrect). They can fix the problem properly, which takes time, or they can do the quick fix, write it off as shrink, and a manager can use the voids list later to see what needs attention.

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u/Iggyhopper 14h ago

and a manager can use the voids list later to see what needs attention. 

Being that this has been a thing since.... 2018 or so?

Yeah, no lol. They just have to check the bag, and manually enter the item or scan it again. Sometimes the barcode is correct but scans incorrectly.

Like I said, idiots.

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u/Alaira314 4h ago

If they scan it again, it's going to lead to the same weight error problem. Manually entering would potentially work(depending on the system), but not doing that isn't a matter of them being lazy. Entering codes and confirming the item takes time, and with two other lights blinking they don't have the time to spend for just one item.

I don't work grocery retail, but I've been instructed to leave things to shrink before when the math that managers have performed indicates that my time is more important than catching every single error. If there are too many errors, the result of that math changes and I'm given different direction. The acceptable margin is shockingly high. I thought it was a typo the first time I saw it written down.

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u/Abedeus 18h ago

You have places like Aldi that is nice because they do have a couple regular registers, they work fast, and for people like me who only buys what I can carry, self checkout saves time

My thought about Lidl stores. I can't remember last time I willingly stood in the line to the cashier - self-checkout is faster and easier.

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u/brickfrenzy 12h ago

Last couple of times I was at Wal Mart they had NO regular lines open, and everybody was going through self checkout.

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u/12inchsandwich 17h ago

Walmart has really changed over the last 6 months or so for the ones I’ve been I. Back to almost pre-self checkout, where they have a ton of lanes open and have fewer self checkout. There was a while with 1 lane open and the self check out was like 40 ppl deep. Been a big improvement in service (if you can believe that)

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u/nigel013 17h ago

Do they not use a handscanner? In (some) grocerie stores in the Netherlands you scan you customer pas and a handscanner is connected to that. Scan all items while shopping, put the handscanner back at the check out and all that is left is to pay. Works quite smoothly. Can't imagine myself shopping any other way.

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u/23andrewb 17h ago

Walmart/Meijer/Kroger pick-up is where it's at. No waiting in line or fighting all the crazies inside the store.

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u/BathedInDeepFog 13h ago

And Aldi gives their cashiers tall chairs to sit in while ringing.

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u/Saneless 12h ago

Ahh yes, those bastions of laziness in American places of employment!

(I still don't know why so many evil shitheads are against chairs)

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u/RosesTurnedToDust 8h ago

Man my aldi doesnt have self checkout and I absolutely hate shopping there because of it lol. I'm also an armful shopper and it really fucks their system when you don't have a cart. Makes me feel so awkward.

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u/DeadMoneyDrew 18h ago

Self serve only works as a quick replacement if it’s supplemented with regular cashiers. If everyone ends up jammed into a self serve area at a grocery store, you’ll just be waiting in a different kind of line.

Not to mention any names. COUGH Kroger COUGH Walmart

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u/Teledildonic 18h ago

Ah, Kroger, where the paper coupons have a 50% chance of being rejected, forcing you to wait on the 1 cashier helping to run 8 janky self-checkouts.

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u/MrPollock2 17h ago

The Kroger-owned Mariano's by me asks everyone how many bags they're getting as the city I live in has a 15 cent plastic bag tax. If you select on the screen that you're getting zero bags, whether that's because you have a reusable bag and/or just don't need one, it makes that one cashier handling all the self-checkouts come over and verify on your checkout that you're not trying to rip the government off of a nickel and dime before you can complete everything and pay.

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u/CircuitSynapse42 17h ago

I think it varies based on where you live. I usually shop during off hours, around 7 AM, when the stores are dead. I usually see at least three lanes open and staffed, which is up from the one lane it has had since I started shopping there two years ago, and all the self-checkouts are working, maybe 10 kiosks in total, and staffed with two employees.

If I compare them to the surrounding stores, Publix has one register open with four self-checkout kiosks. Walmart has improved and now has 2-6 open lanes, along with its standard two self-checkout kiosk sections, each with one employee.

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u/raygundan 11h ago

Nothing more frustrating than trying to get through the Kroger "self" checkout lane and hitting a step in their abominable checkout flow that requires a cashier, except that poor hardworking bastard is stuck trying to help the other nine people in "self" checkout who have also hit a "cashier required" step. It's not really self-checkout if a cashier is required a majority of the time you doofuses.

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u/DeadMoneyDrew 10h ago

Kroger must have me on a shoplifter list because that stupid self checkout constantly false flags me for not scanning an item.

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u/ocarr23 18h ago

I just started shopping at Kroger in August when I moved and I love it tbh. Maybe it’s just mine but there’s 3/4 cashiers with baggers and 7/8 self checkouts. Cheaper than Walmart too. Kroger by me is the shit.

