A post bewailing self checkouts at the grocery store

[cyclonefence]

made me smile. Yes, I hate them too.

But I also hated the scanners at the regular checkout counters. Does anybody else remember when every item in the store was marked with a price label? You could actually compare prices without squatting down to figure out price per ounce, and you could know when prices changed because when you bought a new jar of pickles you could compare the price sticker with that on the old jar.

Many jobs were lost when scanners came in. Checking out was slower, sure, because the clerk had to punch in the price of every item, but it sure was nice to have the price of each item clearly labeled when you got your groceries home.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Every store has a different checkout system.

Prefer doing it the old way.

[agingdem]

2. I don't mind self-checkout..

what I do mind is the "voice"...when I hear "item not recognized" I look for a sledgehammer ...I recognized the item and that is why I took it off the shelf and placed in my cart..and no I will not take my damn receipt nor will I have nice day so shove it, scanner......on the upside..the high school kid scanning condoms and the "voice" recognizing the "item" made my day...

[sinkingfeeling]

3. When I was a teenager, I worked in a small, family owned grocery store. I stocked

the shelves, wrapped lettuce, ran the cash register, changed the prices. I hated the last job. We priced by ink stampers, using a dark bluish-purple ink. When an item went on sale, we used alcohol to remove the old price, dried the spot, and re-stamped with the sale price. After a week, we had to do it all again.




Note the prices in this sale ad from 1966.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. I'll bet most of us shop the same one or two grocery stores 95% of the time.

I miss the cashiers. We got know them. Who was sick. Whose kid was graduating grade school. Celebrating last night's home team's win or loss.

Now it is one harried checkout watcher too busy to speak to customers while overseeing 8 to 10 self checkout terminals with at least one or two conscripted amateur "cashiers" having trouble with coupons or a credit card problem.

Ugh.

[stopdiggin]

5. if the argument is loss of jobs

I don't think there can be much disagreement - although it's pretty clear we're in for a lot, lot more where that came from. (automation, robotics, AI)

Some of this is clearly to the good - (how many lives were saved during the Covid pandemic due to automation, diagnostics, data crunching, perhaps the web itself?). And without starting a long, and loud, argument - I think it's hard for many of us to determine just exactly where ethics and humanism pick up - and Luddism leaves off.

If the discussion is regarding efficacy and efficiency - I really have had very few issues (if any) with self scanners - and would say they generally have me out of the store faster (and with less) headache than the regular checkout line. So I have to go with a thumbs up as far as 'user experience.'

[moniss]

6. Many years ago

(about 55 as it seems) I came across an elderly couple who were a young couple during the Depression. It had been their habit to track all of their household purchases by writing them down. When they got home from the grocery store they would write down everything they bought with a complete description and price. When they made their shopping list they referred to the previous entries to write down how much each item should cost. They could instantly see in the store any changes to the price. Obviously during those times they needed to watch every penny.

But what was so amazing to me was that many years after, even when their children had left the nest, they continued the practice despite money not being a daily struggle. Equally as amazing was that they had saved every notebook from the time they started and most had receipts. Here it was the late '60's and they brought out notebooks to show me from over 30 years before. I also once ran across somebody who kept a journal/diary of every single day of his ownership of his new car that he received as a high school graduation gift. The journal ran all the way through his college years and well into his subsequent career in teaching. This was one of those guys who literally wrote down everything that ever happened and made daily comments about where he went and how the car ran/drove. Folders full of receipts too. All in date order and with mileage. almost 20 years of history. He was also one of those guys who checked every nut, bolt and screw on a regular schedule and he made the schedule also. When I bought the car from him he offered me the journals etc. but I had no need as this was, to me, just a temporary in between transportation car. He seemed visibly crestfallen that I found no interest in carrying on the records.

[allegorical oracle]

10. Knew a guy like that. He was financially comfortable, but had grown up during the

depression. He'd write everything down in a small spiral notebook that he carried in a shirt or jacket pocket and would write down every penny he spent -- even what he and his wife spent at a restaurant (including tip). Admired his perserverance.

