Dear WalMart, Target, Home Depot and all other stores with self-checkout

[Coventina]

You are almost exclusively self-checkout now. The last time I was there, you had a lady stopping everyone at the exit, checking receipts.
I didn't choose to participate in that nonsense, so I just skipped the exit line and left.
I heard her saying "Sir, uh, sir" as I kept walking and raised the receipt above my head, leaving the store.
You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place like it used to be.
I'm not interested in proving that I did your job for you.
You want me to be a cashier with no training then that's your problem not mine.
Don't audit me for a position you refuse to employ any longer.
Signed,
All of us.

(stolen from the internet)

on edit: typo

[MLAA]

1. If I have a few things I do self checkout. If a lot I try and go full service.

The employees that monitor self check out I’ve run into have all been super helpful.

[Merlot]

12. Of course they're helpful, but that's not the issue

Self checkout is gradually taking away their jobs. It's saving the companies money on check out employees. And we're working for free for these corporations that never stop needing more and more profits.

At whole foods the other day, there was one checker and a super long line. The two employees at the self checkout were trying to pull customers from the line but no one wanted to use self checkout. It was the first time I've seen only one checker at whole foods, though I"m sure this strategy will continue.

[Ponietz]

2. Never show a receipt upon exit

Last edited Wed Nov 9, 2022, 09:37 AM - Edit history (2)

Make sure you have one though—if wrongfully detained there’s a false imprisonment lawsuit against the retailer.

Costco might be solid ground, though, since a membership card is required to enter and showing a receipt upon exit is a term of membership.

[MichMan]

78. Why? , it only takes a few seconds.

I dont get off on creating conflicts with people just doing their jobs.

Some people seem to enjoy arguing with store employees over every perceived slight.

[Ponietz]

79. Would you show your receipt to an automated machine on exiting?

It wouldn’t be mandatory, just your voluntary effort to help the corporation police shoplifting.

Important legal principles apply here. Ownership is transferred upon purchase. A retailer has no legal right to detain someone who makes a purchase. That’s why the big boxes assign the sweetest elderly person on their payroll to do the checks—showing a receipt is voluntary—so you will have sympathy and want to be nice to them. Don’t you realize they’d replace that elderly person with a robot instantly if receipt checking had any legal basis? I create no conflicts. The conflict occurs after an unlawful detention created by the big box.

[Major Nikon]

80. Yes, if I thought someone might tackle me in the parking lot otherwise

Sometimes it's a helluva lot easier to avoid potential problems rather than waiting for the train wreck and hoping you prevail after a protracted legal battle.

[Ponietz]

82. That works for you

Not showing my receipt doesn’t create probable cause to detain. If I am falsely detained, a deep pocket will pay $.

[Major Nikon]

86. Good luck with that

In my state you can be detained by the store if they suspect you of shoplifting and it's a pretty safe bet any store that would do so will have a script to tell the police to avoid the costly litigation in which you're referring. So after you go through the process of being obstinate, getting tackled, possibly getting injured, dealing with security and the police, paying a lawyer up front since no lawyer will take a case on contingency that isn't a slam dunk, and months if not years of jumping through legal hoops you may be unpleasantly surprised to learn you are shit out of luck and money and all of this could have been avoided if you had just spent 10 seconds of your time avoiding it all. Absolutely not worth it to me. YMMV.

[Ponietz]

87. The shopkeeper's privilege exists in all 50 states

That is, the right of a retailer to detain a shoplifter. However, the detention must be reasonable.
Categorically—a detention based on nothing but a refusal to show a receipt is unreasonable since ownership is transferred upon purchase.

Sounds like they’ve intimidated you into cooperating.

But generally I no longer go to these stores.

[Major Nikon]

89. I don't have to be intimidated to see all the holes in your plan

I get that you’re imagining a world were witnesses always tell the truth, even when their job is on the line, attorneys are going to just line up to take crap shoot cases, and jurors aren’t just going to be convinced by $600 per hour lawyers that you’re just an asshole who couldn’t bothered to spare 10 seconds of your time for a minimum wage worker trying to put food on the table asking to see your receipt. I’m not convinced there’s a high road anywhere in this scenario you are playing out, but for the sake of argument let’s say there is. I’m still not the slightest convinced there’s a pot of gold waiting at the end of this rainbow.

