Overall I disagree with this notion.
Few things: I UNDERSTAND to a certain extent that it doesn't belong in grocery stores. I say that because people are dumb as rocks. So typical people don't think of things such as:
Oh Hey, I have a full weeks+ groceries in my cart that is filled to the brim. Maybe self-checkout isn't in my best interest?
I have a shitload of produce and have no idea what I'm doing and what are these codes?
But for people such as myself that pop in to grab some limes or a couple boxed items it's incredibly helpful. Sadly, my local grocery store doesn't have any. But what about places that don't have produce such as Target? I think the lack of produce would be very helpful.
Since I'm in Texas and we have a considerable amount of people that can't understand the English language, some of them are scared off from self-checkouts or simply want to interact with people. I go into Home Depot often for home improvement and need to grab a couple things (Box of screws, Hammer, Plumbing supplies, etc...) and EVERY DAMN time they have 4 self-checkouts that are completely empty, while having 2 full-checkouts that have a line of 2-3. It's a no brainer which one. The woman managing the self-checkouts always just twiddles her thumbs the whole time heh.
Overall, people need to be better at judging things (I know that's saying a lot). But if you have a ton of items to check-out, it's probably going to take you much longer than if you just wait for someone else to quickly do it that is trained to do it. But you're a moron so you're going to go into the self-checkout regardless of which is in your best interest.