3 ms·

> 1 manned lane and 12 self checkout lanes, and the manned one is almost always empty its empty because it’s considered rude to burden the poorly paid checkout

by dxbydt 3y ago

> 1 manned lane and 12 self checkout lanes, and the manned one is almost always empty its empty because it’s considered rude to burden the poorly paid checkout person when you can self-service. Once all of the self-service lanes are occupied, the sentiment shifts and customers uneasily queue up in the manned lane, frantically watching if the self-service lane clears up so they can jump out of the manned lane. One of those freak cases in behavioral econ where the causality is very straightforward and explicit.

hot_gril 3y ago
Wait, I've never seen the manned lane empty. People use whatever is fastest.
ssl-3 3y ago
I've certainly observed what looks like that kind of behavior, but I don't personally feel rude at all for using the services of a cashier. In my own shopping, I just use whatever seems likely to be fastest or less hassle -- for me. If I've got a bunch of stuff, I'm heading to the cashier because they're better-equipped to handle a volume of stuff than I am at self-checkout. But if it's just a couple of small items, then the self-checkout seems fastest: Scan, plonk, scan, plonk, invoke the incantation so that it can take my money[1], and pay it. (Unless one of those small items involves something like beer or something else requiring an ID check, wherein: It's back to the cashier.) [1]: In my neck of the woods, Wal-Mart gets this best, with as few as one button-pushes required to pay and leave (and there was a time when it was zero button pushes to use a debit card at self-checkout there). Dollar General gets it worst, requiring at least 8 button pushes (with three different input methods! it requires input on two different touchscreens and one physical keypad) to pay them and get on my way.
JohnFen 3y ago
> it’s considered rude to burden the poorly paid checkout person when you can self-service. It is?? I missed that memo. But in my part of the US, the manned cashiers always have a line for them, too.

by dxbydt 3y ago

hot_gril 3y ago

Wait, I've never seen the manned lane empty. People use whatever is fastest.

ssl-3 3y ago

I've certainly observed what looks like that kind of behavior, but I don't personally feel rude at all for using the services of a cashier. In my own shopping, I just use whatever seems likely to be fastest or less hassle -- for me. If I've got a bunch of stuff, I'm heading to the cashier because they're better-equipped to handle a volume of stuff than I am at self-checkout. But if it's just a couple of small items, then the self-checkout seems fastest: Scan, plonk, scan, plonk, invoke the incantation so that it can take my money[1], and pay it. (Unless one of those small items involves something like beer or something else requiring an ID check, wherein: It's back to the cashier.) [1]: In my neck of the woods, Wal-Mart gets this best, with as few as one button-pushes required to pay and leave (and there was a time when it was zero button pushes to use a debit card at self-checkout there). Dollar General gets it worst, requiring at least 8 button pushes (with three different input methods! it requires input on two different touchscreens and one physical keypad) to pay them and get on my way.

JohnFen 3y ago

> it’s considered rude to burden the poorly paid checkout person when you can self-service. It is?? I missed that memo. But in my part of the US, the manned cashiers always have a line for them, too.