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The failure of self-checkout technology

bbc.com

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Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#431

Post by logicchains »

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.

Dubai also has self-checkout machines that don't require you to weigh anything, just scan and go, and it's an extremely heterogeneous, low-trust society. People are just very afraid of the police and being deported.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#432

Post by JoeAltmaier »

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…

The small Target downtown in the college town I live by, has only self-checkout. No human beings at all.

Further, my contact in the Target data center says the scales are disable (too many problems) and the camera showing you on the little screen over the kiosk, doesn't go anywhere but that screen.

So it's working for them, so far. You'd expect maybe more shoplifting in a college town, lots of poor students under strain and so on. Still the place is thriving.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#433

Post by jrwoodruff »

jtbayly wrote: post #382
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 disagree. The majority of the problems that I run into with self-checkout are related to not being able to buy items I picked up off the shelf like Mucinex or children's cough syrup or alcohol without getting an employee to check me out... at self checkout. What's the point of "self" checkout if somebody is required —not by failure of the system but by rules—to come help me several times during the process? Edit: a…

Definitely a yes-and scenario here. I was a cashier, I'm good at finding and scanning bar codes and PLU lookups. I was a damn fast cashier. That's impossible in a self checkout. And then you get carded for a can of spray paint, and the one attendant for 8 machines has three people with blinking lights. On top of that, most of these self-checkouts are not designed to handle a full cart of groceries, but also why do I want to do the work of ringing up and bagging a full cart of groceries by myself?

For the most part, in practice there's little or no advantage for me, the consumer with a cart full of groceries.

One exception was 2003-era Martins in Virginia - Walk in, grab a cart that had bags attached to the front, grab a portable scan gun from it's charging dock. Scan and bag as you shop, dock the gun to the checkout register, show the attendant my id if needed, pay, and I'm done. No unloading and reloading the cart, no fiddling with plu lookups, fumbling with bags, etc. It was actually glorious, but relies on trusting your customers. Corporate stores seem to trust me even less than I trust them.

I'm somewhat ok with these things as a secondary 10-items-or-less option. But for the love of god staff enough cashiers to handle the grocery-shopping-Sunday crowds.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#434

Post by MarketingJason »

The weight check slows the whole process down and I find I have to make sure I grab items with the cart-side hand or the system thinks I am trying to drop the item in the bag without scanning.

Worst of all is the receipt check after the process - looking at you Costco. It feels like checking pockets in a diamond mine. If I am going to be doing all the work to save the store money they should loose the right to check it.

Regarding that last point, has anyone tried brushing past them or refusing? I doubt they can detain or stop you without evidence. I guess the worst case is they could ban you or cancel a membership.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#435

Post by JoeAltmaier »

Lots of anecdotes, which is a sign everybody is having problems.

Or is it? Talk about vending machines with a person of sufficient age, they'll tell you stories about getting cheated, not getting it to take their money, taking their last dollar and not giving any product.

Yet that's largely been cured. The vending industry has matured and such problems are reported to be largely extinct.

I wonder when the self-checkout woes of the first years will give way to flawless self-checkout, but with people still complaining because of something that happened years ago?

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#436

Post by m3kw9 »

as a side note, the biggest time sink when shopping is trying to open those bags you try to put vegetables in. Who solves this problem will get more customers. So far i've never seen a good solution, and is baffling

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#437

Post by Libcat99 »

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.

I use the self check out unless my order is huge and I need more space to pack it. The scan->wait->scan drives me nuts though.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#438

Post by JoeAltmaier »

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.

Ha! Even the checkers at my grocery store have problems with vegetables. Always a big lurch while menus are gone through and labels squinted at. Maybe a manager called.

Ok I buy Swiss Chard and persimmons and so on, the usual teenage checker has never seen them before, so maybe I'm having more trouble than most.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#440

Post by m3kw9 »

MarketingJason wrote: post #434

The weight check slows the whole process down and I find I have to make sure I grab items with the cart-side hand or the system thinks I am trying to drop the item in the bag without scanning. Worst of all is the receipt check after the process - looking at you Costco. It feels like checking pockets in a diamond mine. If I am going to be doing all the work to save the store money they should loose the right to check…

The act of checking is like a deterence, likely they found it lowered shoplifting by x %. If anyone works in that area, they probably was instructed to look like they check, and just dash it
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