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So they are offloading checkout onto the consumer via dash carts. There's no value proposition for the consumer unless somehow they are able to lower prices by

So they are offloading checkout onto the consumer via dash carts. There's no value proposition for the consumer unless somehow they are able to lower prices by not hiring cashiers.

0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
If I can scan as I shop, that could save me time. I am repeatedly stuck behind individuals with ludicrously full carts, ill suited to self checkout.
- brightball 3y ago
  Sam's Club does this now. You scan on the mobile app while you shop, then pay right there on the app. It's great.
  - Bluecobra 3y ago
    You can also do this at Walmart (with Walmart+), though you still need to stop at the self checkout on the way out to get a receipt. It's pretty handy. I wish Costco would adopt this too.
- bshep 3y ago
  I agree, and if you bring bags with you, you can bag as you scan. Works great for quick shopping trips, not so much when I'm making a big purchase.
  - 0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
    I am just a few minutes walk from my local grocery store, so I go frequently. Rarely use a cart, just my canvas bag. Will there be portable scanners, or will I have to drag a cart around to benefit from real time scanning?
frakkingcylons 3y ago
It’s a huge advantage if you don’t have to wait in line for self checkout machines or human checkout.
- hot_gril 3y ago
  I don't feel like checking out is any faster than it used to be. They replace 10 human checkout lanes with maybe 15 self-checkout lanes and 2 human checkout. Maybe the self-checkout is a cheaper so they can have more, but people are so much slower on those that it doesn't win in the end. Dunno if the store is even really incentivized to make checkout fast, given that they sell high-margin stuff in the lines. Maybe one advantage is it finally stops customers from asking to pay half with a check and half with cash for a $2 item in certain places. There's an entire Walgreens I avoid because that's happened 3 times already.
  - rootusrootus 3y ago
    My local grocery store replaced about half the human checkout lanes with 3-per-lane self-checkout, and about 90% of the time I go shopping I don't have any line to wait for. The problem arises when they try to do a 1:1 (or nearly so) replacement.
  - pas 3y ago
    self-checkout (at least in Hungary) is just clunky compared to the regular conveyor belt and chute setup, so no wonder the pros with the pro gear are faster :)
tialaramex 3y ago
But I don't want to interact with the cashier. The store near me is almost the thing I actually want. I walk into the store, I wander about picking items I want off shelves, and scanning them with my phone, I put them in a bag I happen to have with me, or my pockets, or my backpack, or whatever, it doesn't matter, then I walk to the big graphical terminals near the exit and scan that too. That's the only place where it has a step I don't need, it wants payment because capitalism, so there's a bunch of touch, tap, touch again sequences to get from it knowing what I took to being satisfied that I have exchanged money for goods and then I can go. One thing I barely noticed at all until after it had happened was the removal of cashier operated checking out from most of the store. Ten years ago there were maybe 20 such checkouts, then sixteen after they added some self-checkout features - obviously rarely all manned but they existed. Today it's four, and often none of them are open, because almost nobody stands in a line to have somebody else scan your shopping, why would you? Instead there are three distinct self-checkout zones. First, the one I use almost always, for people who have scanned their purchases already. There's nowhere to put anything, because these are just vertical terminals for taking payment. Then, short order terminals, a small built-in scale is provided so that you can buy say, lunch, but there's nowhere to load and unload a whole trolley of groceries. Finally the big shop terminals with lots of dedicated space for you to transfer from a trolley onto a scanner and weigh scales, then to your bags, this takes up most of the space previously occupied by cashiers. If you've scanned everything you can actually use any of these areas, because the terminal understands that you've already done the whole job, but unless it's super-busy it will be easier to use the dedicated area for people who've done all the scanning.
- deathanatos 3y ago
  > because almost nobody stands in a line to have somebody else scan your shopping, why would you? A decently trained human can scan & bag far faster than I can at the self-checkouts. The self-checkout machines are also sometimes buggy. Our local Safeway's self-checkout was extremely particular: if you scanned the next item prior to the computer registering and processing the weight from the previous item being set down, it would error out and require an attendant. That processing was quite slow — so you needed to lag yourself / rate limit yourself, so as to allow the machine time to think, before proceeding. I eventually figured out the cadence to go, such that I could avoid the error … but humans just don't have this issue. Items too light to be detected just always error on some of these machines.