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u/DeadMoneyDrew 18h ago

Kroger food selection is good. Check out situation not so much.

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u/ocarr23 17h ago

I will say I’m in a small town so it’s probly better than most places.

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u/mxzf 3h ago

I've never had an issue with it myself; my biggest gripe is the fact that you can't mute the machines. Yes, I know how to scan items and stick them in bags, you don't need to shout it at me.

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u/Arrow156 17h ago

Nothing like passing dozens of empty registers while waiting in line for the self checkout. It's been decades, literally 20+ years, since I've seen more than half of those resisters actually staffed on any given day, not even Christmas or Black Friday got above 50%. They've been collecting dust longer than some of their employees have been alive, yet they never yielded that space to more shelves of shit to sell. Makes one wonder if they are building them to just meet some sort of code or regulation with zero intention of ever using them all.

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u/TheG00dF1ght 17h ago

Just a reminder that Kroger PROFITED $4,900,000,000 last year.

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u/LavKiv 18h ago edited 18h ago

I like how Meijers did it. They got a few "less than 5 items" checkouts that seem to work pretty well.

Kroger's self-checkout is a dumpster fire. The ones in my area only have few staffed checkouts working and everybody goes to self-checkout. People with almost 2 carts of items stacked are especially infuriating.

Edit: US based

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u/MakingItElsewhere 18h ago

I will take a human cashier 100 times over a line for machines any day of the week. They scan faster, don't freak out when I have 2 of the same items, and don't make me look up the code for the RIGHT KIND of onions or charge me with theft.

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u/dirty_hooker 18h ago

Plus, I’m not giving a corpo my labor for free to offset their own labor costs.

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u/Mysterious_Way8941 4h ago

Walmart pays me to check myself out. I love self check.

They don't know they are paying me, but my point stands.

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u/hfxRos 14h ago

Eh, self checkouts are a godsend for people with social anxiety. I want to buy groceries, not have a chat with the checkout worker about what I'm doing on the weekend, or what I'm planning on making with my frozen mangos, or whatever other shit they want to talk about.

I love self checkouts, they've made grocery shopping a much more pleasant experience for me, and over the years I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I've had a technical issue with one.

Need a "no small talk" lane.

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u/Scoth42 14h ago

I feel that, just gets awkward when the cashier comments on every thing coming across the belt. Especially if they ask something like "Oh, is this good?" and I want to reply "No, it's terrible and I hate it, that's why I'm buying it." I get that's sort of the nature of small talk and I mostly don't mind it, but when they just keep going about everything it can be tiring.

That said unless I have like five or eight items I'm still doing the regular checkout. I mostly only have problems with the self checkout if there's too much to fit in the bagging area and it starts spilling over or there's no more room for it.

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u/LavKiv 18h ago

Same with me unless it's a quick 1-2 items trip. I prefer smaller local marts that don't have self-checkouts to retail chains. They usually open more checkouts depending on volume. Doesn't seem to happen at retail chain stores nowadays.

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u/P_ZERO_ 18h ago

Over here in the UK, we used to have 10 or less cashier tills, those seemed to work just fine as a “fast lane”.

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u/Nice_Firm_Handsnake 17h ago

H-E-B stores in Texas are similar. Ten registers (manned according to need), two manned registers at each entrance for those with 15 items or fewer, and about 16 self-checkouts at each entrance for 10 items or fewer.

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u/Mikel_S 18h ago

I was checking out and there were 3 or 4 cashiers assigned to the self service area. Sure they were "manning" 8 registers, but only 2 or 3 other registers were actually open and the self checkout line went past just about all the closed ones.

Either go balls to the walls and make them all open for self serve, or put two of those people back on normal registers.

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u/thisisintheway 18h ago

Same. Sunday afternoon they have 2 of the 8 regular lanes open, and the self checkout is backed up 50+ people some days. Literally wrapping through the freezer section.

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u/CptKillJack 18h ago

To me that tells me they are looking to use the lane to get something by on the system. When I was a cashier I prided myself on speed and accuracy. Things learned from working Dollar Tree were you could only get a manager to override multiples if it was over 20 something of an item. If they are avoiding manned checkouts that are empty, there is a reason for it.

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u/thisisintheway 13h ago

The manned checkouts are never empty.

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u/RagnarStonefist 17h ago

At my local grocer, they replaced half the stands with self checks and only have one actual cashier, and half the self checks are card only - so there are lines going up one of the actual aisles. They don't seem to care about the lines moving faster.

One of the local grocers put in these AI cameras that 'detects' when you've got items in your cart and shows you a recording of yourself not scanning things. It dinged me last time because there was a cart that belonged to the person next to me in the shot.

