3 ms·

I love self-checkout and use it when available and reasonable. However, I have seen lines. It feels the same as ATMs for me. Occasionally I am waiting behind so

I love self-checkout and use it when available and reasonable. However, I have seen lines. It feels the same as ATMs for me. Occasionally I am waiting behind someone who just takes forever. I always wonder what they are doing, how it can take what feels like 10 minutes to do what I attempt to get done in 1 minute. Self-checkout is a bottleneck since there are a limited number of available machines. I can see efficiency gains by removing that bottleneck.

vsskanth 7y ago
I'm surprised many people here mention lines at the self-checkout. I shop in a fairly busy Walmart and I never had to stand in line, even on Saturdays and Sundays. They have like 15 of those counters on each side.
- reggieband 7y ago
  It is literally a supply and demand thing. You happen to have experienced high-supply/low-demand. Why are you surprised people mention low-supply/high-demand scenarios? In fact, just follow the logic down that road. Consider highly-volatile demand purchase scenarios. A company might over-spend on self-checkout stations to cover high-demand scenarios that go unused on more typical days. A more efficient approach is to avoid requiring additional stations to cover changes in demand. Just create a single system (walk out purchasing) that handles all scenarios and be done with it.
  - vsskanth 7y ago
    I guess I'm just wondering if there's data on how often you these self-checkout bottlenecks. The way other commenters describe it makes it seem like it's fairly often. Hence the surprise. Although I agree just-walk-out scales well with demand.
    - JohnFen 7y ago
      > The way other commenters describe it makes it seem like it's fairly often. There's almost always a line at them when I walk by in the stores in my area. Usually, the line there is about as long as the lines at the manned checkouts.
- grandmczeb 7y ago
  Just curious, where do you live? I stand in line for self check out very frequently in SF/Oakland/Palo Alto.
- greenshackle2 7y ago
  In shops I frequent, there is usually a single line for all 3-8 self-checkout machines, but separate lines for each individual cashier. I've noticed that the line for self-checkout is usually roughly the same length as the lines for individual cash registers, regardless of how many machines there are. I'm not sure if people just don't like self-checkout or if they have failed to notice that the "go to the shortest line" heuristic doesn't work anymore when one of the lines moves much faster than the others.

vsskanth 7y ago

I'm surprised many people here mention lines at the self-checkout. I shop in a fairly busy Walmart and I never had to stand in line, even on Saturdays and Sundays. They have like 15 of those counters on each side.

reggieband 7y ago
It is literally a supply and demand thing. You happen to have experienced high-supply/low-demand. Why are you surprised people mention low-supply/high-demand scenarios? In fact, just follow the logic down that road. Consider highly-volatile demand purchase scenarios. A company might over-spend on self-checkout stations to cover high-demand scenarios that go unused on more typical days. A more efficient approach is to avoid requiring additional stations to cover changes in demand. Just create a single system (walk out purchasing) that handles all scenarios and be done with it.
- vsskanth 7y ago
  I guess I'm just wondering if there's data on how often you these self-checkout bottlenecks. The way other commenters describe it makes it seem like it's fairly often. Hence the surprise. Although I agree just-walk-out scales well with demand.
  - JohnFen 7y ago
    > The way other commenters describe it makes it seem like it's fairly often. There's almost always a line at them when I walk by in the stores in my area. Usually, the line there is about as long as the lines at the manned checkouts.
grandmczeb 7y ago
Just curious, where do you live? I stand in line for self check out very frequently in SF/Oakland/Palo Alto.
greenshackle2 7y ago
In shops I frequent, there is usually a single line for all 3-8 self-checkout machines, but separate lines for each individual cashier. I've noticed that the line for self-checkout is usually roughly the same length as the lines for individual cash registers, regardless of how many machines there are. I'm not sure if people just don't like self-checkout or if they have failed to notice that the "go to the shortest line" heuristic doesn't work anymore when one of the lines moves much faster than the others.