POLL: SELF-CHECKOUT: CONVENIENT, ANNOYING, OR OPPORTUNITY (TO STEAL)? : )

[850credit]

Nobody likes self-checkout. Here's why it's everywhere

Why has this problematic, unloved technology taken over retail?

www.cnn.com

New York (CNN Business)"Unexpected item in the bagging area."
"Please place item in the bag."
"Please wait for assistance."
If you've encountered these irritating alerts at the self-checkout machine, you're not alone.

The machines are expensive to install, often break down and can lead to customers purchasing fewer items. Stores also incur higher losses and more shoplifting at self-checkouts than at traditional checkout lanes with human cashiers.

The introduction of self-checkout machines in 1986 was part of a long history of stores transferring work from paid employees to unpaid customers, a practice that dates all the way back to Piggly Wiggly — the first self-service supermarket — in the early 1900s.
Instead of clerks behind a counter gathering products for customers, Piggly Wiggly allowed shoppers to roam the aisles, pick items off the shelves and pay at the register. In exchange for doing more work, the model promised lower prices.

 

[Mixd]

Just know...

Some stores don't even focus on the camera system of regular shoppers or thieves no more. Some don't even care about the recording system.

But that self checkout?
Sometimes there's 2-4 people manned watching the cameras and recording it all at self checkout.

So I've been told

 

[850credit]

I've actually seen people run out without paying, or attempt to and leave a cart full of groceries to get away. Just embarrassing behavior.

Also be sure to check your receipt before leaving. Last Saturday at Walmart things were scanning higher than the prices on the aisles. I confronted the manager and he said, "Oh the guy that was supposed to change the aisle prices called out. I can give you the lower price on a couple items but not all that you bought".

What?

Best believe I went to customer service and made them ring my stuff up again on the lower price and got about 10.00 back on a bill of 100.

 

[BlackGoku]

I've actually seen people run out without paying, or attempt to and leave a cart full of groceries to get away. Just embarrassing behavior.

Also be sure to check your receipt before leaving. Last Saturday at Walmart things were scanning higher than the prices on the aisles. I confronted the manager and he said, "Oh the guy that was supposed to change the aisle prices called out. I can give you the lower price on a couple items but not all that you bought".

What?

Best believe I went to customer service and made them ring my stuff up again on the lower price and got about 10.00 back on a bill of 100.

Thanks for this....I use Self Checkout as much as i can and usually dont get a lot of things, i can pretty much pinpoint how much my things are going to be based on what i have in my cart and what it normally is so i dont check it, but i will be more vigilant moving forward...

 

[yureeka9]

Self checkout is great when its done right! Walmart needs to tighten up their bag game. It takes all day to open those plastic bags. I'll be spitting, sliding , scrunching! Nothing separates the bags so you can get them open! Target is good enough to open the bags for you. Fresh produce can be a bitch looking up the code but other than that I'm good with self check out. Its definitely faster.

 

[easy_b]

I do not steal but there’s a huge opportunity to steal if you need to.

 

[850credit]

Self checkout is great when its done right! Walmart needs to tighten up their bag game. It takes all day to open those plastic bags. I'll be spitting, sliding , scrunching! Nothing separates the bags so you can get them open! Target is good enough to open the bags for you. Fresh produce can be a bitch looking up the code but other than that I'm good with self check out. Its definitely faster.

you gotta do like the old folks used to do and lick your thumb and forefinger, then they will open up easier. lol

 

[BlackGoku]

Self checkout is great when its done right! Walmart needs to tighten up their bag game. It takes all day to open those plastic bags. I'll be spitting, sliding , scrunching! Nothing separates the bags so you can get them open! Target is good enough to open the bags for you. Fresh produce can be a bitch looking up the code but other than that I'm good with self check out. Its definitely faster.

I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE...LOL..when i get frustrated with them bags, i'll do like sams club and just start throwing my stuff into the cart or pack everything into one bag...

 

[Mixd]

I do not steal but there’s a huge opportunity to steal if you need to.

Like I said above, they watch those machines the hardest.

