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The failure of self-checkout technology

bbc.com

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Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#531

Post by ProllyInfamous »

stronglikedan wrote: post #472
toyg wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems easily fixed: just ask the consumer to show a driver license or other accepted ID, with some software validating whether it is legit. It will still be slower than a regular cashier judging your full beard and receding earline, but it would remove most human oversight. Obviously there is a risk of illegally selling items to minors with fake documents, but I think that's fixable too. Already, in my local UK…

Because people will then bitch and moan about how they're being recorded and their PI is being captured. The former is likely already happening, but people would still complain since it would be apparent. Both issues would be ephemeral if it's a human checking it.

I use my US Passport for restricted-age item purchases (or ID at a bar), simply because it is not trackable and does not list my location/residence upon it.

Although I'm way beyond the point of caring about demographic profiling, I still don't want my home address to be available to everybody dealing with a simple purchase (although this perspective is probably greatly atypical on account of being a survivor of CSA).

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#532

Post by seabass-labrax »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #435

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-checko…

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

I beg to differ! Just last year, I was at the platform for Gleis 11 at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof trying to buy a drink at the vending machine. After waiting in vain for the VISA transaction to go through, I cut my losses and caught my train with only a few seconds to spare. I never did get my bottle of Fanta, and it's still on my to-do list to find out if the amount was actually charged or not.

In those brief moments between observing that the machine wasn't working and running for the train, I surmised that the vending machine's payment terminal was running some version of Android, probably 4.4 or 5.0 judging by the GUI, and had lost its Wi-Fi connection. That's rather sloppy UX in my opinion, and I've made a point of using the (somewhat) more reliable cash vending machines instead (human-staffed counters are even better!)

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#533

Post by gremlinunderway »

stronglikedan wrote: post #472
toyg wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems easily fixed: just ask the consumer to show a driver license or other accepted ID, with some software validating whether it is legit. It will still be slower than a regular cashier judging your full beard and receding earline, but it would remove most human oversight. Obviously there is a risk of illegally selling items to minors with fake documents, but I think that's fixable too. Already, in my local UK…

Because people will then bitch and moan about how they're being recorded and their PI is being captured. The former is likely already happening, but people would still complain since it would be apparent. Both issues would be ephemeral if it's a human checking it.

it's not "bitching and moaning" to be concerned about the over collection and exploitation of surveillance capitalism.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#534

Post by seabass-labrax »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #508

I personally refuse to use them on principle. I've worked those kinds of jobs, and I know that for some people it's either a starting point or a lifeline that keeps food on the table. I do not want to encourage stores to remove such jobs for an automated solution.

I too, for a related but slightly different reason. Human interactions at work, even within the limited social confines of the relationship between a service professional and a customer, is really important to society. Even if new technology creates an equal number of jobs in the Amazon 'Mechanical Turk' style as the traditional roles lost, it's not healthy for anyone to repeatedly do the same task alone at a desk for 40 hours a week. I suppose you could some up my belief as: +1 to secretaries, -1 to typing pools.

There's a huge wealth of folk songs from around the world that were sung at work, serving both to coordinate the workers' movements and to strengthen the social bonds among them. See for instance the Scottish 'waulking song'. Singing/whistling at work is pretty rare now anyway, but the complete lack of any constructive social interaction in some recently-invented jobs is a new low.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#535

Post by [deleted] »

david-gpu wrote: post #305
dahfizz wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#537

Post by Aeolun »

namdnay wrote: post #235
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…

that's a random fraud check, it's usually about 10-20% of the time? i'm surprised by the bill though, are you sure it wasn't due to discounts or something? usually they just scan 5-10 items (and will try to scan the most expensive ones)

I don't really remember any more, but he re-scanned everything, said I made a mistake, and gave me a new (lower) bill. Maybe it was something out of the ordinary?

I was mildly frustrated because it was the second time in as many days that they checked me.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#538

Post by m463 »

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…

Some places turn these things off. At target I never got "unexpected item in bagging area" or those weight check problems.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#539

Post by mr_toad »

bluescrn wrote: post #518
jtbayly wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The first hurdle with some self checkouts is before you even scan an item: Bags! If you've brought your own bag and it weighs more than the mass of a few protons, the system assumes you're trying to steal something, and a human has to intervene before you can even get started. And then they have to come back almost immediately to deal with age-restricted items or other glitches.

God forbid you have more than one bag, because that totally confuses the system.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#540

Post by jrm4 »

I think this becomes clearer when you think about e.g. Walmart as something like an invasive species. When you take into account that they very often take far more than they give to a local environment, it's really hard to have any sympathy when they lose revenue through shoplifting, or whatever, by ALSO not employing and/or having a decent relationship with the people who live there.

If you minimize your screwing up their environment, they'll return the favor.

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