But sure, I am somewhat intimidated by cop wannabe roid rage “security” losing their shit because I couldn’t be bothered for 10 seconds of my time and wind up breaking shit that’s not going to ever heal back the same. I suppose all the time spent in lifelong pain is surely going to be tempered by being secure in the knowledge I was right and they were wrong. Even if this weren’t the case I just don’t see how you so plainly see how all of this is going to work out perfectly in your favor, but again, YMMV.

[Ponietz]

92. I'm a retired attorney

and can think of a dozen or so friends who would gladly represent me on a contingency in such an event. Not sure what you’re going on about with the imagined parade of horribles in defense of Walmart policies.

A couple years ago you argued with me about whether military Ospreys fly over my house. Well, they do. Have a nice day.

[Major Nikon]

97. Sometimes I think I'm the only one on DU who doesn't anonymously claim to be a lawyer

I don’t remember the discussion you’re referring so I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. If I did have such a conversation I have utterly forgotten about it. Either way you’ve proved forgettable, but the silver lining is I still live in your head. You might want to instead put more thought into letting things go. You’d be surprised how enlightening it is to discover shit like this isn’t worth day old dogshit.

[Ponietz]

99. Have a nice day

[Orrex]

93. You're claiming that ownership is transferred upon the purchase that you refuse to verify

By that logic, a guest could walk out of your house with anything at all on the claim that they own it. How could you assert otherwise? And how could you prove it in court? Please be specific, counselor.

Sounds like they’ve intimidated you into cooperating.

Setting aside the fact that this is a cheap and obvious attempt at condescension, how is the store intimidating Major Nikon? It's the store's policy, and the shopper is following that policy. On what basis do you assert ownership of merchandise that you refuse to document?

How is that categorically different from someone who does, in fact, grab merchandise and walk out of the store with it? Do you not suppose that they would likewise claim to have purchased it? Why should the door-checker believe you?

I have no respect for all these persecution fantasies wherein a retailer is imagined to violate a customer's rights by delaying them several seconds as they're exit. Goodness gracious, such brave defenders of liberty brandishing their law degrees for these dictatorial septuagenarian door-checkers! And pro bono, no less!

Our freedoms can sleep soundly knowing that such tireless champions are ready to fight the imaginary good fight!

[Ponietz]

94. I don't have to verify it

The burden is on the retailer. It’s ridiculous to suggest otherwise. There are many lawyers making good money on unlawful detentions unsupported by reasonable suspicion. A merchant is held AT LEAST to the same standards applied to police. AND, a merchant does not enjoy qualified immunity. I vehemently oppose the expansion of private police powers. There is no duty in law to show a receipt. Seems you would create one. Why?

[Orrex]

95. Let's see the list of many lawyers

But, to be clear, they need to be lawyers representing people unlawfully detained by retail establishments for suspicion of theft. Let's have that list, otherwise please admit that you're making up nonsense. I suspect, instead, that you're referring to lawyers representing people who are actually unlawfully detained, rather than shoppers detained for 10 seconds while producing the receipt that they obtained about a minute earlier. I'd like to see you convince a judge that those 10 seconds constitutes "unreasonable detention."

Also, are you seriously pretending that the retailer has to demonstrate some heavy burden of proof in order to ask to see someone's receipt as that person exits the store with merchandise? Please tell me that you know that's absolute bullshit. Otherwise, nearly every person exiting nearly every store in the country would be able to sue the retailer for this gross violation of their sacred rights.


Also, like many of DU's self-declared mouthpieces, you're very quick to misstate your opponents' positions, then requiring your opponents to defend those false positions. Before you retired, did you ever pull that shit in court? How did the judge like to hear her statements misrepresented back at her?

[Ponietz]

96. Have nice day

[Major Nikon]

100. The bullshit meter is pegging here

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone anonymously claims to be a lawyer on the internet to try and claim some sort of expert knowledge on a subject they can't seem to do through their discourse.

[Beachnutt]

3. What can they do if you just keep walking ?

[Major Nikon]

81. Depends on the state

In Texas they can detain you in a manner pretty much identical to the conditions by which the police may detain you.

[SWBTATTReg]

4. They got you on camera every step of the way, when you're in the stores. Why do they need to

continue to do this? Can they not police their own selves, their own stores when we're in there shopping? They see us 100% shopping, etc. while in the store. They see us in the checkout lines. They see us paying. They see us walking out.

They obviously don't trust the vast majority of us shoppers. Yeah, sure there are a few bad apples, shoplifters and such, but to treat all of us this way?

