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>self-checkout systems There's no actual automation in grocery store style self-checkout. All they did was take the same laser scanners that the cashiers had

>self-checkout systems There's no actual automation in grocery store style self-checkout. All they did was take the same laser scanners that the cashiers had been using since the early 1990s and replace the cashier with the customer (after adding a scale to try and cut down on theft). True automation would be something like the Amazon Go grocery stores where you just fill your cart with items and leave and it figures out how much to charge you. It's the same thing with automated airport parking payment systems - some make you stop, insert the ticket, then insert your cash or credit card (not really automation, just replacing the employee with the customer) whereas other read your EZ-Pass or other toll tag as you just drive through the exit (actual automation).

deleted 6y ago
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vouwfietsman 6y ago
I think we're familiar with different systems. The worst systems I know require you to hold items in front of the scanner at the end of the store, more or less doing the work of the cashier yourself (though this still has obvious time-saving benefits). One level up from this is that you take the scanner with you in the store, and so the process of shopping and checking out is combined into one, again here the benefit is time savings. The best systems I know allow you to just drop your items in a bagging area and it is automatically scanned, and then you pay. Sure, you still pay manually, but paying is a minor part of checkout, and so most of the checkout is automated. The systems like amazon are another step above that (skipping the presenting and paying of items), but for me checkout is already a much better experience than it was. The point is not really that we can't do better, the point is that self-checkout is working, and working well, right now. EDIT: To get back to the question: is anything actually being automated? I would suggest so, yes. Although maybe its not directly clear, previously the cashier was doing the work of validating that you are paying the correct amount for the correct items, and that you have in fact payed, and so are allowed to take the items home with you. Now that work is shared between me and a couple machines, obviously some of the responsibility, and so work, has transferred from the cashier to the machine, because otherwise the responsibility would completely be with me, and I could take the whole store home with me without paying anything!

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

vouwfietsman 6y ago

I think we're familiar with different systems. The worst systems I know require you to hold items in front of the scanner at the end of the store, more or less doing the work of the cashier yourself (though this still has obvious time-saving benefits). One level up from this is that you take the scanner with you in the store, and so the process of shopping and checking out is combined into one, again here the benefit is time savings. The best systems I know allow you to just drop your items in a bagging area and it is automatically scanned, and then you pay. Sure, you still pay manually, but paying is a minor part of checkout, and so most of the checkout is automated. The systems like amazon are another step above that (skipping the presenting and paying of items), but for me checkout is already a much better experience than it was. The point is not really that we can't do better, the point is that self-checkout is working, and working well, right now. EDIT: To get back to the question: is anything actually being automated? I would suggest so, yes. Although maybe its not directly clear, previously the cashier was doing the work of validating that you are paying the correct amount for the correct items, and that you have in fact payed, and so are allowed to take the items home with you. Now that work is shared between me and a couple machines, obviously some of the responsibility, and so work, has transferred from the cashier to the machine, because otherwise the responsibility would completely be with me, and I could take the whole store home with me without paying anything!