I hate those things. 60% of the time something goes awry and requires assistance, slowing down the checkout. I also hate the idea that the supermarket is outsourcing checkout to me, the customer.

I've never had any real problems with them, and they've been in use around here (West TN) for close to 8 years now. Don't let one bad experience sink the ship. They just put a new interface on the ones around here, it seems to be easier to use.

I love self checkout lanes. I can't imagine having trouble using one. Yes, the bagging area is a scale. Scan your item and put it in the bag, or on the shelf if it is too big for a bag. Not hard. If you use your own bags, place them on the scale before you start, and the computer will ask you if you are using your own bags. Scan everything and then pay. I actually hate it when a store does not have self-checkout.

Those self check out things are very frustrating. Of course there would be no need for them if it weren't for labor unions. Here's an idea - pay check out clerks what they are worth - not the inflated wages set by unions. If the clerks don't think the pay is sufficient they should learn skills that will justify higher pay based on value added. Low skill jobs should be used to offset the cost of getting the training needed to earn a living wage. Paying an artificially high "living wage" for low skill jobs encourages people to stay in low skill jobs and not seek out the enhanced skills / opportunities that would benefit them, their families, our economy. Why should I pay more for groceries to supplement someones union wage - I did the right thing by learning a skill that adds enough value to justify a "living wage" and I have the student loans to prove it.

Actually I think the ones at Kroger are pretty good. Go to Home Depot for an example of a self-checkout system that truly sucks.

Plus, all the Krogers near me always have lanes open in addition to self-checkout, whereas Home Depot shut them all down.

I like the new things Stop & Shop have that are basically personal scanners. You "sign one out" with your card, scan and bag as you go, and just scan an end of order barcode on the selfscan at the end. To make sure it isn't a money pit, you may be subjected to an audit randomly.

Even S&S's regular self-scans don't seem to be that bad.

Can this apply to Wal-Mart too because goddamn those fucking kiosks suck and for some reason they never have more than like 4 cashiers when there are like 30 unused lanes and the place is packed.

These machines can be frustrating, but after using them for a while you get used to it and can check out very quickly. It's also best to not have a very full cart, because of the limited size of the bagging area.

I prefer the self checkout because I can usually get out much more quickly. And shhhh don't tell anybody but sometimes I buy organic produce and tell the computer it is the regular stuff.

It would be interesting to see which chains use which manufacturers for their self-checkouts, and some comments on each.

I find the machines Safeway and A&P to be fairly easy to use. The Albertsons machines tended to be oversensitive when I would frequent them, although that's a few years ago now.

I have no idea what the OP is talking about. I goto Kroger because it is down the street and the prices actually compete with wal-mart on generic brands - I use the self checkout line all the time. I have only had like two issues in the past year, mostly dealing with unreadable bar codes. There's a freaking order that you have to do it in because it cannot guess all the creative ways a user wants to scan in their stuff. Its meant for like a handful of items.

1, scan your kroger card. Wait for it to welcome you.
2, scan item, put in bag. repeat.
3, look for PLU code for veggies, put on scale, enter PLU, hit done and bag.
4, press the method of payment and then slide card/put in cash. print receipt AND DONE. Leave. Go home.

I have no idea why this is so hard for people. The kroger machines are the best I've seen in the area. You can even adjust the volume/mute if you are tired of hearing the computer's voice. I've got this so streamlined that it takes me less than a minute to check out. If you really struggle this much with a scanner they should just go the regular lines anyways or to customer service.

"which we finally learned is a giant scale to apparently thwart theft "

I was on-board until that statement.
Seems like the first time the poster has ever used one of these.

I like the self checkout lanes. I don't like it when old people use them in front of me.

If you've never used a computer you should be banned from using the self checkout lanes. If you need someone to stand next to you and help you scan every item you're sort of missing the point of "self checkout".

You know, I was fully prepared to hate these things, but I've turned out to rather enjoy them, and they haven't caused me any problems yet. (At Sobey's, in Canada.)

I've only ever had issues when my store cards don't scan correctly and an employee has to clear it. I don't understand why people have the hardest time, maybe it's a technology generational gap. I don't look at it as some new-fangled contraption, I see it as being faster and easy, and I enjoy doing some thing for myself.

