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The failure of self-checkout technology

bbc.com

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Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#581

Post by BobaFloutist »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #426
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…

My favorite is when the system says "help is on the way" and then very obviously does nothing whatsoever to notify the attendant. I have to catch their eye myself every single time.

I think the light above you changes to blinking red, which they're expected to notice on their own but often don't.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#582

Post by BobaFloutist »

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.

One of the biggest hurdles to getting a social safety net past public perception in the US is that people are easily swayed against it if they're told that people of other races will benefit from it. A certain portion of the population automatically sorts any public benefit into a weird racial zero-sum game, where any support given to is a dollar specifically taken away from .

It's a big part of why we've historically had such a hard time implementing any sort of reasonable social benefits, and why the much lauded Nordic countries started cutting down on theirs the second they got a significant (racially different) refugee population.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#583

Post by JohnFen »

hackan wrote: post #92

I love self-checkout, honestly. Machines need to improve, but still. There's a store here where u simply DROP all items in the self-checkout basket, and it automatically computes everything! I suspect it uses NFC or similar, but it works, and its wonderful, simply drop everything in! And wait, there's more: did I say drop everything in? I meant, the bag you are using to hold everything? just put it in that basket, in…

> I love self-checkout, honestly.

Not me. I really loathe it a lot, unless I'm buying just a single item and I'm in a hurry.

Increasingly, the self-checkout lines tend to be the really long ones anyway, so using them isn't even any faster. Just more work.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#584

Post by vinay427 »

soco wrote: post #64
jdietrich wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's a Germany problem rather than a self-checkout problem.

I tend to agree on this. I never heard such (horror) stories in Switzerland where self-scanning is also present for the two major retailers.

To be fair, there's a massive difference between the machines I've seen at least in Switzerland and the ones in the UK/US. In the latter, they seem far more anti-shoplifting focused, forcing you to place each item and wait for some delay before you can scan the next item, loudly announcing every step of the process, etc.

There's still some variance in the latter countries between supermarket chains as some are noticeably faster or require fewer taps than others, but the general experience in most every chain is far less pleasant than in every major supermarket brand in Switzerland.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#585

Post by tomjakubowski »

bigbuppo wrote: post #496
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…

Companies want insurance to pay for their losses, and it turns out the only thing the videos find on self-checkout stands is that customers are frustrated that the machine is calling them a thief, when the shoplifters, big surprise, don't stand around in line for 15 minutes to walk out the door without paying. The loss prevention person at the door is more likely to find items you left behind than to stop a shoplifte…

There's the other kind of shrink at self-checkout where somebody weighs their produce bag of fair trade, heirloom organic apples; and "accidentally" keys them in as the cheap variety. This is pretty common.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#586

Post by theamk »

guappa wrote: post #368
krastanov wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Vegetables don't have stickers. They are vegetables. Ah the name… but is it a golden extra apple or a yellow apple? Or perhaps a extra fresh guaranteed apple?

it's 4021 apple, because it has a sticker. So you try to scan tiny barcode (if one is present, you can see it on bananas) but if it's missing or dirty, you enter 4-digit PLU by hand. It's very simple and fast:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/so-thats-what-those-stickers-...

but yeah, if your store has no number stickers and multiple types of apples I can imagine self-checkout being a major pain. (I can think of a few ways to make this easier -- like provide a roll of stickers next to each variety so customer can attach them to the bag themselves -- but I've never seen this implemented)

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#587

Post by theamk »

compiler-guy wrote: post #494
regular_trash wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Which is more likely? 1. The people who say they have had a problem actually have had a problem, and some other people have gotten lucky. 2. The people who say they have had a problem are lying, or deceived.

3. The people who say they have a problem actually had a problem, but they a minority and got unlucky, and then extrapolated their experience to everyone else

The article actually ends with "shoppers are likely to find themselves disappointed and frustrated most of the time." - and that is clearly false for me and everyone I know. "rarely" or "occassionaly"? maybe. But not "most of the time".

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#588

Post by theamk »

nielsbot wrote: post #529
TrackerFF wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not saying that they don't exist, but my experience has been nothing but positive. It must be 8-9 years since we got one locally, and it's been smooth sailing for me. You scan the products. Confirm that you've scanned everything. Want a shopping bag, yes/no? Pay. That's it. The scanners work. Payment work. Getting a receipt works. Maybe I've just been lucky, who knows.

Why do you like it better than having a cashier ring you up? Me: I don't have to scan, check I've scanned everything, enter the number of bags, put groceries in those bags. Instead I put my stuff on the belt, I pay and walk out w the groceries--and the cashier is a pro at scanning and bagging, whereas I am not. Plus, it's not like these stores are going to pass along the labor savings to us. They'll just pocket the d…

... after waiting in line for 20+ minutes

I remember the time before self-scan machines, and the lines were not shorter. Even "10 items or less" registers had huge lines.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#589

Post by JohnFen »

_heimdall wrote: post #526
imtringued wrote: post #512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We nowadays have disposable smart labels with integrated screens. Look up ynvisible

Those seem really wasteful too IMO, why do we need them? Disposable is really in the eye of the beholder. Just because it can be single use, or even if its biodegradable, doesn't change all the resources that go into manufacturing them in the first place. Just toss a bunch of unlabeled apples in a bin and let a human cashier who has already learned all the product codes for produce just type them in. Or if we really…

This. We need many fewer disposable things in this world, not more.

Re: The failure of self-checkout technology

#590

Post by s1artibartfast »

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.

I believe the difference is living in a high trust society.
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