[llmart]

41. The guy may have had OCD.

I still keep a budget book where I write down how much I buy and I separate it out into a few categories. I don't keep any receipts and I don't write down every food item I purchased - maybe just write the date and "groceries". I've done that since I got married in the late 1960's because we were on a terribly strict budget and I was determined to stay within that budget and never have debt. It has served me well over my lifetime. Also, it's a great resource for those times you want to remember what year you bought the toaster and if it's under warranty or how much your house insurance was ten years ago compared to now.

It's also the reason why I am very comfortable in my retirement. I was always aware of where my money went and how much I saved.

[moniss]

44. I'm a big believer

in keeping track of things and I still have ledger books for things I paid 30 years ago. For me it's therapeutic in a way to once in awhile look back at those old books and remember where my life was and the journey to the present time. I really get a bang out of watching old movies that have diner scenes with signs up on the wall with prices. Like Coffee for 5 cents etc. A buck really was closer to being a buck than today. I remember buying bread in the store for 17 cents a loaf. Struggled and sweated like a dog doing manual labor in the sun just to pay for the coffee and bread. Long strange trip.

[llmart]

45. Same here.

I think writing it down sort of cemented some of it in my head. I remember our rent was $120 a month, our phone bill (without any long distance calls - and I never made those) was $9 a month. Gas for my VW Beetle was $15 a month. I gave myself a limit of $20 a week for groceries for two of us. Campbell's tomato soup in a can was ten cents. My gross wage for the month was $425.

[moniss]

46. I had an old tax return from 1977 that I saw years ago

and our combined gross income was just over $13000. We had a mortgage on a 3 bedroom house in the country. We had 2 cars. One was 6 years old and one was 15 years old. We had a child. We ate what we wished and we routinely went out to eat on a Saturday night. We drove around as we wished to visit family and friends. I bought a guitar. I'm still no good at it. That's the only thing that remained the same.

We did/had all that for a lifestyle even back in those high inflation days. Even before the recent spikes in inflation just imagine how much a couple would have to have today to have that lifestyle. Our take home pay as I recall was just over $10000. The house cost $14000 and we had to finance 75% of that. Decent house on an acre of land on a state highway. If you wanted to have that now in that same area it would cost you over $300,000. It would have been good if I had stayed there. But shortly after buying the house, having the child and buying the guitar my spouse decided I should strum, clumsily, someplace else.

[Recycle_Guru]

7. I also go up to the counter to order from a person at fast food

no matter how many self order kiosks they put in.

Am I fighting a losing battle? Undoubtedly.

When I went to Costco this week, they had converted the food area serving pizza, hot dogs etc to full kiosk self service for ordering.

When they fully automate cooking, prep and the rest--will be strange days.

[Ms. Toad]

31. And I order from my car on the app to avoid going to the counter.

Partly, that is because my loyalty card is tied to the house phone, and multiple times they had to start the process over because they just grabbed the first loyalty card that popped up tied to that number (my daughter's).

The more control I have over things that someone else can screw up, the better.

As for Costco, mine has always been full kiosk for ordering.

[Recycle_Guru]

32. mot true. been a member for 20 years

all Costcos I went to (at least 10 different ones in 3 states) allowed you to order/pay at same window as pickup until my most recent visit.

[Ms. Toad]

34. 10 different Costco's, in 3 states

Says zero about how the Costco I shop at works.

ETA: I have corrected a typo in my original post which made it appear I might have been making a general statement, rather than taking about my Costco. Dang autocorrect.

[Recycle_Guru]

39. ok..got it.

[obamanut2012]

35. Same! I mobile ordered Starbucks and the few other places that had it prior to Jan 2020

One good thing from Covid is you can mobile order so many places now. We go on a walk most nights and smoke a preroll, and if we want to grab something, we order before teh walk, swing by at the end and grab it, and walk home. Same for so many other things. Hell, we mobile-ordered our breakfast when we saw Barbie last Sunday -- iced lattes and breakfast sandwiches delivered to our seats.

It is great -- even most of our local places have an app for mobile ordering.

