When people are upset over self checkouts; does it upset you?

[Ginevra]

I hear this a lot, or I should say, I see complaints about self checkout on SM. People complain about it, saying something like, “Greedy Walmart Corporate headquarters, won’t hire humans to run cash registers!” 
 

I don’t see it that way. I see it as the way progress works; things that once required human employees often now do not, if the task does not require reasoning and judgment. I *think* I remember a similar complaint when the first ATM machines opened up at my parents’ bank. 
 

How about people here? Does it bother you to perform a self-checkout? Or is it neutral or superior to you? 

[JustEm]

I'm pretty neutral about self checkout. I've personally preferred using it for years because it is so much faster. What bothers me is that my favorite grocery store moved to all self checkout lanes but only 3 to 5 are ever open at a given time meaning it is now slower than when there were cashiers. I don't shop there anymore because of their shitty self checkout system 

[Katy]

Unless I want less than 5 items I will stand in line to interact with a human rather than do self checkout. I don’t work there and it isn’t my job. 

[Insertcreativenamehere]

I prefer self-checkout for most purposes but for large numbers of items, like a weekly grocery trip, I prefer an actual person. 

[Garga]

Do not care either way. 

[regentrude]

Self-checkout rocks! I never use the cashier if I can avoid it.
Except for Aldi where the cashiers are super fast, I am much quicker at self-checkout AND my groceries are packed into my reusable bags exactly in the grouping I want them to. Haven't met a bagger who came even close.

Our new Aldi now has self checkout too, yay.

There is a shortage of workers everywhere; this is a good way to use technology.

As for me doing "their" work: I have to unload on the conveyor belt anyway, so passing the items across the scanner instead isn't more "work", except for lose produce where you have to look up the code. But then, the checker usually doesn't know the code either and has to look it up (and sometimes even doesn't know the name of the vegetable).

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by regentrude

[HomeAgain]

My favorite grocery store has lower prices and fully staffed checkouts with clerks and baggers.

I have no idea what the more expensive grocery store is spending their money on, since they're charging twice as much for some items, are minimally staffed, and has a much worse produce department. 

That's what it comes down to, I think.  How is my money being used?  What services am I paying for?

[Kassia]

I absolutely prefer self-checkout unless I have a huge order.  I can bag things the way I want and my food is handled the way I like.  Sometimes produce is a pain with having to look things up though.  

[Forget-Me-Not]

Prefer self checkout. I don’t have to make chit-chat and I can pack my groceries up in the order I like. I don’t even like to let my kids help (but I do if they’re with me) because I have my method. 

[sweet2ndchance]

I prefer self-checkout. One less human interaction for me to deal with when I'm out in public. Plus I'm particular about how my groceries are bagged so at the grocery store so I don't have to worry about someone else messing up my system lol 😛  (I used to be a cashier when I was younger so doing it myself really doesn't bother me at all)

I've never been anywhere, Walmart included, that didn't have a cashier checkout in addition to self checkout.

[Kassia]

Just now, Forget-Me-Not said:

I don’t have to make chit-chat 

I forgot about this part!  🙂 

[Amy in NH]

I like the speed of self-checkout when there are enough lanes open,

and I like it that no-one is slamming my perishable produce into a bag and then tossing boxes and cans on top of it.

I don't like the fact that there are never enough lanes with belts open.

[Arcadia]

We love self checkout at supermarkets, Target and Costco. It is so much faster since we usually have less than 10 items. I think Costco has the barcode scanner so you can just scan items in your shopping cart. 

[Forget-Me-Not]

Just now, Arcadia said:

We love self checkout at supermarkets, Target and Costco. It is so much faster since we usually have less than 10 items. I think Costco has the barcode scanner so you can just scan items in your shopping cart. 

Costco is the one place I don’t like it. I forgot about that. Ours, at least, forces you to unload all the items in your cart to be weighed, and certain bakery items still have to be keyed in by an employee (looking at you, bagels). If I have heavy items, I just make sure the barcode is turned up on all of them and go through a regular line with an unloaded/partially unloaded cart. 

[1234]

I much prefer self checkout. I especially love places that allow me to scan and bag my groceries as I shop. I really enjoy our local Pete’s but I rarely go because self checkout is not an option and I hate waiting in those lines.

