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The failure of self-checkout technology

bbc.com

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Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#401

Post by regular_trash »

compiler-guy wrote: post #396
TrackerFF wrote: post #387

You'd think the article was written by a rep from the cashiers union. I have no bad experiences with self-checkout. None. Going to a staffed-only checkout feels like going back 20 years in time. They take up more space, they can move slower, suddenly customers will kill the speed because they need to look for their coupons, pay with change, or whatever.

And because I personally have never seen the problem, it couldn’t possibly exist!

If the problem is pervasive as made out to be, it stands to reason that a person would have at least one anecdotal experience in favor of the claim.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#402

Post by xen2xen1 »

TrackerFF wrote: post #387

You'd think the article was written by a rep from the cashiers union. I have no bad experiences with self-checkout. None. Going to a staffed-only checkout feels like going back 20 years in time. They take up more space, they can move slower, suddenly customers will kill the speed because they need to look for their coupons, pay with change, or whatever.

Opinions on self checkouts are age tests. The older you are the more likely you are to hate it. You can basically peg someone to 45/50 or older if they complain. I say this and I'm near that age range. On Facebook: I bagged my own groceries! Is someone going to pay me?!?? And yeahz you're 52? Yup, over and over.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#403

Post by bee_rider »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #388
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 used multiple self-checkout stations in the United States that weigh items. If you add two cans instead of one into your bag, the computer terminal will inquire about it. And security: You only need a single person standing there to scary away 95% of shoplifters. I watched a YouTube video from the channel "Not Just Bikes" about grocery shopping in Amsterdam, Netherlands showed a supermarket where you carry the…

We have that in some places in the US as well. Stop and Shop has little mobile scanners or apparently you can use an App instead. They say they might randomly check your bags when you leave, but it only happened to me once.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#404

Post by xphos »

xen2xen1 wrote: post #402
TrackerFF wrote: post #387

You'd think the article was written by a rep from the cashiers union. I have no bad experiences with self-checkout. None. Going to a staffed-only checkout feels like going back 20 years in time. They take up more space, they can move slower, suddenly customers will kill the speed because they need to look for their coupons, pay with change, or whatever.

Opinions on self checkouts are age tests. The older you are the more likely you are to hate it. You can basically peg someone to 45/50 or older if they complain. I say this and I'm near that age range. On Facebook: I bagged my own groceries! Is someone going to pay me?!?? And yeahz you're 52? Yup, over and over.

I disagree being a young 26 year old, I have had dozens of issues with self checkout getting stuck for 5+ minutes at a time over things that don't have bar codes and require hand typing. Or Heaven forbid you don't put the item precisely on the scale bench and it flags you as being 0.1 oz off your checkout basket.

They are not hard to clear issues and I could do them myself but only the cashier has the ability to clear those errors and sometimes there is that one customer that is taking the 1 cashier for 8 stalls for like 5 minutes complaining about a coupon.

I think dismissing the issues is sure fire way for more issues to come up.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#405

Post by yetihehe »

whynotmaybe wrote: post #343
thinker5555 wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Agreed. And in some cases the issues almost feel like they're on purpose in order to drive people away from using the self checkouts. For example, when I use self checkout at my local grocery store, I have to hit a button to tell it I want to use my ow…

I never use the "bag" function. When I've scanned the first item, I put it in the bag that's outside the scale and put the bag with the item on the scale.

Works for most light bags, many people use heavy reusable bags which can sometimes throw off weight of some items too much and it's a lottery then. Similarly I don't use "add X items at once" because they don't multiply weight error by X so for many items it sometimes do not work.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#406

Post by icoder »

Pepe1vo wrote: post #293
Freak_NL wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, don't worry. Theft at self checkouts is turning into a national hobby¹. 1: https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2024/01/05/de-diefstalcijfers-stij...

Every time I read one of these articles the naivety and tone-deafness from supermarkets over these self-checkouts amazes me. "In order to make more money we made customers self-report their purchases during a cost-of-living crisis while we were booking record high profits and now these customers are _under reporting_ their purchases, how dare they!!" They should've seen this coming from miles away.

The way you phrase it (but maybe I get you wrong) suggests that the customers are somehow in their (moral if not lawful) right to do this because of previous policies from the supermarkets. They (supermarkets) may have been wrong, but so is stealing. They don't cancel each other out, nor do two wrongs become a right.

I'd say stealing is always a net negative effect for the whole.

But if you're saying that the entire context explains a lot of the behaviour, and could possibly be predicted, then yes I agree.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#407

Post by Palomides »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #385

Not to trot out the ol' meme: "Just as AI/ML", but why don't they add a camera that can guess what is your fruit/veg, or at least suggest 2-3 items that look close? That would solve a lot. In Hongkong, most major supermarkets have self-checkout sections now. Usually, there is a single person standing by to fix any issues. I am sure the labour cost for checkout is much lower in those areas. In Tokyo, Japan, most conve…

>why don't they add a camera that can guess what is your fruit/veg, or at least suggest 2-3 items that look close?

this is exactly what you'll see rolled out over the next few years, all of the equipment vendors have been showing prototypes of it

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#408

Post by kugelblitz »

itronitron wrote: post #231
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.

This is why you should pay cash, folded in half, and in awkward denominations as it can give you those few extra seconds to finish bagging while the cashier puts the bills away and gathers the change :)

By now I'm quite efficient, haha.

Heavy stuff in the beginning, fragile stuff at the back, from large to small (so that I bag the heavy and large stuff in the bottom and then fragile and small I squeeze in carefully).

I recently heard of a tip from people who become anxious at the cashiers: Fruits and veggies at the end, because often they need to weigh it and sometime also input numbers manually, this gives those extra few seconds at the end.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#409

Post by tehbeard »

Ah, this is a US focused study? Strange for it to be on the BBC.

Personally, as a customer (UK), it's been pretty damn good. Especially scan as you shop.

They're not perfect, everyone's experienced "unexpected item in the bagging area", or had a quick trip halted by having to wave down a staff member for a full cart scan.

Part of the problem mentioned at the top of the article is the store's cut too many staff from checkout; having only one on hand to manage the "fleet" of 12-20 tills does not work well. You need 3-4, so you've got some leeway if a few customers need a verification (full scan, or restricted goods) or a till needs some troubleshooting at the same time.

But when it works; the queue moves quicker, stuff isn't being thrown along the till haphazardly.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#410

Post by AndrewKemendo »

compiler-guy wrote: post #396
TrackerFF wrote: post #387

You'd think the article was written by a rep from the cashiers union. I have no bad experiences with self-checkout. None. Going to a staffed-only checkout feels like going back 20 years in time. They take up more space, they can move slower, suddenly customers will kill the speed because they need to look for their coupons, pay with change, or whatever.

And because I personally have never seen the problem, it couldn’t possibly exist!

Don’t forget that “cashiers” aren’t a real job anyway, and with self checkout technology it allows someone who was a checker to be inspired to be a software engineer.

All they need to do is drop everything to learn one of the most competitive and hardest cross-disciplinary skills and jump into a shrinking market!

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