[…] Me: “I don’t work here”
This gives me big “ok boomer” vibes. Instead of this, imo, snarky response, could you not simply politely say that you prefer a human cashier?
Remember the human.
The point is that we are being asked as paying customers to perform work which previously employed people to do it for us, strictly out of a profit motive for the store.
They are destroying jobs by shifting the workload onto the customer, so that some chain cunt can marginally increase their already immense wealth while fucking over the workers and the customers.
As as introverted person, I gotta say self-checkout machines are my favourite invention in stores.
I AM the human cashier when I do self-checkout. People don’t care WHO or what does it, they themselves just don’t want to.
Tell me the OP is from the US without telling me they’re from the US.
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Countries I have visited, I never see a self checkout. Not sure if that is the norm.
Then you havent visited many, its incredibly common in all parts of the world
Reminds me of this Bill Burr clip.
"You know what I hate about these corporate chains? You go in there you’re paying for a business, they make you like do half the job now. I don’t get it. Like I walk in there,
- Hey, lemme get a turkey sandwich. Lettuce, tomato, on rye, with mayonnaise.
The guy behind the counter’s like,
- All right, turkey sandwich, lettuce, tomato, on rye.
- And mayonnaise.
- Oh, the mayonnaise is, uuh, right over there.
- Really? Why don’t you, UUH, fucking GO OVER THERE and, UUH, put it on my sandwich?"
(Yeah I just wrote that out. Why? Fuck you I don’t have to explain myself to you.)
Back when Fudruckers was a thing, I always got upset when people wanted to go there.
If I’m paying you $18 for a mediocre hamburger, you can put on the damn lettuce.
I have witnessed far to many people with full carts que into the self check out, and than they get frustrated when every other thing they scan throws a flag.
Bitch, SCO is for 10 items or less!
Is it really? I’ve never seen such a sign in my corner of the US. Often there’s only one human operated checkout.
The ‘let the kid touch the hot stove’ approach.
It worked on me, but I fear other people might nurse their burns and pray that next time things will be different.My experience is different. It’s a dense urban grocer. Now that you mention it, I’ve been to Target in the suburbs where SCO was like thunder dome. A little more room for bagging, but not much. I feel so bad for the one team member dashing around checking IDs and explaining why coupons from a decade ago no longer work.
My location (different grocer ) may be privileged, because, even when it’s slow, there are two full service registers. I remember how gross it felt watching a checker at Walmart in 02 also bag the groceries because baggers didn’t exist any more.
I suppose you might also leave trash at your seat in a movie theater or restaurant. After all, cleaning up is someone else’s job and you don’t even work there. Plus, you can pat yourself on the back for contributing to that person’s job security with your added burden like some of the people here.
That’s not the same, in OP’s case it’s about the store outsourcing the work onto the customer while cutting labor costs so some rich fuck can get slightly richer, while not littering is a matter of basic social responsibility, not a labor situation.
That’s not the same, in OP’s case you’re doing the business’s job for free so some rich fuck can get richer by fucking over both the workers and the customers, while in the other case not littering is basic social responsibility, not labor substitution.
Bro, are you really getting this fucking serious for a meme, chill the fuck out
Self check out is faster especially since I can scan the items when I’m picking them off the shelves. The faster I can be outside and spend less time in those kind of commercial spaces the better. And no I don’t have agoraphobia. I just fucking hate the vibes of most stores.
But we love it when you visit… (Camera cranes in for an unrequited hug.)
But where are the mirrors?
I shop in the morning to avoid lines. But, before self-checkout, they’d only have two registers open, so there was still a line. With self-checkout, in the morning, there’s never a line so it’s faster.
I like Walmart self-checkout machines better than others I’ve used, such as at Lowe’s or Target (I don’t shop at Target anymore) because I only need to put in my pin number, there’s no other confirmations. I ignore the rate the store, donation, and print or email receipt questions while I put the groceries back in the cart, those all time out and the receipt prints by default.
I’m happy enough to chat or not chat to strangers, so that was never an issue for me. I’m sorry so many of the younger generation were apparently so poorly socialized, it must be stressful.
And I always prefer machines over humans
Well then I have some very good news to you about your future.
I am surprised about how many people prefer self checkout. Since AI is taboo to use but replacing a worker with self checkout is okay. Kind of a weird dynamic on the platform.
Self checkout ✅ AI ❌
self-chackout is often faster. Also, earier to shoplift.