[agingdem]

5. I take great pleasure in "telling" the self-checkout register

to go fuck itself…something i would never say to an adorable multi-tattooed/multi-pierced 18 year old checker who has no problem engaging me, a 74 year old widow, in conversation…

[doc03]

6. I use the self-checkout at Kroger since I never have that many items. They only have one

register open and there is always a line of people with $200+ orders. I see the Kroger employees
are always using the self-checkout themselves so they must not care about the job either.

[FoxNewsSucks]

18. They probably don't want to spend 14 minutes of their 15 minute break in line

Most employees I talk to realize the machines are screwing them out of jobs, but there's not much they can do about it.

[Orrex]

29. Everyone talks about self-checkout screwing people out of their jobs, but is it?

I'd like to see hard data on that, because everything I've seen and heard so far is suppositional and anecdotal.

It may be that self-checkout leads to attrition, with stores not hiring cashiers to replace those who've left, but is it common practice for stores to terminate cashiers specifically because self-checkouts have been installed?

In any case, that whole objection is a red herring. If an employee costs the company a nickel a day, the company will use any excuse to eliminate that employee if it saves that nickel. Doesn't matter if it's a self-checkout or shelf-stocking robot or a trained ostrich taking out the garbage; if the corporation can do it cheaper, they will.

[FoxNewsSucks]

34. They probably don't actually fire them,

they just don't hire more, and don't assign workers to run registers. It's still costing jobs, same as their other shitty practices. This just gets more attention because unpaid customers are being forced to do the job.

[Orrex]

35. But that's nothing new either

Grocery clerks no longer do the shopping for us; self-serve gas stations are the norm in almost every state; ATMs are ubiquitous; and how often does anyone speak to a live switchboard operator?

We also don't employ a lot of farriers or coal delivery men anymore.

The complaint about lost jobs is relatable, but it's as old as the industrial revolution, and it's all but inevitable.


I think you're right about it getting more attention because customers are doing it. Not sure if they're forced to, but I see your point.

[progree]

38. At work, I refuse to learn the computer, and instead I have a secretary take dictation

and then whatever s/he produces, I pencil in changes, they type up a new draft, and we go through about 4 or 5 drafts like this. Just like when I began work in the '70's.



Edited to add Oh, I insist on a human switchboard operator only when placing long distance calls.

[MichMan]

7. Use self checkout all the time at multiple stores and never get asked for a receipt

[ProfessorGAC]

76. Similar Here

The only time I get checked is when I've got large items that can't be bagged. (A 40# bag of dog food, for instance.)
One exception. I was at a Walmart in a reasonably big town south of here and they checked EVERYBODY.
It occurred to me they may have a shrink problem at that location.
Other than that & the unbagged thing, I don't get asked for a receipt.

[Marcus IM]

8. I love self-checkouts. Saves me money. I'm underpaid and poor. Why should I care about jobs?

[MOMFUDSKI]

9. From the first self-checkout I ever saw

I cannot tell you how PISSED I was about it. They want their paying customers to be their free employees. I refuse to use them unless there is not a people-powered checkout line available. I saw it as taking jobs away from workers they now can do without. Because the walton family and the rest of the corp money mongers just aren't rich enough and never will be and they have always hated payroll. I despised watching all the 'sheep' just fall in line and do the corp bidding. Can people not think for themselves anymore?

[kacekwl]

10. I'm a boomer who hates self check out. I

always have a problem mostly with clearance items and coupons which I use. I've used them a couple of times, always pisses me off.

[Mr.Bill]

11. As soon as self-checkout appeared in California,

they passed a state law saying alcoholic beverages must go through a live cashier. I think that's a reasonable law, but I also think the Retail Clerks union lobbied for it. Most stores around here still have a good number of cashiers.

[dewsgirl]

13. This is something I know a lot about, I work as a cashier in the garden center at Lowe's

I get customers come through my line all the time that were upset that self-checkout was the only thing that was open. We just found out yesterday they're about to add six more self checkout registers, from the way I read it it's more than just my store.
I used to love this job very much, until they started pushing credit cards hard. Like that's what we're supposed to start with anytime we speak to a customer. I have tons of surveys talking about my friendliness. I don't have the kind of personality to push credit cards with a ton of interest, especially when inflation is through the roof right now.
It's a shame, I'm a dependable employee and a good cashier(was even cashier of the month in September) but this is bullshit.