I DON'T go to the self-checkouts when I have a lot in the cart though, because there's only so much space on the bagging scale.

I guess I just see the whole process as using common sense.

I'm always torn when it comes to the self checkout lanes. On the one hand I can blast through a cart full of stuff in 2/3's or less the time it would take in the normal lanes. On the other hand, the prevalence of people who have no bloody idea how to work the things can cause a doubling of the time it would take them to have someone do it for them, and thus negate my time savings.

If you have booze, you'll have to get someone to check you're ID. If you don't wait for the scales under the bags to register you've placed the item in them and hit skip bagging, you're gonna have to have someone come and over-ride so you can pay. A count of 3 or until the finish and pay stops flashing, on the self checkouts @ wal-mart, is all you need to wait to pull items off the scale.

When swiping cold or frozen goods using the self-checkout, swipe a finger across the bar code to clear any moisture from it. This greatly increases the chances of a clean scan the first time.

For bagged goods like bread or chips, squeeze the bag slightly to fill out the bar code, once again giving the scanner a clean shot at it.

Take it slow, the system does not like folks just swiping stuff across the scanner. Slow and steady motions assure a clean scan and fast checkout.

Use an insulated bag to carry your goods in, this helps extend your shopping time. Also leave frozen or perishable goods as your last stop in your shopping trip too.

I've used Kroger's self-checkout lanes for years and have never had a problem, at least not one that doesn't plaque the general population of self-checkout systems.

Quit posting crap from whining consumers that are just trying to vent because they can't figure it out. Read the instructions, follow the prompts, it will work smoothly. Go into it with assumptions based on how you expect it to work and don't adapt to the situation and you'll just frustrate yourself.

Don't blame Kroger.

i used to be a cashier at jewel (Oak Forest, IL) when the self checkouts were rolled out. a lot of people just did not want to use them. we always had at least half of our lanes open and we had one employee trying to goad people into using the self checkouts. i actually like them because i know what i am doing, i like the comments i hear when i use them and i am out of there so quickly. the one thing i cannot stand are the people that bring a whole cart full of items and try to use the machine and then complain that they cannot continue because something (a child) is sitting in the bagging area.

I can also remember that when the people started to flow into the aisles, the front end manager would usually open up a couple of the registers. usually we would start to close lanes around 9:00 because after 11:30 there were just 2 cashiers for the night shift.

Kroger may be using an ancient version of this system; I've been using U-Check systems for years and haven't had any trouble since the systems first came out. There are a couple concepts that may cause problems, one being the fact that the bagging area is a scale. For 95% of transactions, the customer is going to take a product out of the basket, scan it and then put it into a bag. Because of this, the U-Check system isn't going to inform people of the fact that you _have_ to put the scanned product into the bag unless there is a problem.

Jacob never states what parts of the interface he didn't like, just said it was poorly designed. If he explains what is wrong, we can figure out if it is an old system, a broken system or if he was just confused by some of those "hidden" design constraints.

Our local Kroger (western Conway, AR) on a recent Sunday evening even closed all the human lanes. The self-checkout was the only choice. It took about an hour to checkout our $150 worth of groceries and have the cashier scan the $50 in coupons while she was trying to multi task three other self-checkout lanes. Very frustrating.

I'm not sure I agree with this story. I use Kroger Self checkout lanes all the time and the interface is the same in all of their stores. It is easy to use and occasionally there might be a problem. Once you learn that yes the bagging area is a scale and you can't move bags before proceeding otherwise you generate warnings the system is really easy to use. I do agree that they should have had more lanes open with real cashiers. And maybe I'm just to much of a geek, I do have an iphone and work with computers so perhaps that gives me the edge but the system itself really seems easy to use. And no I'm not someone that works for or with Kroger in any way. Just a shopper.

I like the self check-out machines as I usually only buy a few items at a time. They're only really a hassle for me when I use coupons or buy booze as they require a clerk to check your ID or coupons.

