Rules of Self Checkout

[Mystic]

As a consumer, I really like using cso's. Usually during the busy part of the day, they are empty because people are still scared of them where I live which means I check out in a matter of seconds as opposed to waiting for 20 minutes in a mile long line.

The one thing that irritates me is people who don't know how to use them attempting to do so in rush hours and having to sit there waiting while they try and figure out why the scale isn't working right.

Then there are some that just don't work properly and the especially irritating need for a CSR to punch in a code in order to use a credit card? Doesn't that completely make the concept of a cso pointless?

[Chromatix]

As a computer engineer, who uses and programs computers all day every day, I cannot get my head around self-checkouts. I cannot seem to find a way to make it faster, more efficient, or less frustrating than using a staffed checkout. Heck, breaking even would be okay.

Fortunately there aren't any of these in Finland, AFAIK.

Part of the trouble is that I am extremely intuitive - which means that I don't do things in a step-by-step manner, but instead leap ahead to a more efficient way. I always hated having to write down the "extra" steps in Maths exams, because I didn't need to do them to get the right answer.

I've been watching how professional checkout clerks do their job for most of my life, and I have seen that they have all sorts of little shortcuts and rhythms that keep the goods moving. If for some bizarre reason I took a retail job, they probably wouldn't have to train me much before I would be quite competent at it. I watched my dad driving while I was growing up, and had fairly reasonable car control as soon as I started a driving course as a result.

But the machine is not designed like a (British) staffed checkout. It does not have the conveyor belt to gather all my shopping on before I begin. It does not have the large output tray to collect things I've scanned before I get around to packing them. Most importantly though, it does not trust me.

I can't use *any* of those shortcuts and rhythms on a self-checkout, because it requires me to stop and bag and read the screen (which is cluttered and hard to read) after scanning every single item. If I forget to stop and do all that, I trigger an error on the machine, and so I suddenly turn into the kind of person this thread complains about. And believe me, I do *not* enjoy being an SC.

And yes, I have trouble finding the money slots, too.

[LadyAndreca]

My 'favorite' part of self checkout machines is when they will not recognize that items under half a pound exist. Home Despot, I'm looking at you.

Heh. The ones at my Orange Apron are so sensitive that they register weight when the sliding doors open on a windy day (0.04 lbs). It's specific ITEMS that are coded wrong--KW1 and SC1 keys (the most common house key blanks) are the usual culprit, as the programmer told the computer they weigh 0.66 lbs but they are actually about a tenth of that, and most people assume they can handle scanning one or two keys. Other common suspects are 2" chip brushes, most of the foam paintbrushes, and just about every 'bonus size' of ANYTHING because it weighs more than the standard package...

[HYHYBT]

To me, it matters which store it is: when our Wal-Mart had them, you couldn't do anything until it said to. So: wait for it to say "scan your first item," then scan it, then wait a couple seconds until it decides to say "place the item in the bag," do so, wait a couple more seconds for it to ask you to scan the next item, etc. No thank you. And they never did have the weights right for anything clothing-related. And the one at the grocery store here won't let you take filled bags off the scale. Ever, no matter that it's full and you still have more stuff. Everything absolutely MUST remain on the scale until the order is paid, or it locks up until you put it back; I've seen others where, once it's registered the weight, you can put the filled bags back in the cart to make more room so I know it's possible. So: with a small to medium order containing nothing difficult, I'll go to any line that looks short; a larger one, to a real cashier.

[mattm04]

But the machine is not designed like a (British) staffed checkout. It does not have the conveyor belt to gather all my shopping on before I begin. It does not have the large output tray to collect things I've scanned before I get around to packing them. Most importantly though, it does not trust me.

I can't use *any* of those shortcuts and rhythms on a self-checkout, because it requires me to stop and bag and read the screen (which is cluttered and hard to read) after scanning every single item. If I forget to stop and do all that, I trigger an error on the machine, and so I suddenly turn into the kind of person this thread complains about. And believe me, I do *not* enjoy being an SC.