Thank you for letting me rant, I'm here right now. And am very upset about many new policies.
The garden center closes at 7:00, this is the fourth time that they forgot me out here. So I now have to call a manager to close the garden center because they forgot.

[localroger]

14. I don't mind self-checkout in some situations

When I am leaving Walmart with just two or three items I'd much rather blow through the self checkout than wait in line with the people who have full shopping baskets. But lately the people with full shopping baskets have also been clogging the self-checkout, which really defeats the whole idea. The clerk can watch me and see that I scanned both my shampoos and the mouthwash before I hit pay. They can't monitor you to make sure you properly check out fifty items worth several hundred dollars. Self checkout should always be an express lane too, which seems reasonable. But for general checkout at grocery stores and places like Walmart where people regularly have full carts, it's the dumbest idea ever.

[Trailrider1951]

54. I hear you, but the reason the people with full carts use the self-checkout

is because there are few checkouts staffed by cashiers and the lines are way long. If they opened more lanes with cashiers and thereby shortened the lines, then there would be fewer customers with full carts wanting to use the self-checkout. But the stores won't do that because it would cost them more money. The stores would rather piss off the customers because they value $$$ more than the people who shop there. Hello? Where do they think that $$$ comes from? There are stores (looking at you, Wallfart) where I will not shop due to this practice. My time is worth more to me than the few cents I'll save at your store.

[dlk]

15. Costco makes every shopper show their receipt before exiting the store

They count the number of items in your cart and mark your receipt

[Orrex]

25. DU's old-timers may remember the flap about Circuit City

Can't find the original "Papers Please" thread, but there's this.

[AngryOldDem]

73. Best Buy used to do this too.

Maybe still does, for all I know.

I like the people they have at the door when you walk in — they greet you like at Walmart, but it’s clear their subtext is they have their eyes on you.

[ProfessorGAC]

77. The 2 Near Me Don't

I don't go to Best Buy all that often, but they always checked things at the door.
The 2 around here quit doing it a few years ago.
Three times I stopped at the door to get checked & the person at that desk just waved me through.
Don't know if that's true of the whole chain.

[fierywoman]

27. And Costco self checkouts usually move a lot faster than the lines with cashiers.

[dlk]

42. Costco has workers scanning in the self checkouts

Last edited Sun Nov 6, 2022, 12:19 AM - Edit history (1)

They use hand-scanners.

[fierywoman]

45. Yeah, they help me all the time.

[dlk]

61. Costco excels at customer service

The employees with hand scanners are busy helping shoppers check out. They stay busy and work hard.

[Simeon Salus]

40. Same with Sam's Club

Since many of the customers are also going through self-checkout, there's a line at the out door where all receipts are checked. And these are places where you've paid the company their profit already in membership fees.

[intrepidity]

55. I think membership stores have special rules

Like, in the TOS, members agree to this, or something.

In regular public stores, there is no legal basis for the store detaining you after you have paid for goods--and that includes standing in a line to exit the store.

[AllyCat]

106. Costco has the most maddening self-check out.

If you bought alcohol, it goofs up the rest of your order. The helper has to keep coming over to clear errors.

[XanaDUer2]

16. CVS forces self-checkout

I'm livid. At my last job, I was scanning hundreds of items per đay. I don't work at CVS.

[Orrex]

23. There's no cashier on duty at all?

I've been in a few dozen CVS locations in the past year, and nowhere was that the case. Several have self-service registers, but all of these are supervised by an employee.

Is that not your experience?

[XanaDUer2]

26. This just started

Nope, no one. We stood there a long time like idiots. Finally, they heard us complaining, an a lady came out to help us self checkout. I now go to the pharmacy checkout. It's a crappie CVS. Messy, empty booze bottles outside.

[Orrex]

30. I believe you, but that's a new one for me. (nt)

[XanaDUer2]

33. We were unhappy campers nt

[AngryOldDem]

74. The ones at the CVS I go to most are often out of order.

Or they don’t take cash.

One more reason to hate CVS, and I usually get things when I’m there to get a prescription so that I can pay at the pharmacy.

[Evolve Dammit]

17. Yeah it's more bullshit to make the corporate bottom line better. Fuck humans. Done with Lowecifers,

Satan Mart and Home Diablo. Shopping local and supporting what's left.