[fraidycat]

I don't use self-checkouts. Most places around here we have to bag our own items anyway, so I don't have to worry about poorly packed bags.

[prairiewindmomma]

TBH, it depends. 
 

Some stores have excellent self checkout lanes and hardware/software. The scales of the goods already scanned register properly and don’t send you back to re-scan something and don’t flag you as needing a cashier to come verify you aren’t stealing. There are enough lanes for people to flow through rapidly, and any gift cards you purchase scan up properly.

That said, if a store was designed for a lot of customers to move through an hour (like my Stuffmart), and all 10 checkout lanes are closed and only two self checkout kiosks are open and Granny can’t read the produce label on her apples and is exhausted from just making it to the score and scootering to get her goods….there has got to be a better way. 
 

Stores need at least one cashier, imo. 

[KSera]

13 minutes ago, Insertcreativenamehere said:

I prefer self-checkout for most purposes but for large numbers of items, like a weekly grocery trip, I prefer an actual person. 

Same for me. I don’t mind doing the scanning at all, but a big weekly grocery trip is pretty difficult with the small bagging area, since you can’t remove any bags until your transaction is done. Our family is big and a week’s worth of groceries doesn’t fit 

[MrsMommy]

I don't mind self checkout when I'm just getting a few things, but when I'm doing a weekly shopping for a family of seven, I do not want to have to check myself out. I think this is partly because our Walmart really isn't set up for self checkout of large orders...there is no conveyor belt at those stations, just a stand meant for a few things. I already need two carts some weeks...if I had to self checkout in that scenario, I'd need a third just to keep things moving, and that really doesn't work for me. The whole process is too stressful when you have a larger order.

[Lady Marmalade]

In my strange circle of people I know, the people who are complaining about stores utilizing self-checkouts are the same people who will short waitstaff on their tips if something was amiss that didn't actually warrant a reduction in tip. 

Personally, I love self-check.  Scan-and-go is even better! My favorite place to shop is Sam's Club because I can shop with my phone in hand and scan everything as I go, cutting out a lot of time waiting in a checkout line.  

[Corraleno]

I vastly prefer self-checkout: faster, more efficient, no small talk (or germs), and I get to bag everything exactly the way I want.  Bonus points for self checkout at places like Target and Home Depot that have scanner guns so I don't even have to take stuff out of the cart. My Trader Joe's doesn't have self-checkout but the cashiers scan directly from your cart, so you don't have to unload onto a belt anyway, and I always bag my own stuff as it's scanned.

Boo to Costco because if any store really NEEDS scanner guns, it would be Costco, and mine doesn't have them. I went through the self-check line thinking it would save me the hassle of having to put all the smaller items on the belt, and instead I ended up having to lift a bunch of big heavy stuff and pass it over the scanner then balance it all in the "place items here" spot, which was ridiculous.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Corraleno

[Carrie12345]

In theory, I’m a-okay with self checkout. In practice, they’re not positioned well for larger orders, and my preferred grocery store “needs assistance” on what feels like every other item.

They do come in VERY handy at CVS, but I hate DG’s system.

[Elfknitter.#]

#teamselfcheckout I especially love Sam's Clubs scan and go app. I can scan as the items go into the cart, skip the register, and go.

However, yes, if I had a large cart of items or am purchasing a bottle of wine or liquor then I will use a cashier.

 

[teachermom2834]

I prefer it and always have. I am faster than the cashiers at the places I go and the lines are so long. I prefer to bag stuff the way I want and not chit chat.  I do not like that places like Walmart force everyone into it by only having one traditional line open. I wouldn’t mind if some niche grocery store only did self checkout but a big box place like Walmart should offer traditional checkout to older folks or people that struggle with it for whatever reason. 
 

My dad always has trouble. And he gets so frustrated he ends up leaving his groceries and going to another store. That is bad for everyone. It makes him grumpy to whatever low paid employees he runs into. He abandons deli meat he has spent the time to have someone slice. No one wins. 
 

