Self Checkout Lanes are for Idiots.

[balloonshark]

Bill Burr pretty much sums up how I feel about self checkout.

NSFW language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxINJzqzn4w

 

[angminas]

Pretty inaccurate. Unless I'm buying alcohol or I have a lot of items, self checkout is almost always significantly faster. Besides, I'd much rather keep busy moving the items myself than be bored out of my gourd waiting for a bitchy teenager to slowly fuck it up.

 

[Leyawiin]

They don't pay me enough to do the work of a cashier and courtesy clerk. I want to be served when I go to a retail establishment.

 

[John Connor]

The only benefit to self-checkout is if you have a few items. I don't dare ring up vegetables and fruit. I'm not going through that bar code shit. I want in and out!

The future is Internet based grocery shopping!

 

[TridenT]

I use them when all the clerks are full and the self-checkout looks relatively clear. I'll admit, the sigma on time in the self-checkout is out of control. I do try to avoid it if I see bunches of people with many items or they look like they don't know how to operate.

I was slow when I started (like all folks who were new to them) but I've become quick and deadly. A lot of them run the same software and/or are the same manufacturer.

 

[Ichinisan]

I spent sooo much more time waiting in line before they implemented these at Kroger and Walmart in my area. One of the reasons I still don't shop at Target for groceries. I always have to wait in line at the checkout.

I've had plenty of malfunctions, but the attendant usually resolved it quickly and I still save time overall.

 

[MadScientist]

The article is for idiots. I use self checkout everywhere they have it. How can it not be faster than regular checkout. Have you ever gotten stuck behind someone in regular checkout that has an item without a bar code on it, or has problems with their CC, or get a clueless clerk that doesn't know the difference between a cucumber and a zucchini.

The best and quickest check out system I have seen is Aldi, bag your own, accept only debit cards or cash, quarter to use a cart, refundable on return.

 

[steppinthrax]

I tend to find the most frustrating aspect of self-checkouts are the old people in front of me trying to use the self checkout.

 

[squirrel dog]

works good right up to the point of an older person or a younger person that is in to big a hurry to learn how to scan produce with no bar code . Also when a sale item scans full price , or a coupon junkie just can't get it to work .

 

[CZroe]

Meh, just another article by someone with anger issues.

"Someone?" You don't recognize Maddox? You must be young.

 

[BlitzPuppet]

I do self checkout most of the time if a lane is open because, having worked as a cashier at a grocery store during HS, I know pretty much wtf I'm doing.

 

[darkewaffle]

Man I far prefer self-checkout. I usually go grocery shopping pretty late or pretty early though so it's always empty.

 

[CZroe]

I saw some Mormons in San Diego who must've been on a mission from one of the isolated compounds/communities because they had no idea that you were supposed to scan the barcode.

They clearly knew nothing of the world. So naive.

They were at the self checkout scanner flipping a gallon of milk every which way. The barcode was clearly on a small label and all other sides were blank but they swiped the bottom and every other side in almost every orientation and then turned it upside-down and tried to scan a blank lid. I almost LOL'd in front of them and had to look the other way to stifle it. If I offered to help I would not have been able to contain myself.

 

[Attic]

At the grocery stores that are near me, the ones that have self check out vs the ones that do not, the ones with self check out let me check out faster most of the time.

Basically the stores that do have self checkout almost always have an open self check out register whereas the stores without it usually have at least 2 folks waiting in a cashiers lines.


I use self checkouts when needed and mostly to save time, and they still have their faults.

 

[rsutoratosu]

i only use it when there isn't an old people on the line and depends what items people ahead of me has.

Cloth - no way, half the time its missing tags
Fruits - no way, can't find the 4 digit item sticker
old people - sorry they can't figure out tech

Otherwise its pretty fast for 1-5 items. I zip through it fast.

 

[Rakehellion]

That article is stupid and those arguments for self checkout are stupid. I go to Stop & Shop where I get my scanner when I walk in the door and scan and bag my stuff as I shop. Self checkout takes less than a minute.

Self checkout is not for stupid people. Smart people can scan their own shit just as fast as the clerks. Stupid people fuck everything up which drags the average time up for these studies.