[BOSSHOG]

19. Ah Nostalgia

I was a checker for Walmart #6 in Fayetteville, Arkansas 1971-72. (Ain’t dere no more). I didn’t have to scan, had to push buttons. And didn’t have to worry about being replaced by a self checkout Aisle cause there were none. I also stocked shelves, swept the floors and took out the trash. And on Saturdays I’d run across the highway for a cheeseburger at “Mr Quick” a member of my greasy spoon hall of fame. Part of my good ole days.

I’m an old guy and I avoid self checkouts. I like it when the young girls in their 50s hit on me.

[judesedit]

20. Love it

[Orrex]

21. Then go through the line with an actual cashier

I have never heard of a store in the US that offers only self-checkout, except in rare, fleeting instances when the cashier is in the bathroom or is otherwise indisposed. It is false to complain that one is being audited "for a position you (the retailer) refuse to employ any longer." That's simply not the case; the entire rant depends on a false premise.

When you buy @ retail you agree to certain terms, and among those are the concession that you may be asked to prove that you paid for what you're carrying out of the store. Opting for the self-checkout doesn't eliminate this fact, and if the demands of self-checkout are so onerous, then the customer should either conduct their transaction with a live cashier, buy elsewhere, buy online, or not buy at all.

If you volunteer to use the self-checkout, then you voluntarily subject yourself to scrutiny on the way out the door.

[intrepidity]

56. I don't believe this is true

When you buy @ retail you agree to certain terms, and among those are the concession that you may be asked to prove that you paid for what you're carrying out of the store

I seem to recall reading that public stores (membership stores are different) have no legal right to detain customers after they have paid.

[Orrex]

59. Shopkeeper's Privilege

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopkeeper's_privilege

It's not free rein to drag every customer into the back room, but if a the store has reasonable cause to suspect theft, then they can detain for a reasonable length of time, presumably until the misusnderstanding is cleared up or, failing that, until law enforcement arrives, etc.

And contrary to what some bravely misguided freedom fighters assert so passionately, asking to see one's receipt or to glance in once's shopping cart is not unreasonable detention.

[intrepidity]

66. Unreasonable detention

might be requiring someone to wait in a line to exit an establishment after one has paid and completed their transaction.

[Orrex]

68. I'd say that it's up to the courts, but your definition seems unpersuasive

The fact that the privilege exists pretty much tells us that making someone "wait in a line to exit an establishment after one has paid and completed their transaction" does not qualify as unreasonable detention.

"Reasonable detention" likely means something like "long enough for law enforcement to arrive" rather than "for 24 hours" or "until the end of the manager's shift" or something like that.

[AngryOldDem]

75. I was at Kroger one late afternoon.

Typically a very busy time, with people getting dinner, getting off work, etc. ALL the checkout lanes were closed, and the lines at both self-checkout stations were insane.

So self-checkout only does happen, and I find that a tad inexcusable if it’s the busiest time of the day. Sure, it may have been unforeseen circumstances, but at least two fill-in cashiers couldn’t be found somewhere in the store?

[Orrex]

83. I believe you, but I haven't seen that.

During peak busy times the stores in my area always seem to have at least one express and one "regular" cashier lane open, in addition to the self-serves.

And at the start or end of the day they shut down the self-serves.

[TomSlick]

22. I went through a period that - for some reason - the alarm always went off as I was leaving Walmart.

It didn't matter if I used self checkout or the manned checkout lines. It happened enough that I always had my receipt in my hand as I exited (I still do).

Once, the alarm went off - the poor employee at the door looked at my receipt and compared it to the stuff in my cart - it all checked out (of course). At that point, the employee didn't know what to do, so I offered some advice. I told her she could either wish me a pleasant afternoon or she could call the police. BUT, if she or her manager tried to restrain me until the police arrived, I would sue her, her manager, Walmart, and everyone I could think of named Walton for false imprisonment.

She opted to wish me a pleasant afternoon.

[Orrex]

39. Sounds like the guy who threatened to sue me when his 40-wing bucket contained only 39

A quick bit of googling also brings up "Shopkeeper's Privilege"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopkeeper's_privilege

Shopkeeper's privilege is a law recognized in the United States under which a shopkeeper is allowed to detain a suspected shoplifter on store property for a reasonable period of time, so long as the shopkeeper has cause to believe that the person detained in fact committed, or attempted to commit, theft of store property.[1]

Good luck with your lawsuit, though!

