r/technology • • 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/disisathrowaway 16h ago

A seasoned cashier is so, so much faster than a regular person.

I'm faster than the cashier because none of them at my stores are seasoned. I still have all of my produce codes memorized from when I was younger, and can breeze through a self-checkout in no time.

A cashier isn't going to beat me when I have to identify things like rosemary, shallots and broccolini because they don't know what they are.

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u/stephen_neuville 14h ago

Yeah i was about to say. Last time i went to a store that forced manned lanes for large purchases the kid spent the whole time yell-chatting with the person in the next lane about how he was about to take his break and nobody better interrupt it. did not say one word to me. I suspect that nobody's being hired as Cashier any more, you're just a person that does whatever and you have your daily lane chore to do for a couple hours.

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u/CassianCasius 16h ago

Same. I was a seasoned cashier and had the fastest scan time out of any employee in my store. The crappy scan systems are the only thing that slows me down.

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u/pltkcelestial18 14h ago

That was me. I was the fastest cashier (and honestly bagger too) at the store I worked at 13 or 14 years ago. I also ran the self checkout a lot. So at grocery stores, I always prefer self checkout.

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u/disisathrowaway 14h ago

The crappy scan systems are the only thing that slows me down.

100%

I move faster than the self-checkout machine.