Crap, Another Market Kills Self Check-Out

[Amethyst]

Perhaps it is all she had left to be proud of. I recall adults making a big deal over how neatly I wrote my name, in cursive, when I was about six.

I once told someone they may as well write "Batman" on the card reader, and the system would still accept it. They were aghast, and then laughed and the message got through

I was behind some woman that insisted she write out her full name, in cursive, on the card reader. She was so slow and the name was so long the reader kept timing out. I was tempted to point out that it accepts any little scribble.

 

[Amethyst]

The produce process is tedious. You must weigh the produce and get a sticker to put on a plastic bag with the produce inside. To obtain the sticker, you must either memorize the produce "code" on the bin, or get out your old-people glasses and find the teeny tiny code on a little cylinder above the produce scale.

The scanner scans the sticker for weight, but if you have something that is sold by the item (e.g. cucumber) you yourself have to look up the item *on the scanner,* a step which should be entirely unnecessary.

I love the idea of scanners and self-checkouts in principle. In practice, I fear, no systems engineers were involved in their design. At least, not sober ones.

Which reminds me of a pet peeve, which I'm too lazy to put in the proper thread. The Giant where I sometimes shop, has someone roaming the self-checkouts in case someone needs help. This person also bags your self-checked items, while you are going through the business with the scanner, and doesn't ask first if you want them to bag for you. And they are extremely stingy with those bags. No double-baggin. One bagger shoved two big cartons of yogurt and a box of cereal in one tiny plastic bag. By the time I got to my car, the bag was about two feet long and just about to give way.

The Giants in MD have the scanners too but I keep forgetting to use them. I finally remembered once and it worked well but not sure how it works for produce. .

 

[EastWest Gal]

The produce process is tedious. You must weigh the produce and get a sticker to put on a plastic bag with the produce inside. To obtain the sticker, you must either memorize the produce "code" on the bin, or get out your old-people glasses and find the teeny tiny code on a little cylinder above the produce scale.

The scanner scans the sticker for weight, but if you have something that is sold by the item (e.g. cucumber) you yourself have to look up the item *on the scanner,* a step which should be entirely unnecessary.

I love the idea of scanners and self-checkouts in principle. In practice, I fear, no systems engineers were involved in their design. At least, not sober ones.

Which reminds me of a pet peeve, which I'm too lazy to put in the proper thread. The Giant where I sometimes shop, has someone roaming the self-checkouts in case someone needs help. This person also bags your self-checked items, while you are going through the business with the scanner, and doesn't ask first if you want them to bag for you. And they are extremely stingy with those bags. No double-baggin. One bagger shoved two big cartons of yogurt and a box of cereal in one tiny plastic bag. By the time I got to my car, the bag was about two feet long and just about to give way.

After awhile you get used to it and very fast. I line my stickers up on the shopping cart and go beep beep beep. Or I stick them on the top of the reusable bags. When I put the stickers on the plastic bags, they aren't recyclable.

I try not to use the plastic bags. They are banned in California, Hawaii, and North Carolina, as well as several cities, with good reason. I have to remember to pack a couple of reusable bags for our Hawaii trip.

 

[audreyh1]

The produce process is tedious. You must weigh the produce and get a sticker to put on a plastic bag with the produce inside. To obtain the sticker, you must either memorize the produce "code" on the bin, or get out your old-people glasses and find the teeny tiny code on a little cylinder above the produce scale.

The scanner scans the sticker for weight, but if you have something that is sold by the item (e.g. cucumber) you yourself have to look up the item *on the scanner,* a step which should be entirely unnecessary.

I love the idea of scanners and self-checkouts in principle. In practice, I fear, no systems engineers were involved in their design. At least, not sober ones.

Which reminds me of a pet peeve, which I'm too lazy to put in the proper thread. The Giant where I sometimes shop, has someone roaming the self-checkouts in case someone needs help. This person also bags your self-checked items, while you are going through the business with the scanner, and doesn't ask first if you want them to bag for you. And they are extremely stingy with those bags. No double-baggin. One bagger shoved two big cartons of yogurt and a box of cereal in one tiny plastic bag. By the time I got to my car, the bag was about two feet long and just about to give way.

The HEB where I shop has scales that print labels in produce so by the time we get to self-checkout we just scan the bagged produce. Quick.

And we bring our own shopping bags which are nice and strong. The store sells these sturdy large bags very cheap. We do our own bagging at self-checkout.

So some stores have solved these issues.

