3 ms·

And because I personally have never seen the problem, it couldn’t possibly exist!

regular_trash 3y ago
If the problem is pervasive as made out to be, it stands to reason that a person would have at least one anecdotal experience in favor of the claim.
- compiler-guy 3y ago
  Which is more likely? 1. The people who say they have had a problem actually have had a problem, and some other people have gotten lucky. 2. The people who say they have had a problem are lying, or deceived.
  - theamk 3y ago
    3. The people who say they have a problem actually had a problem, but they a minority and got unlucky, and then extrapolated their experience to everyone else The article actually ends with "shoppers are likely to find themselves disappointed and frustrated most of the time." - and that is clearly false for me and everyone I know. "rarely" or "occassionaly"? maybe. But not "most of the time".
    - antifa 3y ago
      > but they a minority and got unlucky, and then extrapolated their experience to everyone else Bold of you to assume you're not the minority.
- handoflixue 3y ago
  Given the massive variation in self checkouts, it's also possible you just live in a region which is on the High Quality end of the bell curve.
AndrewKemendo 3y ago
Don’t forget that “cashiers” aren’t a real job anyway, and with self checkout technology it allows someone who was a checker to be inspired to be a software engineer. All they need to do is drop everything to learn one of the most competitive and hardest cross-disciplinary skills and jump into a shrinking market!
TrackerFF 3y ago
Not saying that they don't exist, but my experience has been nothing but positive. It must be 8-9 years since we got one locally, and it's been smooth sailing for me. You scan the products. Confirm that you've scanned everything. Want a shopping bag, yes/no? Pay. That's it. The scanners work. Payment work. Getting a receipt works. Maybe I've just been lucky, who knows.
- nielsbot 3y ago
  Why do you like it better than having a cashier ring you up? Me: I don't have to scan, check I've scanned everything, enter the number of bags, put groceries in those bags. Instead I put my stuff on the belt, I pay and walk out w the groceries--and the cashier is a pro at scanning and bagging, whereas I am not. Plus, it's not like these stores are going to pass along the labor savings to us. They'll just pocket the difference.
  - theamk 3y ago
    ... after waiting in line for 20+ minutes I remember the time before self-scan machines, and the lines were not shorter. Even "10 items or less" registers had huge lines.
    - nielsbot 3y ago
      Fair point--maybe the throughput is higher for self checkout. I still like not having to do the work myself tho.

If the problem is pervasive as made out to be, it stands to reason that a person would have at least one anecdotal experience in favor of the claim.

compiler-guy 3y ago
Which is more likely? 1. The people who say they have had a problem actually have had a problem, and some other people have gotten lucky. 2. The people who say they have had a problem are lying, or deceived.
- theamk 3y ago
  3. The people who say they have a problem actually had a problem, but they a minority and got unlucky, and then extrapolated their experience to everyone else The article actually ends with "shoppers are likely to find themselves disappointed and frustrated most of the time." - and that is clearly false for me and everyone I know. "rarely" or "occassionaly"? maybe. But not "most of the time".
  - antifa 3y ago
    > but they a minority and got unlucky, and then extrapolated their experience to everyone else Bold of you to assume you're not the minority.
handoflixue 3y ago
Given the massive variation in self checkouts, it's also possible you just live in a region which is on the High Quality end of the bell curve.

AndrewKemendo 3y ago

Don’t forget that “cashiers” aren’t a real job anyway, and with self checkout technology it allows someone who was a checker to be inspired to be a software engineer. All they need to do is drop everything to learn one of the most competitive and hardest cross-disciplinary skills and jump into a shrinking market!

TrackerFF 3y ago

Not saying that they don't exist, but my experience has been nothing but positive. It must be 8-9 years since we got one locally, and it's been smooth sailing for me. You scan the products. Confirm that you've scanned everything. Want a shopping bag, yes/no? Pay. That's it. The scanners work. Payment work. Getting a receipt works. Maybe I've just been lucky, who knows.

nielsbot 3y ago
Why do you like it better than having a cashier ring you up? Me: I don't have to scan, check I've scanned everything, enter the number of bags, put groceries in those bags. Instead I put my stuff on the belt, I pay and walk out w the groceries--and the cashier is a pro at scanning and bagging, whereas I am not. Plus, it's not like these stores are going to pass along the labor savings to us. They'll just pocket the difference.
- theamk 3y ago
  ... after waiting in line for 20+ minutes I remember the time before self-scan machines, and the lines were not shorter. Even "10 items or less" registers had huge lines.
  - nielsbot 3y ago
    Fair point--maybe the throughput is higher for self checkout. I still like not having to do the work myself tho.