In my area I see Messicans and PWT try chit all the time and always getting busted. They will ring up stuff with faking barcodes, like holding a different item in front the scanner. They are watching. Wife and I laugh when we see "Top Flite" come running out and bust people.

I've seen morons stuff things in other things and scan stuff thru, like a laundry bin stuffed with other things and they scan the one bin.
Then they yell at their kids when the attendant says hey miss. "Why you put that in there Timmy, you so stupid. Can you put that back, I didn't know that was in there". But it was a gang of items lol.

And I love Walmart self checkout, I use the app and do Walmart Pay in the app, madd fast. I check out a whole full cart with wifey and me, quick.

 

[xxxbishopxxx]

Just know...

Some stores don't even focus on the camera system of regular shoppers or thieves no more. Some don't even care about the recording system.

But that self checkout?
Sometimes there's 2-4 people manned watching the cameras and recording it all at self checkout.

So I've been told

I know they will literally have one or two people watching you at the store I go to.

My question has always been if you can have folks watching you at self check out why can't those same people get on a register?

 

[Mixd]

I know they will literally have one or two people watching you at the store I go to.

My question has always been if you can have folks watching you at self check out why can't those same people get on a register?

Specific people hired for specific jobs. Sometimes not even by the store itself but from the company.

I don't know other companies, but two stores I know first hand, Lowes and Walmart, internally, the local store does not hire them, they are dropped in from the corporate side of hiring. Many security are sent all over, aren't specific to that store. I'm sure to stop friendly associations with workers as well.

 

[p5ych3]

Rotflmao

I told myself I needed to do more yard work to rough up my hand cuz these keyboard fingers wasn't opening them bags

Self checkout is great when its done right! Walmart needs to tighten up their bag game. It takes all day to open those plastic bags. I'll be spitting, sliding , scrunching! Nothing separates the bags so you can get them open! Target is good enough to open the bags for you. Fresh produce can be a bitch looking up the code but other than that I'm good with self check out. Its definitely faster.

 

[xxxbishopxxx]

Specific people hired for specific jobs. Sometimes not even by the store itself but from the company.

I don't know other companies, but two stores I know first hand, Lowes and Walmart, internally, the local store does not hire them, they are dropped in from the corporate side of hiring. Many security are sent all over, aren't specific to that store. I'm sure to stop friendly associations with workers as well.

I see what your saying. I think in my case they seem to be actual store employees, usually kids in what looks like the official store uniform.

Could be wrong, though

 

[Da Backshot Champ]

Normally if I go to the supermarket by myself it is because I am high as shit and need a specific snack. I know one time I waited in line behind two people and the cashier suggested I do self checkout. I was "I'm good, I aint trying to read shit tonight".

 

[850credit]

Also I try to do my shopping early as possible because inevitably someone before me on the self checkout has placed something frozen on it which messes up the laser as the water melts.

If you've ever worked as a cashier you know this.

 

[Strait_Laced]

Self checkout is great when its done right! Walmart needs to tighten up their bag game. It takes all day to open those plastic bags. I'll be spitting, sliding , scrunching! Nothing separates the bags so you can get them open! Target is good enough to open the bags for you. Fresh produce can be a bitch looking up the code but other than that I'm good with self check out. Its definitely faster.

walmart by my house has two types of aisles, one with the bags sitting upright on a holder and one without [the bags are laying flat]. i always go to the one with the bags on a holder. ez to open.

also - go early. that's when the scanners are the cleanest and won't freeze up. and you won't get caught behind the person scanning two full baskets worth of stuff

i understand in concept why walmart is doing this - to save money [the only reason, actually] - but if you are going to have the same cashiers now just standing around the self checkout watching you aren't you still spending more than you have to? put some of them back on a damn real checkout line so the people with eleventy eleven items in their cart have somewhere to go and the folks that want to zip in and out of the store can do so

 

[gene cisco]

Self checkout is great when its done right! Walmart needs to tighten up their bag game. It takes all day to open those plastic bags. I'll be spitting, sliding , scrunching! Nothing separates the bags so you can get them open! Target is good enough to open the bags for you. Fresh produce can be a bitch looking up the code but other than that I'm good with self check out. Its definitely faster.