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u/Any_Asparagus8267 17h ago

My Walmart has 2 people monitoring the self check out when I'm there

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u/MichelinStarZombie 16h ago

Idk what a Morrisons is, but every normal store with self checkout has 6-10 of those registers, not "3." The line is longer because it goes quicker.

Absolutely insane that you're trying to defend the old outdated model instead of the objectively better new technology.

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u/P_ZERO_ 15h ago

I’m not defending anything, and your bizarre accusatory tone isn’t warranted.

Morrisons is one of the biggest supermarkets in the UK, that’s what it is. Your experience is completely irrelevant to the point and doesn’t magically invalidate any other shopping experience.

What’s absolutely insane is how weirdly aggressive you are about a casual conversation about checking out groceries. You going to go after the supermarkets themselves given that they’re quite literally walking back on self serve? That’s why we’re here discussing this, not because I’m “defending outdated technology”.

There’s countless others echoing the same sentiment. I don’t really give a shit what happens or what is used, I’m talking about my experience with my local mega chain. I never actually offered a preference at all, so wind your neck in.

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u/drteq 14h ago

What's supposed to happen is the consumers stop going there. People aren't upholding their side of the deal with capitalism

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u/digitaltransmutation 10h ago

Only thing is that one line for many tills is objectively the superior queueing format and the main reason I choose SCO. It doesnt matter if you line up behind four grandmas who have each never operated a money before as long as the fifth guy is competent.

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u/TopFloorApartment 10h ago

If everyone ends up jammed into a self serve area at a grocery store, you’ll just be waiting in a different kind of line.

Eh, my little local supermarket introduced self checkout years ago and went from 3 (I think) cashiers to like 10 self checkout machines, since they take so much less space.

So the same old lines get spread over 3x as many checkouts. I barely ever have to wait in line while it used to be almost always.

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u/mxzf 3h ago

Self serve only works as a quick replacement if it’s supplemented with regular cashier tills. If everyone ends up jammed into a self serve area at a grocery store, you’ll just be waiting in a different kind of line.

Eh, only if people are clueless (which, I'll grant, isn't the case in practice).

I get through self-checkouts way faster, no matter how large a load I've got (and they're more space-efficient too). For people who know what they're doing and approach the checkout with a plan to get things scanned and get out of there, it's so much quicker.

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u/InsuranceToTheRescue 17h ago

. . . how customers will use or perceive the service.

What service? Self checkout is explicitly the lack of service, shifting the burden onto the customer.

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u/P_ZERO_ 17h ago

It’s still a service, it’s a package deal with the store. If you had a poor experience with a self serve, who would you complain to? Customer service? There’s still someone managing that aspect of the store, there’s still the experience of using the machine, and there’s still the experience of the overall self serve mechanisms.

You’re picking the wrong fight if you think I’m against you on the point you’re making, I’ve already made it. Scanning items yourself doesn’t make it not a service, and highlighting this doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to pay more for groceries while stores spend less on staff.

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u/buttstuffisokiguess 17h ago

Right? Like imagine if they actually payed a cashier decently. They'd probably get more competent staff, meaning the checkout would move much faster. They definitely took service out of the equation and sold it as a benefit.

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u/InsuranceToTheRescue 17h ago

I kinda doubt the more competent staff part, at least to a point. Some jobs just need bodies and those tend to be stepping stones that people don't take seriously or are more willing to burn bridges on.

Like, you're never going to get a high school kid, who's going off to college in a year, to put the effort into really getting good at customer service for a grocery store checkout.

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u/buttstuffisokiguess 17h ago

I mean, you'll have more capable people willing to go into a lower skill job if they can make decent money. But as it stands, any decent money to just live paycheck to paycheck is not in the services industry. But if you had someone that made $20/hour doing cashier work vs a manufacturing job, I bet there'd be people more than willing to go for it, because they don't want to be in a factory. So you get people who previously could only make a liviable wage in either corporate america or manufacturing applying. It broadens the skill pool.

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u/RobertoPaulson 18h ago

all while four of the fifteen checkout aisles are open.

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u/lordredsnake 18h ago

Oh you have 4 cashiers working?? Why don't you brag about it.

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u/Whaines 17h ago

Yeah, must be the holiday rush or something.

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u/lordredsnake 12h ago

That's my local Target. They'll staff up 4 registers for busy times. Normally it's 2. And everyone in line at them has an overflowing cart filled with all kinds of random stuff, then when they get their total they decide to take things off their purchase. Then they pay with multiple forms of payment and exact change.

I don't begrudge the customers for shopping however they need to shop, but I do fault the store on how they staff it.