I do wish that stores would have a helpful employee ready to jump in and trouble shoot these issues. I did that job 25 years ago when I was working at a grocery store that first put these in and I was pregnant and it was an easier job physically than working a register. I liked it and I helped people. Sometimes you will still find helpful employees in that position. But not always. I have been there when someone had an item with a messed up barcode that would not scan and the worker there told the customer to go get another one to scan. Not good. If it was me I’d run and get another one because it is faster than calling for help but that is terrible customer service. But it happens all the time. Don’t send an old lady to go find another item to scan because the item she had isn’t scanning. Someone needs to provide some customer service and fix that problem. But they are putting all that back on the customer in a lot of cases and that is just too much. 
 

And now they seem to just be accepting a certain level of theft and it makes me mad I’m paying  for it. They used to watch those checkouts so closely when they started but now I think they just cook the losses into the model. 
 

So personally I like it and use it and hate standing in line. I’ll do curbside or Amazon to avoid traditional shopping as much as possible. But I totally understand why other people are frustrated by it. It’s nice as an option but not as the only choice and when there is only one lane open in a Super Walmart and it is being worked by the slowest possible employee it is pretty clear they are forcing you to it. 

[Annie G]

I like self checkout when the system is a good one- when it scans right, the sale prices come up as advertised, and there’s room for me to bag things. It’s also essential to have an employee nearby to come fix any issues- I hate when I have to wait ten minutes for someone to come fix a wrong price or allow my cough medicine sale.  (Kroger, you are getting NONE of the above right!)

But I also want places to have a real cashier for folks who want one. My 90 year old dad wants to be totally independent but he needs a regular cashier. 

[kbutton]

If the self-checkout is designed well, I am ambivalent. Not all work well. I don't know any that are great for large orders, but I don't have all the stores mentioned here near me.

I think people complain about Walmart because some have a million checkout lanes that are never staffed. Walmarts seem to vary in quality a great deal, but a million unmanned lanes and so-so self-checkout seems to be a constant (kind of like the broken ice cream machines at McD's).

I absolutely HATED the early self-checkout lanes. I remember when the bagging area was programmed to be sensitive to any possible thing you could do wrong, and I had a little kid that couldn't stop touching the platform--it would hose up and make me call an employee for nearly every item as a result. 

I resent self-checkout lanes used by stores as a way to solve the problem of refusing to train employees well. I can understand why people complain about that. It really does reek of not caring about customers. 

[Faith-manor]

I use self checkout as much as possible. I am not a person who enjoys shopping or wants to be chatty, and it is easier to socially distance than standing in line with scars of people and their carts. The only place where I shop that I will have a lot of items is at the Mennonite bulk food store. They usually have five lanes open and their cashiers are efficient so I get out of there quickly. I know when the low times are to shop which allows me to get in and out with $200 of groceries in 30-40 minutes. They also do not mind that I bag my own groceries. The other places really do not train their cashiers well when it cokes to bagging so they will pipe canned goods on top of a loaf of bread or mushrooms, etc.

We recently got an Aldi. I have not tried it yet because it has been a madhouse with lines of people outside waiting to get in. I can't handle that.

[Bambam]

It totally depends upon how many items I have - and sometimes what kind of items.

Lots of items? I want a checker, they are faster and more efficient.  Plus the bagging area for most self-check isn't that big, so it is a hassle if you have many items.

Lots of produce? I want a checker because they have several codes memorized, and I have to stop and look up each one - for whatever doesn't have a bar code sticker on it, plus those don't always scan right the first/second/third time. 

If I have coupons (yes, I sometimes still use paper coupons), I want a checker because you can scan your coupons, but someone still has to come over and check.

For a while, our grocery store installed a new camera system to make sure folks weren't stealing, and it would not let anyone check out until a store employee came over to count your items and make sure it was accurate. They've fixed that, but that was a huge inconvenience and slow down for several weeks. 

I do wonder about saving money though. Our Target has an employee directing folks to each self-check, and for a time had another employee wiping each one after use, and another employee sorta watching the end - probably for theft purposes. It would have worked better with three checkers IMHO. Our Walmart seems to have one employee watching four self-check lanes - again - not sure that having those employees actually working as checkers wouldn't be better in terms of speed and theft. 

[kbutton]

Also, produce needs to be clearly marked. If there are four kinds of yams/sweet potatoes (unmarked) in the produce section and twelve in the "find produce" menu...well, even those who know obscure produce are going to be frustrated! 

