The Case Against Self-Checkouts
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The Case Against Self-Checkouts
1–10 of 14 posts
Re: The Case Against Self-Checkouts
#2Gad is one of the professors at Kellogg that is a little full of himself- perhaps, most all of the Ops Management profs are. I anticipated some application of Little's Law or other Ops formula, instead of merely begging the question.
While the pandemic has made us more aware of the possibility of better/safer retail models, self-checkout is definitely a step in the better/safer direction.
Re: The Case Against Self-Checkouts
#3Gad is one of the professors at Kellogg that is a little full of himself- perhaps, most all of the Ops Management profs are. I anticipated some application of Little's Law or other Ops formula, instead of merely begging the question. While the pandemic has made us more aware of the possibility of better/safer retail models, self-checkout is definitely a step in the better/safer direction.
The better/safer option?
Perhaps. It's hard to know what the future holds. But I hate self-checkout in today's grocery stores. It's frustrating, annoying, and doesn't improve anything for me as a shopper.
Re: The Case Against Self-Checkouts
#4Gad is one of the professors at Kellogg that is a little full of himself- perhaps, most all of the Ops Management profs are. I anticipated some application of Little's Law or other Ops formula, instead of merely begging the question. While the pandemic has made us more aware of the possibility of better/safer retail models, self-checkout is definitely a step in the better/safer direction.
The better/safer option? Perhaps. It's hard to know what the future holds. But I hate self-checkout in today's grocery stores. It's frustrating, annoying, and doesn't improve anything for me as a shopper.
Given how much they are used, the market disagrees with your preference
Re: The Case Against Self-Checkouts
#5The case against self checkout is simply this: it is better for humans to do complex things like customer service. Automation should be used for non customer facing jobs like restocking. I wouldn't mind shopping around a robot as much as I dislike having my shopping experience dinner by self checkout.
Re: The Case Against Self-Checkouts
#6Given how often self-checkouts shit themselves and I'm left waiting for 10-15 minutes to actually get some help from a real human being, I now choose to shop only at stores that have real human beings on the checkout.
I would frankly rather pay slightly more per item and not spend any more time than I need to in a store. I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, expecting me to screw around with moving shopping from a cart to a weighing area, a bag, and messing with the touchscreen is just too much for me after a long day. I'm willing to pay for service.
Re: The Case Against Self-Checkouts
#7Gad is one of the professors at Kellogg that is a little full of himself- perhaps, most all of the Ops Management profs are. I anticipated some application of Little's Law or other Ops formula, instead of merely begging the question. While the pandemic has made us more aware of the possibility of better/safer retail models, self-checkout is definitely a step in the better/safer direction.
I'll take this as a compliment. I wish I could use Little's Law in this case, but alas, just an ordinary analysis.
To the point: I think self checkouts can be a step in the right direction, if used them solely rather than having a choice between them and humans (you can read more in the post). I do think however that there are much better options from Amazon Go to dark stores, etc.
I am now curious if you were in fact a student in my class, in which case, at least say hello. Moved to Wharton, BTW.
Re: The Case Against Self-Checkouts
#8Given how often self-checkouts shit themselves and I'm left waiting for 10-15 minutes to actually get some help from a real human being, I now choose to shop only at stores that have real human beings on the checkout. I would frankly rather pay slightly more per item and not spend any more time than I need to in a store. I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, expecting me to screw around with moving shopping from a cart to a…
Not once have I ever been able to use self-checkout at a major grocery chain like Safeway without violating whatever weight constraints the machine has. Not once. It's absurd. It's been over 10 years, though for most of that time I only ever try about once or less a year and never by choice.
By contrast, I can't remember the last time violating the constraints at a CVS, and I've used it at many. I want to say that it used to happen regularly many years ago, but in any event it's easily been at least 7 years, now. I've also regularly been using self-checkout at a small City Target for the past several years, again without any issues.
Maybe some engineer in the industry can chime in, but my working theory is that CVS either disables their scales or uses huge margins on the thresholds. And CVS can do this because of the already ridiculous markups, whereas margins tend to be razor thin at major grocery chains. Similarly, the pricing and product selection at the City Target I frequent is much more like a CVS or Walgreens than a grocery store, and they also have at least 2 security people standing 15 feet away and watching everything like a hawk, along with the checkout clerks directly face the machines.
Re: The Case Against Self-Checkouts
#9Gad is one of the professors at Kellogg that is a little full of himself- perhaps, most all of the Ops Management profs are. I anticipated some application of Little's Law or other Ops formula, instead of merely begging the question. While the pandemic has made us more aware of the possibility of better/safer retail models, self-checkout is definitely a step in the better/safer direction.
I'll take this as a compliment. I wish I could use Little's Law in this case, but alas, just an ordinary analysis. To the point: I think self checkouts can be a step in the right direction, if used them solely rather than having a choice between them and humans (you can read more in the post). I do think however that there are much better options from Amazon Go to dark stores, etc. I am now curious if you were in fac…
In fact, I was in your core Ops Management course, but I dropped it & completed the requirement with another instructor.
I hope you’re enjoying Phillie; I’m still in Chicago.
BTW, I really enjoy your blog posts!
Re: The Case Against Self-Checkouts
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll take this as a compliment. I wish I could use Little's Law in this case, but alas, just an ordinary analysis. To the point: I think self checkouts can be a step in the right direction, if used them solely rather than having a choice between them and humans (you can read more in the post). I do think however that there are much better options from Amazon Go to dark stores, etc. I am now curious if you were in fac…
In fact, I was in your core Ops Management course, but I dropped it & completed the requirement with another instructor. I hope you’re enjoying Phillie; I’m still in Chicago. BTW, I really enjoy your blog posts!
Thanks!