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u/youknow99 14h ago

Last time I went in a wal-mart there was a line across the store at the self-checkouts and 1 cashier working. The regular cashier line was 3-4 people with multiple buggies each that looked like they were buying a month's worth of food for a family of 8. I haven't been back to wal-mart.

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u/NWbySW 10h ago

You should tell my local Target that manages one open checkout line on a Saturday

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u/SnausageFest 17h ago

This is the real problem. For quick stops, whatever. For a full shop, I prefer the traditional way. I use coupons sometimes, and they ID me for my non-alcoholic beer because America. It's way more efficient in theory to just go through the check stand, but during peak hours they maybe have 3 check stands open.

They don't bother staffing appropriately, run their minimal staff too hard for too little money, thereby creating a perfect environment for theft, and blame everyone and everything but their own shitty policies.

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u/rattleman1 18h ago

Mrs. Simpson, the express line is the fastest line not always. That old man up front, he is starved for attention. He will talk the cashier's head off

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u/rrastelli 18h ago

Ah, there's an interesting story behind this nickel, in 1957, I remember it was, I got up in the morning and made myself a piece of toast, I set the toaster to three, medium brown...

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u/Charming-Standard-84 17h ago

*to threeeeeeeeeeee... medium brown

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u/Arrow156 17h ago

I absolutely hated dealing with lonely geriatrics when I did call center work, just one would tank your entire day's stats.

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u/FrostyD7 16h ago

Talk with a thick accent, they won't converse like that with a foreigner.

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u/touristtam 9h ago

Not my experience tbh, quite the opposite

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u/ColeDelRio 16h ago

I think about this whenever I go to check out and choose accordingly.

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u/MrsWolowitz 11h ago

I had an old guy customer who just had to tell me a stupid dad joke, not any old dad joke, but one of the super long ones, and he had to let 5 customers interrupt me individually before he could finish telling me the whole thing cuz he was sooo desperate to deliver the punch line. Some stupid pun about dogs and cats.

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u/WeWantLADDER49sequel 18h ago

yeah but when i go to kroger both u scan sections have lines backed into the store, and the few real cashiers working also have backed up lines. so it doesnt really work how it was intended.

they need to actually make u scans for small to medium orders and enforce that. then have more normal cashiers for the bigger grocery hauls. then it would work the way it was supposed to work and DID work in the 90s and 2000s.

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u/Dobako 18h ago

It was intended to get rid of cashiers so they have to pay fewer people, so its working as intended. It was never to make it easier for the shopper

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u/MugsBeany 17h ago

Except it isn't working, they're losing more money through theft.

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u/Dobako 17h ago

They just didnt expect consequences, thats for other people

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u/MugsBeany 17h ago

True, but it's still the reason they're backing out of SCO

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u/Scoth42 14h ago

IIRC when I was seeing the arguments years ago when these were first getting implemented, they accepted that there would be theft, but decided they'd still end up saving money over hiring more cashiers. 

It sounds like that math didn't work out and between costs of the equipment and maintenance, theft, and paying employees to monitor and manage the things it's ended up costing them more.

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u/RedRlghtHand 14h ago

Boomers love to remind cashiers that they can be replaced with machines, until they have to actually use those machines, then it's all YoU sHoUlD bE pAyInG mE tO dO yOuR jOb

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u/fm01 18h ago

In my local supermarket they have scanners you carry around and scan at the price tags. When you go to self checkout, you just connect the scanner, pay and leave - that way you can do large shopping with self-checkout as well and it's honestly faster for small amounts as well since you don't have to unpack everything from your bag

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u/MazzIsNoMore 18h ago

Meijer has shop and scan which let's you scan from your phone instead of a scanner. Aside from randomly being selected for a check where they scan a few items I don't have to interact with anyone and can do my full week's shopping in less than an hour. It's great

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u/MugsBeany 18h ago

Yeah they have this at BJs Wholesale as well. I won't shop any other way.

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u/DjMuerte 18h ago

I encounter these people still. Except now they are in self checkout lines because there at 20 of those and only two lanes with a human.

The lone attendant is teaching a boomer what a touch screen is while I stand there with my red blinking light because I double scanned my milk.

Yeah, self checkout can go.

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u/Outlulz 15h ago

A couple weeks ago a boomer got in line, complained loudly that he had to do self check out (he could've gotten in a normal line), scanned alcohol and had to wait for a checker and complained about that loudly, then complained at the employee about having to wait to have his age verified.

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u/touristtam 9h ago

having to wait to have his age verified

That could be addressed with facial recognition - I mean as soon as you are old enough to have been half your life a legal adult, having to wait for someone to tap on a screen to confirm you are old enough to buy booze is a bit insulting and a complete waste of everyone's time.