[itsheresomewhere]

I like self checkout most of the time.  But what stinks about it is that if you need help, not all stores have someone to help the set check out. Then you are stuck trying to get help or dealing with someone who has decided that you are an idiot as you are the problem with an item not ringing up ( the closest to my house grocery store has a few employees like this).  
 

[Pawz4me]

I prefer self checkout as long as it doesn't yell at me for every little thing. I prefer to pack my stuff in my own bags the way I want it packed and to not have to make chit chat. 

But it doesn't bother me (much) if other people complain about it. People are gonna complain about something. If it weren't self checkout they'd find something else to whine about.

[Terabith]

I don't personally have strong feelings about self checkout.  I often prefer it, because interacting with people is not my favoritest thing ever.  But if I have a ton of stuff, trying to deal with it in the tiny area is cumbersome, and if I'm buying stuff that requires age checks, it seems slower and less efficient.  

I DO think it's a result of corporate greed, and I do resent changing everything over to self checkout, not having ANY cashiers, and closing three fourths of the self check out stations.  It's like the whole goal is to create long lines.  

[prairiewindmomma]

The thing is, the camera software at places like Walmart and Target is capable of being good enough to look at your cart and determine whether things have all been scanned. Your cart, both topside and underneath, is being scanned and filmed. Likely your face is being linked to your payment method as well. If you have a pattern of shoplifting, at least in my state, they are flagging the transactions and letting you go and waiting until it hits felony levels.

My other pet peeve is my awful Stuffmart which is now putting entire aisles behind locked plexiglass. If I want to buy toothpaste, I am ringing a bell and waiting 20 minutes for someone to arrive to get the item and walk me up to customer service. It’s all ridiculous. They might as well close the store to outsiders and become a pickup only location.

[rebcoola]

I prefer self check out at this point. They have gotten rid of the placing it in the bagging area sensors at all my stores and their are no bags here now.  So we bring our own trunk organizers that fit in the cart fill them up use the gun on everything without taking it out of the cart and place the whole thing in the trunk it's streamlined and nice.  Idk about Walmart bur at our local Safeway they didn't change the number of people are on each shift they just changed duties some.

[Miss Tick]

The Meijer near me has improved their self-checkout vastly by:

1. removing the bag rotation thing so now there is a lot more room for placing groceries and

2. you can remove your groceries before you are done scanning everything. In fact you don't have to put them in the bagging area at all if you don't want to.

Also, there are always one or two associates waiting to assist, but that may be due to the fact that I go at the super-low use time of early Wednesday morning.

[theelfqueen]

I almost never go to stores... so take that for what it's worth. I'm not a fan of self checkout because I am paying the same markup for service whether I use the service or not. Doesn't sit right with me,  somehow. But I am also not a fan of interactions lol

Edited December 14, 2022 by theelfqueen

[catz]

I personally love self checkout.  In general I just think it is faster. 

I also personally love Target Curbside.  You can add on Starbucks now.  WOW.  Technology is magical.

[Indigo Blue]

I don’t mind self checkout, but I do get frustrated about it if I have lots of produce to figure out. And our self checkouts are designed for smaller orders. There’s not a lot of room/ counter space to do large orders. 

[Momto6inIN]

I love love love self checkout! I am more efficient than the checkers anyway. They never load my reuseable shopping bags correctly and they are always only half filled. I can do my full grocery cart family of 8 weekly trip easily and quickly myself. I usually have one kid go get an extra cart to put the full bags in after I scan them because the loading area isn't usually big enough.

Some people rant and rave about it like it's taking jobs away from people, but I'm pretty sure they can keep the same number of employees busy by doing pick-up orders. I mean, there were only ever 2-3 cashiers working at a time anyway 🤷‍♀️

[Indigo Blue]

2 minutes ago, Miss Tick said:

2. you can remove your groceries before you are done scanning everything. In fact you don't have to put them in the bagging area at all if you don't want to

This would make things easier. I’m not even sure ours are set up that way at this point. I was just wondering about that. 

[Carol in Cal.]

