Today, I made a fuss at the supermarket.

[LuckyTheDog]

Today, I made a fuss about the U-Scan counters at the supermarket.

The place I go to has two entrances on either side of the store. At the checkouts near where I parked, every attended register was closed, leaving only the U-Scan machines open.

I had the choice of:

-Using the U-Scan machine or...
-Getting checked out on the opposite end of the store and then wheeling my goods back through the crowded store to get to my car.

This was made worse by the fact that, even at the other end, most of the attended registers were closed and the lines for the open ones were very long.

So, I made a fuss. I found the store manager and told him that I simply refused to scan and bag my own groceries and load my own cart. I got him to re-open an attended register at "my" end of the store.

My reasoning: I don't work for the store. I am a customer. Ringing up my groceries, bagging them and loading my cart are JOBS that people get paid for. So, unless I am going to be compensated for it (with, say, a discount on my groceries), I refuse to be forced into doing that work.

They manager tried to tell me that the U-Scan machines are a "modern convenience." That's BUNK.

A “modern convenience” would be a machine that scans, bags and loads the groceries automatically. The U-Scans machines use the same technology grocery stores have been using for decades. The only difference is that they make you do all the work yourself.

OK… I know we all long ago gave in to the idea of pumping our own gas. But that’s hardly the same thing as being asked to bag and load – without compensation – a week’s worth of groceries.

Am I just being a curmudgeon? Or do others agree? It seems to me that this is a case in which consumers should draw the line and simply refuse to go along.

[mad-mommy]

1. I tried....

I tried the self scan a few times, always have a problem...then have to wait for help. If you have a few items, ok, but a grocery cart full is another. I do believe you should get a discount taken at the end of scanning if you do it yourself. At Wal-Mart yesterday, I had to wait the usual 30 minutes in line. I wonder if well ever land up doing minor medical procedures on ourselves in an ER. A self guide will be provided to you in a small ER room....

[jobycom]

2. I refuse to let a checker handle my groceries if there are self check-out

lines available. No slow pokey idle chit chat with the person in front of me. No annoying questions about how my day went. No waiting on someone to remember to hit the little button on their register to finalize the sale.

Today I was checking out of Costco. The person in front of me had two items and a coupon for a raincheck. It took approximately five minutes for this raincheck thing to be resolved, as the checker consulted several other checkers to see who had the raincheck sheet he needed. Finally he starts checking me out. "How are you?" he asks, or something like that. "Fine, you?" I answer. He tells me. Like I care. Then, when I nod politely and sympathize a bit ("Man, sounds rough.") he whispers under his breath, not to me, more to the counter, "I really hate this job." THEN he begins checking out my groceries.

Give me a damn machine any day. They think better, they are more sincere, and they don't care what kind of day I'm having.

[idgiehkt]

6. me too

because the cashiers go too damn fast. I watch them like a hawk to make sure the prices come up right. Because on just about every transaction you are overcharged on something or another. I gladly do my own scanning just so I can watch and make sure the price rings up right. Also I do a better job bagging my own groceries.

[pitohui]

3. i agree

i can't use the self scan, just don't work for me, it don't read the coupon, it barfs on my "adult" purchases and someone has to come over anyway and verify i'm old enough to purchase a bottle of wine, it just don't fly

everytime i've even tried it, some employee has had to come over and take pity on me and scan all of my groceries anyway

oh, and it don't scan my produce or seafood purchases

maybe it's the electricity in my body or something but somehow it just don't scan anything when i try!

[qnr]

4. I'm ambivalent. There are times when I don't mind, there are times when

I feel guilty (thinking some younger person could be getting paid for it) -- mostly, I get annoyed because you have to do everything exactly as it expects. If you scan something, it wants you to bag it, or say you're not bagging it yet. If you accidently enter the wrong PIN, it lets everyone within a 200' radius know that the card was declined, and miscellaneous totally unexplainable errors that require your having to wait for someone to come over and reset things.

[Haole Girl]

5. My argument is: When they lower the prices, then I will scan..

..my friggin groceries!! Hubby tells me I am just behind the times. Either way, I am irritated by the whole idea-- especially when somebody stands at a stupid podium and just watches me scan the stuff! I mean, why should I do the work while they just stand around? Grrr...I get really peeved by this...can you tell?