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Just accidentally drop and break a gallon of milk on the self checkout machine. Then a human who isn’t paid enough to live will take its place.
This is what I tell my boyfriend anytime there’s a line at the cash register but not self-check out
I’m faster than anyone who works there, and I don’t need to worry about long lines (usually the self checkout is the faster option). The time saved is my payment.
Same. But I would also be fine with it taking longer just to not have human interaction, unless I’m in the mood for that or the cashier looks bored…
I would be faster, if the tills didn’t have a bloody delay after placing the item in the bag, before it will scan the next one.
“Please place the item in the bagging area!!!”
“Unexpected item in the bagging area.” “Please place the item in the bagging area.” “Unexpected item in the bagging area.” “Please wait for assistance.”
This was funny like a decade ago when it was commonplace.
Stores in my area solved that at least 6 years ago, maybe even earlier than that.
Stores near me first put in self checkouts around a decade ago and still have the original, problematic machines. It’s the newer stores or ones recently renovated that have upgraded, but that is rare.
Yeah, even in South Central area of LA where I am, the system is quite responsive at the Food 4 Less.
Kroger 😂
I didnt realize places still did that, I haven’t heard that annoying line in a few years.
Yeah I’m not actually talking about the “Please place the item in bagging area” part, I’m talking about the second or two after I place it before the system registers the weight and re-activates the scanner.
Sometimes I’ve seen this disabled, on certain tills at certain supermarkets, and I can scan breezily. Not sure if the weight check feature was disabled completely or what.
Oh gotcha
Same answer though, none of them by me do that anymore, I guess they all disabled the scale here. I can just rapid fire scan and out the door.
The time saved is my payment.
This point seems to get missed on all these “I don’t work here” arguments. Yeah, I don’t work here, so I’d like to be in and out quickly so I can spend my precious free time for things I actually like to do. If “time is money” anyway, then what’s the difference? I’d rather scan my own things, skip the chitchat, and reclaim the personal time I would’ve spent waiting.
I’m split on this. On the one hand if they didn’t have self checkout, they’d need more checkout people. On the other hand, before self checkout they didn’t really give a fuck if you had to wait in line (especially Walmart holy shit that was one of the biggest reasons I never went there, the fucking checkout line).
if they didn’t have self checkout, they’d need more checkout people
They would certainly need more checkout people, but speaking from grocery cashier experience they wouldn’t necessarily have them. I remember my manager’s indifference as I was the only one to show up on Thanksgiving and there were literally 30 people in my line.
That’s a perennial problem. How do you connect the responsibility to the authority? The cashiers are the ones who have to face 30 angry customers, (face the responsibility) not the manager. (the one who has the authority to change things) Customers can complain to the cashier, but they have no authority. They can complain to the manager, but the manager is getting a portion of the money not spent on hiring full staff in the form of a bonus, so they’re encouraged to ignore the complaint. It takes a certain critical mass of customers all spending less at the store before there’s even a possibility of someone noticing a revenue drop, and no guarantee the blame will be put where it belongs if it happens.
I think that’s one of the things that bothered me most. My manager was standing right there about 30 feet away, but the customers were directing all of their anger at me, by choice. One would think a rational person would understand where to direct that anger, but I’m increasingly convinced every year that rational people don’t exist.
I remember checking groceries at frankly unprecedented speed while being a polite as possible, but one guy started yelling names at me from five or so people back. I decided to ignore him and continue serving my current customer with a smile and he yelled “Stop smiling!”. This was so shocking to me that I looked at the other customers in line to share a “Can you believe this guy?” moment to find them all nodding along in angry agreement.
I didn’t even need that job. I’m so angry at my naive younger self for not quitting on the spot and making sure all of them knew exactly why.
In my area, short lines are a priority for most retailers. If a lane has more than 3 people, they’ll be ringing for another cashier.
I lose all saved time when trying to get through the exit gate that needs to see my receipt from all angles before letting me through.
where is this that you are made to stop? I just keep walking and say ‘if you wanted to see my receipt then open another cashier lane and scan items yourself. It’s my property now.”
Pretty common in german supermarkets in my experience, at least those that only introduced self-checkout recently (so most of who even got one). The gates need to scan the barcode on your receipt. Not really a noteworthy timeloss in my experience though.
It’s still a very uncommon thing in general, my local supermarket even got rid of automated coin counters on normal checkouts again because they worked so bad (refused even slightly dirty coins) and made things slower.
ahh ok. in the US there are some private membership stores that do that. the public ones can try to stop you but you do not need to obey.
