I started using grocery self-checkouts during COVID, but I’ve kept using them because there’s rarely a line (and I’m a misanthrope). I’d probably go back to using regular human checkouts if I had to dig through all my crap to prove what I bought.
Having said that, I’ve noticed myself making mistakes. I’ve accidentally failed to scan an item, and I’ve accidentally entered incorrect codes for produce. When I notice, I fix them, but I’ve probably missed a few.
I guess the easiest answer is for grocery chains to reinvest some of those windfall profits and hire more cashiers.
Ha! Not that I steal, but I don’t care about supermarkets losing money from people stealing.
If they want their customers to know how to use the self-checkout machines better, they ought to pay them for training.
I’ve never seen anyone stealing food and neither did you…
I was at Walmart the other day and there were four employees standing around the self checkout. They all said bye to me when I left. Weird shit.
At that point, why not just have them work the tills??
Because cashiers are a different cost-centre, and thusly a different budget on the company’s financial statements. The VP or senior director that controls the cashiers’ services would end up looking bad if they had to retrench on that decision, and “looking bad” is death at that level.
A lot of what happens inside a company makes more sense when you realize it’s a power struggle between a bunch of narcissists and their lackeys, and that VPs and CEOs aren’t really as powerful as you’d think. Companies can be as inefficient and cut-your-nose-off-to-spite-your-face as any non-profit or public sector employer is, but we often don’t see it because we’ve been trained to assume that “private sector == well-oiled machine” and “public sector == clusterfuck”.
I was waiting to self checkout at a Walmart where there are 4 of around a dozen self-checkouts working. I asked about the ones that were not working and the employee told me that they can only open 4 units for every employee present. In order to have all 12 open they need 3 people there.
What I do is deliberately go to a cashier, even if the line is extremely long, and I see more and more people doing the same. This forces more lines to open. One time they asked if I could use the self-checkout to speed up the process. I replied that if the items were cheaper at the self-checkout, sure, otherwise I’d stay in line.
I do the same thing. Aside from a gas pump, I no longer will use self-checkout for any reason. I’m done working for Big Retail for no pay & no discount.
Am I the only one that hands my stuff to the staff member standing there and asks them for help? I really don’t mind saying I don’t understand how those things work, as I truly don’t care enough to pay even the slightest bit of attention to them… If there’s a staff member just standing there watching, why can’t they help me as a customer?
I’m always polite about it, except that one time at Dollarama where there was 4 people standing there acting like I was being rude for asking them to ring me thru a till rather than use a self checkout. That time, I just put my stuff down and walked out. If they don’t want to help me, I’m not giving them my money.
I won’t use them at all. I’m not seeing any cost benefit from doing their employees’ task for them as prices have never come down. Big box stores can DIAF for all I care.