[Crabby Appleton]

26. I agree

[GirlinContempt]

7. Some like em, some don't.

I can't imagine disliking them enough to waste time and energy getting someone to open a register for me if I felt using the already open ones were too inconvenient. So, I'd say your curmudgeonry is more about your reaction and less your dislike.

[blondeatlast]

17. My thoughts exactly. nt

[u4ic]

8. Good for you

and I agree.

Cost cutting measure only - to get you to do the work they should be doing. :grr:

[Broken_Hero]

9. I dislike the self scan

registers' myself, but enough people complained about the human cashiers, that the complainers got what they wanted, self check out, which in turn caused more people to complain.

I have used the self check out a few times, and have trouble with discount cards, coupons, and lighter fluid, or dvd's that are for 17yrs or older. In all instances, the lady had to come over and fiddle faddle with the machine, and then the sensor part that tells if you bagged your scanned item doesn't do very well, and I always hear, bag item, bag item, bag item, BAG ITEM! And I'm like, I am bagging the item, HAL!...Open the pod bay doors!...:silly:

[Gormy Cuss]

10. Unless I'm getting a huge discount and saving time, I see no point

in helping them cut employees. I don't shop at any stores with self scans. I shop at supermarkets with intelligent, well trained cashiers who are much more efficient than I'd be at the process.

[Nicole]

11. I agree with you

I refuse to use them because there are plenty of unemployed people available who can do it.

I will assist the checker in bagging my groceries if I see no baggers available. I won't bag & load it all myself.

[Neshanic]

12. Wait for the next generation. Roll your whole cart thru, and it scans all.

All in one sweep. Think about someone standing there going over the reciept checking to see if the scanner got all items, and they were not over charged.

[LeFleur1]

13. Agree

I agree with you. Until we get a discount we should not be scanning, bagging and loading our own groceries.

This gimmick earns more profits for the corporate stores because they don't have to provide jobs for checkers.
They can pay customers NOTHING to scan, bag and load our own groceries. I certainly haven't seen lower prices because of this lack of service. Since they can't ship checker jobs out of the country they have found a new way to minimize the jobs they have to provide.

Way to remind these store owners that we don't want to work for them for nothing, LuckyTheDog.

[deadparrot]

14. Meh. I like them.

I find that I can scan and bag my groceries faster without a third and fourth party in the form of a cashier and bagger. That's JMO, though, I know others feel differently.

In my mind, any technological improvement in productivity is going to cost jobs; I'm not going to eschew modern technology for that reason, especially if the new approach works better for me. It does, so I'm basically fine with it.

:hi:

[LuckyTheDog]

15. There's the rub, though

U-Scan is NOT a "technological improvement in productivity." It uses decades-old scanning technology and asks the customer to do work that otherwise would be done for him/her.

Sure, it's more "efficient" for the store operators to ask customers to work for free. But where will it end? Will we next be asked to spend a time stocking the shelves?

Like I said in my original post, until the U-Scans can bag the groceries and load my cart, I see no advantage at all for the consumer.

[deadparrot]

29. I should amend my post...

It's more productive for me. I don't buy groceries in large bunches, so it saves me a lot of time.

Our local supermarkets have a limit; the U-Scans are limited to customers with 20 items or less. Additionally, there are several registers open for people with a cartload of groceries. I suppose I'm used to bagging my own groceries, though. The supermarket we usually go to to buy our big loads of groceries is significantly cheaper, but you bag your own stuff, so I've been doing that for years now.

Like someone upthread posted, it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" thing. Some people complain about rude/unsatisfactory checkers and baggers, others complain about the machines. :hi:

[RebelOne]

16. I like using the U-Scan machines if I only have a few items.

Trying to scan and bag a big order is too much of a hassle.

[Conan_The_Barbarian]

18. Same

I use them instead of the express checkout 10-14 items or less. If its a weeks worth of groceries I still go to a cashier.

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. I refuse to self-scan.

I'll wait in line, thus hopefully guaranteeing that the checker jobs won't be taken away.

[chaska]

41. AMEN! Jesus Christ, I thought we were Dems here. It's about jobs, people.

[eyesroll]

43. I'm ambivalent about the self-scanners, but if "it's about jobs,"

should we stop using backhoes and start employing manual ditch-diggers again? Start using manual typewriters again, because computers let you type just too darn fast?