Privacy? Retarded. The store card tracks everything you buy.

Cut down on costs? Retarded. I use them to save time. Time is more valuable than whatever imagined costs people think they are saving.

Agree.

 

[NoTine42]

Years back, we had a Kmart test self-checkout. It was nice, as it almost made going to Kmart tolerable.

Kmart, of course, is that store where you are guaranteed to be behind one or more customers in the checkout line ... With an item that needs a price check from the other end of the store.

I guess Knart decided that a satisfied customer was a bad thing, so they removed those efficient checkouts.

 

[Zeze]

I'd like to comment on Maddox himself.

He was HIL-arious back in the early days of web 2.0. His counter-culture, counter-mainstream, angry persona was fresh at that time. There weren't much persona like him during that era, and people loved him for it.

Today (what is it, 15 years after?), I feel his shtick is stale. That whining, bitching routine has become the norm of internet subculture. Every miserable kids come out of woodwork on internet- via Youtube comments, twitter, all forums, & everywhere.

He's become irrelevant. He hasn't been funny in last 5-7 years.

 

[CZroe]

He's become irrelevant. He hasn't been funny in last 5-7 years.

This one seemed whiney and uninspired (was VERY surprised to see it get a thread) but his YouTube channel has plenty of gold in it. Even the little things can be hilarious, like the background animations for his hate mail segments where you see the Delete key getting hammered rapid fire and unopened envelopes going straight in the trash. :awe:

 

[Cerb]

That article is stupid and those arguments for self checkout are stupid. I go to Stop & Shop where I get my scanner when I walk in the door and scan and bag my stuff as I shop. Self checkout takes less than a minute.

Most self-checkouts are dedicated large POS units, with numerous configuration details in place to help prevent you trying to not pay for things and get away with it, and just to annoy you (why do automotive items always require the cashier? Why no scan guns? Why aren't the scanner and camera working together for multiple items (FI, with multiples, I use the trick of alternating items to scan to speed things up, because they all seem to have a long timeout for repeated SKUs)?). But, I haven't seen any like you describe, where it's truly self-checkout. Rather, it's you scanning, IDing & weighing, and bagging items on the counter, with a single cashier supervising several registers.

 

[BlitzPuppet]

This one seemed whiney and uninspired (was VERY surprised to see it get a thread) but his YouTube channel has plenty of gold in it. Even the little things can be hilarious, like the background animations for his hate mail segments where you see the Delete key getting hammered rapid fire and unopened envelopes going straight in the trash. :awe:

I'm sure he's pretty burnt out after having 50 plus episodes of his podcast. I even believe he talked about this on one of them maybe 6 months ago.

 

[Genx87]

I use self checkout with smaller amounts of items.

My biggest complaint about using the cashier. It never fails I end up with these three types of people in front of me.

1. Idiots who are mystified at how to use a CC reader in 2015.
2. Welfare queens that cant figure out how to use their EBT
3. Assholes who wait until it is time to pay to go through the coupon book and rip them out.(I actually laid into one woman about this tactic. I had it at that point, and hope she learned her lesson)

 

[Hugo Drax]

http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=self_checkout_lanes_blow

Pretty accurate.


What amuses me is the shoplifting part. But if you think about it; you are scanning bagging your own groceries and yet they pass none of the cost savings on to the consumer.


I hope amazon will start selling and shipping a full grocery line because I really hate grocery shopping in general.

I have to agree, I would never use them. Whats the point of paying retail price if you have to do your own work and you get no discount.

I would rather take the regular lane and at least someone keeps a job. The only thing the self checkout lane does is cause more job loss yet fatter profits not passed down to the consumer.

 

[Genx87]

I have to agree, I would never use them. Whats the point of paying retail price if you have to do your own work and you get no discount.

I would rather take the regular lane and at least someone keeps a job. The only thing the self checkout lane does is cause more job loss yet fatter profits not passed down to the consumer.

Why do you buy corn that was harvested using a machine by a single farmer? You should source out hand picked corn like it was done back in the day. The only thing a tractor does is cause corn pickers to be out of work yet those profits are not passed down to the consumer.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

the manufactured spend guys love to use self checkout lines.