The Self-Checkout Phenomenon
Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2023 1:45 pm
Ok so we know the point of these, they want to save money on cashiers by just removing the service. "Scan your own groceries, ass," is their philosophy.
But, exactly as predicted, theft has gone waaaaay up, so they've had to shift the money they would spend on a low-paid cashier to a mid-pay security person/team, with many thousands more in security cameras/monitors/IT/ etc. Good move, right?
Anyway, my local walmart has been rolling them in slowly. 18 months ago, or so, 8 self-checkouts showed up in their own section. Fine, whatever. I avoided them as much as possible, unless the human-lanes were extra long. When I did try them I had those early problems like "not enough weight went into the bagging area," and, "Please wait for assistance" when they thought I was stealing. I actually did walk away from a cart, once, when my patience was extra thin.
But they've generally gotten better, and lately I've been using them more.
Then yesterday I went, in the middle of a major remodel. 75% of the lanes have been replaced by self checkouts. I sigh to myself, and head for one with a green light.
I get there just as the light turns red and says "Out of service." Fine, whatever.
Go to another, when I get close enough I can read on the screen, "Card only." I sucked many dicks this week and was paying cash, so I'll go find another. Fine.
check two more, find one that takes cash. My first thing was a fresh produce without a bar code on it, I need to enter it manually, and the fucking touch screen doesn't work, or is at least uncalibrated to the point of not being usable. goddaammmmmmit.
Find another, same.
Find another, kinda shit but barely usable.
Just seriously, fuck these idiots. They've now spent so much on these shitty systems, and additional security, and are losing so much more to shrink, they could have paid cashiers for a decade for the investment.
But, exactly as predicted, theft has gone waaaaay up, so they've had to shift the money they would spend on a low-paid cashier to a mid-pay security person/team, with many thousands more in security cameras/monitors/IT/ etc. Good move, right?
Anyway, my local walmart has been rolling them in slowly. 18 months ago, or so, 8 self-checkouts showed up in their own section. Fine, whatever. I avoided them as much as possible, unless the human-lanes were extra long. When I did try them I had those early problems like "not enough weight went into the bagging area," and, "Please wait for assistance" when they thought I was stealing. I actually did walk away from a cart, once, when my patience was extra thin.
But they've generally gotten better, and lately I've been using them more.
Then yesterday I went, in the middle of a major remodel. 75% of the lanes have been replaced by self checkouts. I sigh to myself, and head for one with a green light.
I get there just as the light turns red and says "Out of service." Fine, whatever.
Go to another, when I get close enough I can read on the screen, "Card only." I sucked many dicks this week and was paying cash, so I'll go find another. Fine.
check two more, find one that takes cash. My first thing was a fresh produce without a bar code on it, I need to enter it manually, and the fucking touch screen doesn't work, or is at least uncalibrated to the point of not being usable. goddaammmmmmit.
Find another, same.
Find another, kinda shit but barely usable.
Just seriously, fuck these idiots. They've now spent so much on these shitty systems, and additional security, and are losing so much more to shrink, they could have paid cashiers for a decade for the investment.