I'm not a fan of stifling technology -- IF the technology is genuinely a good one (the jury's still out on self-scans) -- in order to save jobs. (I interviewed someone once who said that technology will replace a lot of the workforce in the next 20 years, and we need to rethink our concept of productive work. A later entrance into the workforce, earlier retirement, encouraging one parent (and maybe the other, too, in sequence) to stay home with their children, etc., with appropriate socioeconomic support for each, all need to be examined. While I don't think technology will do it -- outsourcing might -- he did have a good point.)

[chaska]

44. Sheesh, I give up.

[graywarrior]

20. I can't stand the lady inside the self scans

She's so frigging LOUD and keeps repeating the same thing over and over if you're not fast enough.

[Liberal Veteran]

22. Please place the item in the bag.

Please check your cart.
Please wait for cashier assistance.
Please place the item in the bag.

[datasuspect]

23. hey, i know that lady

watch it, bub

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

33. I was insulted by a parking garage payment machine in Montreal.

Getting out of that garage was like trying to get through fucking Narnia.

[Broken_Hero]

34. get through Narnia!...LOL...:) nt

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

39. The Saga of Narnia Garage...

Okay, so here's some background info. This parking garage didn't have any visible attendants anywhere, but obviously some secret location where people were watching us on hidden cameras. Steph & her bf John had gone back to get something from the car earlier. When they rang the bell to get in, some mysterious voice came back at them lewdly saying, "Hello Ladies." Now John has long hair and is a little feminine, but is very obviously a guy.

It's New Year's Day and we're trying to stupidly escape Montreal to return to the US. Steph & John are in a rush, so they rush to the garage. This leaves me, Munson (republican and likely an illegal arms dealer, who we should have left in Canada) and Sizmo (who we also legitimately had to leave in Canada due to the Pirate's Code) to find our way to the parking garage. Munson and I had never even been to the garage previously and Sizmo had lost all his brain cells and dignity at a club the previous night. So we're fucking lost. We're just wandering up and down the stairs hoping to find the floor we're parking on. However, just like on the Muppet Babies, every door we opened was into some new, weird spot that wasn't a parking deck. We got to see a store, a doctor's office, a green goblin, and finally the wrong floor of the parking garage.

It's at this point that Sizmo decides to set off on his own to find the car. He'll just call us when he finds it. Never mind that our cell phones don't work in the garage. Munson and I are left screaming for Steph & John...honestly, much like the night before we figured Sizmo was lost to Montreal forever and would have to be left behind. Afterall, you don't argue with Pirate's Code. Eventually, we find them and immediately start screaming at them for leaving us alone in Narnia. Their lame excuse was that Sizmo knew how to find the car. Yeah, well about twenty minutes later, Sizmo stumbles his way to the car.

We're all excited to make our escape, but we get thwarted by the gate. A mysterious voice tells us that we owe more money and that we need to pay at the machine that's allegedly in a corridor somewhere. So after John amazingly backs the Saturn up a twisty tunnel (without encountering another car, thankfully), we set off to find this mysterious corridor. After another 10 minute journey through Narnia, we spot a corridor. I get out to go pay our penance. Naturally, the machine keeps spitting my $10 bill back out at me. After a few minutes of this charade, the screen says, "you have completed the transaction too slowly. You must complete the transaction faster next time." I'm cursing the machine and counting the coins in my pocket when a voice comes out of the machine...

Voice: What you don't have any money?
Me: I have money. It just keeps getting spit back at me.
Voice: What? Don't you have a credit card?
Me: No. I'm counting my change.
Voice: Haven't you heard of a bank?
Me: Yes, I've heard of a bank. Here, I have the change, you heartless machine!

Fortunately, we got this exchange on video, for that is the shit memories are made of. Then, I ran down the corridor, shoved myself into the teeny blue Saturn and we careened out of that parking garage, about an hour after we entered it. As the driveway spit us out onto the cold, grey streets of Montreal, we hung out the windows and screamed "FREEDOM!!!" Sizmo also yelled something about Operation Drunk America.

[Deep13]

21. The U-scan hasn't got a union card.

bottom line for me

[xchrom]

24. u-scan = good job taken away.

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. Man, that sounds just like the Meijers by my house.

I cannot stand that and getting, "This is not my department..." whenever I have a question. :hi:

[pinniped]

27. It's a modern convenience for Albertsons because they only....

have to fork out one union worker's salary to keep an eye on four self-checkout stands.

