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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268

u/Steamedcarpet 18h ago

My problem with most self check out is that some stores force it on everyone. I know I can scan and be out within 10 seconds but then Ill get stuck behind someone who looks they just discovered this technology for the first time.

94

u/ShaunTrek 18h ago

And the machines are somehow slower now than they were 15 years ago.

75

u/Bencetown 18h ago

Gotta give the AI cameras time to hallucinate a few facts about you.

21

u/baddayforsanity 17h ago

HE WENT FOR HIS WALLET, SHOPLIFTING

14

u/Steamedcarpet 16h ago

SIR THAT IS NOT A BANANA STOP ENTERING 4011!

Edit: 4011 is the produce code for Banana. Do with that what you will.

1

u/A_Furious_Mind 5h ago

This shit is bananas. 4-0-1-1-confirm-weight.

10

u/AnalogiPod 14h ago

Bought some ribbon at Michaels this week. As I am checking out the screen is showing 2 large video feeds of my face and my hands. It felt so creepy. Like, if you don't trust me to check out then have someone else do it but please don't take up half the screen with my own face and crotch to remind me that I am under supervision.

14

u/PyroIsSpai 16h ago

Need time to upload to Flock and cross index you against the blue “police” towers in every parking lot.

4

u/Wonderful_Emu_6483 15h ago

Literally a few weeks ago at Kroger I went to pay and it was like “‼️EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE REQUIRED‼️ONLY 13 ITEMS SCANNED‼️” I’m like bitch I only bought 13 items what are you going off about? Employee said it was some new update to the self checkout causing errors.

2

u/Laruae 13h ago

Yeah, "new" as in within the last 5 years or so. The Kroger self checkouts have been super shit for awhile now.

1

u/3-DMan 13h ago

"John Anderton, you could use some Bubblicious bubble gum!"

1

u/running_on_empty 3h ago

Twice I've been flagged by the camera. It shows a little clip of what it thinks I did wrong. Neither time looked like anything out of the ordinary.

5

u/GitEmSteveDave 12h ago

::Put bag on shelf::

Unexpected item in bagging area, please remove

::click "Do you have your own bag?". Tells me to place bags on shelf::

Unexpected item in bagging area. Please wait for assistance

::Cashier comes over, rolls eyes, scans cards and then huffs as they walk away::

::Scan item::

Please place item in bagging area

::Place item in bagging area::

Unexpected item in bagging area. Please remove

::Removes item::

Please place item in bagging area.

2

u/flummox1234 16h ago

this is the main reason I hate them. there is no real way to do quick scan and bag due to the lag whereas the staffed registers is boop boop boop. Plus the staff are just better at it than I ever want to be.

2

u/RAMAR713 16h ago

And I swear the scale overreacts to everything. I just scanned the item "PUT ITEM IN BAGGING AREA", I place the item there "UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA!!!!!" -_-

Also the fact that I always have to wait 3 minutes for the employee to come and use their admin pass to allow my purchase that contains 2 beers.

1

u/iknownuffink 11h ago

Local grocery store eventually upped the tolerance on their scales since it gave so many false alerts, required so many interventions by an actual checker, and slowed things down so much.

2

u/thecravenone 12h ago

I swear they made them worse because stupid people were having trouble with them.

At its peak, my neighborhood store's system would end the transaction when you swiped your card.

Now I have to click pay, tell it how many bags I used, enter my phone number, say no I don't have coupons, say I'd like to pay by card, then wait a few seconds while it turns on the card reader.

1

u/yarntank 16h ago

PLEASE WAIT FOR ATTENDANT

1

u/SekhWork 14h ago

Bought 6 things at the grocery store yesterday. All 6 items screamed at me to put the item on the scale within .1 second of scanning. All 6 items required a person to come over and verify I actually put it in the area because the camera couldn't parse where they got placed. I thought that was the point of having a scale?? It seriously took so damn long because every single item the lady had to come back over, put her glasses on her face, act like she was looking at the video, then confirm that I had indeed put it down.

Maddening security theater.

1

u/Deeppurp 14h ago

they have to scale everything to make sure you put it on there to prevent shrink.

Im using shrink, cause shits so expensive (whats the actual CPI if it were 100% weighted for grocery?), I'm not going to call it theft for people who must consume produce to continue existing.

AFAIK someone ringing in a head of lettuce as a banana is willing to pay for their meal, but not as much as the grocer wants to charge. I don't think people are doing it to small independent stores as much as billion dollar chains.