Self-checkout Blues- Have any?

[Enigma]

I am so happy to hear that they are phasing out self-checkouts, or at leat that's what my CSM told me. I cannot think of a bigger waste of company money or time. Let me explain a few reasons I will be glad to see them go:

1-
When I am on duty, it is me at a little podium verses 4 full-service checkout lanes. Most of the time it is excessivly boring, and if I'm not lucky enough to sneak a magazine, I am stuck watching the transactions tick away on my moniter. However, when it does get busy, it all happens at once.

You see at our self-check outs you can't pay with a check, so what I need to do is suspend your transaction and bring it up to my register to send you along your merry way. Today however the second the first lady walked up to me with her check, all of the lights lit up. People need to learn to chill, seriously. I understand you want to get out, but if you see me with another customer at the register, that means I am, infact , busy. So yelling for me, gesturing or walking up to me and getting in my face is not going to get you help any quicker. I can only help one person at a time, and now you're holding everyone up!

2-
People don't seem to understand that waving for me is not a good way to get my attention. First of all, I may not be at the podium, for I may be helping someone else. Second of all, it's a fricken' superstore, I can't hear you above the 3000 other people in here. Thirdly you have a lovely little button right infront of you that allows you to "Call for help" aka get my ass over there without causing a scene.

3-
You can't restock the bags. People get annoyed when they run out, but they'll never let me in there to restock them. With the constant stream of people, there's not a chance to get in there without cutting in. I actually had a lady yell at me for trying to put some bags on, and then yell at me a minute later because there were not bags.

Gee lady, why do you think I was there?

4-
Lastly, people forget that this is a machine, and it messes up. Instead, people assume it is some evil plan of mine to use my inherent telekenetic powers to make their day miserable. They completly forget I am there to help them when the machine messes up, and instead choose to cuss me out because they tried to put there CC in too soon, or they tried to buy banana's but forgot to put them on the actual scanner (which weighs it)

Anyway, anyone else want to take a baseball bat to these machines?

[hawkchick11]

I hope they don't phase out the self checkouts, I love them

[Enigma]

I hope they don't phase out the self checkouts, I love them

Do you work them? Hehe, I mean I suppose it's not so bad for people who use them, except for most of the time between waiting for system to recognize you've bagged the item and the standard delays, you really could have gotten out quicker if you went through a cashier!

[qaxons]

I like them when I'm buying... Embarrassing items... or like one thing and there's a line everywhere else. Pop the scanner, pop on rack, pop in card, pop out of store. Quick clean, and I don't risk being sucky.

I was sucky one time with the self-checkout lady at the local wallyworld though. Doom3 had just come out, and I had just gotten a giftcard with just enough to purchase it.

Problem 1: It was about 10pm when I got there.
Problem 2: I had turned 18 (has it really been that long? I may be off on my age... but it played an issue)
Problem 3: Walmart card readers require pins on this particular brand of gift card.
Problem 4: The gift card came with no PIN, and no way to set one up.

So, all told, I was tired, I'd gotten in another argument with my father, and then all of a sudden my gift card won't work and when I go to use another form of payment, Walmart has decreed that I am not old enough to purchase the game.

I didn't go back there for a good 6 months. I didn't tear into the self-checkout lady too badly, but she did bear the brunt of my wrath, even though I made it clear that it was corporate that was retarded, not her.

I've never worked the self-checkout, but I've seen people working them experience a lot of crap.

[CaroPhoenix]

I love to use self-checkouts! I haven't worked them though, so I don't know anything about the headaches they cause employees.

However, the self-checks at the local Harris Teeter hate me. Absolutely loathe me. They're always messing up, I feel so sorry for the chicks that are manning the little podium. I normally go through the regular lines, but if the lines are long, and Twinkle Toes (my daughter :lol) is acting up, I try the self-checks. What I don't understand is why the employee has to ring in the coupons and we can't do it at the self-check?

[matty]

Well, I've certainly heard of self checkouts, but I have never had the pleasure(?) of actually using one, with the exception of those that allow to you to borrow books from your local library.

