No, thanks. Again.

[madamesilverspurs]

Stopped on the way home this afternoon to pick up a prescription, and decided to pick up some milk and eggs and sausage while I was in the store. Being late on a Sunday afternoon it was a bit slow, so only one cash register was open. So I tucked in line behind a fellow with a fairly full cart. As he was starting to put his groceries onto the checkout counter he happened to turn and see me; he glanced at my cart with its four items, and looked as though he was going to offer to let me go ahead of him.

At that moment a store worker approached and offered to show me how to use the self-checkout lane. As is my custom I declined his offer with "Thanks, but I don't use those machines, they put too many people out of work." To my surprise, he grinned and gave a surreptitious thumbs-up.

The fellow in line ahead of me, however, apparently disagreed with my choice. He resumed placing his purchases on the counter, thumping them down to emphasize the glares he was sending my way. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing he wasn't a union member. Bit of a shame, though, to see a good thump-and-glare go for nothing.

Some people's kids, eh?

=

[Lucian]

1. I use the self checkouts because they're quicker AND...

I hate having small talk with cashiers.

It's not because I'm anti-union.

[emilyg]

6. I use self-check - that way

I can bag the way I want to. No big deal. I'm not in the store for conversation.

[Lucian]

8. Exactly.

I like to get in and get out. I hate small talk. It's a waste of time to talk about nothing.

[ejpoeta]

13. small talk is fine depending on what it is. i don't mind using the self checkout.

at BJs i use it when I can. The kids like to scan stuff. They don't have them at walmart. And the grocery store has ones but in most cases, it would depend on how much stuff I have and if I am using WIC.

[Tunkamerica]

2. what of the people who design, build, maintain, market, sell those machines?

I shop after midnight due to my schedule. If they're only going to have cashier or close at 11pm I'd rather have the self checkout.

That's like saying having self-serve soda machines at Burger King put all those extra drink fillers they'd have on staff out of work. It didn't. It just made getting your food slightly faster and getting your drink slightly more annoying/less sanitary/more to your preference depending on your point of view.

[TBF]

17. Agree with this -

and although I like using the machines they really should staff them better for questions. I typically see one person per 4 machines or so - and sometimes that person is out doing something else. I'd have a person for every 2 machines. I prefer to bag my own groceries as well.

[Tunkamerica]

28. Yeah, I agree. But for an all-night shift there would be little to do for the second person...

... for most of the time. The same reason the cashier at a traditional checkout probably doesn't have a bagger overnight.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I don't use them either...

I would much rather talk to a human.

[Tunkamerica]

5. I know the woman pretty well who runs the self checkout from 10pm-6am

at the supermarket near me. Her husband is a recovering alc. She used to race cars. She lived in Mich. No one says you can't talk to the attendants.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Of course you can talk to them...

I meant I would rather talk to the person who's doing my checkout. The person running the self-check is someplace else.

I think it's cool that you have that friendship. I'm sure you both look forward to it.

:hi:

[Tunkamerica]

27. Yeah, actually. I talked to her tonight. I get you're being sarcastic, but she's pretty cool.

And waving smilies after a passive-aggressive insult are lame.

[catnhatnh]

4. Yep

I've seen workers in stores mindlessly promoting the self serve checkouts as if they thought they were added to give them extra slack time, rather than to cut the work force. I take it a step further. I normally pick up a shopping cart left in the lot before entering the store and then leave the cart in the lot when I leave. It's more convenient for me, and even though it sucks in the winter, someone is working hours to retrieve them. I figure that's a happy medium between returning a cart I pick up inside or picking up one inside and then leaving it in the lot...

[hlthe2b]

9. I use them only when the store is packed and all lines filled...

I too worry that they are putting human staff out of jobs. There is no way that they COULDN'T be.

Like it or not, once they are there, the trend has begun.

[JDPriestly]

10. Interesting. I live in a low-income area, and our stores do not have those machines.

They must cost a lot.

We have lots of Mexican foods in our store.

[Sherman A1]

11. They do cost a bunch

Actually each check stand costs about the equivalent of a Mercedes Benz.

Self checkouts naturally reduce the number of checkers needed by the store and in my area are used mostly as express lanes (20 items or less).

They also lead to more "shrink" (unaccounted loss or fancy word for shoplifting) in the store, but in the cost v benefit the stores have accepted that for the reduced the labor costs.

One study out of Atlanta a few years ago showed that you can slip stuff past them pretty easily.

Just wait until the carts do the checking as you put items into them or you are handed scanners to check your own groceries or you pass through a full cart scanner.

