Consumer Reports says that the supermarket self check-out line is better on your wallet and your gut. “You’ll find fewer snacks,” they write, “and because of the shorter wait time, you’ll have less time to contemplate a snack attack.” There’s even a study that shows impulse purchases dropped by nearly a third for women and a sixth for men when they chose the self check-out line. You also get to play with the scanner, touchscreen, and bag area, which is a lot more fun than just standing around. (That’s right, “bag area.”)
“Self-checkout, cut calories and costs” [ConsumerReports]
(Photo: Simon Shek)
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I remember a story about a guy in Home Depot who was buying a sledgehammer or something, and got so pissed off at the machine he smashed it and got arrested.
“Please place the item in the bag”
“Unexpected item in the bagging area”
I don’t use them unless there are lines at the regular checkouts and I’m not willing to wait (a very rare occurence).
Why not?
Because I’m doing work that the store should pay for, and I’m not getting any additional benefit. I haven’t seen the additional coupons some commenters have mentioned and prices in the stores I’ve shopped at haven’t gone down (at least not on the items I regularly purchase). If self-checkout people got a discount (the way that self-service gas customers used to before every gas station went the self-service route), I’d certainly consider it. Until then, cashiers for me.
Last time we went to the grocery store, they had no regular check-out lanes open. Ok, granted it was 10pm on a Saturday. But strange folks we are, that’s when we do our grocery shopping. The manager said it was policy to not have check=out lanes open after 9pm.
Self check out works fine for small orders. But the bagging area only fits about 4 bags and we had at least twice that much stuff. We basically had to have the supervisor override every item for us – making this much SLOWER than if they had just opened a regular lane for us. Heck, let ME run the machine in the regular check out lane, then you wouldn’t have to have one of your paid clerks do their job.
Self check out is also terrible if you’re buying multiples of the same item. 10 for $10? Ok, we wanted 10. Will it let me type in “10 x [next item]” like the regular check out folks can? Nope. I have to scan each one individually. Oh, and if I go too fast – like I scan the next item while it’s still talking – that causes the “unexpected item in the bagging area…” error and needs an override. So the session goes like this:
*beep*
Iced tea. $1. $0.50 savings. $0.10 CRV.
(30 second later…)*beep*
Iced tea. $1. $0.50 savings. $0.10 CRV.
(repeat 8 more times…arrrrgh!)
It took me over 5 minutes to just scan those 10 cans of iced tea because the machine wants to babble for a good 20 seconds after each one. I wish these things had a “terse” setting, or better yet, “silent”. Just go “beep” to let me know you scanned the item, then display the information on the screen. That’s what the regular check-out people have.
Can you imagine if it took a check-out person 30 seconds to scan each item because she had to read the item, the price, savings on that item, if any, etc.? I don’t think that person would last an hour – mainly because someone would probably shoot them for being slow and annoying.
Just as we finished, the manager finally decided it might be a good idea to open a regular check out lane to deal with the other late-night shoppers with full carts. Gee. Thanks.
@amuro98:
Actually a lot of checkers can’t do the “type in “10 x [next item]” thing. I was chatting up a checker one time (settle down, there was no one in line behind me) and she said they have to scan each individual item no matter how many there are. Something about this prevents errors. Of course, I’ve seen them count the number and scan the same one that many times and slide the rest across.
it sounds like a lot of stores aren’t using self checkout systems well. the places near me that have them use them as express-express checkout lines. no more than 12(ish) items, and rarely are they attended by wandering or ADD employees. but this probably has more to do with proper management than the system itself.
personally, i try not to use them unless i don’t want to stick around in the store for any length of time. i’m an old fashioned guy, i miss the days where gas stations were full service and employees were paid to do more than stand around waiting for you to approach them.
also, i think my experience with self-service checkouts was tainted the first time i used one, and after it said “thanks you for shopping with us” i said “you’re welcome.” the lady supervising the stations gave me a very odd look, and i told her “you gotta be polite to robots, or they’ll kill us all”
About those many complaints about being forced to use a self checkout late a night with large orders. Ask the cashier to do it for you! They are being paid to help after all! In fact, at Kroger stores there is new software just so the cashier can do this! It gives the self checkouts the same functionality of a regular register.
I’m saying this as an overnight cashier where it’s self checkout only 10pm to 6am. For some reason people imagine I enjoy sitting there watching them check out for 15 minutes. When I try to help or offer to check them out myself 99% of the time they refuse and then proceed to grumble about having to check themselves out. I pretty much have to push them out of the way in order to help them. Even if it’s a small order you can ask them to get it for you.
As for why it’s self checkout only so late, it’s common occurrence to get some large orders late at night and then have a long line of people behind waiting with one or two items. Instead of hoping there is a trained checker on the stock crew and waiting five minutes for them to get to the front, people can quickly check themselves out while I deal with the large order.
I love self-checkout. I wouldn’t use it if I had a lot of items, though. But getting out the door faster is very important to me. The express lanes used to be good for that but people get into the express lanes with 258 items. Self-checkout is the answer and I appreciate those stores that use them.
i love love love self checkout. all of the wonderful things you can get for free or reduced prices, such as fresh seafood that you ring up as sweet potatoes. also, you can perch one foot on the bagging area and really knacker up the system!
thanks self-checkout!!
Our local Stop & Shop has a wireless handheld scanner that lets you scan yourself and bag your items as you shop. Makes check out super quick… when it works.