I dislike self checkout. It’s buggy and it always seems to take a long time to get help if you need it.  Produce is a big fat pain.  And often it will just fail to sense something, or sense something is present when nothing is there and need to be overridden.  It’s been a while since I have used it because of these, and maybe I should give it another chance.  I distinctly remember the last time I did.  It was late in the evening and I was very hungry, and I stopped in to get about 5 things, and it wasn’t working, and I waited a bit for help, and finally just left in disgust, having been delayed for nothing.  

[Lady Florida.]

I've heard people ask "When did I start working for Walmart/Target/Publix/Name of any store with self checkout?" I don't see it that way. In most cases I prefer it because I can get out faster and bag things the way I want them bagged. As far as eliminating jobs, that's been happening since the Industrial Revolution and isn't going to stop. We can't change that. 

I do go to a cashier when I have a lot of items or when I just have extra time to spend in line but for quick trips I like self checkout.

[JustEm]

All the stores around me now have barcodes on produce so you rarely have to key in an item code and they no longer make you leave your items in the bagging area 

[Lady Florida.]

32 minutes ago, Lady Marmalade said:

 

Personally, I love self-check.  Scan-and-go is even better! My favorite place to shop is Sam's Club because I can shop with my phone in hand and scan everything as I go, cutting out a lot of time waiting in a checkout line.  

We have both Costco and Sams memberships. I wish Costco had scan and go. I love it! I also wish you could use their app to pay for gas like you can at Sams.

[kirstenhill]

I generally prefer self checkout. I feel like it's pretty fast. Like others have said, Aldi is the exception since the checkers are lightning fast. 

My only complaint is that sometimes produce is a pain. Like I type in sweet potato (no sticker on it with a numerical code) and I'm so perplexed when nothing comes up. I had to call for assistance and the clerk told me it only comes up as "yam" in their system. Ok, fine, I guess I was having a mind blank but it would not be hard to have all terms in there. Another time there were two brands of bananas as different prices...I could only get the self checkout to ring up the more expensive variety even though it was supposed to be the cheaper brand.  But small complaints, really. I'd much rather self checkout than have to answer the clerks questions about what I'm making with these things, or to wait in a super long line because they are understaffed. 

[Lady Florida.]

42 minutes ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

Costco is the one place I don’t like it. I forgot about that. Ours, at least, forces you to unload all the items in your cart to be weighed, and certain bakery items still have to be keyed in by an employee (looking at you, bagels). If I have heavy items, I just make sure the barcode is turned up on all of them and go through a regular line with an unloaded/partially unloaded cart. 

 

32 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

 

Boo to Costco because if any store really NEEDS scanner guns, it would be Costco, and mine doesn't have them. I went through the self-check line thinking it would save me the hassle of having to put all the smaller items on the belt, and instead I ended up having to lift a bunch of big heavy stuff and pass it over the scanner then balance it all in the "place items here" spot, which was ridiculous.

Agreed. Costco is the only place I hate self checkout. 

[rebcoola]

9 minutes ago, catz said:

I personally love self checkout.  In general I just think it is faster. 

I also personally love Target Curbside.  You can add on Starbucks now.  WOW.  Technology is magical.

You can add Starbucks now that is amazing!!

[Wheres Toto]

I vastly prefer self checkout.   For all the reasons everyone else is saying.

All the stores around here have at least one employee working the self-checkout area to assist as needed.  All give you the option to "Skip Bagging" so you can put things back in your cart, all have an alphabetical listing for produce and bakery items to make that easier (I can't see the tiny numbers on a lot of things but I know what I bought).   

[Guest]

52 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

In theory, I’m a-okay with self checkout. In practice, they’re not positioned well for larger orders, and my preferred grocery store “needs assistance” on what feels like every other item.

They do come in VERY handy at CVS, but I hate DG’s system.

Oh I use them all the time at CVS, much more efficient and I’m only ever getting a bag of stuff at most. 
 

My grocery store I often go to has full-length conveyor belted self-checks, although they do also have the quickie lane types as well. The only thing that annoys me is that If I’m bagging stuff it keeps saying, “If you are finished scanning, please touch Finish & Pay…If you are finished scanning, please touch…” Sometimes I mutter, “I’m NOT finished scanning, you nitwit!” 

[Spy Car]

I will not use them.

I believe it is a way to destroy jobs.

Je refuse!

Bill