[moniss]

50. Zager and Evans

from 1969. Moon landing and a little get together called Woodstock. I always liked the line "ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies.....everything you think, do or say is in the pill you took today". So here we are in a far shorter time and maybe the "pill" aka "social media" has arrived early. No prescription needed. Never asked for one either but we got it.

The line for the automation of eating is "ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes....you won't find a thing to chew, nobody's gonna look at you". Eating to the corporations is just nourishment of the physical body without realizing the importance of human contact and interaction and that something very valuable takes place when a real human being looks at another and asks how your day is going and you can mention the weather and both nod. But that takes a moment or two and those precious few seconds have been calculated to cost the corporation many millions of dollars. So they take that away from you. More and more until we are just shuffling past each other on our way to our next automated experience. No need to feel anything is wrong. If you do there is now automated counseling you can buy online and probably coming soon to a kiosk in Walmart etc.

Don't give up easily the things of value.

[GenThePerservering]

8. I use self-checkout if I only have a few items

why stand behind someone with a huge cart-load? Let them go through the human checkout and I'll nip over to the self-checkout.

I suppose people complain about having to bag their own groceries, too. The humanity.

[cyclonefence]

49. Yeah, I use the self checkout

if I have only a few items, largely because there's no room to put a big cartful.

My beef with self checkout is that there's almost always a problem that requires me to stand and wait for help--the person overseeing self checkout is over there helping somebody else whose machine has a blip--and if I'd gone through the regular 25 item or less line I'd be out of the store by then.

[Deminpenn]

9. The cashiers have moved over to self-checkout

That's what I've noticed. At Home Depot, there are always 2 clerks at the self-checkout to help if needed. The same is true at the local Wal-Mart and Giant Eagle grocery store and all 3 still have regular check out lanes.

Agree that if you have a cart full of things, the regular check out lanes with conveyor belts and cashiers are faster because checking out a large order is a two person job, 1 (the buyer) to unload and 2 the cashier to scan and bag, then back to 1 to put the filled bags back in the cart.

[Kaleva]

19. I see many employees filling out pick up orders

[Deminpenn]

55. Always see this at Walmart, the others

I don't.

[Kaleva]

56. Mostly at Meijers and Walmart is where I see them

It's been awhile since I've seen them at Target but it's been awhile since I've been there.

[allegorical oracle]

11. Read an article about a week ago that Kroger was going to ALL self-checkout. Where I

live the loss of grocery cashiers affects mostly older women employees who are supplementing their SSecurity checks.

Have used self-checkout, but seem to always run into a snag and the machine sorta scolds me about how I'm bagging my stuff. Can't get the bags out and fluff them fast enough. Or I've set an item too near the scanner while I'm fetching a bag. Would hate to self check a full, large cart of groceries.

[Dulcinea]

14. Please say that's not true.

I shop at Kroger for the fuel points. I refuse to use self checkout for anything but 1 or 2 items. I want a human to check me out for a full grocery load. That's why I prefer Publix--they built their brand on customer service.

[allegorical oracle]

16. Yep I heard it, too -- can't recall if it was NPR or on TV (I listen more than I

sit and watch). I gasped when I heard it, altho there are no Krogers near me, because when one goes on a tangent they all often go.

It's like the "shop online, then park at the store and they bring your groceries to you" thingy. The big box grocer I use launched that a couple months ago. All the closest parking spaces were marked off for "pick up only."

Last week noticed that pick-up signage was gone. Guess it wasn't popular.

Love Publix, too. Sadly, the closest one to me is a 54-mile round trip.

[XanaDUer2]

20. That's one reason I shop at Publix

They'll open a new cashier if it backs up.

[wishstar]

21. Right now just some stores in Tennessee have shifted to all self-checkout

[Kaleva]

17. I do it often, cart full, with no problems mostly

The more I use self checkout, the easier it gets. Appears the same is for all the other people who use self checkout

[ShazzieB]

22. I guess I'm a freak, because I actually prefer self checkout!

I like doing things for myself, and I especially like being able to bag my own groceries, because I can organize as I go. For example, all the perishables get bagged together, non perishables go in their own bag(s), and things that go in the bathroom (like personal care and cleaning items) get put in their own bag. Makes putting everything away at home so much easier!

