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'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology

bbc.com

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Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology

#2
This article didn't ring true at all given all the supermarkets near me have been expanding their self-service offerings while reducing their staffed tills.

Even my local Waitrose now only has 1 or 2 staffed tills.

Then when I got to the examples I realised the article is entirely US focussed. Is there a cultural difference to explain why self-service would be more of a failure in the US?

Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology

#3
post #2

This article didn't ring true at all given all the supermarkets near me have been expanding their self-service offerings while reducing their staffed tills. Even my local Waitrose now only has 1 or 2 staffed tills. Then when I got to the examples I realised the article is entirely US focussed. Is there a cultural difference to explain why self-service would be more of a failure in the US?

Almost entirely US focused. There's one UK mention: "In the UK, supermarket chain Booths has also cut down on the number of self-service kiosks in its stores, as customers say they're slow and unreliable." linking to https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-67373472

That says "Booths is believed to be the first UK supermarket to move away from using self-service tills, which have become increasingly common in recent years." so yeah, hardly an indication of a widespread UK trend.

Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology

#5
post #2

This article didn't ring true at all given all the supermarkets near me have been expanding their self-service offerings while reducing their staffed tills. Even my local Waitrose now only has 1 or 2 staffed tills. Then when I got to the examples I realised the article is entirely US focussed. Is there a cultural difference to explain why self-service would be more of a failure in the US?

It's not remotely true in the US either. This is probably some kind of hit piece.

Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology

#8
post #2

This article didn't ring true at all given all the supermarkets near me have been expanding their self-service offerings while reducing their staffed tills. Even my local Waitrose now only has 1 or 2 staffed tills. Then when I got to the examples I realised the article is entirely US focussed. Is there a cultural difference to explain why self-service would be more of a failure in the US?

I haven't seen any decrease of their usage in the US, only a steady increase. I think the article is wrong, or my region is unusual. And my region is not unusual.

Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology

#9
post #3
post #2

This article didn't ring true at all given all the supermarkets near me have been expanding their self-service offerings while reducing their staffed tills. Even my local Waitrose now only has 1 or 2 staffed tills. Then when I got to the examples I realised the article is entirely US focussed. Is there a cultural difference to explain why self-service would be more of a failure in the US?

Almost entirely US focused. There's one UK mention: "In the UK, supermarket chain Booths has also cut down on the number of self-service kiosks in its stores, as customers say they're slow and unreliable." linking to https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-67373472 That says "Booths is believed to be the first UK supermarket to move away from using self-service tills, which have become increasingly common in r…

Which is interesting, since it’s the BBC…

Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology

#10
M&S colossally fucked up with their contract. It has an unbelievably frustrating amount of scan lag. An absolute classic example of one person buying a product on behalf of the end user and completely screwing up. I really hope someone got fired for that one.

Waitrose on the other hand did away with any kind of weighing device. Can’t have an unexpected item in bagging area if the bagging area isn’t expecting anything at all!

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