Self-checkout lanes have become a topic of debate in the retail world in recent years. Does it speed up the process and cut down on labor costs, or are they high-maintenance money pits that put people out of work? Are they intended to be used for small purchases of just a few items — or is it perfectly fine to get in line with a full week’s worth of groceries?
This is the question posed by Consumerist reader Shannon, who was just trying to pick up a few items for the weekend and thought that self-checkout would be the way to go… Until she ended up behind someone buying hundreds of dollars worth of stuff.
Some stores do put limits on how many items you can bring through self-checkout, often because the machines don’t have the counter space to hold more than a few bags of groceries.
But for those stores that don’t have specified limits, we want to know from you:
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In my experience with self-checkouts, they are good for small orders (20 items or less) ONLY. It annoys the hell out of me when someone pulls in with an overflowing cart full of 125 items. They aren’t built for that kind of order. In my experience, they can also be a royal pain with coupons and price matching. Any price matching and you need an employee anyways. It’s quicker to just to go to a manned lane.
Our local shop has two separate self-checkout areas. One uses a scale to check items and has two bag spots and is obviously meant for an express low item count checkout. The other is a full size checkout that checks the items with some kind of scanner on the conveyor and has a full size bagging area, suitable for a full cart. Both also accept the devices that scan items as you put them into your cart, so it’s not uncommon to see someone with a full cart of groceries that have been pre-scanned use the express aisle and breeze through quickly.
I only use self check out lanes now. I’ve found that they are mostly empty whenever I go to the store, and when other people are using them they usually have lots of problems (scanning the barcodes, ringing up stuff like produce with no barcode, etc). The store I go to has something like 25 lines but only ever has 5 or so of them staffed at one time – which means there are LONG lines and waits. Not to mention the people behind the register are mostly teens or people who want to strike up conversation and slow down the whole process. I’ve had some people take upwards of thirty seconds to scan and bag one item because they were trying to talk to me or the bagger.
I learned a long time ago that I could take an entire cart full of my weeks worth of food to a self check out and be done MUCH quicker than a regular check out lane. Once you get the hang of it, there is no reason you should be ‘holding anyone up’. If someone behind you is in a hurry, then they can go to a limited item checkout lane.
I’ve seen people with just a couple of items hold up the self check-out for ridiculously long times because they don’t know what they’re doing. I would rather be in there with someone that has a cart full of groceries but knows how to use the check out, than with people who literally stand there staring blankly at the screen. Common sense should prevail though, if the store is slow, I’ll take all my groceries through self-checkout, but if it’s busy I’ll go to a cashier.
I really dont care how many items there are, I care that the person operating it knows what the hell they are doing. I hate when the 90 year old comes up and can’t figure it out, or the mom who thinks allowing her 5 year old to play cashier will be a learning experience or cute. It is not cute while we are waiting behind you
This is the only issue I have as well. The self-checkouts aren’t toys, do not let your kids press all the buttons & cause the machine to lock up, and if you have no idea how to work it, just go to a regular checkout. I hate getting stuck behind some technophobe with a cartful of produce -__-
It’s also dependent on the machine itself. The one’s at Wal-Mart were HORRIBLE. After you try to scan the damn item, it refuses to go onto the next item until you put the item in the bag and it takes a few seconds to weigh the item and compare it to the weight recorded in the database. That REALLY slows things down. There’s a button on the screen where you can skip bagging it, but it you can only use it so many times before the register locks up and you have to get an employee to unlock it. Then coupons are a real pain in the butt. Scanning them is normally fine, but the little slot you put the coupon in once it’s scanned doesn’t always pick up the coupon being deposited. And it won’t record the coupon until the register detects the coupon being deposited. So then you have to get a piece of paper or something and push it back as far as you can in the slot and wiggle it back and forth to try and make the detector trip.
Can you tell I hate those damn machines? And I agree with the poster who complains about old farts not knowing how to use it. If you can’t figure it out quickly, then go to a regular manned register and stop holding up everyone behind you. Same for the person in the overflowing cart.
Just blow into the coupon slot. Unless its really full this usually gets it in there enough to register it being inserted.
Depends on where the slot is located. One is about hip level and I’m not getting on my knees to blow into that. The best approach is to stick the fake pen for signing the debit card pad, but it doesn’t always reach.
Damn straight there should be a limit.
Those things are super slow because they have to be able to teach newbies how to use them on the fly. If you have more than 12 things in your cart, kindly haul your ass to the back of the normal line because that’ll probably be faster than waiting for the robot voice to guide you through a $250 grocery trip.
Um, no…they’re “super slow” because they have to (try to) keep people from walking off with half of the store without paying for it.
I believe some stores had to discontinue them because they weren’t keeping their costs down and they were ripped off by walkouts and fake coupons.
I prefer the mini carts. I just feel too girly skipping around the grocery store with a hand-basket….even when i’m not skipping. To the question though, have some common courtesy for other shoppers and use self-check when you are within the posted limit.
The Kroger manager keeps trying to make me use self-check out. I don’t want to. I’m perfectly happy reading a magazine while waiting in line. I’m tired. I already have a full-time job and don’t want to do yours. Leave me alone, Kroger!
Yes.
Things you should have learned in kindergarten:
1) Don’t use the self-checkout. The software that runs them is AWFUL and they
screw up constantly in any store that uses them. When they do and they will,
you will have to wait for a clerk to reboot the craptech and then rescan all
your stuff and by that time you will have used double the time it would have
taken for you to check out in line.
