They'd rather change their operations than lobby for the poorest to have enough money and not have to steal.

There's a Walmart near me that I just never bother going to because like 80% of the non-grocery items are locked behind plexiglass. There are 4 self-checkouts and 2 employees assigned to just stand there watching people to make sure they don't shoplift. They've made shopping so hostile that it barely makes sense for it to be a department store at all. Might as well just go back to the old model of telling the employee what you want and then they go get it for you.

I'm here with your regular reminder that is you see someone stealing food, no you didn't.

Good news, new jobs opening to fill the cashier roles. But watch they will just implement a ticket system and checkout will take 3 hours.

Pretty sure the self checkout isn’t where most people steal, why not just walk out the door with whatever you want?

Guessing they'll also raise prices when they simply return to previously normal operations.

I really wonder who these retailers are. Like, my grocer typically has 2 human and 12 self checkout open, and it's no question which of those is going to be faster for someone pushing less than a full cart. They don't even have the floor space to build twelve more full service checkouts. Reminds me of the bad old days when I'd go to the store and they'd have every human checkout line open, every one of them with 5+ people in line, and it'd take 30 minutes just to check out. If you're a retailer that only processes a couple dozen patrons an hour, then yeah, I can see where a few self-checks wouldn't be any benefit.

Feels like we've reached the enshittification phase of self-checks: big stores are now so beholden to the technology that the vendors can jack up their prices to where self checks cost the store more than a full-service checkout, but they can't go back because there's no staff and no space.

My local grocery had self checkout for about a year before ripping them out and putting normal ones back in. They don’t seem to be understaffed.

Not all stores are awful on all fronts. They don’t have chairs for their checkout people yet though.

Same here - I bring one bag from home and when it gets full I stop shopping. Even waiting behind one half full shopping cart in a cashier line is slower than waiting for an available self-checkout.

I swear every time I pull into a manned checkout lane at one specific store I get the nastiest look from the cashiers. There are 3 functional self checkout kiosks and the scale on all of them is slightly under a single square foot. I'm not buying a thanksgiving feast, but forgive me if my regular shopping trip is more than a single cup of yoghurt and a TV dinner, and consequently cannot all fit on the self checkout scale. It's not like I'm asking them to open a lane just for me, they're just upset I've interrupted their scrolling session.

I try not to go there often, but sometimes my goto location is closed or doesn't have something I know I'm going to need. I know it's not all stores or employees because my normal one is pretty good and I can generally use the kiosk without issue, but it's so frustrating that the culture has shifted to expect all people to use the self checkout regardless of their situation. And I say this as someone who uses them regularly.

Yeah, checkers are so slow. Self checkout lets you slam everything across in like 5 seconds, swipe, leave.

Easy.

Same in Australia regarding doubling down. They're giving trolleys with an ipad thing on them you scan everything with, and increasing the exit area security so you cannot leave without the staff opening it if you didn't buy anything, and AI based cameras all over the store and gates that judge whether it should open for you after buying things.

It's a mix of awesome and horrible.

I have a smart cart at my local grocery store that adds the products to my account. I just pass through payment, no need for scanning anymore. Love it.

I see a trend of completely automated supermarkets.

You scan your card to walk in. The automated system scans the products you take. And you pay in order to leave.

It works pretty well, and is 24/7. You can be entirely alone in that store. And if you need someone there is a phone to a callcenter.

I'm learning a lot in this thread about European dystopia. I guess if y'all like it to each their own. Over here in the US, we've had enough.

But dehumanizing the workers seemed so much fun!

I don't think so but CVS and Walgreens installed digital cooler doors so you can see whats in stock before you open the door. Apparently you couldn't do that before when the doors were 100% transparent glass that didn't use extra electricity.

AI, yes.

Once got flagged for theft because the camera saw me put a box down on the far side of the scanner and then used the handheld scanner because it was large. Evidently the box getting past the fixed scanner without scanning triggers theft even if you scan it.

In a convenience store, I put products on a platform and I don't have to scan barcode and it just "scans" my whole order all at once with machine vision. It worked well for me, but seems to have the clerk on high alert to watch it like a hawk from any mistakes, which sounds exhausting. I got the sense that it screws up a lot and the clerk is on the hook for it.

Morrison's (UK) has something called "vision security" which triggers if the machine learning model thinks you haven't scanned something, the worker then has to watch the video and verify. It kept triggering on me because I often put my bike helmet in the cart. But it's easy to place the cart slightly away from the camera and then it won't see.

No. Yes. Yes. No.

No blockchain? Wait blockchain isn't passe already is it?

Agree. But what is the "otherwise" part you're taking about?

As someone who also doesn't enjoy interacting with register attendants, but does steal, I too find this to be unfortunate news.

I'm a introvert and hate dealing with people, but for some reason I don't like using the self-checkout. I don't know why. But anyway, I recommend moving to Finland. My interactions are as follows:

A very quick eye contact with a nod as a hello.

I pay, receive the change, say thank you.

I go away.

There is no small talk or push for registering for their bonus card systems, etc, here. You go in, do your thing, say thank you, go away. And saying anything is optional. I do it because I feel like that's the least I can do for the poor person who has to deal with humans all day. But often I see people not even look at the checkout person, just stare at the register until it gives out a number, pay and bugger off.

Pulling back doesn't necessarily mean cancelling all existing self check-out systems. It probably means they will have both, which is how it's supposed to be, to be honest. Sometimes I just want to scan three items and leave and other times I want someone else to deal with it.

Agreed. Devastating.

We introverts pay the price 😭

Or those who shop while stoned...

Agreed. I am sad.

They don't interact bro