I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE...LOL..when i get frustrated with them bags, i'll do like sams club and just start throwing my stuff into the cart or pack everything into one bag...

Those fucking walmart bags. I literally rage and just end up with all the fucking bags. Yeah, all of them. Use them in the bathrooms, for the dogs, and smaller cans in the room. Like clockwork, can bet on me going into a rage and ending up with a shitload of walmart bags.

All in all, I love self-checkouts except for when old people try to do them and slow up the process.

 

[Mixd]

Those fucking walmart bags. I literally rage and just end up with all the fucking bags. Yeah, all of them. Use them in the bathrooms, for the dogs, and smaller cans in the room. Like clockwork, can bet on me going into a rage and ending up with a shitload of walmart bags.

All in all, I love self-checkouts except for when old people try to do them and slow up the process.

My wife always buying leafy type veggies that are usually wet from being misted. I always touch them then twist the bags to open. I also use that to open them veggie thin bags too. Those are annoying to open. But she buys a lot of veggies to cook with and I'm used to them now.

 

[tallblacknyc]

Man we need more cash vs card lines in stores… them cash lines would pretty much be empty and I can be in and out.. card lines would be pack

 

[850credit]

Walmart messed up when they went to FULL self checkout.

They shifted cashiers to "ambassador" style jobs where they walk the floor to help you find items and spy for shoplifters or other troublemakers.

The tradeoff for the consumer is the supposed lowest price, which they offset by stocking oversized/family sized products. A single person has to buy far more eggs for example then they will likely use in order to get the true lowest price.

 

[crossovernegro]

I know what you mean.....and I found out a year ago that there is a trick....easier to see it than for me to explain, so let me see if I can find the clip. ...and when I say trick, I mean some simple little shit that some people already knew, but my dumb ass was spending 10 minutes fighting with bags for years. Shit, in NJ plastic bags are illegal now, so as soon as I learned the damn trick, I can't use it no more

Edit: here it is

Self checkout is great when its done right! Walmart needs to tighten up their bag game. It takes all day to open those plastic bags. I'll be spitting, sliding , scrunching! Nothing separates the bags so you can get them open! Target is good enough to open the bags for you. Fresh produce can be a bitch looking up the code but other than that I'm good with self check out. Its definitely faster.

 

[Mixd]

Walmart messed up when they went to FULL self checkout.

They shifted cashiers to "ambassador" style jobs where they walk the floor to help you find items and spy for shoplifters or other troublemakers.

The tradeoff for the consumer is the supposed lowest price, which they offset by stocking oversized/family sized products. A single person has to buy far more eggs for example then they will likely use in order to get the true lowest price.

Help? Walmart?

I barely ever ask anyone for anything. You'll get more frustrated asking them. All you get is blank stares and lies "we carry that? May be out of stock? I don't know".

I use my app or phone to find where things are if I don't already know.

 

[christop]

Self checkout doesn't really bother me the less people I have to deal with the better. The only issue I have is when something was mispriced and I need a void but that happens rarely.

 

[November 17]

I never liked self checkouts because I felt it reduces the number of employees in stores (oh, I imagine it's great for corporate profits and stock holders). In some ways, it's kinda like "outsourcing" to automation.

 

[The Plutonian]

In my haste to Gtfoh I’ve now stolen quite a few items. Meh, circle of life.

 

[yureeka9]

I know what you mean.....and I found out a year ago that there is a trick....easier to see it than for me to explain, so let me see if I can find the clip. ...and when I say trick, I mean some simple little shit that some people already knew, but my dumb ass was spending 10 minutes fighting with bags for years. Shit, in NJ plastic bags are illegal now, so as soon as I learned the damn trick, I can't use it no more

Edit: here it is

 

[lightbright]

Nobody likes self-checkout. Here's why it's everywhere

Why has this problematic, unloved technology taken over retail?

www.cnn.com

New York (CNN Business)"Unexpected item in the bagging area."
"Please place item in the bag."
"Please wait for assistance."
If you've encountered these irritating alerts at the self-checkout machine, you're not alone.