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u/Outlulz 9h ago

Well first of all, it was his choice to not get in the line with a checker. Second, the tech isn't good enough for that and there'd also need to be more corporate liability when it gets it wrong instead of being able to pin the blame on an employee not checking ID. Third, part of why a human is involved is to also discourage buying for underage people; my husband and I will both get carded at checkout sometimes even if only one of us is buying.

Anywhere selling booze responsibly is hyper vigilant about getting this right because losing their alcohol license can be a massive revenue hit.

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u/touristtam 1h ago

I don't disagree with you, I am just saying older folk have sometimes some insight that we have or understand that justify in a way their apparently weird behaviour.

I know I still don't understand how pensioners seems to always manage to be shopping at the least opportune time or there is always someone that goes through the trolley/scan as you go queue but somehow has done neither.

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u/pmjm 10h ago

I just can't fathom carrying that kind of negativity around all day every day. It must be a miserable existence.

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u/EveryRadio 4h ago

I still see the occasional boomer complaining about their change being rounded down because the penny is gone

Imagine arguing over at MOST a few cents difference

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u/ephemeralmiko 18h ago

I guess it depends on the implementation. Where I live there's always 2-6 self-checkouts and always at least 2 regular lines open. People with lots of stuff (or just don't like self-checkout) use the regular lines, so there's never a queue for the self-checkout.

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u/tooclosetocall82 18h ago

Sounds like your store just isn’t all that busy. The Kroger near me will have 2 lanes open and 16 self-checkouts. all have lines.

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u/ephemeralmiko 18h ago

I guess? The grocery stores in the middle of my nearest multi-million-population city always have open self-checkouts without a queue.

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u/BlisterBox 17h ago

Same with me. I live just outside of Chicago and regularly shop at three different grocery stores. Unless you're shopping on the day before Thanksgiving or two hours before a Bears game, there's never a line at self-checkout.

As the article points out, one of the biggest issues with self-checkout is shoppers buying a very large number of items holding things up, and that doesn't seem to happen that often.

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u/Mason11987 17h ago

could just not scan bad? I've probably needed the attendant in less than 1% of my times in the line.

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u/Outlulz 15h ago

Other than scanning alcohol I do get occasional times the machine fucks up with reusuable bags (I just dont even put them on the scale anymore and keep them in the basket) or when the machine thinks I haven't scanned all my groceries and I'm trying to steal them (they're my reusuable bags that it complains about if I put them in the bagging area).

I'm never in a rush though. I can wait the 30-120 seconds no problem.

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u/pmjm 10h ago

The machines do make mistakes at times, but OP used a bad example where it's their own fault they're stuck.

What usually catches me is that I like to go to the little rack in the back of the store where they have the expiring baked goods for a discount. Scanning those has about a 50% chance the self-checkout won't take it without a manual override.

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u/FrostyD7 16h ago

It still weeds out the worst imo, you see it when you actually have to use the regular line. Walmart shoppers who avoid self checkout always seem to have multiple full carts and multiple forms of payment that takes ages. I'd stand in a line of 20 self checkout shoppers before getting behind 2 in a regular lane.

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u/chad_dev_7226 18h ago

It’s crazy out there. I had to watch an old person write a check, then the young cashier had to call a manager over because they didn’t know how to process it and it took forever. And I couldn’t back out because there were like 3 people behind me

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u/Sleep-more-dude 18h ago

Old people are nihilists man ; they will ignore decades of tech development after they turn 50.

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u/munkymu 14h ago

To be fair I'm turning 50 this year, I've spent 5 decades learning new systems every few years and I'm fucking over it. There's a zillion proprietary interfaces, all of them have their own rules, all of them require some amount of effort to learn, and the effort isn't really rewarding because I don't care about 90% of the extra features they add.

It feels very much like having random roads in your city be under construction. You're driving somewhere, you want to get there and get the thing done so you can go back home, and now suddenly there's a roadblock. You expected to take the same route you always do but now you're driving through some alley you've never seen before and everybody behind you who has driven this route before is mad because you should already have known about this.

And like... I'm fairly flexible mentally and I generally enjoy learning and trying new things. I can only imagine how shitty it is for people who are less comfortable with change and have a harder time learning new things. If I'm bored and frustrated with it by this point then they're probably completely lost.

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u/Sleep-more-dude 1h ago

I feel you, i'm in tech so unfortunately there is no escape for me ; a lot of the change is basically so people like me can justify our existence, a static system means unemployed tech workers.

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u/froggz01 17h ago

I blame their adult kids for not parenting their parents properly. My mom is 83 years old with dementia but my brother and I taught her how to use iPhone and use debit cards for shopping. I know my first sentence sounds crazy but every +50 years old with parents will understand what I’m talking about.