So they are offloading checkout onto the consumer via dash carts. There's no value proposition for the consumer unless somehow they are able to lower prices by not hiring cashiers.

0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago

If I can scan as I shop, that could save me time. I am repeatedly stuck behind individuals with ludicrously full carts, ill suited to self checkout.

brightball 3y ago
Sam's Club does this now. You scan on the mobile app while you shop, then pay right there on the app. It's great.
- Bluecobra 3y ago
  You can also do this at Walmart (with Walmart+), though you still need to stop at the self checkout on the way out to get a receipt. It's pretty handy. I wish Costco would adopt this too.
bshep 3y ago
I agree, and if you bring bags with you, you can bag as you scan. Works great for quick shopping trips, not so much when I'm making a big purchase.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
  I am just a few minutes walk from my local grocery store, so I go frequently. Rarely use a cart, just my canvas bag. Will there be portable scanners, or will I have to drag a cart around to benefit from real time scanning?

frakkingcylons 3y ago

It’s a huge advantage if you don’t have to wait in line for self checkout machines or human checkout.

hot_gril 3y ago
I don't feel like checking out is any faster than it used to be. They replace 10 human checkout lanes with maybe 15 self-checkout lanes and 2 human checkout. Maybe the self-checkout is a cheaper so they can have more, but people are so much slower on those that it doesn't win in the end. Dunno if the store is even really incentivized to make checkout fast, given that they sell high-margin stuff in the lines. Maybe one advantage is it finally stops customers from asking to pay half with a check and half with cash for a $2 item in certain places. There's an entire Walgreens I avoid because that's happened 3 times already.
- rootusrootus 3y ago
  My local grocery store replaced about half the human checkout lanes with 3-per-lane self-checkout, and about 90% of the time I go shopping I don't have any line to wait for. The problem arises when they try to do a 1:1 (or nearly so) replacement.
- pas 3y ago
  self-checkout (at least in Hungary) is just clunky compared to the regular conveyor belt and chute setup, so no wonder the pros with the pro gear are faster :)

tialaramex 3y ago

But I don't want to interact with the cashier. The store near me is almost the thing I actually want. I walk into the store, I wander about picking items I want off shelves, and scanning them with my phone, I put them in a bag I happen to have with me, or my pockets, or my backpack, or whatever, it doesn't matter, then I walk to the big graphical terminals near the exit and scan that too. That's the only place where it has a step I don't need, it wants payment because capitalism, so there's a bunch of touch, tap, touch again sequences to get from it knowing what I took to being satisfied that I have exchanged money for goods and then I can go. One thing I barely noticed at all until after it had happened was the removal of cashier operated checking out from most of the store. Ten years ago there were maybe 20 such checkouts, then sixteen after they added some self-checkout features - obviously rarely all manned but they existed. Today it's four, and often none of them are open, because almost nobody stands in a line to have somebody else scan your shopping, why would you? Instead there are three distinct self-checkout zones. First, the one I use almost always, for people who have scanned their purchases already. There's nowhere to put anything, because these are just vertical terminals for taking payment. Then, short order terminals, a small built-in scale is provided so that you can buy say, lunch, but there's nowhere to load and unload a whole trolley of groceries. Finally the big shop terminals with lots of dedicated space for you to transfer from a trolley onto a scanner and weigh scales, then to your bags, this takes up most of the space previously occupied by cashiers. If you've scanned everything you can actually use any of these areas, because the terminal understands that you've already done the whole job, but unless it's super-busy it will be easier to use the dedicated area for people who've done all the scanning.

deathanatos 3y ago
> because almost nobody stands in a line to have somebody else scan your shopping, why would you? A decently trained human can scan & bag far faster than I can at the self-checkouts. The self-checkout machines are also sometimes buggy. Our local Safeway's self-checkout was extremely particular: if you scanned the next item prior to the computer registering and processing the weight from the previous item being set down, it would error out and require an attendant. That processing was quite slow — so you needed to lag yourself / rate limit yourself, so as to allow the machine time to think, before proceeding. I eventually figured out the cadence to go, such that I could avoid the error … but humans just don't have this issue. Items too light to be detected just always error on some of these machines.