I really don't understand why people get so worked up over something that I consider a great convenience.

[Kaleva]

27. I also consider self checkout to be a convenience.

[Ms. Toad]

30. You're not a freak.

It saves me time, I never gave to return to the store because something rang up incorrectly, and the fragile things I took time picking out (like mangoes or bread) make it home undamaged.

[obamanut2012]

36. Oh, my wife and I do, too!

[Vinca]

12. I think it's a necessity at the store where I shop because they can't find enough people

who want to work. The store and parking lot are plastered with "help wanted" signs and no takers.

[ShazzieB]

23. Maybe people just don't want to work for peanuts.

With unemployment at an all-time low (thanks, Joe!), there are a lot fewer people who have to settle for any old crap job, which, sadly, includes most retail jobs.

[Vinca]

29. I asked them once what they paid and it was a really good starting rate for our area.

There are just too many jobs and not enough people.

[allegorical oracle]

40. My neighbor is a deli manager and says that she makes $60,000/year. That's pretty

good for my rural area.

[Kaleva]

43. Self service gas stations have been doing fine for decades.

As for grocery stores, curbside pickup is increasing by leaps and bounds.

"Per the study, “the U.S. is home to the largest and fastest-growing pickup economy of all six countries in our study per capita. Nearly one-third of U.S. eCommerce shoppers — a projected 16.4 million consumers — picked up their most recent online purchase via in-store or curbside pickup, and that number represents a 37% increase from the share of eCommerce shoppers who did so in 2021. No other country has seen anywhere close to this rate of growth in their pickup economies in the past year.”"

https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2023/us-curbside-pickup-rises-66percent-year-over-year-as-deliverys-lead-erodes/

[obamanut2012]

37. "they can't find enough people who want to work"

Seriously? You say that? I do not think you are a wingnut, but you are using a major anti-labor talking point.

[llmart]

42. Well, maybe they just don't want to work in a grocery store.

My daughter was a cashier last year of high school and all through her four years of college. She still says it was one of the worst jobs she ever had, standing on her feet for a four-hour shift, right next to the area where people returned their beer bottles which stunk to high heaven, unruly customers, old farts hitting on her.....you get my drift. She was in her teens/twenties and her back was already bothering her.

Our Kroger by me pays $20 an hour and they still can't get employees.

[Kaleva]

13. I use an app on my phone and I can scan the barcode for the price

The app keeps track of what I scan and put in the cart so when I reach $25 before tax, I check out so I can use the $5 off when I spend at at least $25.


The app also lets me know if there's a digital coupon for the item or if I purchase a certain quantity, there's a reduction in price for each item I can also search for and clip digital coupons and put them in my digital wallet before going to the store.

Another technology I love for shopping is Alexa. When I think of something, instead of having to go to the office to write it down, I just say "Alexa! Add milk to the shopping list!" for example

Then with self checkout, I save time standing in line and time has value.

I figure I save several hundred dollars every year using the modern technology and that's not trying to include time saved into it

[Sympthsical]

53. We have an Echo Dot in the kitchen

It's mainly used for music listening while cooking.

However, with the two of us, we're always telling the other to remember this or that thing throughout the week for when we go shopping. Suffice to say, it was a very inefficient system.

Once we trained ourselves to tell Alexa about shopping items as we think of them it's been magical.

[Kaleva]

54. My wife and I love Alexa

To keep the shopping list and things to do lists up to date.

We also enjoy listening to music while in the kitchen cooking, canning and cleaning. Plus my wife uses Alexa to play rainfall which helps her sleep.

[XorXor]

15. Pre-scannee? How long ago was that?

That's well before my time, I think. At least that I can remember.

As for self-checkout, I find them nice when I have few items. The issue that I have is that they go too far in that direction by not having enough real cashiers. I also do not understand why it's also fairy common for them to have a large number of self-checkouts closed. So now we lose the rapid checkout process, but still have the inconveniences of waiting.