The machines are expensive to install, often break down and can lead to customers purchasing fewer items. Stores also incur higher losses and more shoplifting at self-checkouts than at traditional checkout lanes with human cashiers.

The introduction of self-checkout machines in 1986 was part of a long history of stores transferring work from paid employees to unpaid customers, a practice that dates all the way back to Piggly Wiggly — the first self-service supermarket — in the early 1900s.
Instead of clerks behind a counter gathering products for customers, Piggly Wiggly allowed shoppers to roam the aisles, pick items off the shelves and pay at the register. In exchange for doing more work, the model promised lower prices.

The unexpected item in the bagging area is the worst.... didn't like them at first but they are okay... that switching bar codes ain't even necessary.... just do item search and press on regular bananas vs organic, then weigh them...... and switching the code on meats etc. won't work.... you're not going to be able to have two packages that weigh the exact same amount, which will trip the wait for assistance shit

.

,

 

[kesq]

Just know...

Some stores don't even focus on the camera system of regular shoppers or thieves no more. Some don't even care about the recording system.

But that self checkout?
Sometimes there's 2-4 people manned watching the cameras and recording it all at self checkout.

So I've been told

you are correct.

 

[pookie]

I do not steal but there’s a huge opportunity to steal if you need to.

Like I said above, they watch those machines the hardest.

In my area I see Messicans and PWT try chit all the time and always getting busted. They will ring up stuff with faking barcodes, like holding a different item in front the scanner. They are watching. Wife and I laugh when we see "Top Flite" come running out and bust people.

I've seen morons stuff things in other things and scan stuff thru, like a laundry bin stuffed with other things and they scan the one bin.
Then they yell at their kids when the attendant says hey miss. "Why you put that in there Timmy, you so stupid. Can you put that back, I didn't know that was in there". But it was a gang of items lol.

And I love Walmart self checkout, I use the app and do Walmart Pay in the app, madd fast. I check out a whole full cart with wifey and me, quick.

The one here has cameras on each self checkout machine, you can see yourself while you're scanning your items. There are also always a minimum of 2 employees in that area watching too so I don't think to many people getting away with stealing in there

 

[850credit]

14.3 percent of you responders have sticky fingers

 

[BlackGoku]

In my haste to Gtfoh I’ve now stolen quite a few items. Meh, circle of life.

I haven't done that yet, but I have left a bag or two behind...i've gotten all the way home and had to go back..lol

 

[jack walsh13]

That shit is annoying that a muthafucka. You got 4 muthafuckas standing around watching you scan yo shit........BITCH, YOU CAN BE DOIN THIS SHIT AT A FUCKIN REGISTER. AND THAT NO MORE PLASTIC BAG SHIT IN NEW JERSEY IS THE BIGGEST PAIN IN THE ASS IN THE WORLD. Yeah we'll take care of the environment but we won't do shit about these high ass property taxes. It's a bunch of bullshit!!!

 

[The Plutonian]

I haven't done that yet, but I have left a bag or two behind...i've gotten all the way home and had to go back..lol

I did that too and when I went back they tried to give me somebody else's shit. Go figure

 

[Dirtylakerie]

Just know...

Some stores don't even focus on the camera system of regular shoppers or thieves no more. Some don't even care about the recording system.

But that self checkout?
Sometimes there's 2-4 people manned watching the cameras and recording it all at self checkout.

So I've been told

 

[Dirtylakerie]

That shit is annoying that a muthafucka. You got 4 muthafuckas standing around watching you scan yo shit........BITCH, YOU CAN BE DOIN THIS SHIT AT A FUCKIN REGISTER. AND THAT NO MORE PLASTIC BAG SHIT IN NEW JERSEY IS THE BIGGEST PAIN IN THE ASS IN THE WORLD. Yeah we'll take care of the environment but we won't do shit about these high ass property taxes. It's a bunch of bullshit!!!

We got the same shit here in Ohio. Yeah I remember before the Rona, Ohio was ready to get rid of the plastic bags in all grocery stores. Well not in Target yet. But they put it on hold. Up until a couple of months ago. I absolutely hate paper bags. I be thinking how the hell did they get through this shit back in the day. When they only had paper bags.