[TomSlick]

41. A there's the point.

My receipt and the items in my cart matched. There was no cause to believe that I had committed shoplifting. All there was was an alarm sounding and an inadequately trained employee who didn't know what to do. She could not know if the alarm sounded for me or the other people leaving the store at the time who did not stop when the alarm sounded. Assuming the alarm was legitimate (which I do not), I was the least likely suspect.

Fortunately, the clerk was smart enough to know she didn't want to call my bluff.

[Orrex]

43. I'm just about 100% sure that your lawsuit would have failed

If the alarm tripped on you, the store would assert that as a cause of reasonable suspicion, even if the other customers left. Our corporate-friendly judicial system likely sets a low bar for "reasonable suspicion" in this context.

I suspect that this clerk didn't frisk you, so for all they knew you might have had merchandise concealed in your clothing, etc. The fact that you paused doesn't really mitigate this, because they could claim that you turned around in order to allay suspicion.

At any rate, it's probably much less a matter of the clerk being intimidated by your brave ultimatum than the store's policy of more or less saying "ah, fuck it" in cases like yours. They don't want the hassle or the bad press, and they also know that you'll probably spend more in the aggregate than you might have smuggled out in your pants that day.

[TomSlick]

44. I defend lawsuits in SW Arkansas for a living. I would not be so sanguine about such a defense.

I am confident the case would have survived a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss and any motion for summary judgment or directed verdict. The case would have gotten to a jury.

I think a local jury that knows me and my people would be displeased if I had been detained any longer with no evidence other than an alarm that seemed to regularly go off for no reason.

[Orrex]

46. Sounds exactly like you want to make a big deal out of, ultimately, nothing

Exactly what case do you imagine would be brought before a jury? Wrongful imprisonment? Good luck with that. What injury would you pretend to have suffered?

In the end, I really don't care. Thump your chest for the underpaid door-checker all you like. If that helps you feel as though you've achieved some victory, then more power to you.


More and more this sounds exactly like the guy who wanted to sue me for his 39 wings.

[TomSlick]

47. I think you misunderstood my story.

I was detained for several minutes by a store employee who know I hadn't shoplifted but didn't know what to do.

I didn't file a lawsuit, I simply asked to be allowed to go my way and offered to file a lawsuit if not allowed to go. If I was detained any longer without any credible evidence of wrongdoing, that would make out the elements of false imprisonment.

As to damages, if I was held any longer being publicly questioned for shoplifting in the small town where I live and practice law, I would surely prove entitlement to nominal damages - all that would be required to assuage my ire and cost Walmart considerable attorney's fees.

I have defended folks like you that were subject to frivolous lawsuits. It always leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Being denied your personal liberty without cause is a tad more serious that being sold one too few chicken wing. I hope you do not allow your bad experience to cause you to assume that rights should not be protected by the courts.

[Orrex]

48. And you apparently misunderstand my position

Last edited Sat Nov 5, 2022, 10:17 PM - Edit history (1)

I never claimed that rights shouldn't be protected in court; that's your misrepresentation (deliberate or otherwise) of my view. Instead, I have argued that you'd have chosen to turn a silly and trifling inconvenience into a constitutional crisis, wasting the court's time for your own... What? Imagined grievance?

By immediately deploying the "I'll sue you" tactic, you evoke a caricature of the scheming shyster, hoping to intimidate a bottom-rung employee simply for doing her job.

The less oily way to handle it, if she'd actually intended to detain you, would be to ask for the manager and explain your position to them. Why did you not do this? At least the 39 wing guy did this, instead of bullying some counter worker.

I would be greatly disappointed to learn that 10 minutes' delay at Walmart actually qualifies as "being denied your personal liberty." I'd have thought that such a crime would entail, you know, being denied your personal liberty.

Last week someone blocked me in my parking space for 10 minutes while they loaded their car. Maybe I should sue them for unlawful detention.

[TomSlick]

51. I have a rule against alerting on posts attacking me personally.

Instead, I just say "bless your heart."

[Orrex]

53. For the record, counsellor:

Crying that you've been the victim of a personal attack--when you have not been--is a transparent effort to taint any DU jury that might be called upon to review your opponent's post.

It's an obvious and sadly a too common tactic.

Just wanted you to know that I see right through it, lest you think that you'd slipped it past me.


Be sure to show your receipt.

[TomSlick]

62. It is obvious that no one is reading our little exchange except the two of us.

No one is going to alert on your post and your concern is unfounded.