And yes, I have trouble finding the money slots, too.

The ones my company uses has a belt and lager bagging area, similar to this one (http://www.tinotopia.com/log/archive...l-pjohnson.jpg). After the 4 posts it is a bagging area. The scale part is before it. We allow you to use short cuts to some extents, once it beeps you can out it on the belt and not wait for it to stop talking. With produce it also lets you enter the PLU from the sticker, though it is not immidealtey clear by showing a button for "keypad" YOu can alos hit a button to mute the voice, so you don;t have to listen to it say "place item on the belt" dozens of times.

[KabeRinnaul]

Then what is the skip bagging button FOR?

The button is for scanning a large or heavy item, such as a bag of dog food or case of soda, that will not fit inside a normal bag or could overload the bagging scale (which freezes up at about 100 lbs), skipping the bagging, and putting it back in your cart. Preferably on the bottom rack, which is meant for these large items.

Alternatively, sometimes you push it because the bag scale won't register a very light item, such as a Hallmark card.

The problems arise when...

• Someone pushes it just because it was there and then bags the item anyway.
• Someone scans an item, pushes it, and scans the same item again, rather than just scanning two items separately, then bags both.
• Someone hears the words "press the skip bagging button", ignores the rest of the message, hits it, and bags the item anyway.
• Someone scans an item, bags it, then because the computer takes over one second to register the weight, hits the button so they can go faster.
• Someone scans an item, pushes the button for reasons beyond any mortal understanding, bags it anyway, then yells at me when the alert comes up. Then starts an argument telling me that they never pushed any buttons and call me a liar. Then start saying that I'm a racist who's screwing up their order on purpose just because I hate (race) people.

[Zoom]

I've been watching how professional checkout clerks do their job for most of my life, and I have seen that they have all sorts of little shortcuts and rhythms that keep the goods moving.

A bazillion times THIS!

After about 5-6 years, it was like a little switch went off in my head, and my scanning became maniacal.

Meanwhile, since customers in self checkout haven't been doing it for five years yet (and nobody wants to wait that long in line for them to practice!), their unprofessional antics will continue.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I've been watching how professional checkout clerks do their job for most of my life, and I have seen that they have all sorts of little shortcuts and rhythms that keep the goods moving.

Word. When I used to work on a checkout, I not only could scan very quickly, but also very carefully. XD There's also a zen to scanning once you get the hang of it; you find that you can let your mind either drift off if your customer is ignoring you or merrily chatter away and your hands are still scanning of their own accord.

[fireheart]

Re the weight thing...

I have some of those bags that roll up and you can keep in your handbag for whatever reason. Very handy, but that's besides the point.

Every time I try and use one of them for whatever reason, the system doesn't even recognise it and keeps telling me to do so until an attendant comes over.

I use them because it's quicker for me, but only if I have a few items and don't need to have gift cards activated.

[Chromatix]

The sad thing is that even with waiting in line, I usually find a staffed checkout is faster than an SCO unit. And the things don't take up *that* much less space than a staffed checkout. And they still need *some* staff hovering over them to deal with the fraudsters and the incompetent and the machine's own errors.

So I really don't see how this lets them process more customers per hour. Which might be another reason why Finnish supermarkets don't bother to use them.

[Broomjockey]

And the things don't take up *that* much less space than a staffed checkout. And they still need *some* staff hovering over them to deal with the fraudsters and the incompetent and the machine's own errors.

So I really don't see how this lets them process more customers per hour.

It's not about more customers per hour. It's about more customers per payroll hour. One staff member can watch 4 SCOs, rather than having two cashiers manning the two regular checkouts you could fit in the space.

[Magpie]

Re the weight thing...

I have some of those bags that roll up and you can keep in your handbag for whatever reason. Very handy, but that's besides the point.

