Grocery store got self-checkout stations

[JS80]

Taking away each entry level American employee one beep at a time.

Replacing overpaid grocery union employees with engineers, UI designers, G&A, sales, marketing at the self-checkout machine company.

Sounds pretty damn good to me.

 

[Gothgar]

yeah, pretty weak... Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart and now grocery stores.... pretty lame.

 

[PingSpike]

my local stop n' shop takes self checkout one step further. They have portable scanners. Once you enter the store, you can swipe your store card and get a portable scanner. Then as you walk around, scan items and put them in your cart/bag. When you're done shopping, go to self checkout aisle and swipe your store card again, and it wirelessly downloads all the info from the portable scanner into the checkout register. Swipe my credit card, and pay. Dont even have to take the items out of the cart and onto the conveyor belt.

This has saved me so much time that I choose to (grocery) shop only this way.

At least this might actually save some time.

I don't know why people like these things. They're annoying but if they actually worked or weren't designed by fucktards it wouldn't really be that big of a deal. But if you bump your bag the wrong way or have a bulk item the machine "detects an intrusion attempt!!!" and shuts the fuck down. There's no redo or reset option. If you're buying one item and it doesn't like the way you handle it the machine just commits seppuku and leaves you standing there like an ass. Assuming that an overseer is even within sight range and not taking a shit or ALSO RUNNING THE BUSY CUSTOMER SERVICE COUNTER they are likely already helping some other poor sap who didn't weigh his peaches correctly.

I've been to a few particularly bad ones that hide the credit card slider on the back of the machine or something instead of leaving it on the pinpad because that would have followed convention and to many customers already expected that! Come to think of it, I haven't seen anyone use cash on these things...is that even possible? I mean we all know vending machines work great with cash. I'd imagine if you press the cash button it probably shuts down as usual and a spring loaded panel releases tossing your bag load of stuff all over the floor.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I like them. I can always get out of Costco, Home Depot and the super market faster as they are less busy.

 

[K1052]

A lot of stores here have them.

They are real handy if you only have a couple of items and all the staffed checkouts are packed. I'd prefer not to wait behind the mom with 5 kids and 2 cart fulls of groceries or the elderly slow check writing crowd when I just need one thing.

 

[gophins72]

wonder how long until they're outlawed in oregon.

 

[Kelemvor]

wonder how long until they're outlawed in oregon.

Let me guess. You aren't allowed to pump your own gas either...

 

[spidey07]

I quit using self checkout long ago accept if its just a few items. MUCH faster to go through the checkout lines.

 

[Modelworks]

I would love for them to do that here.
I am finding a lot of errors since I started checking my receipts closer over the past couple weeks. Lots of things like items on the shelf marked as on sale, but not being credited when scanned. I never paid attention closely before but since I started checking, about $10 difference this month.

 

[Modelworks]

my local stop n' shop takes self checkout one step further. They have portable scanners. Once you enter the store, you can swipe your store card and get a portable scanner. Then as you walk around, scan items and put them in your cart/bag. When you're done shopping, go to self checkout aisle and swipe your store card again, and it wirelessly downloads all the info from the portable scanner into the checkout register. Swipe my credit card, and pay. Dont even have to take the items out of the cart and onto the conveyor belt.

This has saved me so much time that I choose to (grocery) shop only this way.

The future is rfid. The chips are now down to a cost of about 4 cents in bulk. That is still too much for wide spread use but it is the future. Walk in, put your stuff in the cart, push cart through checkout line, totals instantly.

 

[shortylickens]

Not really, someone has to support these systems...

Yes, Asians. So much technical work is being ported overseas nowadays that I wouldnt be suprised if, instead of fixing these on the spot, they just replace them and send the broke units to Japan or Korea.

Before anyone argues with me: I worked at Hynix and Tektronix, and at both places they ended up closing and moving all their work to Asia. Tektronix o'scopes and such are still manufactured in the US, but by the end of next year pretty much all preventive and corrective maintenence will be done in Asia.

Hooray for outsourcing.

Also, sorry for the above double and triple posts. VB is giving us some troubles.

 

[hanoverphist]

haha, are you that lazy or maybe your local grocery employees are that helpful.

or the local stores employees are getting paid to stand there and watch us do their job without a % discount.

i go thru them on occasion, but i really dont agree with the practice of closing all the regular lines and forcing people to do self check out.

 

[shopbruin]

I love self checkout.

Since I've started bringing my own bags to the grocery store, I'm pretty particular about how things are put in the bag to minimize crushing and so that I can easily carrying them back up to my apartment. Self checkout lets me do just that, and I'm pretty quick at it. I've memorized the numbers for bananas, avocados, apples, etc or at least try to pick fruit with the sticker on it.

The only issue I get is that it freaks out when I start bagging with my own bag because the weight is off, but I deliberately don't scan and put things down until I see a cashier at the "main" station so she can override it.

Hell, last week I had about 10 coupons in hand and they all scanned very quickly. I was a happy camper.

 

[bignateyk]

The only issue I have with them is the weight thing. If I know I have an item that will require assistance (like booze, medicine, etc...) then I go through the regular line. Other than that, they are great.

 

[I Saw OJ]

my local stop n' shop takes self checkout one step further. They have portable scanners. Once you enter the store, you can swipe your store card and get a portable scanner. Then as you walk around, scan items and put them in your cart/bag. When you're done shopping, go to self checkout aisle and swipe your store card again, and it wirelessly downloads all the info from the portable scanner into the checkout register. Swipe my credit card, and pay. Dont even have to take the items out of the cart and onto the conveyor belt.

This has saved me so much time that I choose to (grocery) shop only this way.

Do you still take your groceries out of the cart and put them in bags

 

[sdifox]

I find them slower. I would not use them unless there is horrendous line up.

 

[Saint Nick]

typical American attitude. Expect to have everything done for you.

I hate my fellow patriots. I for one welcome everything being self service. Grocers being largely self service and housing local goods if available too.

Give me a fucking break, destrekor. If they are going to make you do self-checkout, then they could at least knock off some coin for your purchase at the damn thing. They aren't very efficient at getting customers out the door. People easily get frustrated with the things, and, while I do use them once in a while, I find it fast to simply let the store employee check my goods out.

Don't give me that "typical American attitude" type of horse shit. I work my ass off day in, and day out, going to school, holding a job at a Fortune 200 company, and working on developing two start up businesses! I don't expect a damn thing from anyone! I do most, if not ALL, of work myself or with the help of peers. I don't "rely" on anyone.

If you don't like the country, get the hell out!

 

[CrimsonWolf]

Self-checkout ftw when I want to get in and out quickly with just a couple things.

 

[Aharami]

Do you still take your groceries out of the cart and put them in bags

No. I usually bring my cloth bags so when I go shopping, items go from shelves directly into my bag in the cart. When Im done, I transfer bags to my trunk and leave cart in parking lot. If I dont have my cloth bags I leave them in the cart during checkout process and items go from the cart directly into my trunk. I havent used a plastic bag in quite a while

 

[BurnItDwn]

I like self checkouts because then I don't have to wait in line. I hate waiting in line.

 

[Terabyte]

Just wait til some old woman comes up and you have to wait for 10 minutes while she tries to figure out how to weigh her peaches.

All she has to do is put them on the scale. Whether she takes her shift off or not is another story...

 

[FoBoT]

our costco recently got self check out

it is very nice when i am buying 2-3 items and i can skip the lines of peoples with 2 shopping carts full of barrels of spam and vinegar