 

[Samething]

I am amazed at people's inability to count. Yesterday I took my 11 items to the 15-and-fewer line at my neighborhood store, and the young man in front of me had 24 items. I wish the cash registers would sound an alarm at the 16th item and refuse to proceed.

I have been known to start counting out loud when I get behind someone like that. One, two, three....SIXTEEN,SEVENTEEN!!

 

[Big_Hitter]

So what is a studly young millionaire doing at a ghetto Kroger anyway? Try Whole Foods.

Ha

they have 50% off on double R ranch lib eyes in the reduced quick sale section

I avoid to Whole Foods - they don't have plastic bags

 

[Amethyst]

How does the scale know what it is weighing? Don't you have to punch in a 4-digit code? The codes are printed in teeny type on a little cylinder over the scale, and some of the teeny codes are worn away from people rotating the cylinder. Design Fail.

The HEB where I shop has scales that print labels in produce so by the time we get to self-checkout we just scan the bagged produce. Quick.

And we bring our own shopping bags which are nice and strong. The store sells these sturdy large bags very cheap. We do our own bagging at self-checkout.

So some stores have solved these issues.

 

[Amethyst]

Also I dislike reusable bags, which are no good for lining our bathroom wastebaskets.

 

[RunningBum]

How does the scale know what it is weighing? Don't you have to punch in a 4-digit code? The codes are printed in teeny type on a little cylinder over the scale, and some of the teeny codes are worn away from people rotating the cylinder. Design Fail.

The scales I use all have a screen where you can punch in the code, look up the code by name, or by group and picture. I haven't used that cylinder in quite awhile. Still, having the scale in produce doesn't really save me time, as I'm either doing it there or at the register, though if everyone does it in advance it reduces the logjam at the register.

 

[RunningBum]

Everybody is not retired so knowingly doing this is sort of rude it seems to me but whatever. Knowing you are aware will make me feel better about being rude and impatient with your type next time a slow poke is in front of me chatting about the weather while they pay with their check.

I'm hoping MichaelB's post was at least somewhat in jest, but I do agree with this. Just because I'm retired doesn't mean I want to spend extra time at the checkout, with my frozen food melting. That's one reason I like the Martin's store with the hand held scanner you carry around, so that I can not only bring my bags but also my cooler bag so I can immediately pack stuff that needs to stay cold. I live over 30 minutes away from any real grocery store so I always bring a cooler.

 

[Texas Proud]

The produce process is tedious. You must weigh the produce and get a sticker to put on a plastic bag with the produce inside. To obtain the sticker, you must either memorize the produce "code" on the bin, or get out your old-people glasses and find the teeny tiny code on a little cylinder above the produce scale.

The scanner scans the sticker for weight, but if you have something that is sold by the item (e.g. cucumber) you yourself have to look up the item *on the scanner,* a step which should be entirely unnecessary.

I love the idea of scanners and self-checkouts in principle. In practice, I fear, no systems engineers were involved in their design. At least, not sober ones.

Which reminds me of a pet peeve, which I'm too lazy to put in the proper thread. The Giant where I sometimes shop, has someone roaming the self-checkouts in case someone needs help. This person also bags your self-checked items, while you are going through the business with the scanner, and doesn't ask first if you want them to bag for you. And they are extremely stingy with those bags. No double-baggin. One bagger shoved two big cartons of yogurt and a box of cereal in one tiny plastic bag. By the time I got to my car, the bag was about two feet long and just about to give way.

EDIT.... just noticed I was not the first to mention HEB!!!


Well, I guess our HEBs are better than most.... they have a scale where you can get a final price sticker printed ready for scanning... which also includes the produce sold by the piece... when you punch in the code it just asks 'how many'....

Our Kroger's do not have this, so it seems like other stores... I just do not seem to buy produce at Kroger, but DW buys where ever... but mostly HEB...

 

[Texas Proud]

How does the scale know what it is weighing? Don't you have to punch in a 4-digit code? The codes are printed in teeny type on a little cylinder over the scale, and some of the teeny codes are worn away from people rotating the cylinder. Design Fail.

They have the code on the label with the price over the produce... in large type... you only have to remember it during the short walk to the scale...

It helps to have a young kid to give the bag to and say 'get a price on this'....

 

[Dawg52]

I'm hoping MichaelB's post was at least somewhat in jest, but I do agree with this. Just because I'm retired doesn't mean I want to spend extra time at the checkout .

I don't mind a little chatting as long as the checker continues to scan. When the customer just stops and chats before paying or leaving, that does irritate me. Not long ago I was in line to check out at a drug store and an old lady was paying for her items with change. Stacking up rows of quarters and smaller change. I was within 5 seconds of putting my items back on the shelf and leaving before another employee ran over to open another register. I thanked the girl for doing so and she just smiled.

