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Retailers are pulling back from self-checkout after years of theft, errors, and questionable time savings (www.techspot.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 42 points 1 month ago (18 children)

Didn't realize self checkouts were such a divisive topic, like wtf I'll take that any day of the week over standing in line behind people who have seemingly never been to a supermarket before and their shit is still standing there all over the place while the cashier is already scanning my products. I get that it keeps someone employed but I think the answer to that is better welfare, not sticking to the old ways just so someone gets to do menial shit for a living.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 month ago (8 children)

    At my grocery store I used to use the self checkout until they instituted a new policy where they would randomly check you and verify that the contents of the bag matched the receipt. Well fuck that, I ain't gonna be treated like a criminal. I'm back to waiting in the line, let them do the work.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago

    At mine there's one cashier who's an absolute delight which serves as such a stark contrast to the self checkout that accuses me of stealing regularly and is very hesitant to actually scan some items. Add in that cashiers are faster and I can pay while they scan and it's just a better experience unless the line is crazy and I don't have many items

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago* (2 children)

    Is it a subscription based store, like a Costco?

    If so, you signed up for the cart checks. The only thing you can do is not shop there.

    If not, once you pay for it, it's yours, and they have no legal right to touch it or check it unless you give them permission.
    All you have to do is kindly say "no thank you" and keep walking. If they stop you, they're violating other laws.
    If they suspect you of theft, they can calls the cops. Otherwise, they must let you pass.

    The corpos and cops know the laws and, as such, your rights. It's time we all know them, too, so we can put them (corpos and cops) all in their place on the ground.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I have thought about all of this at great length. The problem is that they can ban me from the store.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago

    They can, but if they ban you for not allowing them to check, that's illegal, and you can sue. If they ban you for theft, they need the cops to prove it.

    Keep in mind, you must be kind when you refuse. A nice smile and kind "no thank you" is enough. If you're combative, they can ban you for that. If they're dicks that ban for the sake of banning, fuck em

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    Lol, the only place I'm letting them check my work is Costco. I don't even take my receipt from the machine at other places, and have told employees on more than one occasion that they can go get my receipt from the machine or go check with LP and keep walking.

    They can't legally stop you, so I'm not playing their games.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (1 child)

    They can ban you from the store.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    Is it a membership store? If not, they would need to have a posted policy that you're required to follow for that to be a real threat.

    The drone at the front of the store is not allowed to do more than request to see your receipt, and playing off that you can't hear them is also a good option I've used in the past when they try.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

    I think a balance is good.

    I worked at Target a long time ago as a Front End manager, before the days of self checkout. So I know how to cashier quickly and efficiently, and I get annoyed shopping at other places where the employees or customers are being slow.

    I also appreciate just how volatile needs can be and how difficult it can be to staff. There have been books written on the subject, but in short for large stores with a lot of volume, customers do not usually trickle into checkout constantly as one might expect. Instead, they crash against the front of the store like waves. Personally when i'm shopping I try to identify these waves and time my checkout between them. At Target, we would often only have a couple of dedicated cahsiers, and would call the cart attendant or floor employees to help out for these waves. Self-checkout helps to smooth this out a lot and reduces all that walking back-and-forth.

    I also hated all the upselling they made cashiers do. Target credit/debit cards and extended warranties on electronics. As an employee it was obnoxious and felt like we were annoying customers. As a customer, I was annoyed. One of my complaints about self-checkout today is how they ask you so many questions. My local grocery store self-checkout requires 5 button presses after i'm done scanning, which i think is bad design.

    But also sometimes people need help. Some products are more complicated to buy. Some people are disable. Coupons are a plague upon society which machines are incapable of addressing. Some people just plain want a social experience, and it's good to have human employees standing around in general. So I like the idea of having a mix.

    And, of course, Universal Basic Income so we can stop asking "but what about jobs?" about every new innovation (but fuck AI though).

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    I agree, I have nothing against both being an option. In my bubble, everyone pretty much uses self checkout exclusively whenever available, except maybe for a large haul, so I was surprised to see how many in the comments actively dislike it.

    That part about waves is interesting, it's absolutely true and it happens all the time but I never really thought about it.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    I started as a cart attendant, so I noticed that cars entering the parking lot would usually correspond with the traffic lights nearby. Pretty simple and straightforward.

    What's weirder is that most people exit in groups. Maybe not the same group they came in with. Some people might need to go Guest Services for a return. Some people would stop at Food Ave for a snack. Some used the restaurant. Some would peruse softlines (clothing) for an hour or two with multiple trips to the fitting room. Some would go straight back to the pharmacy for their meds. Some families would come in and split up. And there would be the occasional straggler checking out on their own, but there was an overwhelming tendency for several parties to all check out at once. Then they would form their own traffic leaving the parking lot.

    I think some of it is subliminal. Once one group starts to check out, that starts to put the beeps of the register, the hum of the convertor belt, the clatter of items being moved, and the rehearsed conversations of a transaction to float through the air of the front of the store. My hypothesis is that customers shopping in the front who were close to done would have their decision to check out accelerated by this.

    Some of it could be the result of all of the other psychological manipulation that happens in retail stores. That is a whole science of its own that I am only vaguely aware exists, but it is very likely that a contributing factor too.

    Or it could be emergent from human behavior. For example, studies have shown that people will commute ~1hr max to/from work (I can't remember the exact number, it might have been closer to 45 minutes). Doesn't matter if they are walking, riding a horse, rowing a boat, driving a car, taking a bus, taking a train, or any combination. Once the time starts to exceed that amount, people either look for a new job or new home, and this has had an impact on the way that neighborhoods and cities grow over time.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (4 children)

    I'm honestly surprised anyone likes self checkout. It's such a pain in the ass. Almost always have some sort of error that I need to wait to be rescued from.

    Maybe it's different where you are from, but where I am from human cashiers are way more efficient.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago

    I like self checkout because i can generally get finished and out of the store sooner than if I go through the cashier. But some grocery checkouts do seem to often have hypersensitive scales and the worst nagging if you're 2 ms slow to get your item into your bag, or God forbid you take a moment to rearrange things and mess up the calibration. I imagine they have a terrible urge to prevent people from stealing a grape.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    The ones that need to match the weight of the product are absolutely horrible and full of errors.

    The ones that only need to scan barcodes are ok-ish. Sometimes you can run into weird situations, like I managed to find a product that had two barcodes for some reason, and I scanned the "wrong" one and it confused the machines. Or there was a product that printed their barcode so tiny that the machine couldn't scan it. But those are rare.

    The fun part is when you try to buy any alcohol because over here they need to call a human to confirm you're an adult.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    Totally depends on the store you're shopping at, foremost. Then secondarily what products you're buying.

    Where I live, self checkout is usually faster but I'll still go through a regular line periodically. Frankly though I'm just picking up groceries most of the time at this point. It's easy and if the people grabbing you things have a touch of empathy you get fine looking produce and meats too.

    Anyways, you're right it is definitely heavily dependent on where you live. Hell some places, especially in upper middle class areas, have a lot of the detection shit turned off (like you can actively put wrong weight stuff in or bypass the scans entirely - there's a chance you may still get flagged but it'll let you finish the order up before someone comes to put a code in to override it).

    I guess if you're going to commit petty theft I'd suggest you buy a decent outfit from a second hand store and go to a nicer grocery store self checkout.

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