Self checkout doesn’t work if you’re afraid people will steal.
'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology
31–40 of 53 posts
Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology
#32> Some retailers cite theft as a motivator for ditching the unstaffed tills. Customers may be more willing to simply swipe merchandise when using a self-service kiosk than they are when face-to-face with a human cashier. Some data shows retailers utilising self-checkout technology have loss rates more than twice the industry average. This is hardly surprising and stores that sell high-value goods seem to just move ch…
> There's just no sense of "social contract" when interacting with a self-checkout. It's much easier to rationalize theft as merely striking back at a large, faceless corporation when you're interacting with a machine.
I wonder how much this rationalization is influenced by the growing public belief that corporations themselves have broken the social contract / have not bound themselves by any kind of social contract for a long time now
Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Booths, which has 27 shops... [Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booths ]
The link I gave to https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-67373472 says "All but two of the 28 stores run by the company, which trades in northern England, will have staffed checkouts."
That article is dated 10 November 2023, while the relevant Wikipedia text was changed on 24 February 2021.
Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Some self checkouts are slow and unreliable. However that is a bug in those particular units. Some of them are just as fast and reliable as what the clerks get - plus I'm never in line behind someone else who is slow. I've had enough waiting for someone who can't figure out which lottery ticket they want to lose their money on. I've had enough waiting on someone else who picks an item that is missing a tag. I have pl…
Every time I'm speed running a self checkout I day dream about a world where the price of my groceries is modified significantly lower based on my leader board rank for that day, and that the slow person in front of me is being penalized for being outside the top 100.
Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology
#35I think the error of self-checkout was installing self-checkout terminals as a replacement for traditional checkouts as opposed to a speedy option. Particularly in grocery stores, I really enjoy scan-and-shop style self checkouts, as I am able to pack my bags as I go through the store. I can then present myself at a till, pay, and leave. That actually saves me time. What I don't enjoy are paranoid self-checkout machi…
Our local Walmart has given up weighing items post scan. It helps a lot.
In the UK many of the small grocery stores limit shopping to what fits on the scale at one time. While highly annoying, it mostly fits the shopping habits. That would not work at all in the US.
Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology
#36I think the error of self-checkout was installing self-checkout terminals as a replacement for traditional checkouts as opposed to a speedy option. Particularly in grocery stores, I really enjoy scan-and-shop style self checkouts, as I am able to pack my bags as I go through the store. I can then present myself at a till, pay, and leave. That actually saves me time. What I don't enjoy are paranoid self-checkout machi…
Costco is so annoying about this, it's not even that it complains about unexpected items, it requires you to put every scanned item on the scale, and if you're shopping at Costco, you probably have some pretty bulky, heavy items that you'd really rather just put back in the cart instead of building the Leaning Tower of Palettes of Toilet Paper and Tuna.
I get why they do it that way, but they already check your receipt before you exit, you're supposed to have a membership that they supposedly check at the door before you shop there (I know they don't really) which they could presumably revoke if you got caught trying to steal, and self-checkout receipts already have the turquoise bars to prompt them to check closer, so it feels a bit absurd.
Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology
#37[dead]
Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Booths, which has 27 shops... [Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booths ]
The link I gave to https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-67373472 says "All but two of the 28 stores run by the company, which trades in northern England, will have staffed checkouts." That article is dated 10 November 2023, while the relevant Wikipedia text was changed on 24 February 2021.
I didn't mean to give the impression that I disagreed with your comment - merely pointing out that they are a particularly small supermarket chain.
Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology
#39M&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…
Waitrose do have a weighing device, but it's calibrated to have a very generous tolerance.
They trust their customers (or trust their profit margins!) enough to have it calibrated at such.
The result is a very pleasant experience compared to Sainsbury's where it feels like you're mistrusted. Just re-adjusting your bags seems to need a staff member to come over and fix the inevitable "discrepancy".
Re: 'It hasn't delivered': the failure of self-checkout technology
#40This last weekend, I got stuck in a "Unknown item in bagging area -> Please return item to bagging area -> Unknown item in bagging area" infinite loop.