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The failure of self-checkout technology

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Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#111

Post by didntcheck »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #99

It would be a nightmare to lose self checkout at Target. It would be a blessing to lose it at CVS. It can be done very well or very poorly.

Often it seems to depend on the machine settings too. E.g. in the UK Morrisons and the Co-Op seem to use the same hardware in many branches, but the former is very reliable and most "unexpected item events" I see are user error, whereas the latter seem to have a good 30% chance of complaining about the weight of your item even when you've done everything right

The other big difference in smoothness of experience is having sufficient staff to come and deal with problems. Firstly, because user or machine error will always be non-negligible, but also because age challenges are quite common too. It's frustrating queueing and seeing a good 4 or 5 machines in a blocked state (and sometimes abandoned due to it) and there being no or insufficient staff around to unblock them

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#112

Post by eappleby »

add-sub-mul-div wrote: post #99

It would be a nightmare to lose self checkout at Target. It would be a blessing to lose it at CVS. It can be done very well or very poorly.

Not at my CVS. They have one checkout clerk, and if there are more than 3 people standing in line, it can take 10+ minutes to checkout. With self-checkout, I'm in and out in 30 seconds. Presumably, they'd add more checkout clerks if they remove the self-checkout, but I wouldn't count on it

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#115

Post by geerlingguy »

bilsbie wrote: post #110

We’re almost at the point where we can just replace cashiers with Tesla Optimus paired with an LLM instead. How wild would that be.

I don't think Optimus will be nearly capable enough to even replace the least motivated checkout attendant in the next decade at least.

Groceries and such are some of the trickest bits to handle (especially since another human is stowing them on the belt this way and that, in piles or spread out), and a robot what could handle a conveyor at Aldi even 1/100th the speed of an employee would be a mind-boggling result.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#116

Post by seanp2k2 »

ourmandave wrote: post #94

I'm so used to self checkout, last time I used a manned checkout I started bagging my stuff by habit. (Only used it because I bought an electronic with a security hockey puck that had to be unlocked.)

I usually help bag my stuff if there isn't someone there already to help. I really don't mind and it gets me out of the store faster + helps the next person get through faster. I don't understand the mentality of just standing there helplessly waiting for someone to come. It's really not that difficult. It feels like the same energy as folks who can't be bothered to throw away their trash at counter-service restaurants and cafes that do not actually have people whose sole responsibility it is to bus tables. Is it really putting one out that much to carry their coffee cup and napkin with them as they walk right by the trash next to the door on their way out?

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#117

Post by kugelblitz »

ourmandave wrote: post #94

I'm so used to self checkout, last time I used a manned checkout I started bagging my stuff by habit. (Only used it because I bought an electronic with a security hockey puck that had to be unlocked.)

In Germany you always bag everything yourself and in the discount stores you have 1.4 seconds per item to pack stuff while the cashier is sliding stuff towards an area of maybe 60cm x 100cm (2 feet by 3 feet) where if you bag it too slow you'll hold up the line and people will look at you.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#118

Post by LeafItAlone »

WarOnPrivacy wrote: post #101
delichon wrote: post #90

> The biggest problem is theft. Not only is it easy to steal from self-checkout machines, it can be hard not to steal from them. This is me. At a Walmart this weekend the machine booped instead of beeped, and I didn't get that meant it didn't scan, and dropped the item into a bag. An employee was watching and swooped right in and fixed it. But paying that much attention meant that she might as well have checked me ou…

> This is me. At a Walmart this weekend the machine booped instead of beeped, and I didn't get that meant it didn't scan, I routinely forget to scan whatever is on the bottom of the cart. Usually cases of water but a few times it was the box of 32 hamburgers. I never had a cashier catch it - and they're invariably surprised when I come back into pay.

A Walmart I visited recently had a camera at ankle level specially to show the bottom of your cart for the cashier to see.

Another store (I forget which) had a full cart camera and prompted me to check my cart for remaining items because I had unused reusable bags in it.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#119

Post by atmavatar »

steelframe wrote: post #109

I wouldn't mind these machine so much if they always accepted cash. The problem is that more often than not they don't. When I was on vacation in London about 5 years ago when Visa had an outage: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/jun/01/visa-outa... I was trying to pick up some food at the only grocery market that was within walking distance of where I was staying. The grocery store only had self-checkout m…

Agreed - that's been a huge annoyance to me as well. What's worse is many of the self-checkout stations around where I live used to accept cash, but the stores have been transitioning a larger and larger proportion of them to card-only.

Another annoyance I've run into at one store in particular is that the self-checkout machine no longer pre-calculates the tax amount. Now, I have to hit the pay button before I'm given the true amount due.

The self-checkout machines are getting worse over time. It's quite reminiscent of how ATMs have evolved.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#120

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

steelframe wrote: post #109

I wouldn't mind these machine so much if they always accepted cash. The problem is that more often than not they don't. When I was on vacation in London about 5 years ago when Visa had an outage: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2018/jun/01/visa-outa... I was trying to pick up some food at the only grocery market that was within walking distance of where I was staying. The grocery store only had self-checkout m…

> I wouldn't mind these machine so much if they always accepted cash. The problem is that more often than not they don't.

Ooof. I haven't seen a SCO with no cash capability. I know cash-handling equip costs but if they don't want pay for that, they might need a cashier.

Walmart may have a couple SCO that won't do cash temporarily - but there will be 10 more fully working.

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