61–70 of 231 posts
I did once abuse the self-checkout myself, but I felt justified: The tag on the shelf said the crackers were buy-one-get-one-free. But when I rang them both up, it charged for both. Instead of calling an attendant, I just voided one of them but walked out with it. I'm basically a criminal mastermind.
I must be a rube, because I've never stolen from one of those things. When it makes a mistake I call the attendant to correct it. Mainly because I support the idea of automation and want it to work well. Maybe it's just the reliability engineer in me that wants to call out the bugs and have them fixed. Or maybe it's the former security engineer in me who got paid to find the flaws in these systems and my ethics deman…
Reminds me of the drama surrounding Genius co-founder Mahbod Moghadam after he penned "How To Steal From Whole Foods". https://thoughtcatalog.com/mahbod-moghadam/2014/11/how-to-st...
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I don't share the thinking behind that comedy bit at all. For me, self-service checkouts offer such added utility -- no tiresome social interaction with the cashier, no awkward moments when shopping in a country where you don't speak the language -- that it more than makes up for the burden of ringing up my purchases.
I'm glad you get personal utility from the new method, but the rant is coming from a place where people are forced to use self checkouts and would rather not - eg stores where they shut all but one staffed register, creating a huge line.
In Europe the self-check outs are optional. They're also faster, because there isn't much of a queue and the people with carts all go to cashiers.
I don't feel oppressed when I use them because I appreciate the speed. If that advantage disappeared, I'd be less pleased.
>> “There is NO MORAL ISSUE with stealing from a store that forces you to use self checkout, period. THEY ARE CHARGING YOU TO WORK AT THEIR STORE.” I find the twisted reasoning in this comment shocking and I don't really know what to say. It is a kind of twisted reasoning that I've only seen in people who were high on strong narcotics and were carried away by waves of wishful thinking and delusions, or, again, extrem…
At least in some parts of the countryside it’s nice to see farmers’ stands with produce and a pay jar where people “self checkout”.
I ack that companies take advantage of people but that does not grant people a right to be dishonest themselves and become that which they bemoan. If you think they’re ripping you off, go to the the market that offers full service.
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Sorry, what does "rang them up" mean here? :)
It's an expression in English to refer to an item being charged to a customer. It is referring to old-fashioned cash registers that used to ring a bell after the cashier entered the price.
What really irritates me about shoplifting is that the honest among us subsidize the criminals . Inevitably, retailers and grocers raise prices due to increased theft, encouraging more theft, in a vicious spiral (I don't have proof of this; rather, it's an intuition). Also reminds me of drug use in sports.
I must be a rube, because I've never stolen from one of those things. When it makes a mistake I call the attendant to correct it. Mainly because I support the idea of automation and want it to work well. Maybe it's just the reliability engineer in me that wants to call out the bugs and have them fixed. Or maybe it's the former security engineer in me who got paid to find the flaws in these systems and my ethics deman…
I hope society will one day reach a level of honesty and trust where we can just leave stores unlocked and unattended at night.
I'm not sure if the money my supermarket saves by getting rid of humans (and the humans' incomes) translates to cheaper groceries for me. I'd believe it if there were somehow a fine for using a human checkout. But there isn't. So every once in a while four bell pepper somehow scan as three. Accidents happen, full plausible deniability.
I am all for these setups because I can check out faster in many cases and I can bag it as I want it bagged. saving money or not its the convenience which sold me
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Alternatively, it's revealing a deeper truth that had been obscured by a long chain of seemingly logical justifications. Corporations tend to abuse abstractions until they break, and self-checkout is basically at that breaking point. Comedy is especially good at deflating bullshit like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxINJzqzn4w I for one could never stand the things for their slow and obtuse programming. I can…
I don't share the thinking behind that comedy bit at all. For me, self-service checkouts offer such added utility -- no tiresome social interaction with the cashier, no awkward moments when shopping in a country where you don't speak the language -- that it more than makes up for the burden of ringing up my purchases.