Anyone else still angry about self check out lanes?

No, seriously wrote:

Home Depot has self-checks exclusively?

How does one scan a 4x8 sheet of plywood or drywall on a self-check?

^^I don't know either, and more than once I've had this problem. I can generally get the product's sku peeled off or what not to scan it.. but then the @#$% machine keeps insisting I "please place the item in the bagging area."

Then since whoever is supposed to be the one staff person watching the 4-6 self checks is sidetracked doing whatever, I have to wait/beg/plead them to come override the machine and tell the it's ok the large item is not there.

Drives me insane. I think they can be great when you want to run in and grab something.... kinda like the 10 items or less lines and stuff... they have a place. But they are not the universal answer.

Wise one.. wrote:

When I was a kid, gas stations had full service where they pumped the gas. Then when I started to drive there were full service lanes and self service lanes. The self service lanes charged less per gallon. Now full service lanes are extinct.

Is this the case in all states? It's been a while since I was in NJ but, long after other states moved to strictly self service, NJ was only full service. Maybe it's changed in NJ.

find a better store wrote:

Don't shop where poor people shop and you won't see such penny pinching. People who aren't poor are willing to pay for convenience, and the stores that cater to them are willing to accommodate.

The Target I go to is in one of the wealthiest areas of the Florida Gulf Coast and has self checkout lines. Most people in the store could buy and sell you and me both. Honey's absolutely abound in all ages. It's worth waiting on the self checkout line just to catch the view if you get my drift.

derry wrote:

Which of course defeats the purpose of self-checkout. All the stores I see with self-checkouts have someone there to help those who can't figure out how to scan an item and put it in a bag. Stores still need the same number of people.

They don't need the same number of people but the reason there's a person at the self checkout is for training purposes. In 5 years or less that person will be completely unnecessary as everyone will know how to self checkout.

At the commissary (Army grocery store) here in Alaska they have baggers who work for ONLY tips. So if you go through the main lines you feel obligated to tip them since it's their only income. Nearly everyone goes through self checkout to avoid this. There are two self checkout lines - one for 20 or less items and one for 40 or less items.

Paying for a gallon of milk has nearly become a contact sport.

I don't always self-bag, but when I do I always triple-bag. Comes in handy for dog crap. Keep America poo-free, my friends.

Me too. I sent in a comment to my local grocery store when accosted by "overly helpful" self checkout cashier at 6:30 in the morning. Don't give me the good morning crap, don't ask me if I need stamps or ice, don't ask me if I found everything that I was looking for. I am in the GD self checkout lane for a reason, leave me the fvck alone and shut the fvck up! I don't want to make chitty chat with some borderline mentally disabled person in the self-checkout line who robotically repeats the same canned corporate garbage that she learned in training. I received an em email followup from the store manager. The cashier didn't say sh1t to me the next time I went into the store and gave me the stink eye! They must have brought up video of me or had a picture of me from the security camera. Anyhow, I was civil with the cashier, but let it be known that I wasn't up for robo-conversation, early in the morning, with their cashiers in the self-checkout line!

Doh etosh wrote:

I'm old and anti-social, so I love the self-check lanes. My biggest issues are 1. the people who stand there forever trying to figure them out and 2. the stores that have a person stationed there who feels like she has to interact with you even though that is what you are trying to avoid.

Also, in the regular checkout lines - Cashiers: Don't fvcking ask me about my purchase, or talk to me about the items that I am purchasing! JFC! Shut the fvck up and scan my crap - I don't want to hear your comment about whatever the fvck I am purchasing! STFU, do your job and get me out of your line! Don't fvcking read the label, scan it, put it in the bag, don't tell me if you think that it is expensive, don't tell me that you like Blue Bunny ice cream better. Scan that sh1t and put it in the bag!It will be a great day when I can order sh1t online and the drones deliver it to my door.

The solution is socialism, admit it. Technology has advanced to the point where there is no more work to be done.

When stuff is made that easily, to the point where Adam Smith can't move it from producer to customer anymore, that is the time for public ownership of the product.

Yes that means "give shit away" for free! Except that labor already has no value, so it's already being done. There is just such an archaic, cynical work ethic that people will be outraged if everyone else isn't busy at some pointless valueless task.

In any body politic, the use of force is ultimately what decides things. That includes property rights. Whoever can take the property and hold on to it is ultimately the owner. There is no reason for the public not to use force to seize control of the machine slaves and enjoy the endless fount of wealth they produce.

People in Alaska are considered co-owners of that state's oil resources, and get dividends from the oil companies that extract it. It's not "free" once you recognize that it is the property of the people. There is already more than enough wealth to ensure such a basic income for every US citizen, with still room for the ambitious to shoot for more money.

Life must be pretty good if checkout lanes are worthy of public whining.

former wall streeter wrote:

Wise one.. wrote:

When I was a kid, gas stations had full service where they pumped the gas. Then when I started to drive there were full service lanes and self service lanes. The self service lanes charged less per gallon. Now full service lanes are extinct.

Is this the case in all states? It's been a while since I was in NJ but, long after other states moved to strictly self service, NJ was only full service. Maybe it's changed in NJ.

Oregon is all full serve gas. I live in Ohio and there are some local stations that pump gas to draw in customers for mechanical work or they cater to older people who will always get gas there. The price is usually a few pennies higher but there is so much variation it makes little difference to people. In the next town over, it is not uncommon to see gas 15 cents cheaper on one end of town than the other at the same national store.

Kroger self checkout is great. Always open. Never a line.

Walmart is terrible. I've been in stores that had 8-10 self checks, but half were broken. Some only took cash. Some only took credit. Then, when the most people would be using them later in the evening buying small quantities after 10pm, they close them down and have 1 or 2 regular checkouts with 6 to 8 people in each line.