The best markets are the ones that enforce a 15 item or less policy. I've seen the machines backed up because of asshats that take an entire overflowing shopping cart of groceries to those machines and the baggage area isn't even big enough to accommodate it all.

@matt1978: Not to mention their first experience. Like anything new, it does take some time to learn how to use it properly. Some people just don't understand technology. My wife still tries to scan more than one thing at once before I put the item I just scanned into the bag. Scan item, place in bag, repeat.

@gttim: Ah! a solution to my cloth bag woes! Thank you, gttim!

I generally like the self-checkouts. I haven't been to a Kroger, so I guess I can't speak for those, but the ones I've been too are fine.

With a few exceptions, that is. For example, the touch screen is off sometimes, so in order to push a button you have to actually push a half-inch below it.

They're also really finicky with the weight thing in the bagging area. For example, if you want to use a reusable bag, well ... I still haven't figured that one out, come to think of it.

@gttim:

AGREED! Anyone whose ever used a touch screen, i.e. ATM, should have no problem with these. They have their flaws, but so do cashiers.

i agree, Kroger's are awful. I generally don't go there because solely because of those. On the occasions I do, if I have issues where I need assistance, I simply leave all my stuff, walk away, and go to another store. Yes, it's a hassle, it takes me more time, etc.

But I think it's important to walk: that should register with management that they have a serious problem that needs to be addressed. Unfortunately Kroger management seems to have more dullards than Wal-Mart does. Wal-Mart management has gotten the message, and their self-checkout has improved by magnitudes since they first introduced it. I still see changes there to improve the process.

I find that most people have problems with the serial nature of the process: you scan an item, put it on the belt/in the bag, then repeat. Nine times out of ten, the people with problems try to scan items without placing them in the belt/bagging area, causing a problem.

I like the ones at the Shop and Stops, since you don't need to immediately bag them: there's a bagging area at the end that you can deal with after scanning (though you also need to watch out for items backing up the bagging area).

Slow and steady wins the race.

I know that blaming the original poster isn't all that great, but this sounds more like a problem with unfamiliarity with the U-Scan system than a problem with the system itself.

I'm able to use one of the U-Scans to get out of the Kroger close to my house in record time, every time. Occasionally there are problems with the system not finding an item, or if one of the weighed items slips off the scale, but, otherwise, there are no problems. I am sure that the poster saw several people go through the U-Scan much faster than they were able to.

Also, one employee is able to man 6 checkout stations, and that allows more people to check out faster, even if the employee does need to come over and occasionally clear something from the system. If that employee was manning a single register, then the lines would have both been backed-up.

Unfamiliarity with the system doesn't mean that it's a bad system, just that you don't know how to correctly use it. If you have a problem with the staffing levels at the store, that's a different matter, and should be handled by the store manager, or the floor supervisor. But, please, don't say that U-Scan is "horribly designed" and should be destroyed just because you don't know how to use it.

I've been shopping with Kroger (Technically, King Soopers in Colorado and now Fred Meyer in Idaho) for almost 10-years. I've always found their systems to be extremely efficient and double-so for the new upgraded systems. I've never had any issues with them and with 10-items can be done and out the door in under a minute. Sorry, OP, but it sounds to me like a PEBKAC issue (Problem Exists Between Keypad And Cart).

I never had any problems with the self-checkout at the particular Kroger I used to go to, at the Giant I currently go to, or really any other one I use. Sure, there's the occasional hiccup, as with all technology, but it's nothing to get all riled up over.

As for the "it's not my job, I don't work there" argument, well, the people who do work there are generally apathetic and bad at their job. And it WILL be reflected in prices if they have to hire more cashiers. I'd rather deal with a few learning pains and have a speedier checkout experience. To that end, I also wish stores would have self-checkout exclusively for people who know what they're doing.

However, the weighing thing makes no sense to me. How that prevents someone from simply not scanning some items and walking out with them is beyond comprehension.

@gttim: some stores might but the ones i have tried that with tell me "please remove item from scale before proceeding" and yes, i am placing them there BEFORE i touch 'begin checkout'
i end up just placing all my items on the scale as i go, loose, and then put them in my bag after i get my receipt. yes, the people behind me hate me.

