Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The failure of self-checkout technology

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

251–260 of 621 posts

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#251

Post by radarsat1 »

CM30 wrote: post #248

It feels like almost all the issues with self-checkout technology come from the attempts to minimise shoplifting, which don't even seem that effective at doing that. In theory, a system that let you scan products the same way checkout staff do without any weight checks or bagging area rules or other interruptions would be incredibly efficient. Especially if you could do things like scan the same product multiple time…

That's exactly how it works in the Netherlands, you just scan your items and go. There are no weight checks and you can scan items more than once and edit and remove things from the list. Apart from getting a poorly executed random check sometimes (which is far from effective for the purpose of avoiding theft imho) it actually works really well.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#252

Post by notahacker »

kioleanu wrote: post #17

I’ll leave a comment I’ve made last time this came into discussion: Self-Checkouts have been really problematic in Germany with stores rushing to put them to use and namely: 1) they have very bad interfaces 2) they don’t trust customers at all 3) it’s easy to report cases to the police and 4) stores have people hired to catch thieves and their incentive is that they are paid 50 to 100 euros per report (paid by the pe…

That's a store policy problem; it shouldn't be difficult for them to confirm that a payment has been made for the equivalent set of items within the last 5 mins, and even possible for them to cross reference with your card.

When I got stopped walking out of a supermarket with an item with an RFID tag on it, I don't think the security guard (who had no direct view of the self checkouts) even bothered to check that, just asked me to confirm the checkout that I'd used and roughly how much I'd paid for it. And sent me on my way with the advice that it might be a good idea to ask for a receipt when buying electronic items in case they were faulty and I needed to return them!

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#253

Post by ddmf »

CM30 wrote: post #248

It feels like almost all the issues with self-checkout technology come from the attempts to minimise shoplifting, which don't even seem that effective at doing that. In theory, a system that let you scan products the same way checkout staff do without any weight checks or bagging area rules or other interruptions would be incredibly efficient. Especially if you could do things like scan the same product multiple time…

Yes, exactly my thoughts - and they seem to use lower spec hardware leading to a perceivable delay between scanning -> putting on to weighing station -> able to scan next product.

Unless this is as designed too, for whatever reason, but this is what stops me from using them as I get frustrated.

The other thing that stops me from using them specifically in Lidl is that you cannot put a hazelnut croissant and an almond croissant in the same paper bag unless you take one out before you put it to weigh.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#254

Post by neonnoodle »

unnamed76ri wrote: post #232
jareklupinski wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even the relatively small cost of an NFC tag is going to be a real problem given how thin most groceries' margins are (and how cheap small amounts of food can be, even now). something that's been worrying me: how long until grocery stores stop keeping fresh fruit and vegetables because it just isn't worth it anymore? or has produce always been a loss-leader to get people buying other things in the store... maybe ju…

Supermarkets have put a lot into adding more organic options and just greater variety in general in their produce sections. I don’t think they lose money or that they are going anywhere. Bananas for example sell for around $0.58/lb around here. Which seems unprofitable but you wouldn’t believe the size of the banana rooms that these grocers have at their warehouses. It is easily the largest space dedicated to a singl…

How much to swim in the banana pit?

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#255

Post by cameronh90 »

CM30 wrote: post #248

It feels like almost all the issues with self-checkout technology come from the attempts to minimise shoplifting, which don't even seem that effective at doing that. In theory, a system that let you scan products the same way checkout staff do without any weight checks or bagging area rules or other interruptions would be incredibly efficient. Especially if you could do things like scan the same product multiple time…

In Waitrose (UK), they often don't have any scales, and as a result, there can just be one staff member watching over 20+ machines.