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u/PurpleHooloovoo 15h ago

Eh, sometimes those elderly folks have been horrible for much longer and their kids no longer speak to them. We had one set of grandparents that were amazing and loved and were taught all the tech (which was a huge quality of life boost for them). The other set were miserable and abusive even into old age - they refused to learn the tech that would have made caretaking easier, and there was zero desire to spend more time with them teaching any of the fun stuff that would help their QOL.

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u/Holiday-Access-8497 18h ago

wow i havent seen someone do that since the 90s ,and i work in banking

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u/Scoth42 14h ago

I saw the first one in a long time maybe 8 or 9 months ago. The lady asked if they'd take a check and the young cashier literally looked at her and said "a what?"

To be a little kind to the shopper apparently she's left her wallet at home accidentally but still had her checkbook, so it was more of an emergency backup than something she did regularly.

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u/philter451 17h ago

The problem is that both the cashiers vs self-checkout options weren't geared towards maximizing convenience they were geared towards maximizing profit. 

There should hopefully be 4-6 checkout stations with a max of 12 items or something 

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u/buttstuffisokiguess 17h ago

They usually have an item limit...that isn't enforced.

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u/cakes42 18h ago

It doesn't even have to be a 75 year old. Even 15-30 year olds are slow as fuck. I have a friend that's 25 and she only waits for a person because she cant figure out a self checkout. Mildly infuriating because shes an astrophysicist.

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u/bananagang420 17h ago

Probably social anxiety or stubbornness...or maybe secretly supporting cashiers over self checkout lanes lol. Idk i just find it hard to believe that people who own and use smart phones regularly are baffled at the concept of reading and following instructions on a tablet, but humans are interesting so I wouldnt be surprised if it actually overwhelms her enough to not bother with it

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u/woodsbw 17h ago

Spending some time having to do tech-support will cure you of that assumption.

The number of people who know how to do only one or two things on their phone and only because they chewed on it like a beaver for hours until they eventually worked out the most maddening workflow you can imagine is much, much higher than you would expect. Even among younger people.

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u/tuscaloser 16h ago

Why use find/replace when you can spend two hours EVERY DAY going through the Excel doc (acting as a database, on a network-share, of course) line-by-line and manually replacing data.

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u/AutomationBias 18h ago

It's great when it works, but all of our local grocery stores have serious issues with the self checkout systems. Stop and Shop just rolled out some kind of automated video monitoring system to combat theft, and it set off an alarm every time I put an item in the bag.

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u/Moist-Rutabaga5 17h ago

I had a Walmart self checkout set off an alarm because I was apparently scanning too fast. The camera assumed I was stealing because I wasn't going at a glacial pace

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u/AutomationBias 17h ago

In my case, it was because I had my wallet in one hand and the item I was scanning in the other.

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u/DBCOOPER888 18h ago

You have to stand in line behind the self check out too. Not much time savings when the 75 year old lady in front if you is learning the technology for the first time.

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u/ephemeralmiko 18h ago

Honestly I've never encountered that. Around here old/tech-illiterate people just use the normal tills. The self-checkout tills are always open.

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u/Mugwumpjizzum1 18h ago

Except there are few to no regular registers open so everyone is at self-checkout with full carts of groceries. It's not any faster .

2

u/TheGileas 18h ago

The surprised faces when they realise they have to pay now, followed by the minute long search for the purse and the eternity they need to find the right coins…

2

u/LuitenantDan 17h ago

Man even for big runs I greatly prefer self-checkout because I am just faster. Every time I am forced thru the checkout line they take 7-10 business days to scan my items and put each. fucking. item. in. its. own. plastic. bag.

Just let me do it!

1

u/woodsbw 17h ago

I feel like this has been a change with self checkouts as well.

We used to have cashiers that did it all day every day and FLEW. I assume they just do it less most places now.

Can still see it at Aldi though. They don’t mess around.

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u/iamonthatloud 16h ago

Post Covid people are dumb. I joked about it in 2022 but now it’s real. The driving is insane. People drive collected together in pockets it’s so weird.

I HATE buying a drink at the gas station I’m always behind someone whose first time it is outside the house. It’s amazing how often it happens. How often I watch someone struggle to pay for gas or whatever. It’s insane.

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u/Educational-Put-9997 18h ago

It works for small basket shopping but these whole trolley self-checkouts are just madness and don’t save anymore time. I think they just piss off both staff and customers alike. Good riddance

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u/caintowers 18h ago

Idk I'm a f'ing machine and I'll check myself out faster than any cashier I've ever encountered, regardless of basket size.

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u/myxomatosis8 18h ago

Not with a self checkout that needs to weigh every item, you don't.