[Happy Hoosier]

18. Ah yes, more fists shaking at the clouds posts.

I could not care less about this issue. It seems insane to me that every item would be individually labeled in the grocery store. Yes, I remember it. Still think it was incredibly wasteful.

To be clear, I HATE shopping. I SUPER hate waiting in check-out lines. Anything that speeds up the process is fine by me. I actively prefer self check-out for quick trips for just a few items. I seriously do not need a person to stick an item in a bag for me while I stand there and watch them. I'd prefer store actually get those emplyees away from the till and out in the store. My main complaint is I can never find an employee when I need help finding something.

[Sympthsical]

24. I'm sorry, I like them

I'm in, I'm out. The end.

If I don't have to stand in a line, I'm just not going to.

I don't think I've stood in a check out line in something like two years. California only requires them if you're buying alcohol. Since I don't drink, that's not a thing. The only place that doesn't have them is Trader Joe's, and my partner's the one who makes those trips across town while doing work things.

The game changer for me was when Costco got self checkout. Oh! So much better. So, so much better.

[GP6971]

26. Hello.

[BlueIdaho]

28. Costco tried self checkout

They discovered a high percentage of shoppers were under scanning their purchases. The scanners didn’t last long. As for me - I’m totally against them - they are job killers. Most days I will wait in line to work with a human cashier.

[Ms. Toad]

33. There are still self-checkout at my Costco.

And all of the articles I can find (from June of this year) suggest the only problem is people using another members card - so some are shifting to drivers license + membership card. Before being asked to check out.

[obamanut2012]

38. My Costco has them -- we were just there last weekend

We almost always use them.

[BlueIdaho]

51. Guess people where I live

Are far shiftier… regardless, I’d rather support their employees than give my free labor to Costco.

[LeftInTX]

47. Scanners have been used since the 80's. I can't imagine going back in time.

I wasn't friendly with my cashiers, because I was always moving and traveling during the 70's. By the time I was married and starting a family, scanners were already in use.

I believe TruValue Hardware didn't use bar codes and the local nursery still doesn't on plants. (However, it uses barcodes on seeds etc) However, they're not a grocery store and TruValue was never crowded. TruValue has been closed for quite awhile now.

[elocs]

48. I have no problem with self check out and use them every time I shop.

I go early in the morning and there are 2 or 3 employees ready to quickly help me if I have a problem.
It was way before my time but I'm sure there were people bitching about those damned horseless carriages back in the day. It's a tough world for Luddites who can't adapt to how things are and forever will be eventually.

[KentuckyWoman]

52. She who applies the labels holds the power

My first paycheck job was putting new labels on cans, jars and boxes after a price hike or the sale ended. Marking down the dented cans was fun but that stopped when the store moved to a bigger space. They ordered 2 dozen buggies and 1 of them was always half full of dented cans with no labels. It was a grand adventure.

My uniform was a pink dress with buttons in the back, white collar and apron. And a pink hair bow.. I looked rather dashing in it.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

57. I use

Self-checkout every time, with the exception of when I’m in vacation in NC, where there is a Publix.

I won’t shop at grocery stores that don’t have self checkout if I am help it.

[Ms. Toad]

58. Self-checkout v. store clerk.

I went shopping today in one of the only places which has a scanner that I refuse to use (it is the least user-friendly scanner I've ever encountered).

So I used a staffed checkout counter.

Out of 8 items:

Two were priced incorrectly.

One I wasn't watching closely, since it wasn't a sale item - price $1.30 higher than the shelf tag. I didn't catch it until I got home.
One was tied to my loyalty card. I caught that one, but had to do a fair amount of convincing to get changed (even though the loyalty card price was printed on the item) - $1.49 higher than what I should have been charged

One was crushed in bagging

I also bought a donut (identifiable because it's the only thing they sell in that bag). It was tossed in a bag first, followed by lemons, and two bags of peppers.

Had I scanned myself, the scanner would have failed on the two items. BUT - I would have caught both of them and had them corrected on the spot. Now I have to decide whether to go back to the store for the $1.30 refund on the one I didn't catch. And I guess a smashed donut tastes the same as an unsmashed one . . . but it would not have been smashed had I used self-checkout.