By comparison, the other day I was at Tesco and they had introduced these new large self-checkouts for trolleys (aka carts in US), but about halfway through my trolley, I started getting an error for every item I scanned. Turns out, the max weight for the scale was 20kg.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#256

Post by klondike_klive »

Reason077 wrote: post #168
jareklupinski wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even the relatively small cost of an NFC tag is going to be a real problem given how thin most groceries' margins are (and how cheap small amounts of food can be, even now). something that's been worrying me: how long until grocery stores stop keeping fresh fruit and vegetables because it just isn't worth it anymore? or has produce always been a loss-leader to get people buying other things in the store... maybe ju…

Produce is not a loss-leader. Pretty solid margins if you compare market prices on produce with what the supermarkets sell them for. And if you’ve been in any UK supermarket near closing time on a busy weekend day, you’ll see that they routinely sell out of many/most items before restocking overnight. Stuff that hits its best-before date gets marked down to sell. Generally speaking, there isn’t a huge amount being wa…

The waste is externalised. Supermarkets regularly renege on their agreements with farmers, leaving millions of tonnes of produce to rot.

Check out getfairaboutfarming.com

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#257

Post by radarsat1 »

thanatos519 wrote: post #236
Aeolun wrote: post #217

My problem with self-checkout (in the Netherlands) is not the interface or the system itself. I can navigate that. But then when I've finished checking out and bagging everything myself, the guy from the store came to do the whole thing again! I just stood there in utter disbelief as they rummaged through my neatly packed bag to mess everything up, scan only a handful of items, and then present me a bill that's sever…

Also in the Netherlands. These random audits are annoying indeed, especially when I have a lot of very carefully packed items. However, they don't happen to me too often, and it's as common with 3 items as with 30 so I think it's truly random. It seems like about the right frequency to catch thieves.

The main problem with the way they do the check is that it isn't going to catch any theft. They make you unpack your bag and they start asking for items to scan. They literally let you choose which ones they scan. And they want to scan like 10 items lately so it really makes you unpack the whole thing which is annoying. But never have I had them actually trying to find an item in my bag that is not something I declared. They seem pretty focused on finding things I did scan and confirming them. Mostly because it's done by a teenager who just wants to get the scan done and move on.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#258

Post by slfnflctd »

CM30 wrote: post #248

It feels like almost all the issues with self-checkout technology come from the attempts to minimise shoplifting, which don't even seem that effective at doing that. In theory, a system that let you scan products the same way checkout staff do without any weight checks or bagging area rules or other interruptions would be incredibly efficient. Especially if you could do things like scan the same product multiple time…

> scan the same product multiple times if you were buying multiple copies of it

My local Walmart allows this. Not sure what the impact on their 'shrink' is, but they must've decided it was worth it to keep lines moving. It's a very busy store.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#259

Post by Mashimo »

CM30 wrote: post #248

It feels like almost all the issues with self-checkout technology come from the attempts to minimise shoplifting, which don't even seem that effective at doing that. In theory, a system that let you scan products the same way checkout staff do without any weight checks or bagging area rules or other interruptions would be incredibly efficient. Especially if you could do things like scan the same product multiple time…

> In theory, a system that let you scan products the same way checkout staff do without any weight checks or bagging area rules or other interruptions would be incredibly efficient.

I think coop/365discount has that. You scan the items with a mobile phone app while taking them of the shelf. You just show the digital receipt to the cashier while jumping the queue.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#260

Post by alpaca128 »

CM30 wrote: post #248

It feels like almost all the issues with self-checkout technology come from the attempts to minimise shoplifting, which don't even seem that effective at doing that. In theory, a system that let you scan products the same way checkout staff do without any weight checks or bagging area rules or other interruptions would be incredibly efficient. Especially if you could do things like scan the same product multiple time…

> In theory, a system that let you scan products the same way checkout staff do without any weight checks or bagging area rules or other interruptions would be incredibly efficient

How would it be more efficient than a traditional checkout? There's no way the average person can match the speed of a cashier who does that every day, and at least the supermarkets I've visited don't have enough self checkout machines to balance that out.

Maybe it's just me but I genuinely don't get the point of self checkout. Are some shops so slow at reacting to long queues that it makes self checkout actually faster?

Post reply on HN