If I had come across a post in which someone called some other lawyer on DU a shyster - a lawyer, who uses unscrupulous, fraudulent, or deceptive methods in business - I would have immediately alerted. My personal rule prevents me from using the alert button as a counter-attack and I don't use epithets against other DUers. All that is left is "bless your heart"

[Orrex]

63. And if I come across an attorney who bullies an underpaid door worker, I call them out

Bless your heart.

[TomSlick]

65. I suggest we will not reach an agreement.

Pax vobiscum.

[Orrex]

70. National biscuit company

Betcha I could beat ya in the game of dominoes.

[TomSlick]

71. Probably so. I've never played dominoes.

[Major Nikon]

90. An attorney who uses strawman to make an argument should know better

I’m going to assume you are what you say you are, but if not you certainly wouldn’t be the first person on the internet to falsely claim expertise in an area they have none. My rule is kinda simple, rather than claiming some sort of knowledge or experience in an area, I’d just as soon allow the strength of my discourse speak for itself for better or worse. Truth be told yours just doesn’t rise to the level you’re claiming and at the very least you should endeavor to do better.

You weren’t personally attacked in any way shape or form. There wasn’t even an off handed lawyer joke in there and that has to be the lowest hanging fruit there is. Then you unverifiably claim you don’t alert, and whether this is true or not you certainly framed your subject lines in the desperate hope someone would. So claiming you are taking the high road falls a little flat when you are calling for the torches and pitchforks to do your bidding. Either way it doesn’t look like you had much success.

I suppose it’s safe to say you’ll now try to claim I’m attacking you as well, but no worries. When you do I can assure you my skin is thick enough to handle it without whining incessantly.

Cheers!

[Orrex]

91. :thumbs up:

[TNNurse]

24. I live in East TN

none of the stores I frequent (and I do not go to Walmart unless there is no other alternative) are NOT exclusively self check out. I use it because I can bag things the way I want or not use plastic at all.

Have not encountered anyone asking for a receipt either.

Where is this crap happening???

[MichMan]

49. It isn't

It's something someone made up and posted on the internet trying to be funny

[ShazzieB]

28. I actually prefer self-checkout.

I love the contol it gives me and the way it allows me to pack up my stuff exactly the way I want to, distribute the items the way I want, and even sort them according to where they're going when I get home (all the perishable food items in one bag, non-perishables in another bag, toiletries that will be used in the bathroom in another, etc.). I also don't have to worry that heavy items will end up on top of stuff that is breakable or squishable, because I am in charge!

I really don't get why some people hate it so much. I always head for the self-check, whether there's another option or not.

[Orrex]

31. I'm sure that those people only use self-serve gas pumps and walk-in banks, too

And they probably demand to speak with a human switchboard operator when making calls.


OTHERWISE THEY'RE COSTING JOBS!!!!!!!!!1!!

[ShazzieB]

36. Self-serve gas pumps are the only kind I ever see any more.

So that one is not really a choice, at least not where I live.

And the banks have cut their hours so much that good luck getting there before they close. (I do most of my banking on line, personally).

Its just as well I like doing things for myself for the most part (except for getting out of my nice warm car to pump gas in the winter time).

[Orrex]

37. I'm with you, believe me

If self-checkout is an option, I use it. I think I've only used a full-service gas station twice in my life, and I seldom see them at all.

My point was that the trend toward self-serve registers is only the latest in a centuries-long line of worker-eliminating advances. It's the arc of history, and it isn't likely to change in at least the next few centuries, no matter how many brave Facebook posts decry the showing of receipts.

[progree]

32. Odd, at Lunds & Byerlys (grocery chain), they limit self-checkout to 15 items or less

They make you go through a cashiered lane if you have more than 15 items.

This started about 3 months ago. Before that, there were no restrictions on using self-checkout.

I guess it's because of theft -- too many people cheating on self-checkout.

Edited to add - If so, Lunds isn't the only one to have that problem -- "Wegmans ends self-checkout app after too much shoplifting" - https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/16/business-food/wegmans-scan-and-go-app-shoplifting

If you never heard of Lunds & Byerlys, most people haven't -- it's about 15 stores in the Twin Cities metro area.

Never been asked for a receipt when I use self-checkout there or at any other store. I'm an old white guy that probably looks too dumb to even try to cheat.

[Tracer]

50. I was at Home Depot yesterday.

I only had 3 small items, so I went to the self-check line.

