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The failure of self-checkout technology

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Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#301

Post by downut »

krastanov wrote: post #243
guappa wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Want to buy this vegetable? Now try to find it among these 300 icons of vegetables! Enjoy!

Or just type the name of the vegetable or just copy the 4-digit code on the sticker attached to the vegetable. At least in the US there is no problem with buying vegetables in self-checkout.

I just find it almost impossible to believe that you regularly buy vegetables or other bulk goods via checkout and have few or no problems.

How about that bar code label on the spinach/parsley/cilantro? It's paper and it gets watered regularly so it is not uncommon for it to be illegible, even to the expert parser, the human.

Those stickers do fall off.

Is every brussel sprout going to have a sticker? Jalapenos? Okra? Mushrooms? Cherry tomatoes? Now according to the industrial/minimize human costs imperative you buy a prepacked batch, and in that batch are stinkers hidden below the visible top layer. Onions have dry skins that occasionally shed... whoops there goes your sticker.

Let's talk about lentils. Obvs they're going to be batched "for you" now, and how big a batch do you need? How about 3 lbs, if we're following along with the Costco Walmart paradigm. I mean you're all happy with your 3 gals. of Walmart dill pickles for $3, yes? No more does the pantry maintain a steady less than a 1 lb inventory each of a dozen different legumes for you... well who does their own cooking these days, that's what door dash is for!

And now for that "oh just look it up on helpful screen!" Except for at least a half dozen times the screen, either via the picture section or the "type the name" option, does not have the item in its inventory. For instance Pasilla/Poblano and Anaheim/Cubano chiles (names not precise anywhere) are often not present in the system. In our stores there is a small section containing up to half a dozen specialty types of tomatoes. You know, the ones that potentially have flavor. Since these inventories change more rapidly than the straight industrial space ship foods, I know those are at risk of not being in the system. Contrast to at the checkout line the checker either knows the name or takes my word for it, and occasionally just asks me the price and we're good to go. At the automated checkout, I just pick something close as presented (but cheaper, oh yes) and I move on to the next indicated item. Maybe I enjoy the frisson of being an industrially nudged criminal... it's certainly novel.

All this said, for some reason where I live, in suburban Atlanta, the automated checkouts are quite a bit more popular than the human checkers, so there's typically a 10 deep line for the automation, and maybe 2 deep occasionally but usually less for the humans. That's a no brainer.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#302

Post by oytis »

I find self-checkout pretty pleasant to use if implemented correctly. A positive experience was an Ikea store where you just scan everything and walk out with occasional checks by a security guard. Or even better at Decathlon where you don't even need to scan things - you put it in a special box, and the machine recognises them itself. On the opposite side of the spectrum there are machines at supermarkets that try to be smart in a wrong way - complaining about what bags you are using, where you put them etc. About third of the times I decide to use those I end up having to call a human worker.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#303

Post by infecto »

manmal wrote: post #126
matthewdgreen wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I started looking at RFID tech in 2004, the disposable tags cost maybe $.50-$1 but general consensus was the costs would follow a Moore’s law like trajectory, halving every 2-3 years until they were on even the cheapest items. And yet here we are 20 years later and I don’t see RFID checkout systems very often at all. Are the tags still really expensive? Or is it the extra cost of attaching them to packaging?

Are you suggesting to put trillions of copper, silicon, and aluminum parts on disposable items like bananas, so people have a slightly better shopping experience?

We already use plastic bags, paper bags, takeout food boxes, wrap products in plastic and sometimes styrofoam. From an economic perspective its not too far off to think that if the part gets cheap enough you can put it on everything.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#304

Post by neilalexander »

oytis wrote: post #302

I find self-checkout pretty pleasant to use if implemented correctly. A positive experience was an Ikea store where you just scan everything and walk out with occasional checks by a security guard. Or even better at Decathlon where you don't even need to scan things - you put it in a special box, and the machine recognises them itself. On the opposite side of the spectrum there are machines at supermarkets that try t…

The IKEA implementation is very close to ideal. An actual handheld barcode scanner attached to a long cable that you can move around as needed. Virtually no delay when scanning things. No need to place items on a scale. No need to pick each item up to pass it over an awkward fixed scanning surface. No problem if you want to use your own bags. No problem if you run out of space and need to move items back to the trolley. It's like they actually thought about the user.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#305

Post by david-gpu »

dahfizz wrote: post #266
radarsat1 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Enjoy your homogenous, high trust society

"Homogeneous" in what way?

Because in my experience the sort of "homogeneity" that leads to high trust is that of wealth/income, and it requires a generous social net.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#307

Post by DanielHB »

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. Especially if you could do things like scan the same product multiple times if you were buying multiple copies of it.

The supermarkets in Sweden work like this, the only thing some of they do is random checks. In some chains you do need to sign up with your ID ahead of time though so they keep track if you get caught in a random check.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#308

Post by bombcar »

valzam wrote: post #295
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…

I have never understood the point of theft prevention at a self-checkout via the weight checks etc. If I want to steal something I just ... don't scan it? And keep it in my backpack. I don't see how the buggy weight checks serve any purpose other than annoying honest customers.

It’s a security feature sold to the stores against a possible but rare attack - barcode swapping.

It even occurs with human checkers but it’s quite rare (barcodes are fixed now, or the stickers destroy themselves if you try to remove them like at Goodwill).

The attack apparently would have you swap a barcode but still on camera scan it which I guess theoretically makes it harder to prosecute but I kinda doubt it.

It also helps catch misscans which is probably much much more common (someone scans an item, they thought it scanned, they put it in bagging area).

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#309

Post by wiredfool »

inejge wrote: post #210
kugelblitz wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I usually handle this by dumping the purchases back into the cart and bagging everything someplace to the side after paying. Lidl is famous (or notorious) for its demon-speed cashiers, and they actually worked hard both to train them and to make packaging easier for the scanner to "see"[1]. I don't see them implementing self-checkout soon. [1] https://www.behance.net/gallery/114753219/LIDL-Packaging-Gui...

There is self checkout in some lidl uk stores.
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