That’s a lot of words to say while not breaking stride. I just hand them my reciept and thank them for taking my garbage.
ha fair point!
Added bonus of not having to talk to anybody.
How can you be faster when you have to both scan and bag everything, whereas at the human checkout you only have to bag?
Because I care about leaving, so I do everything I can to be faster. In economics, this is known as the principle-agent problem. At my local walmart, it is known as “I’m not a septuagenarian who’s been hitting a vape pen for the last 5 hours.”
I have maybe once checked out at an in-person check-out where the person scanning was twice as slow as me on my own at a self-service checkout.
Normally at an in-person checkout, I am in fact the bottleneck placing stuff in bags. I’m already motivated to do that as quickly as possible, and the person scanning is still faster than that. Are you like the other person and just standing around while the cashier bags your groceries? If you “really care about leaving” you could do something about that.
At my local shop, some of the cashiers are extremely slow at bagging… Often I end up when bags that are way too heavy, and sometimes my bread is all smushed. I don’t fault them, I can’t imagine they’re being paid a reasonable wage.
I am absolutely faster doing it myself.
So… you can bag while the cashier scans, right? Splitting the work, making it quicker.
Nope, not the way my store is laid out. Unless I wanna snuggle up next to them behind the counter. Which both they, and I, absolutely do not want.
Amusing that you think the employees scanning shit aren’t also the ones bagging it.
But to answer your question, I’m faster because I have an incentive to get shit scanned and bagged, vs just riding the till for 8 hours.
OK, so the reason is because in the situation with two people, you fail to make use of both to make it go faster, and instead just stand around.
So if speed were the priority, I have a suggestion for you.
Hint, they’re probably not. They perceive themselves as faster, but on average the employees are.
You must have some speedy cashiers at your local store!
No, the point is you perceive them as slower because when you rush you can feel it things feel snappy, you can emotionally feel your speed further and it is unfortunately socially acceptable for you to openly shit on retail workers as lazy, stupid and incompetent in a classist insult.
This is the same phenomena as when older conservative men who have gotten used to being in control of everything cannot actually physically restrain themselves from micromanaging whatever they see people doing infront of them because they can’t handle their irrational experience of impatience not having the companion emotional experience of rushing at the task.
That’s an insane comment from a crazy person. You’re unwell.
Because I worked as a package clerk as a kid, some 30 years ago. They spent a week training us to be cashiers and how to pack groceries as optimally and quickly as possible. And most places around here, the timing of the cashier is not good, especially since we usually have to pack our own groceries anyway.
Y’know that grocery stores could simply staff enough checkout registers and then all this self-checkout time-savings goes away, right? The stores - following the airline model - created a problem for the consumer (long checkout lines due to understaffing) and then effectively sold the customer the solution (you do your own labor, but grocery prices stay the same).
following the airline model
? Are you talking about, like, baggage prices?
Iirc, airline margins are super thin, and their customers are extremely price sensitive. In order to stay competitive, airlines need to be able to sell their customers on the lowest possible flight price, while still not losing money on every single flight. The solution is to charge the customer more directly for the scarce resources they use on a flight. Extra weight on the plane means more fuel used to reach the destination. Charging for each checked bag rewards people for travelling light, while giving everyone a free bag punishes the light traveller with higher fares. Sure, the byzantine fee structure in the booking process is annoying - but at the end of the day, flights are now extremely cheap historically speaking, and a pay-for-what-you-use model makes sense.
Of course, the actual solution is to have a better system of busses and trains. And the airline industry is always lobbying against that. But I’m not sure what the comparable action in the grocery industry would be.
Back in the day, I shopped at the one grocery store in a bit of a food desert. They’d have all…I don’t remember 10? 12?..checkout lines open all day, and you’re still guaranteed to spend half an hour in line. If they could have replaced 2 checkout lines with 6 self-check kiosks, or 4 & 12, it would have helped a lot, but they hadn’t been invented yet.
Now, I shop in a better neighborhood where they have 6 kiosks, one staffed checkout, and 8 lanes closed. Start with a technical solution to a real problem, and some MBA is going to come in and figure out how to turn it back into a problem.
“If” in one hand, shit in the other. Which fills up first?
You should change place then??
You get a discount depending on how you scan.
this guy gets it
I’ve never been able to do that. It seems like it always gets me on weight. Any tips?
Grab two items, scan only one barcode. That’s all I can say. /s
