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The Edeka (german brand run by a cooperative (sic!)) at the Munich railway station switched to this system some time ago. It is not very usual in Germany, becau
by fxj 8y ago
The Edeka (german brand run by a cooperative (sic!)) at the Munich railway station switched to this system some time ago. It is not very usual in Germany, because you need security personnel anyway in the shop, so what gives. In the end they switched back because long queues were building up because it took so long and they needed extra personnel to help people with the interface. It was a nice try but didn't work. I know from other cities (e.g. Zurich) that it works fine, but they also need about the same number of people as before because someone has to fight off the shoplifters anyway.
- mikl 8y ago> they also need about the same number of people as before because some one has to fight off the swindlers. Pretty sure that's not generally the case. In Migros (Swiss supermarket chain), where I shop, they have one or two people monitoring 10-15 self-checkout stations. Even though the customers might be a bit slower scanning than full time cashiers, that's still a lot less people than an equivalent amount of old-school checkout lanes.
- fxj 8y agoI think it depends on the surroundings and the level of trust in the customers. Anecdote: when I was a child we had a small groceries shop in our street where I would go and get my sweets of stuff that my mum needed for cooking. So when the owner of the shop was not inside the shop I would just leave the money on the counter. Can you imagine this today in a big city at the main station?
- mikl 8y agoI dunno, even the Migros at Zürich HB doesn't have that many people minding the self-checkouts that I remember. But yeah, there will probably be shops where self-checkout will never be feasible, like electronics stores or pharmacies.