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That's great, but Becky at the farmer's market doesn't want to be re-inventing notepad on her computer to sell sourdough. This smells like "Self-checkouts", "p

That's great, but Becky at the farmer's market doesn't want to be re-inventing notepad on her computer to sell sourdough. This smells like "Self-checkouts", "perfect bespoke solution so that everyone can check their own groceries out, no need to wait for a slow/expensive _human_ to get the job done, except you end up basically just doing the cashiers job and waiting around inconveniently whenever you want to get some beer

satvikpendem 1y ago
And yet I'd much rather self checkout than have a cashier do it for me.
- kulahan 1y ago
  It feels like “virtual stuck behind a bus”, then doing the company a favor for the experience.
- apt-apt-apt-apt 1y ago
  At Costco, they forced me to empty out my very fat cart and scan each item individually. That's when I realized the value of cashiers.
- libraryatnight 1y ago
  The only time, for me, this is true, is when it's empty and I have very few items. If there's a line, I'd rather wait for the cashier. Self-checkout seems to get clogged up with people waiting for the supervising human the busier it is, so to have a human or two (one ringing one bagging) when I've got a cart and there's a line, is advantageous. I'm also pretty anti-social and actually prefer the robotic banter of quickly checking out with a person to the anxious nightmare of just trying to buy something real quick and now waiting because the machine hates life more than me. Oh and many of the folks doing the bagging at some of the stores are disabled, and I dunno - I hope we're taking care of people in those jobs.
  - satvikpendem 1y ago
    For ninety nine out of a hundred scenarios, I've never had to wait for a supervising human at all. Maybe it's where I shop, but generally speaking, I've almost never had a problem with people needing to see my checked out items.
- lmm 1y ago
  It's a marginal improvement perhaps, but nothing to write home about. And for other things (e.g. booking travel) the self-service experience can be worse.
  - satvikpendem 1y ago
    Not sure about that, I prefer to know all aspects of booking travel that I would not trust to another agent, human or otherwise. Therefore, I believe your statement applies to some people and not others.
bgwalter 1y ago
And often you are still supervised by sometimes rude security guards who demand the receipts. So you have the worst of all worlds: You pay the supermarket, do the work and are treated like dirt.
Agentlien 1y ago
On a tangent: what about self scanning? Here in Sweden that is the norm. For the last ten years I've brought my own bags, packed everything like I want it as I grab it - with a quick blip from the scanner - and then checkout is no line, no cashier, no unpacking and packing things again. Just scanning my card and going through a brief screen to check that the summary looks right. Instead of a guard there's a scanner by the exit gate where you scan your ticket. In my case just a small stub since the actual ticket is sent digitally. I think it works so smoothly, much better than before this system was introduced. My recent experience buying groceries in Belgium was very similar.
- LtWorf 1y ago
  Here in sweden it is not "the norm" by any definition of "norm". Also it's incredibly slower and not "one blip away". And the scanner to exit is terrible for fire safety and accessibility. Also I've seen it break with the result that you had to trigger the alarm to leave. It does not work smoothly at all, but perhaps you live in a different sweden than I.
  - munksbeer 1y ago
    It works pretty well in the UK. The nice thing is, I can pack my bags as I shop, so I don't feel stressed when I get to the checkout. I use this method of shopping whenever available.
    - LtWorf 1y ago
      In sweden you have to unpack and re-pack at the checkout. And if you have a backpack you can't place stuff inside it. No. You have to unpack, place everything on a scale and then place everything in your backpack again. And for items like bread or so you need to navigate a number of menus to find it. And of course you are asked if you are a member, if you'd like to become a member, if you want to do a donation, and a number of other useless questions.
      - deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
Workaccount2 1y ago
>That's great, but Becky at the farmer's market doesn't want to be re-inventing notepad on her computer to sell sourdough. That's exactly why she asks an LLM to do it for her. A program like this would be <1k LOC, well within even the current LLM one-shot-working-app domain.

satvikpendem 1y ago

And yet I'd much rather self checkout than have a cashier do it for me.

kulahan 1y ago
It feels like “virtual stuck behind a bus”, then doing the company a favor for the experience.
apt-apt-apt-apt 1y ago
At Costco, they forced me to empty out my very fat cart and scan each item individually. That's when I realized the value of cashiers.
libraryatnight 1y ago
The only time, for me, this is true, is when it's empty and I have very few items. If there's a line, I'd rather wait for the cashier. Self-checkout seems to get clogged up with people waiting for the supervising human the busier it is, so to have a human or two (one ringing one bagging) when I've got a cart and there's a line, is advantageous. I'm also pretty anti-social and actually prefer the robotic banter of quickly checking out with a person to the anxious nightmare of just trying to buy something real quick and now waiting because the machine hates life more than me. Oh and many of the folks doing the bagging at some of the stores are disabled, and I dunno - I hope we're taking care of people in those jobs.
- satvikpendem 1y ago
  For ninety nine out of a hundred scenarios, I've never had to wait for a supervising human at all. Maybe it's where I shop, but generally speaking, I've almost never had a problem with people needing to see my checked out items.
lmm 1y ago
It's a marginal improvement perhaps, but nothing to write home about. And for other things (e.g. booking travel) the self-service experience can be worse.
- satvikpendem 1y ago
  Not sure about that, I prefer to know all aspects of booking travel that I would not trust to another agent, human or otherwise. Therefore, I believe your statement applies to some people and not others.

bgwalter 1y ago

And often you are still supervised by sometimes rude security guards who demand the receipts. So you have the worst of all worlds: You pay the supermarket, do the work and are treated like dirt.

Agentlien 1y ago

On a tangent: what about self scanning? Here in Sweden that is the norm. For the last ten years I've brought my own bags, packed everything like I want it as I grab it - with a quick blip from the scanner - and then checkout is no line, no cashier, no unpacking and packing things again. Just scanning my card and going through a brief screen to check that the summary looks right. Instead of a guard there's a scanner by the exit gate where you scan your ticket. In my case just a small stub since the actual ticket is sent digitally. I think it works so smoothly, much better than before this system was introduced. My recent experience buying groceries in Belgium was very similar.

LtWorf 1y ago
Here in sweden it is not "the norm" by any definition of "norm". Also it's incredibly slower and not "one blip away". And the scanner to exit is terrible for fire safety and accessibility. Also I've seen it break with the result that you had to trigger the alarm to leave. It does not work smoothly at all, but perhaps you live in a different sweden than I.
- munksbeer 1y ago
  It works pretty well in the UK. The nice thing is, I can pack my bags as I shop, so I don't feel stressed when I get to the checkout. I use this method of shopping whenever available.
  - LtWorf 1y ago
    In sweden you have to unpack and re-pack at the checkout. And if you have a backpack you can't place stuff inside it. No. You have to unpack, place everything on a scale and then place everything in your backpack again. And for items like bread or so you need to navigate a number of menus to find it. And of course you are asked if you are a member, if you'd like to become a member, if you want to do a donation, and a number of other useless questions.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]

Workaccount2 1y ago

>That's great, but Becky at the farmer's market doesn't want to be re-inventing notepad on her computer to sell sourdough. That's exactly why she asks an LLM to do it for her. A program like this would be <1k LOC, well within even the current LLM one-shot-working-app domain.