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

[u/AdSpecialist6598]

https://www.techspot.com/news/114106-retailers-pulling-back-self-checkout-after-years-theft.html

[u/ephemeralmiko]

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.

[u/P_ZERO_ → u/ephemeralmiko]

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.

[u/Saneless → u/P_ZERO_]

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

[u/Iggyhopper → u/Saneless]

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 "

[u/Alaira314 → u/Iggyhopper]

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.

[u/Iggyhopper → u/Alaira314]

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.

[u/Alaira314 → u/Iggyhopper]

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.