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Some of those customers are indeed clueless. But the machines themselves aren't that great either. Automation and efficiency almost always come at the cost of d
by the_snooze 3y ago
Some of those customers are indeed clueless. But the machines themselves aren't that great either. Automation and efficiency almost always come at the cost of decreased resiliency. They work great as long as you're on the happy path.
To give a practical example, fresh produce have that 4-digit code to identify them (e.g., 4011 for bananas). But some fresh produce comes in containers that have barcodes on them, like grapes in plastic bags or clamshells. The machine expects the 4-digit code (printed on the container), but the customer expects to be able to scan the barcode just like everything else that comes packaged. The barcode fails to scan, and the customer will hold up the line to have a worker explain the mismatch in expectations. All because the machine designers built in an assumption (for efficiency's sake) that doesn't match the real world, and the machine can't adapt to it on the fly.
- joecot 3y agoAs someone who uses self-checkout machines effectively, this happening is fine. I have a moment of confusion, then find the code, then move on to the next item. What is terrible is when instead of the self-checkout machine throwing a warning about it not being scanned correctly, so I can find and input the code, it just locks up the machine and says "Customer needs assistance". Then I'm in the same boat as the clueless folks, because the machine won't trust me to correct.
- Reason077 3y agoThe modern machines have nice big pictures to help identify produce that doesn’t have a barcode on it, helpfully sorted with the most popular items first. Failing than you can search with the first few letters of the produce name. Haven’t seen one where you need to enter a numerical code for many years.