At Albertsons, there's a sign that states orders 15 items or more must proceed to the real checkout counter.

I may be a slight convenience for a person with a couple items, but they do appear to take away union hours.

[bleedingheart]

28. I am with ya!

I hate those Scan lanes...
If you have one item...it may be okay..

But when I grocery shop which takes me about 1 hour for a family of four with coupons...I refuse to have to not only unload my cart ...but then I have to scan...and that never goes smoothly...plus no one is there typically to bag my groceries...

and to top it off...it isn't like I get a discount for doing all that labor for free...

So I am with you entirely!!!

[Roon]

30. I love U-scan

I can run in the store, grab my dinner and be out in under five minutes. It's GREAT!!

My Grandfather has a friend that hollers for a checker to open a new lane if all the ones are full and long..LOL...My Grandpa almost hates to go to the store with him.

[LTR]

31. I use the U-scan when I have just a few items

And if you think it just takes away jobs, I highly doubt it.

Most stores are too cheap to schedule extra checkers anyway. They'd rather just have the long lines.

[Broken_Hero]

32. I believe it does take jobs

away, and creates useless space. At the stores I frequent, there are 6 u-scan lanes, and hardly any of them get used. Just about everytime I go shopping everyone is going to the human checker lanes...

Before the U-Scans were put into effect, 90% of the lanes were open and in use all the time, and the lines weren't bad at all...

Now, I'm not sure if anyone lost there jobs, or if they were moved to a different department, but I do suspect that people have lost their jobs due to u-scan.

[LTR]

37. Not at my local store

Seems like the only times all lanes were used was during the holidays. Even at busiest times (5 PM or so), only about 40% of the lanes were open.

It was the same prior to the U-Scans.

And they do have someone monitoring the four U-Scanners.

[Broken_Hero]

38. if there was hardly any difference

between now, and then, why spend the $ for uscan then? If its about the same, in terms of lines, and what not.

[InvisibleTouch]

35. I hate the U-Scans

I'm always convinced I'll either screw something up, or the machine will screw up and refuse to recognize a discount, calculate the wrong weight, or what have you. With a live cashier, I can say "Wait a minute, that item was on sale and it scanned wrong!" - if indeed such was the case, of course. With a U-Scan, you're out of luck.

On the other hand, I love credit-card-activated self-serve gas pumps. The less random human contact I can get away with, the better. :)

[Cobalt Violet]

36. I'd rather scan my own food.

If I am give any choice at all about it. Many times that I have someone was there to do the bagging for the self-scanners at several stores.

[SacredCow]

40. I didn't use them for a long time....

citing the same reasons as you. Now, I'll use them if I only have a few items AND all of the other lines are very long, AND the payment end of the u-scan is by debit card and doesn't require that I stand in a different line with my receipt.

As a general rule, I think it's a sad state of affairs, but whaddayagonnado?

[chaska]

42. As long as I have a choice, I choose to keep real people working. I refuse

to use those damned job eliminators.

[borlis]

45. I'm with you.

I try really really hard not to use the self check outs. I also feel like someone lost their job because of this "modern convenience." The times I have used these machines, they always seem to be yelling at me that I am doing something wrong when I am not.

[ScreamingMeemie]

46. Isn't that irritating?

I once stopped, in the middle of self checking, and said,"Would you please wait for me to actually screw up before you caution me?" They are damned annoying.. but then I bet that job is annoying. :hi:

[susanna]

47. Interesting...

Beyond the jobs those things take, which is a concern to me...

I'm forever buying strange vegetables/fruits and items that the damn scanner just doesn't seem to recognize. I'm as "techno-savvy" (Gad I hate that term) as they come; I work in the field and have for many years, but I am here to tell you that the "WAIT UNTIL BAGGING" message drives me straight up the wall. I'm way faster scanning than that thing can process the weight of my bags.

All in all, my choice is a human checker. At least I can explain to them straight up what a broccoli rabe, parsnip, ginger, raddichio or mango is; they are able to easily get the PLU once I set 'em up; and the computer isn't telling me I'm stealing because I somehow bagged the damn item too fast.

[Kali]

48. those things are just WRONG

and can't you just steal stuff? seems to me instead of some bozo watching a security camera there could be some CUSTOMER SERVICE instead.

I refuse to use those.