Anyone use the Express Checkout thingy at Walmart?

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CrackRabbit

Lifer
Mar 30, 2001
16,642
62
91
The Wal-Mart near me has those, but they are offline most of the time. I Remember the last time I was in there one of the managers was messing with one trying to get it to work right, she got almost as mad as shockwave before giving up on it.
Ive never had much of a problem with the ones at kroger though...


CrackRabbit
 

cerebusPu

Diamond Member
May 27, 2000
4,008
0
0
we have one at harris titter (grocery store) and i use it almost all the tme. Im use to all the menu settings so i can do it fast and the lines there are always shorter because theres 6 machines in parallel. it does have trouble with light items. also, you dont have to put the large items in bags, just set it on the scale thingie that has all the bags.

one time this middle aged woman put her groceries on my side (so it would be easier for her to reach it without bending over) and it kept giving me errors. it took me so long to explain to her why she cant put her bag there because it was trigger my scale and kept thinking i was trying to steal items.

 

LethalWolfe

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2001
3,679
0
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Originally posted by: GoodDad
They have those at Meijers here in MI. Once you get used to them, they are awesome. Here they have a camera focused on each one, and if you/the machine screws up, the cashier fixes it within a second. The only time I dislike them is when some idiot gets up there and cant figure out how to scan their items.

I was at meijer the other day and was behind a lady who was having serious trouble scanning an item. She probably scanned the thing 50 times and it wouldnt scan. Finally the cashier came over to help. Apparently she had her thumb over the barcode of her douche.

So, what you are saying, is you like the things fine as long as someone like cashman isn't in front of you? ;)


Lethal
 

Squisher

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
21,204
66
91
here in MI we have:

Home Depot:
Farmer Jack
Walmart
Meijer

and Used to have K-Mart

......with a U-scan. I like to tho think about it as the checkout for the intelligent, but sometimes it's the checkout for those that think they have what it takes and they fail.


Yeah, you have to be quick and prepared to do what the infernal machine wants, but that's the deal with machines, they do what we tell them to do.

 

ElMono

Member
May 20, 2002
168
0
0
I use the one at Kroger. I go fast enough that I always interrupt the stupid female computer voice before it can complete its sentences.
 

InverseOfNeo

Diamond Member
Nov 17, 2000
3,719
0
0
Originally posted by: Pilsnerpete
The least they could do is record someone with a voice that's appealing instead of a digitized pseudo-female noise.
Options should look like this:

Press here for female voice.
Press here for sexy female voice.
Press here if you want her to talk dirty while you scan! Add .99 per scanned item.

HAHA
 

IGBT

Lifer
Jul 16, 2001
17,976
141
106
Albertsons has em too...same prob.it's gata go in the bag in a certin amout of time or it gets dizzy. And bulk foods are a hastle..no scan label so you have to find your brussel sprouts in the menu..I used the search function by typing in bru..give em time and they will bang the bugs out of it and lay off a bunch of checkers and have 1 or 2 front end helpers to keep things going...do we get a discount for doing our own checking??
 

dman

Diamond Member
Nov 2, 1999
9,110
0
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If you can't boycott the stores that use them, at least tie up the resources of the helper folks that supervise them. If they aren't cost effective they won't use them. Well, maybe not, it's worth a shot.

Winn Dixie has had them for a while. The human staffed checker line was faster because of the stupid delays and having to wait while one item goes through the various security checks in the automated one. I guess if you have 5 items it might be faster but if you have a cart of stuff, the checkout line is the way to go. I don't shop at winn dixie so hopefully the other stores figure that's one of the reasons why.

Homedepot has them but the scales aren't sensitive enough for light items like PVC parts and such. And the scanner sucks, takes like 50 scans to get it to register sometimes. And I was once a cashier so I know how scanners work, the scanner sucks, not me. I've gotten used to it, and if I only have a few items i'll deal with it but the cashiers are usually as fast or faster.

Lowes could've used them, they had one register open yesterday. ONE. At 2:30 on a saturday. Crazy, no wonder that store is dead nobody shops there because their cust. service sucks. Unfortunately they had an item HD didn't, so I was stuck going there.

Walmart is moving to RFID tags and that could work out well if/when implemented fully. Still I like the fake 'hello' and 'have a nice day' to come form a person and not a computer. ;)
 

allisolm

Elite Member
Administrator
Jan 2, 2001
25,362
5,064
136
Homedepot has them but the scales aren't sensitive enough for light items like PVC parts and such.

Amen to that! Half the items for sale in Home Depot are too light to register with the scales so, when you need to pay for that one plastic part you want, you can't go through the largely unused express checkout because it won't work. Also not good for anything heavy or bulky that you can't fit under the scanner. Makes them pretty worthless for me.
 

DurocShark

Lifer
Apr 18, 2001
15,708
5
56
Originally posted by: cerebusPu
we have one at hairy peter (grocery store) and i use it almost all the tme. Im use to all the menu settings so i can do it fast and the lines there are always shorter because theres 6 machines in parallel. it does have trouble with light items. also, you dont have to put the large items in bags, just set it on the scale thingie that has all the bags.

one time this middle aged woman put her groceries on my side (so it would be easier for her to reach it without bending over) and it kept giving me errors. it took me so long to explain to her why she cant put her bag there because it was trigger my scale and kept thinking i was trying to steal items.

Fixed it for ya. :p

 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
Originally posted by: InverseOfNeo
Originally posted by: Pilsnerpete
The least they could do is record someone with a voice that's appealing instead of a digitized pseudo-female noise.
Options should look like this:

Press here for female voice.
Press here for sexy female voice.
Press here if you want her to talk dirty while you scan! Add .99 per scanned item.

HAHA

UT2k4 has the option of Male voice or Sexy Voice. It's only a matter of time before it permeates into the real world.
 

wyvrn

Lifer
Feb 15, 2000
10,074
0
0
I use these when I go couponing, because the human cashiers are usually too stupid to enter the coupons right. :) Add 1 point for the machines!
 

compudog

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2001
5,782
0
71
Our local Weis Supermarket has them (3 self check lanes) and they work perfectly. Take cash, or credit/debit and even scan coupons. Never had an error and they are fast. The only drawback IMO is items that do not have a UPC sticker (local newspaper and fresh fruits/veggies) require a cashier.
 

Mermaidman

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
7,987
93
91
Best scanning speed when I was a checker: 22/minute

Scanning speed when I use these machines: 2/minute

Here's a funny tidbit: K-Mart stopped using these self checkouts because of high rate of theft. K-Mart just doesn't get any breaks . . .