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The failure of self-checkout technology

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Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#261

Post by jefftk »

cameronh90 wrote: post #255
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.

At the machines I've used in the US the way they deal with this is having you move your items off the scale into a bagging area (which is actually also a scale internally, though not one that needs to be officially calibrated).

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#262

Post by cameronh90 »

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…

I've accidentally failed to scan an item in the UK before which was caught during a random check. They just said "don't worry, it happens sometimes" and took me to pay for the item.

I do wonder how differently it would go down if I was a young black man.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#263

Post by bregma »

scott_w wrote: post #223
arsenico wrote: post #222

I prefer self-checkout and use it pretty much every time I see an opportunity to do so. Living in the Netherlands, somehow self-checkout in Dutch supermarkets is very different from the ones I encounter in France or UK. Every time in France or UK I have issues with it primarily because the self-checkout tills have a very cumbersome and poorly working area where I have to put the checked products. Either they're doing…

Interestingly, Marks & Spencer don't have scales for your shopping (unlike all other self-checkouts). I wonder if there's cultural and demographic reasons for this. M&S is a very upmarket supermarket, so a potential thief (typically quite poor) is going to stand out like a sore thumb and end up with a security guard stuck to their waist. The larger supermarket chains (Tesco, Asda, Morrisons) have low-cost lines to ca…

That sounds more like the Brits have been socialized into letting the toffs get away with stealing. After all, that's just the way it's always been.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#264

Post by mrintegrity »

guappa wrote: post #244
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…

I've had the checkout machine reject my backpack as an approved container. So I had to balance everything on the tray, pay, THEN bag everything. Another thing I really hate is that I've seen locked exit barriers that open when scanning the receipt. In sweden there is a real disregard for workplace safety :( I guess other than "honoring the people who died in the disco fire in the 90s in the local museum", there is no…

>Another thing I really hate is that I've seen locked exit barriers that open when scanning the receipt. In sweden there is a real disregard for workplace safety :(

Here in Sweden you can just push those out of the way (it sets of an alarm but if you push it back to closed position the alarm stops). FYI Sweden has strict workplace safety rules, not sure why you think there is a real disregard for this.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#265

Post by KptMarchewa »

alpaca128 wrote: post #260
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…

Because you don't stand in the queue to the cashier and don't have to wait minutes till the buyer in the front finds all the spare change they need.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#266

Post by dahfizz »

radarsat1 wrote: post #251
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.

Enjoy your homogenous, high trust society. We are all jealous.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#267

Post by goosedragons »

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…

It's 100% that. One of the grocery stores near me has no weight checks or baggage area rules. I can easily bag my groceries into my backpack directly, at other stores my backpack is too heavy to be considered my bag and so if I want to do that the attendent has to override it so I never bother. Then since there's no weight check you never run into the "unexpected item in bagging area" or "please place item in bagging area" issues ever where the scale/item weight isn't acting as expected.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#268

Post by Freak_NL »

alpaca128 wrote: post #260
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…

The point is cost savings for the supermarket. That's it. Some customer prefer them, but usually that is the effect of deliberately understaffing the remaining cash registers, or the customer being completely unable or unwilling to interact with strangers.

Supermarkets are now grudgingly admitting that self checkout systems cause a significant increase in loss due to theft, but that it is still cheaper than hiring actual staff for the registers.

In the Netherlands the current state of affairs in supermarkets with self checkout registers is that theft is on the up. People justify 'forgetting to scan an item' by the (perceived or actual) greed shown by supermarkets in terms of shrinkflation and the rising cost-of-living. Supermarkets did really well during the Covid-years, but customers didn't benefit from that in the slightest.

An additional problem is that the staff attending the self checkout registers are often young (because it is a position which would waste the skills of the more experienced employees), and they get bullied and berated by customers pissed off for getting selected for random (either actual or directed by the staff watching the cameras) checks.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#269

Post by hgomersall »

radarsat1 wrote: post #251
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.

This exists to some extent in the UK with the self scan widgets. Waitrose had it before self checkouts. It works really well.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#270

Post by rcxdude »

Mashimo wrote: post #259
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.

My experience with those is again they are ruined by overzealous anti-theft measures. Someone needs to come in and scan random items, which means you can't pack as you go, and it doesn't seem to let up even when it's tied to a loyalty card so they know you've used it before. After the system said the whole shop needed re-scanning, completely obviating the advantages, I've just stopped using it.
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