I'm right with you, old stodgie. I am blind and I always note the disappearance of service. To this complaint I'd add the practice of ordering a soft drink at a fast food restaurant and being handed an empty paper cup and being told, in effect, "Get it yourself."Then I have to go find a willing customer to help me.

I guess I'm old fashioned: when I go to the Safeway every week, I want to chat with the cashier about the weather or whatever. BTW, I always wonder about loss prevention in the grocery self-checkout. Not every item has a bar code on it. What's to prevent a customer from bypassing the scanner with a head of lettuce?

No.

On what planet?

If it has no value, why do companies still pay laborers?

No reason, except morality, economic viability, history, philosophy, etc.

Seriously, what planet do you live on?

That's great. It's a natural resource, not a private company.

Define "basic income." Don't we already kind of do this with welfare?

We are not Norway. We are not Finland.

We are a nation with over 300 million citizens, spread out over nearly 4 million square miles. And more importantly, we are a nation comprised of independent states (or at least we used to be). If you want to implement socialism in your state, go for it. But keep your historically failed methods to yourself.

Oregon doesn't let you pump your own gas (or didn't when I lived there). Just a way to make jobs for gas attendants (I had a job for one day, until they figured I knew nothing about cars, true indeed).

Cohiba wrote:

Used to be. Used to think poor slobs are being replaced with machines. Then I realized what kind of A-holes usually are serving me and also realize that the cost of goods will be cheaper if they get rid of most of them. Walmart needs to do the same. Sorry old Stogee. No cigar for you.

Is your job of sending out a few emails and going on Letrun hard to replicate by a machine.

rojo wrote:

I hate the self checkout lane. I have supermarkets in general. It AMAZES me that somehow they feel it's not in their best interest to staff the supermarkets so there are enought checkout people that there are no lines.

The two supermarkets i go to have about 15 checkout lanes. There never are more than 5 people working in them. There are often long lines.

The stores are bout a half mile from each other. If one was adequately staffed with no lines, wouldn't they get more customers? If I could save 15 minutes every time I went it would be worth it.

Also if you aren't going to staff the 15 lanes, why not change them into more aisles for products.

I'm worried there will be no jobs left soon.

When I have more than a couple of bags worth of groceries, I favor the traditional staffed checkout line, but if I only have a couple items I'll hit the self-checkout line every time as the lines are typically (not always of course) shorter. I like having the choice, and find self-checkout very convenient at least some of the time.

Replacement of humans with technology is a hallmark of technological progress, and is always met with the same arguments of jobs being lost. This argument may be true for the short-term, but ultimately productivity gains (i.e. reduction of wasted time/money/energy) are a net benefit for society. Cars put buggy-makers out of business, computers put the steno-pool out of business, the internet put 411 operators out of business. Who really wants to go back to the older way of doing things now? Though the buggy-whip makers sure complained about how Henry Ford was putting them out of business, can you honestly argue that the introduction of the automobile ultimately cost society job opportunities? Now maybe this is an extreme example, and I'm not arguing that self checkout lines are a society-changing tech advancement, but it is and advancement (a smaller one) and the same argument applies.

The argument that the top-hat-and-monocle-wearing corporate heads are swimming in money and passing nothing back to the consumer is a myth. Businesses have to compete with each other and this puts downward pressure on prices. If you have a store with reduced labor costs, you have more wiggle room to lower prices and compete against your old-technology competitors. You can try to keep the savings for yourself in the short-term, but in the end, the free-market rules (yes, this really does still exist).

I'm worried there will be no jobs left soon.

The demand for jobs is still high, perhaps higher than ever (more women in workforce), but the supply is less. Lots of people speak of unemployment or underemployment, but I think in terms of overemployment. Probably, in the USA, 80-90% of the "work" that is done is effectively paper-pushing or services, entertainment, etc. Only 10-20% is truly necessary for essentials, and even superessentials. Used to be 72-hour work week at least in season, and the elites hand-wringingly worried about what the lower classes would do with all their newfound leisure time. What will they do with less work to do? - the answer seems to be: work more!

Old stogee wrote:

When I first saw one I felt that if I was going to choose that self serve lane then I should get a discount. After all, the retailer is essentially firing the check out staff and asking the customer to do that job for free. All to make more profit at my expense. Well my customer revolt never materialized and many stores have adopted them almost exclusively. ( I am looking at you Home Depot)

Well you won the battle but the war is not over yet. I will get my revenge.

Do you also feel you should get a discount on your groceries if you wait a stupidly long time in line for a person to check your groceries?

former wall streeter wrote:

They don't need the same number of people but the reason there's a person at the self checkout is for training purposes. In 5 years or less that person will be completely unnecessary as everyone will know how to self checkout.

Someone's deluding theirself. As a professed Wall Streeter, it's surprising you'd have so much trust in the general competence / intelligence of the masses.

My last time at these type of stores before switching permanently to boutique grocers, Whole Foods and their ilk: I'd paid through self-checkout and was walking out the store with my five small items and receipt in hand. The 19-year-old aspiring manager jumped between me and the door insisted I couldn't leave the store without going back and putting my items in a bag. I wish I was joking. This was in 2003.

I've been back to these stores maybe 2-3 times a year since then and the situation hasn't gotten better and is worse if anything. Like others mention, there's now often only one real lane open with 75% of customers lined up for the self-checkout lanes. Half of these people act like it's the GREs once they make it to the machine. (Nearly 15 years after they've been rolled out locally). To cap it off, the local chain switched their self-checkout machines to only allow you to use them if you swipe your store card first - with no way to get past this required credential.