3 ms·

Besides anger being used as a standard deflection tactic against rule enforcement, I imagine people who have been successfully stealing from these for a while f

Besides anger being used as a standard deflection tactic against rule enforcement, I imagine people who have been successfully stealing from these for a while feel entitled to do it and get angry when contradicted.

joezydeco 3y ago
Many of these stores have completely eliminated human cashiers and gone 100% self checkout. Which, as others have noted, is really difficult with large items or very full shopping carts. On other forums people have told stories of abandoning full shopping carts when confronted with 30-45 minute waits to check out. Turns out that those human cashiers were pretty fast. So some of this anger is directed at the store not being able to staff cashiers, but having plenty of staff around to confront customers over inaccurate checkouts.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Self-checkout is fine for a few barcoded items. But a cart of stuff at a grocery store/Walmart? Even if you're fast at scanning, the space is just not setup to process half a cart's worth of goods. Self-checkout has generally improved but some stores have basically eliminated too many human cashiers.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    I like the self checkouts at Winco, they say 15 items or less or something like that. Which I think is the best of both worlds. The only improvement would be implementing a single queue for the cashiers.
  - pjc50 3y ago
    Some UK stores have a "scan as you go" system: scan with a handheld or even your phone each item as it goes in, then just self-check the whole lot in one go with (usually) no further checks. Although this has been broken at my local store for a while, and I wonder if that's more widespread and/or a reaction to shoplifting.
    - joezydeco 3y ago
      A grocery chain in Chicago (Jewel/Osco) tried that about 20 years ago. My local store was a test site. You got a wireless Cisco barcode reader that undocked when you entered the store and scanned your shopper card. Then you scanned the card again at the self-checkout and the entire order rang up. A random % of people were spot-checked as they were leaving. The project was abandoned about a year later. Manager said the shrinkage (theft) rate got way too high. And this was in a pretty affluent town.
- Mountain_Skies 3y ago
  Are there really stores with zero cashiers? I've definitely been in a Kroger before where the cashiers angrily directed me to the self-checkout because they were busy with other tasks place upon them like restocking the impulse items at the checkout, but I don't believe I've been to a store with absolutely no ability to have a cashier ring up the order. In the case of Wal-Mart, I've come to prefer self-checkout because there are several items I purchase frequently that the cashiers have trouble ringing up but I find quickly on the self-checkout (for those curious, these are Primo water refills and Anaheim peppers).
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - entuno 3y ago
    It can vary depending on the time of day - I've certainly been to stores early or late in the day and where all the checkouts have been closed and there's just one member of staff near the self checkouts.
    - SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
      At the Walmarts I go to there is usually only one person manning a checkout line, and it’s the same line you go though to buy tobacco. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a store with all registers completely unmanned, but only one person working a register is pretty common.
  - balderdash 3y ago
    Maybe not zero, but I’ve definitely noticed grocery stores pushing customers to self checkout. For example, having two of the 10 regular checkout lines open is pretty much the same as having none open.

joezydeco 3y ago

Many of these stores have completely eliminated human cashiers and gone 100% self checkout. Which, as others have noted, is really difficult with large items or very full shopping carts. On other forums people have told stories of abandoning full shopping carts when confronted with 30-45 minute waits to check out. Turns out that those human cashiers were pretty fast. So some of this anger is directed at the store not being able to staff cashiers, but having plenty of staff around to confront customers over inaccurate checkouts.

ghaff 3y ago
Self-checkout is fine for a few barcoded items. But a cart of stuff at a grocery store/Walmart? Even if you're fast at scanning, the space is just not setup to process half a cart's worth of goods. Self-checkout has generally improved but some stores have basically eliminated too many human cashiers.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  I like the self checkouts at Winco, they say 15 items or less or something like that. Which I think is the best of both worlds. The only improvement would be implementing a single queue for the cashiers.
- pjc50 3y ago
  Some UK stores have a "scan as you go" system: scan with a handheld or even your phone each item as it goes in, then just self-check the whole lot in one go with (usually) no further checks. Although this has been broken at my local store for a while, and I wonder if that's more widespread and/or a reaction to shoplifting.
  - joezydeco 3y ago
    A grocery chain in Chicago (Jewel/Osco) tried that about 20 years ago. My local store was a test site. You got a wireless Cisco barcode reader that undocked when you entered the store and scanned your shopper card. Then you scanned the card again at the self-checkout and the entire order rang up. A random % of people were spot-checked as they were leaving. The project was abandoned about a year later. Manager said the shrinkage (theft) rate got way too high. And this was in a pretty affluent town.
Mountain_Skies 3y ago
Are there really stores with zero cashiers? I've definitely been in a Kroger before where the cashiers angrily directed me to the self-checkout because they were busy with other tasks place upon them like restocking the impulse items at the checkout, but I don't believe I've been to a store with absolutely no ability to have a cashier ring up the order. In the case of Wal-Mart, I've come to prefer self-checkout because there are several items I purchase frequently that the cashiers have trouble ringing up but I find quickly on the self-checkout (for those curious, these are Primo water refills and Anaheim peppers).
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- entuno 3y ago
  It can vary depending on the time of day - I've certainly been to stores early or late in the day and where all the checkouts have been closed and there's just one member of staff near the self checkouts.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
    At the Walmarts I go to there is usually only one person manning a checkout line, and it’s the same line you go though to buy tobacco. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a store with all registers completely unmanned, but only one person working a register is pretty common.
- balderdash 3y ago
  Maybe not zero, but I’ve definitely noticed grocery stores pushing customers to self checkout. For example, having two of the 10 regular checkout lines open is pretty much the same as having none open.