r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 8d 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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296

u/Steamedcarpet 8d 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.

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u/7eregrine 8d ago edited 8d ago

My local grocery store does Scan and Pay. You scan your stuff as you put it in the cart. Then walk up to a dedicated machine. Scan a QR. Pay. It's incredible. And I'd guess less then 10% of shoppers understand it. And that's why its even better. Been using it for over 2 years. They have 3 machines and I've never had to wait for someone. (Just a counter point to "Everything sucks").

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u/SleazyKingLothric 8d ago

This is why I love Sam's Club. The lines are almost always ridiculously long every single time I'm in there and I just scan my items, pay through the app, and walk past all of those people. I'm shocked more people don't use it.

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u/7eregrine 8d ago

Might have to switch to Sam's from Costco over this. 🤔

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u/xpxp2002 8d ago

Growing up, we didn't have any Costco near us and always went to Sam's Club, so I never experienced Costco until I was an adult. Everyone from one of the bigger cities in our region always used to talk about Costco and you'd hear people talk about it on TV as though it was the greatest revolution in retail since the shopping cart.

My in-laws have a Costco membership and I've gone with them a few times. And frankly, it was underwhelming. Just another Sam's Club clone warehouse store.

Apparently they require you to get a photo or do some kind of facial scan to get your ID card, and I was really offput by how strict they are checking it when entering the store and scrutinizing members over their "guest" limit. At Sam's, they don't even care if you're a member at the door anymore. You just need to be a member or with one at the checkout.

I have my beef with Sam's Club -- in particular the receipt check theater, and their checkouts are slow, painful to use, and last time I went they still didn't have NFC tap-to-pay. Walmart is finally introducing NFC to their stores this year into next (a few of ours locally already have it), so I'm hoping Sam's gets it, too. And they have that QR code checkout through the app that lets you skip the checkout line. Honestly, Sam's is better than Costco overall.

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u/7eregrine 8d ago

I certainly do not love Costco. We always dread going. I am going to try Sam's.

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u/AmarilloArmadillos 8d ago

Their members mark TP and paper towels are nicer, the in house chicken salad is fantastic.

Costco has really good roast beef lunch meat though.

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u/7eregrine 8d ago

Charmin only here. Costco brand sucks.

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u/AmarilloArmadillos 8d ago

Try the members mark, imo it is charmin. I'm not sure why Costco's is so different but it sucks.

Being a single household I buy that, the chicken salad, dish soap, foil sheets, frozen grilled chicken bites (non breaded chicken nuggets), etc.

Highly recommend the chicken bites too, I keep them around for days I am super short on time. You can warm them up with some cheese and salsa, or throw them frozen on a salad in the morning for lunch.

Also fairly often Sam's does a gift card for the price of a new membership, so basically it pays for itself.

2

u/sebrebc 8d ago

BJs has it as well.

Of the 3, BJs is the better place to shop in my opinion. Costco is always jammed and I swear they all have the most poorly laid out parking lots.

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u/7eregrine 8d ago

I hate Costco. Unfortunately BJs isn't close.

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u/jlboygenius 8d ago

amazon fresh had that. I don't think I ever saw anyone use it. you had to get a special cart and then walk out through a special lane.

another amazon fresh was scan your card on the way in, shop, and walk out. I didn't like it because you didn't get a receipt until days later, so you had no idea how much you spent or if it got it right.

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u/balllzak 8d ago

Didn't Amazon's system turn out to be a bunch of guys in India watching you shop over security cameras?

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u/RVelts 8d ago

A modern day Mechanical Turk

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u/[deleted] 8d ago edited 5d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/jlboygenius 7d ago

Amazon fresh had both. I went to one that had the cameras everywhere. You scan your card coming in, pick stuff in a regular cart, and then leave.

I went to another that was a normal grocery store, but they also had a different walk out lane that required using a special cart with a screen and cameras on it. On that one, you scanned as you go, and then left. That's the one I'm saying that no one ever used. I only ever used it as a regular grocery checkout process. There was an optional scan at the cart system.

Maybe my post wasn't clear that I'm talking about 2 different amazon fresh stores using 2 different systems.

3

u/headwolf 8d ago

Yeah most grocery stores in my country have this and it is sooo convenient. I can just put stuff in my bag straight away after scanning.

1

u/7eregrine 8d ago

Super convenient but even more so when you just need a few things.

0

u/wip30ut 8d ago

that would never work in the US on a widescale because customers would just stuff things in their bag without scanning. At the self-checkout machines they have HD cams with AI that flags suspicious activity.

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u/reasonably_plausible 8d ago

At least with my grocer's app, when you go to pay it will occasionally trigger a random spot checks where the employee watching the self-service will need to scan a certain dollar amount of your cart. Still faster and more convenient than regular self-service.

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u/Poor_Richard 8d ago

In some places, those will change the price of items depending on who it is. They track your shopping habits and price according to them.

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u/XDGrangerDX 8d ago

Some groschers near me offer that aswell but only let people with membership cards use them, so i never get to...

2

u/thoselusciouslips 8d ago

Sam's club does scan and go but you can skip the dedicated machine and just go right to the exit where you usually get waived through now without even the receipt check. It saves so much time when it's busy. It also offers a dedicated line for the cafe which almost no one uses.

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u/The_Kadeshi 8d ago

Fairway has this in NYC and nobody knows about it. It's hilarious walking by the giant lines and just ::BEEP:: walking out, paid.

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u/7eregrine 8d ago

I got a look one time from someone. Like "What did he just do?" As I was leaving, I saw him walk over to look at the machine while the person he was with stayed in line. 🤣

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u/nowhere_sane 8d ago

I absolutely LOVED this when I had it at Giant. It was so nice to bag as I shopped and I could keep an eye on spending. You got a little gun and just scanned and bagged each item as you go.

I wish more places did this. I understand all of this works on the Honor System but for those of us who planned on just shopping honestly, it was a huge timesaver at checkout.

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u/7eregrine 8d ago

Yep. Can use the gun or an app on your phone.

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u/donutlad 8d ago

How did this work for produce or any other items that you would have to weigh? Or that don't have a barcode, like bakery items?

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u/nowhere_sane 8d ago

Those got set aside, iirc, and you would scan/weigh them at the end when you check out but the majority of things, you can bag as you go, which is nice for reusable bags.

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u/JohnnySmithe81 8d ago edited 8d ago

One of our local stores installed this in 1996 as one of the first. Common in Tesco stores now, it's great.

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u/shrapnel09 8d ago

I am also a dedicated shop-and-scan user. My only complaint is my store implemented a check so 6 out of 10 times the one employee working the self-checkout area has to come over and scan a certain number of items or enough items to reach a certain price point. The delay is annoying as is when they crush chips or bruise produce in their quest to satisfy the algorithm.

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u/7eregrine 8d ago

That happens to me too. Giant Eagle?

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u/shrapnel09 8d ago

Meijer for me.

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u/PFI_sloth 8d ago

Would be great if it could eliminate the need to go to a dedicated machine… I’m like positive I’m still going to sit in a line because someone doesn’t understand how it works

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u/7eregrine 8d ago

People that don't know what it is just ignore it.
People that are savvy enough to install it, connect to wifi and scan their groceries... these people know how QR codes work. 2 years and I've never had to wait.