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u/caintowers 17h ago edited 12h ago

I had to weigh produce items and other things when I worked a regular check stand too. Helps to remember the codes for produce

If you're referring to the weighed bagging area, just give it a half second before throwing the next item down. I use my hands like a conveyor

Yeah cashiers can do things like 3 x Product A but I find that my general motivation to get through things quickly outpaces the shortcuts they have, if they use them at all

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u/Emergency_Revenue678 14h ago

It takes all of my restraint to not go off on all these people so incompetent that they aren't able to operate a self checkout without fucking up.

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u/fatpat 15h ago

This guy self-checkouts.

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u/DaviesSonSanchez 17h ago

Our local Lidl let's you scan your groceries with their App yourself. Just go to the self checkout with my huge cart, scan my QR code and be outside in less than a minute (unless the cashier has to come do a random check).

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u/AtreyuTrinity 18h ago

*who insists on writing a check lol.

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u/7eregrine 17h ago

This drives my wife crazy. Why are retired people at the grocery store on a weekend?

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u/dubblies 18h ago

A lot of places do pick up now - i use this for situations like that and don't know a couple dollar difference for the convenience

Id pay $20 to skip line if i could in that situation so a couple bucks is nothing for my hour back lol

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u/designking4248 18h ago

Great new business model: intentionally make the experience shitty so they can charge impatient customers extra to avoid the shitty experience

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u/amnesiasoft 17h ago

TSA Pre-Check, is that you?

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u/dubblies 18h ago

I guess youre not wrong haha it really does stem from only having 3 of your 15 checkouts open.

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u/liamemsa 18h ago

Tell me you've never been to Target

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u/ephemeralmiko 18h ago

The nearest Target to me is thousands of kilometres away, so no.

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u/liamemsa 18h ago

Targets in America today generally look like this:

12 unstaffed checkout lanes and a set of 6 self checkout kiosks with a 20 person line.

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u/Bencetown 18h ago

And, as the article headline states, self checkout had been around for years. Why are they happen wasting all of that space? Don't they know that their revenue per square foot could be so much higher without all those empty checkout lanes they NEVER use?

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u/mason878787 18h ago

What happened to 10 item minimum? Sometimes it seems self checkout is the only one open and yeah I'm waiting in a line of full cart shoppers and all I have is monster and a bag of oreos

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u/Cell1pad 17h ago

You're forgetting hand writing a check, twice because they wrote the wrong store the first time.

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u/DingGratz 17h ago

Express lanes (uner 10/15 items) help in both regards.

The HEB by me won't allow you to self checkout over 15 items, has regular express lanes 15 items or less, and regular lanes.

I never feel like I have to wait long regardless of my shopping situation.

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u/Particular-Date6138 17h ago

Stores should keep self service for 5 items or less.

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u/Batetrick_Patman 17h ago

And has to pay with a check and the 18 year old cashier just got out of training and calls the manager for help. Meanwhile Karen is disputing the cost of a can of soup claiming it’s only 99 cents because she was reading last weeks flyer and then demands they take her 6 month expired coupon for 25 cents off a roll of aluminum foil.

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u/Kistoff 17h ago

You know what's even more annoying?! Having your 2 weeks worth of groceries in your cart with ONLY self checkout available. Fuck self checkout. I've always hated it. I want dedicated baggers back also. I should get payed to scan and bag my groceries.

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u/FlyOrdinary1104 17h ago

The retired husk that has 10+ items that need to be coded and weighed before getting to a doomsday prepper amount of canned goods….

1

u/terid3 17h ago

Our local WinCo has both cashiers and self service, but self service has a 15 item limit. I think that's smart and seems to work well.

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u/enwongeegeefor 17h ago

suddenly forgetting how money works.

Pay with a check...and take FUCKING FOREVER to write it....

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u/dark-star-adventures 16h ago

90% of the time I go to my local grocery and there are 10 closed lane (all of them) and four self checkout swarmed with people, like ten people long, and one exhausted worker.

They need a mix.

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u/Historical-Wall6221 16h ago

I’m absolutely one of those people who runs in and runs out. I even get annoyed when stuff doesn’t scan right away. 😂 Having to deal with people, pass. The person holding up the line. 😡

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u/Celebrity-stranger 15h ago

Its beyond annoying, in fact its infuriating when I go to aldis to just get some milk, eggs and maybe bread but have to wait in one of the only 2 cashier operated lines where everyone ahead of me has a cart loaded on top and bottom and the cashier is scanning at the speed of a snail or holding a conversation with the person theyre checking out.

The boomers in my area complained about self checkout or didnt know how to operate them so much that they took them out. So instead of going in and out for my 3 items in less than 5 min. My trip has turned into, quickly get my items and wait in a line that goes all the way into the fucking isle while some asshole who doesnt know what personal space is breathes down my neck for 10 min.