I use the self check out all the time at Kroger, Food Lion & Harris Teeter without much headache at all, I only go through the cashier line if I have a full cart.

@pupu:

Of course there would be no need for them if it weren't for labor unions.

If I can find a self-checkout at a non-union store, will you retract this ridiculous screed? I think not.

@matt1978:
I'd say it was probably user error. They aren't hard to use and I prefer them to waiting behind people like this who are too old/scared to understand the technology. People who use the self checkout usually don't spend 10 minutes writing a check.

@henrygates: The problem with the Home Depot self checkouts is that the large, unwieldy items I typically buy there don't jive with the scale/bagging area. Of course I'm not going to balance the rake on the scale just to satisfy the machine. There rarely seems to be anyone around to unstick their machines, too.

The grocery store ones I use - Meijer and Jewel, mainly - are fine, no real trouble.

@gttim: Sounds like you've never used one that required "assistance" after every scanned item.

@bazaar_apparatus: Wal-Mart's self checkout systems are made by NCR. Kroger doesn't use NCR for their self checkout systems. NCR's hardware and software are far inferior to the systems Kroger uses I've never used one without getting annoyed with it.

My local wally world has the self check outs, and I love them. I would rather go through the self checkouts and bag my own groceries than get home and find out that some moron cashier has put a canteloupe on my loaf of bread (yes, I've had it happen). They even have an option to skip bagging an item if you have a large item. I usually do that with things like cases of drinks or large packages of toilet paper.

The only negative thing I have about the self checks at walmart is that the volume seems to be set to "scream at the customer" because I swear that thing gets louder the longer your transaction is.

I agree, those things are horrible. I'm certainly no luddite, quite the opposite in fact, but I've never met a self-checkout machine which wasn't a complete exercise in frustration. If you're buying any produce (usually the majority of my cart/basket) tack on 30 seconds per item as that's how long it takes to scroll through screen after screen looking for the right kind of onions. If you're buying anything oversized, be prepared for it to not fit on the scale and having to wait for the clerk to come over and let you proceed. If there's anyone in line ahead of you, be prepared to wait 4x as long as you would in a normal line as no one can get the stupid things to work properly. Hear that self checkout machine designers? If every user of your product is having the same problem, you've done something wrong. At least the products are cheaper as there are less employees to pay, right? HAHAHAHAH no. There should really be maybe one machine per store, and it should have an 8 item limit, as if you're only buying one thing and paying with plastic, you might have a decent experience (it'll still slower and less convenient than a clerk).

@gttim:
I actually prefer self check out because I use my own bags and I can load them myself; half the time I give a cashier my reusable bag and they still put stuff in plastic bags anyway... I don't blame them much though, I'd be on autopilot too if that was my job. The funniest was a bagger who put everything into plastic bags and then proceeded to put those in my cloth bag!

I like the self-checkout lanes, just wish they would prohibit people with alcohol and/or coupons from attempting to use them. Add produce to that during rush hour.

i'm ok with some of the self checkouts. but i'm not thrilled when the store nearest my old place would close ALL of the regular check out lanes every night at 9:30 [24 hour harris teeter]
and the lowe's foods stores - you can earn 'greenpoints' towards future free food items with your customer loyalty card but if i use the self checkout all my greenpoints go to some guy in another state. it's fine at the regular register, messed up at self checkout. very weird. they can't figure it out.

Kroger has the best self-checkouts in my area. Their machines are smart enough to ask you "Are you using your own bags?" if you set your bags on the scale/bagging area before you start scanning.

@gttim: Agreed. At Walmart the checkout computers are nicer than the cashiers.

@rpm773: Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Meijer all use NCR's "Fast-Lane" (Later re-branded to Self-Serv) self checkout system.

@Elginista: Mine has a special rack for things like that, but it still fails when trying to buy things like a hammer.

@pupu: Wow.
While I do not work in a 'low skill' job like a cashier, there are skills a cashier has other than simply scan items, push buttons and take money.
Unions got us a 40 hour, 5 day workweek, and a livable wage for skilled jobs...

@henrygates: Gee, and I thought I learned everything I needed to know about grocery shopping at the age of six. Silly me.