Every time I try and use one of them for whatever reason, the system doesn't even recognise it and keeps telling me to do so until an attendant comes over.

I use them because it's quicker for me, but only if I have a few items and don't need to have gift cards activated.

Well there's two solutions to that: figure out who in the hierarchy is able to get them properly programmed - it's possible for them to put in a button that lets you say "using own bags" that will tare the scales, my local store finally put that in. The other option is just to place everything loose on the bagging platform until you're done, and then quickly bag it. I find if I'm only getting a couple of items it doesn't slow me down much.

[C-130]

SCO one of those wonder my work has not saw the sense to implement yet. Instead they invented the wonderful express checkout which is manned and quicker why? Because you as cashier can quickly rush things and just throw a bag at the customer and the items. Simple by adding the word express. Another good point is we as cashiers actually prefer the express check out as it is layed out far more sensibly. I do believe though someone will eventually introduce SCOs and it will make my job and the supervisers hellish, as our items come without barcodes in many instances (customers tag switching or more commonly someone at DC has failed to label appropriately), the till registers the wrong price (our promotions are not updated on tills for up to 7 days form implementation) and possibly an important one is that items in some cases come as price only meaning the cashier has to be able to verify for themselves that it seems right for the price. Never minding the fact we are allready busy, if they introduce sco the que will just block off our key aisles.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

How normal is this?

I was doing errands in a different city today, and stopped at the clearance swamp store in that city. This store happens to be quite a bit bigger and busier than my store, and it has SCOs. The company began installing SCOs in some of its stores, say, 7 years ago. My store does not have them and almost certainly never will. In fact, I don't even know if the company is still installing them in stores.

I purchased a lamp at this store and thought I would go through the SCO. When I arrived at the SCO, the screen said the machine only accepted debit cards and credit cards. Since I wanted to pay cash for my lamp, I went to the one open checklane, where the cashier forgot to give me a bag for my lamp.

I had never before seen a SCO that only took card payments.

[SG15Z]

Granted, the store I go to has two seperate SCOs for large orders vs small orders. It really bugs when people try to take an entire cart full of crap through one of the SCOs designed for smallish orders. I'd love to hear an SCO attendant's take on THAT!

My store only has those ones that can handle up to a medium size order and maybe a large order if you know what you're doing.

Basically it's a bit smaller than those carousel ones. And I HATE it when someone comes through with a big order. They always run out of room and then try to take stuff off and I'm really busy and can't watch them and override everything. If we had SCO's that could handle large orders I wouldn't mind, but we don't so they should just use a regular lane or scan the rest on another robot and pay twice.

A question for the grocery store cashiers: do you often think about that sort of thing? I've had some very odd cartloads, but I figure that the cashier sees that all the time and will assume, if she cares at all, more or less the truth: you got the rest somewhere else, or just happened to run out of an odd combination of things at the same time, or, the time I'm thinking of, we were having a family dinner, as many relatives as could come from all around, and I was supposed to bring drinks and dessert, with relatives who could cook much better than I do providing the "real" food. So my shopping was mainly about eight bottles of soda and some cakes and pies. I am indeed larger than I ought to be, but I *don't* just eat cake and pie, and hopefully the cashier didn't assume that I do; surely they've seen stranger.

Great. Now between this reply and one for the takeout complaint thread, I'm hungry.

No I don't. Unless I'm seeing a lot of the same thing, I tend not to think about what people are buying. And even when I do, I don't care.

And to the OP, I completely agree on every rule! The Skip Bagging feature is starting to get annoying. Cause people will scan it, press skip bagging then put it in the bag anyway! Then get mad when the machine locked up! Seriously people it's not that hard to figure out. Skip bagging mean skip bagging!

Oh and um for some reason at our SCO we have our own override number so we never have to call the FES over. But I think that's something the district allows, cause I know that a lot of locations have to have an FES bring their override keys. Then again each store is different in the way they do things.

(BTW, how much do you hate the iPads?)