To the best of my knowledge, there are no self checkouts in Australian retail stores, but perhaps someone else can tell me if this is right? I know there are a few of us Aussies on here!

As I understand it, most of the major supermarkets and other general retailers think they would be too much of a hassle, especially in terms of shop-lifting, while I just don't think it's something most smaller stores would really consider.

Still, I guess it means that customers can argue among themselves while waiting in line, rather than getting the cashier involved?!

[Geek King]

I love self checkouts! Since I usually only have a hand basket worth of items, they save me from waiting behind people with cartloads, who don't want half of it, then wait to write a check until the very last moment. If it wasn't for the self checkouts, I would probably only shop at 2 AM. I loathe grocery shopping SCs.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Like Geek King, I loathe Grocery store SC's, and I always frequent the self-checkouts at Fred Meyer. I now make sure to get the produce codes for anything I buy so I can punch them in myself without having to get help from the cashier manning them.

[Finduilas]

I like to put the self checkout robotvoice on in Spanish (even though I don't speak a word of it!)... It's usually fine, because it's ridiculously obvious what you're supposed to do.
However, sometimes I do it when I have produce. The pictures are not very good. I don't know where the self checkout watcher person was, but I remember I just kinda winged it and hoped I picked the right fruit. (I think it was plums that time...)

To conclude, the moral of the story is: Don't put the robotvoice on in Spanish if you have fruit and don't speak Spanish.

[TheSnakeLady]

I also love the self-checkouts. They usually have the shortest lines around, and unless I have a ton of items, I usually head there first. The only time I had a problem with the self-checkouts was when I was buying a bunch of seeds from the gardening center. They just don't weigh enough to register on the scale half.

[CaroPhoenix]

I went to the post office today to mail off my CS Christmas cards, and I went to the self-check machines!! They were wonderful. The postal office near my house has 3 of the machines. 1 in the front lobby (which is always busy) and 2 in the main area - near the counters. I went to one of the ones in the main area. Took me 20 minutes to do all the international cards, and I bought 3 books of stamps for the regular ones. I was in and out and no long lines for me!

[LifeCarnie]

Like Geek King, I loathe Grocery store SC's, and I always frequent the self-checkouts at Fred Meyer. I now make sure to get the produce codes for anything I buy so I can punch them in myself without having to get help from the cashier manning them.

I've gotten the impression that there is a wide variation in self-checkout technology. My grocery store has machines with a menu which allows you to find the information. Also, food vendors, like chiquita, are putting the code right on the label of the produce.

I've had mixed experiences with using self-checkout machines. While, I think the technology has improved, it still has some flaws. Last week, I had to wait for someone to authorize my purchase of Dayquil.

Which to me, totally defeats the purpose of self-checkout. I'm not complaining, I just think that the staff of the store tends to have work created for them by these machines.

I've also been in a store that had open lanes, which were manned by store employees, yet there were lines for the three self-check out registers.

[Pixagi]

I love to use self checkouts. However, I hate having to wait for slow/old people to muddle their way through, or for people who've never before rung anything up. It's annoying.

[Captain Kidd]

I too enjoy the self checkout. But there are some criteria. Due to the relatively slow time it takes it to add in the new item's weight and check to make sure you bagged it, anything more than 10 or 15 items and I'll go to a regular line unless they're just way too long. Also, if I'm getting stuff other than easy to buy items (e.g. id required medicines or beer), I'll avoid the self checkouts to avoid hassling me and the cashier.

I've also dearly wanted to slap people silly (like trying to self checkout two carts piled high) and can see why working the self checkout can be a special sort of hell for cashiers.

[Alpha Strike]

Do you work them? Hehe, I mean I suppose it's not so bad for people who use them, except for most of the time between waiting for system to recognize you've bagged the item and the standard delays, you really could have gotten out quicker if you went through a cashier!

I'm a big fan of self-checkout too, especially since I don't work at WallyWorld.

In fact, much of the reason I use self-checkout is because it's faster (at least at that particular time) then waiting for a cashier. My own experience is that most people still want to use an aisle with a cashier, especially if they have a huge cart of groceries. Given that, and the fact that I'm pretty quick at the self-servce lanes means much less frustration at WallyWorld.