 

[scrabbler1]

The self-checkout lanes don't have paper bags which I often like to get because they fit better into my fold-up cart I use to transport my groceries from the parking garage to my apartment. I then use those paper bags paired up inside plastic bags to line my kitchen garbage pail as I have been doing for nearly 30 years.

 

[audreyh1]

How does the scale know what it is weighing? Don't you have to punch in a 4-digit code? The codes are printed in teeny type on a little cylinder over the scale, and some of the teeny codes are worn away from people rotating the cylinder. Design Fail.

The code is displayed on the food price sign for each bin, and is often on a sticker on the food itself. Yes, it's entered on the scale.

We mainly do this because it saves time at checkout. But waiting until checkout and looking up or entering the code isn't that bad either.

 

[MRG]

The HEB where I shop has scales that print labels in produce so by the time we get to self-checkout we just scan the bagged produce. Quick.

And we bring our own shopping bags which are nice and strong. The store sells these sturdy large bags very cheap. We do our own bagging at self-checkout.

So some stores have solved these issues.

Wow this appears too complex. I just tell the register what the produce is by typing in part of the name and look for its picture. Select and it is weighed and priced. No way I'm writing down codes on little labels. Who's going to read that scribble?

 

[Chuckanut]

Thinking about this, I have noticed that the green "approve" light comes on the instant the pen touches the screen. Next time I'll try just an "x" instead of writing a name. That'll be faster.

Thankfully, we have these chip-n-signature cards that prevent people from having to remember a pin. The scribbled "x" is so much more secure.

 

[RunningBum]

Wow this appears too complex. I just tell the register what the produce is by typing in part of the name and look for its picture. Select and it is weighed and priced. No way I'm writing down codes on little labels. Who's going to read that scribble?

Nobody is writing codes on labels. The labels on apples and bananas and such have the code written on them. Or there's a sign by the item that you have to remember for the short time you get to the scale.

That said, produce is the biggest slowdown with self-checkout. Most checkers have many of the codes memorized and can do it quicker than me, though I do have the ones I buy a lot memorized.

 

[Beldar]

I think we need to call a Waaambulance...

Seriously, as the minimum wage creeps above $10 / hr, the economic value of a cashier falls. Witness what McDonalds and Amazon are experimenting with in their retail settings. Self checkout, whether a manual or automatic operation, is probably going to be the norm in the next decade. We may pay a premium for manual intervention, similar to what banks and airline reservation operations are doing.


_B

 

[John Galt III]

First it was Costco, Now Albertsons. I asked the checker why ? " Shrinkage " was the reply.

Home Depot and 2 other markets nearby still do it, but with a checker supervising at all times.

I would be ok with killing the self checkout if replaced with a " Cash Only, No Talking " line.

Shrinkage meaning not paying for an item?

 

[travelover]

Shrinkage meaning not paying for an item?

Unless you are talking about a cold shower, yes.

 

[CaliKid]

I spoke to someone the other day who owns a grocery store. They were explaining a lot of stores and getting away from self checkout due to theft as indicated above. He told me a couple of the sneaky things people do. So even if an employee is standing there monitoring the self checkout lanes, as our stores have, they would be non the wiser of what the scum bags are doing. Plus, above that, one of our local stores told my wife they do not stop people even when they know they are stealing. Really sad on so many levels.

 

[MRG]

I think we need to call a Waaambulance...

Seriously, as the minimum wage creeps above $10 / hr, the economic value of a cashier falls. Witness what McDonalds and Amazon are experimenting with in their retail settings. Self checkout, whether a manual or automatic operation, is probably going to be the norm in the next decade. We may pay a premium for manual intervention, similar to what banks and airline reservation operations are doing.


_B

It's not just minimum wage or unskilled jobs. I spent a great deal of my career developing software to replace people in back office positions. The thought was if a human adds no value to a business transaction why should they do it?

 

[John Galt III]

I'm surprised they lasted this long, actually. The attendant has to watch at least 4 terminals, and is often distracted by some problem, as the other 3 customers are doing God knows what, unwatched. Maybe a camera recording them would catch them, but, as a previous poster said, the store might not even prosecute.

 

[braumeister]

Thankfully, we have these chip-n-signature cards that prevent people from having to remember a pin. The scribbled "x" is so much more secure.

Like Gumby, I've been signing "Elvis Presley" on the screens for many years. Nobody has ever noticed.