No problem with 2 of the items, they scanned correctly. The third item? There was NO printed UPC code on the package anywhere. I turned that package 6 ways to Sunday... and there was none.

Of course, there wasn't an employee anywhere around (typical for HD). So the fellow behind me went to search for one. At the same time, the line behind me was stacking up with irritated customers. It took a good 10 minutes to find someone who could manually type in the UPC code for that item.

Self checkout can be good (quick) or bad (not so quick).

[IcyPeas]

52. Self-checkouts give me anxiety but I use them when I'm feeling brave.

I feel like they could make the interface a little easier or simpler. There's too much crap on the screen.

[intrepidity]

57. Remember when self-serve gas pumps gave a discount?

When they were first trying out self-service, they gave you a discount if you pumped your own gas.

Seems like stores could do the same.

[Orrex]

60. The few full service pumps that I see generally charge more per gallon

I'm guessing that, before long, retailers might try to impose a 5% or 10% "cashier fee" for customers who use those checkout aisles.

[intrepidity]

67. I fear that, as well

although, when purchasing alcohol one *must* use a checker, so that could raise issues. Better to impose a "discount" on self-serve.

[Orrex]

69. Good point. Ditto for cigarettes and certain other products

I still get "carded" sometimes when I buy canned air for dusting keyboards.

[TexasBushwhacker]

58. They are all "hiring" but no one wants to work for the wages they pay

I know in many cases, the hourly rate is okay, but they only offer part time schedules, which usually means you don't get health insurance.

[elocs]

64. I went shopping today & I admit that I use self checkout every opportunity I can.

Although I'm sure the checkout employees are nice people, I don't care. I'd rather do it myself and bag this just as I like to do it. Besides, I've experienced some pretty terrible checkout people and I'm not interested in chit-chat, small talk. I just want to get the hell out out of there.
Choice is wonderful.

[AngryOldDem]

72. THIS.

If you don’t trust your shoppers, then pay your employees a living wage so your checkouts can be staffed.

A few years ago I went through self-checkout at Target. Had my receipt in hand as I left. When I got to the door an employee started yelling at me to stop. The whole front end of the store heard her. I turned around, waved my receipt and walked off, angry and humiliated. It was a long time before I went back there, and now I always make a big show of my receipt when I leave. That experience has colored how I look at Target.

Another self-defeating thing about this “convenience” of self-checkout is people who have full carts — but I get it. If there’s nobody at the registers, whaddya gonna do? That happens at my Kroger all the time.

Honest to God, I think the business model these days is, “How can we make things even harder and more inconvenient for our customers?”

[avebury]

84. I think that Sams Club is the only place where I

am forced to show my receipt when I am leaving the store.

At our Walmart they have a few workers standing around watching people so they don't ask to see the receipts when you leave.

Never had to show a receipt at Target.

[DesertAuthor]

85. Not a big deal

Showing a receipt isn't that hard and most of the time they don't even ask.

[3catwoman3]

88. I detest self-checkout.

The grocery chain we go to most often, Meijer in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago, has very "fussy" machines. They are always squawking about "unknown item in the bagging area," or "please remove unbagged item," or some other transgression.

Very irritating.

[RobinA]

102. My Acme

is like that. Always some issue with bagging.

[iemanja]

98. I hate those things

But I do use them when I have to.

[panader0]

101. Assembly lines at auto manufacturers use robots, but people still buy their cars....

[Kali]

103. I have never used self check out.

and I almost exclusively still use curb pick up for groceries. I freaking love shopping on my computer and not even going in the damn store. There are glitches to be sure, but worth it not to traipse all over the store and end up forgetting shit or grabbing too many impulse items.

[Dysfunctional]

104. The Walmart I go to now has more people working there

shopping for people than they ever had as cashiers. As far as people checking receipts, I find they rarely have anyone doing it. They also let homeless people sit on the benches inside the store between the two sets of doors.

[keroro gunsou]

105. As a cashier for Walmart...

My policy is to shift customers with 10 items or less in favor of the bigger orders to the express or self checks. If they’d rather wait for me, then I let them. Dunno what store policy is, but I try to run an efficient ship and direct traffic accordingly. So far, none of my customers have said anything to me about it and neither have my managers. Then again, we are so short handed I honestly think they are just glad I show up and don’t drool on the customers. Now, if they would only pay me more….. 😈