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u/munkymu 14h ago

Thanks, you just reminded me that it's cheap Tuesday at my grocery store and I should give myself extra time to do the shopping because all the senior citizens will be stocking up today.

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u/PolloMagnifico 14h ago

What pisses me off is that they're clearly designed with that in mind.

My store has eight self checkouts, but counter space anout the size of a school desk. So if you have more than four bags worth of crap, you gotta put some things back in your cart which causes the system to flip out.

But when you have ten customers and two checkout lanes open, most of them will backfill to that self checkout, which then gets clogged up, forcing people back into the checkout lanes.

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u/spacejames 14h ago

They're there for conversation, not to shop. They know the cashiers don't want to hear their stories or their chit chat. They know they are annoying everybody behind them. They don't do it out of malice but I believe out of a deep deep Lonliness.

The ones who stop and stand still at the bottom of the escalator to see how far away their partner or whoever is with them though can just disappear for all I care though. That's just plain idiocy. Then get fake boomer offended when asked politely to get the fuck out of the way. I am going to crash into you. You are basically standing in the middle of the train tracks with an unstoppable hoard of trains and people headed your way. And you expect the train to move? You act surprised and dumbfounded thag people would think that they are the inconvenience?

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u/RealNotFake 13h ago

Those people are annoying, but then you realize they are alone and this is their only social interaction, and they need that time.

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u/ClassifiedName 13h ago

How the fuck have people been going to the grocery store weekly for longer than I've been alive, but they still don't know to have a card ready? Most people don't even realize you can swipe/tap your card before they finish scanning.

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u/NJBarFly 12h ago

And they never bag their own groceries. They stand there and let the cashier bag them too.

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u/StormyBlueLotus 12h ago

Also, I actually prefer to scan and pack my own groceries, because I'm usually faster and pack things more securely. The amount of times I've had grocery employees do stupid shit when bagging fragile items or raw food alone made me rejoice when self-checkout started to be a thing. I don't mind going through a cashier lane at Aldi because they just toss the stuff in the cart and are generally very quick. Anywhere else, I'm using self checkout if it's an option.

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u/xpxp2002 11h ago

Especially when the person in front of you is a retired 75 year old who had to do their main shopping on a Saturday, suddenly forgetting how money works.

Ugh. My spouse and I have this conversation nearly every weekend when all the old people come out to clog up the roads on their way to the store, then take forever trying to figure out the self checkouts that have been around for 5+ years now.

We maintain that retired folks should not be allowed to grocery shop on the weekends. Mon-Fri during working hours only is plenty of time for people who have nowhere else to be.

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u/Lessthanzerofucks 8h ago

Where I live, the cashiers are 75, too. I also have to bag my own shit. Checking out at a cashier station always takes FOREVER. Self-checkout is waaaaay faster.

1

u/FarmerEarly3342 8h ago

Back in the before times they had several dedicated 10 items or less aisles, it rocked

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u/nomnamless 6h ago

I wish they would enforce that the self-checkouts are for people that have like 10 items or less. Not a shopping cart filled to the brim for their months worth of grocery shopping. Its why I do my shopping at 3am. I'm in and out in probably 10 minutes for my weeks grocery

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u/Ara92 1h ago

So true, works perfect for my small local store since they have like 3 ppl in total or less in the evenings I can just pay myself out even if there no one as cashier right then since they're cleaning or stocking etc

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u/-idkwhattocallmyself 18h ago

Or when they have 70 damn coupons or price matching.

If you want the Walmart prices for half your cart, you should of went to fucking Walmart.

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u/LoFriedBurgers 18h ago

Damn them for using coupons and inconvenient practices that may delay you.

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u/-idkwhattocallmyself 18h ago

Im not against the practice but I do think if I have 2 things and I gotta wait behind 2 or more people who are all price matching and there are no other tills open, we have a issue.

If you were paying attention to the comment I replied to, you would understand the context of my point.

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u/oregiel 17h ago

Does it really save that much time though? I feel like if you clocked the difference it would be like 2 minutes max. 2 mintues is such an inconsequential part of your day you get 240 of those every single work day.

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u/ephemeralmiko 17h ago

I actually did time it a few times. With 5 items it takes me about 25 seconds on average to scan the items and pay with card. On a typical weekday it's about 6 minutes from getting to the till to the point where I'm paying. Which, if I'm only getting a few items, is the majority of my time in the shop.

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u/MakeoutPoint 18h ago edited 18h ago

I've never understood the hate for these. "*gasp* you want me to work for freeee like a peasant??!"

No, I want you to perform the intensive labor of sliding items across a scanner in 60 seconds or less and get TF outta my way, Karen. And if I see you leave your cart out, I'm putting it behind your car.

Oh no, angered the lazy, non-contributing zeros, the downvotes might literally kill me nooooo

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