2) Don’t go to a limited-item line if you have more than the limit. Period. If you
do your are a douchebag (a full one) and I will likely report you to the office and
then confront you if needed, nicely of course and then if needed no so nice.
I got applause from the other people in the limited-item line when I did this
one day. The perp left.
3) If common sense tells you that 7 people waiting each of 3 full-basket lines is
stupid and the store has 8 checkouts, stomp over to the office and in a voice
slightly louder than needed, ask that they open another line and get your butt
into it. If they won’t ask to shout at the manager. If they won’t budge, go over to
the lines and yell: “How many of your fine folks waiting would like the management
to open up a new check-out so you can move on with your day?” I tried this too,
and everyone waiting raised their hands I kid you not, and the office opened up
a new checkout.
My local Meijers has two varieties of self-scan, the express 12-or-fewer and the full-station-with-no-cashier variety. I will sometimes go a few items over on the express if the items are small scan-and-drop-in-a-bag size, beyond that, the larger stations get used.
The larger stations deal with the customer overlap by having a panel you can swing into position to block further items from entering the bagging space, the people behind you can start in while you bag. When you’re done, swing the panel out of the way and leave.
BigY in Connecticut just eliminated those lines… interesting…
I use them when I don’t have a lot of produce because I’m faster than the checkout folks!
Some sort of common sense should apply. Maybe pictures for those of us who have trouble with common sense.
Item limit? No.
Time limit? Eff yes.
YES! Simply because the technology isn’t there yet where this is a simple and quick way of checking out. If you have a few items, its easy. Otherwise, you are spending ungodly amounts of time waiting for an “attendance to assist you”, or trying to scan an item on the tray that just seems a lot less reliable than the ones in the regular lanes.
put all the lines in parallel. Having individual lines/queues means you have to play a twisted sick lotto to choose the right line. I always am damned at this and choose wrong. Turning the lines from serial to parallel, all the lines wait for you vs pick one and stick with it. That’s how fry’s and TJ max do their lines.
That.
I live in a predominantly elderly area and choosing which aisle to get into is usually an analysis not so much of the length of the line, but who’s in it, and given that many of the workers are elderly as well, in a staffed line, who’s running it and bagging.
A “I don’t know” would be a valid option here. It could be indicative of how people view the issue.
I always go to self checkout, even with many groceries (though I only buy for me and my cat, so a week of groceries for me is not the same as a family of four). I know how to use the self check-out machine and find it’s usually just as fast or faster than having someone ring me up (plus I can bag my own groceries, which means I waste less plastic bags and don’t get my bread squished). If the self check-out machines confuse you (as they do many a shopper), please get out of the way and let the rest of us use them!
The grocery store we use has limited items self-checkout and unlimited items self-checkout…. so why not have both?
I would have voted for stores NOT putting in strict limits, but we all know that common sense isn’t, and people aren’t courteous. And it’s particularly annoying when people don’t know how to use the self-serve line.
I also think that bagging for yourself is the stupidest thing. While you are standing there, scanning your stuff, it accumulates at the bottom of belt. Pretty soon, it backs up onto the belt and you have to push everything down. Then, when you are finally done, the person behind you has to wait for you to be mostly bagged before they can start. But if they are really courteous, they’ll start scanning their stuff, and have it mix up with yours.
When there are employees working the registers that can check me out faster than I can, then I’ll use the regular lanes. Until then, stay out of my way and let me get this done.
As a technician who repairs these for Fujitsu, I will say a few things, but I do not represent Kroger or Fujitsu in saying them.
The self checkouts at Kroger, depending on the model, can support checking out with a cartful. There should be some practicality however. The Carosel model of the U-Scan is the only model you can check out with a cartful on. You can tell which one it is, as it is tall (about 5 feet tall), and has 6 bag racks on the carosel, and a square solo scale in front of the dispenser door. (or on the Next Gen Carosel, which is shorter but still has 6 bag racks on the carosel, and a half moon scale on the end) This one can hold up to 450 pounds on both scales. (300 pounds on the 6 rack carosel, and 150 pounds on the solo/half moon scale) The bad part is, security by weight is how the software allows you to continue scanning – after you put the item on one of the bag scales, you have to wait for it to weigh (and if the item weighs what is in the database – assuming the grocery shrink ray hasn’t been active) and then it will allow you to continue and scan your next item.
The newest model U-Scan Kroger has been installing, however, has a 150 pound limit across both scales. This model has a 4 bag rack carosel scale with a platform above. It will also have U-Scan Genesis on the top door of the unit. This unit should have a item limit due to it having a smaller weight limit. (just as the original LT model uscan – it also had a 150 pound limit, and it’s bag scale only had 2 or 3 bag racks)
The original point of the self checkout was the realization of how managers cut costs – labor. With only one cashier for the express lane, if they were busy, you were stuck waiting in line. With 4 (and later, 6 and now up to 9) self checkouts, you still have one cashier (you cannot have security without an attendant) but more people can check out quickly. Because of the security model of the self checkout, you should not go through them with a large amount of groceries. You will get out much faster waiting in line for a regular register because there is no security model preventing you from scanning multiple items in rapid succession.
In Kroger, they do not like to limit the amounts coming through the self checkout due to a high amount of customer complaints about the limits when cashiers enforce them.