[NuttyFluffers]

12. can't use those damn things. far too slow. & no convenient 'cash back,' either.

one of the nicest conveniences is getting goods and 'going to the bank' at the same time. i can normally finish that transaction with a regular check out line far faster than 'self serve.' naturally, having lines of any sort causes a back up. i've seen our 'self serve' have longer lines than regular cashier lines. it happens; due to SNAFUs or computer glitches or just user error. and then having that one 'self serve' supervisor over 4 registers try to help when all of those things back up... ugly.

reminds me when i experienced the glory of full service gas at New Jersey. that it was cheaper too and created more jobs made self serve in CA seem like a crime. actually, i'll say it, it is a crime. better service, more convenience, cheaper gas, and more jobs for mandatory full service gas is perhaps the smartest thing New Jersey gov't has ever done. wish we could go back here in CA.

[lbrtbell]

16. Yes, you can get cash back

I do it all the time. When you swipe your debit card, it gives you the option of selecting how much cash you want, usually $20 or higher. You can also use coupons, by scanning them right before you pay, and then putting them into the little slot for that purpose.

As for shoplifting, it's very hard to do that anymore, because the bagging area is monitored by weight. If you slip anything extra into a bag, there's some sort of notification to tell you to remove it. It will even do that if an item doesn't "feel" the right weight--I have trouble lifting gallon milk jugs, so when I drop one too hard into the bagging area, I get that warning. :rofl:

[Bluenorthwest]

25. New Jersey! Also your neighbors to the north in Oregon.

No 'self serve' pumps here either. Oregon and New Jersey. They have a shore. We have a coast. We are California's Canada, Jersey is New York's Baja. But we don't pump our own gas.

[Little Star]

14. I never use self check out for the same reason you stated......

It would be much easier sometimes to do so, but it puts to many out of work. jmho

[lbrtbell]

15. I use self-checkouts for a different reason

I have physical limitations, and can't have too many items put into a bag, or else it's too heavy for me to lift. No matter how you try to explain this, checkers will never listen. Some of them even sadistically (you can see it on their faces) put more items in, no matter how nicely you ask them not to. My elderly mother often endures the same problem.

Since I have to go to an empty lane and re-bag my groceries anyway, it's easier for me just to bag them myself in the first place. Then I don't have to deal with the nasty people. I only go through the regular line if the self-checkout is closed.

When a checker gets especially nasty with me, I tell them that there are a lot of good, decent people out there who would love to have his/her job. The nastiest people behind the counter are often the ones who are dripping with Christian jewelry. :(

[jp11]

18. When they put those machines in they cut the staffed cashiers more than half

then over time down to 2-3 in a supermarket, often 2 or less plus the front end manager who might hop on a register when things got busy. Later they added 2 full cart self scan lanes. I worked as a cashier in a grocery store as my first job, no machines then and the self scan machines scan like crap but if I don't want to wait behind people with full carts, or have people leering at my purchases I use the self scan. 9/10 times there is no line, one is free (banks of 4 or more aren't uncommon), or I'm only buying a handful of things.

The future is fewer workers, more machines/automation, look at toll booths, ticket agents (mass transit), parking lots (attendants), etc.

[Balbus]

19. I appreciate you sticking to your principles.

It keeps the line at the self-checkout machines smaller for me.

[MineralMan]

20. While I'd rather use a staffed checkout lane,

the supermarket where I shop (the closest one) is staffed by checkers who are singularly unfriendly, brusque and slow. When they installed four quick-check machines, I switched instantly. I can get through one of those, even with a full cart, in half the time of one of their staffed lanes, even if there are no lines. If there are lines, which is the usual situation, it takes even less time than getting in a staffed lane. I even have codes for all the produce items I typically buy in memory, so nothing slows me down.

I'm sorry that they're cutting out jobs. I truly am. If the checkers at this supermarket were at all personable, I'd continue going through their lanes. They're not, and never have been, so I don't.

[Bluenorthwest]

26. I shop at several markets large and small. The checkers know

my name, I know theirs and personalized pleasantries are exchanged, always. I'll assume it is just the Oregon culture, not a 'love you take' scenario. While I am rarely forced to live in such a hurry, I never stand in line for more than one customer ahead of me, and if I do, I'm more concerned for the checkers than for myself.
The checkers at my markets are all much faster' than I am. I do not memorized produce codes, as my mind is typically engaged in creative work while doing fart around errands. I really do not require that those in service jobs suck up to me. I look for professionalism, not personality.

[AngryAmish]

21. I take it a step further.

One has to create work for humans in the grocery store. So, after I make sure nobody is looking, I make a small hole in a carton of milk with a pocket knife so it empties the contents onto the floor of the cooler. Someone has to clean it up, no?

Later I like to go into the meat section and open up a bunch plastic off of the steaks. Either they have to re-wrap it or throw it out, either way I am creating jobs.

Finally, right before I leave I like to go to the toy aisle , loosen my pants, squat and pinch one off on the floor. Can't have that around the kiddies, no? Again, someone, not a machine, has to clean that up.

I stand with the working man and woman.

[bemildred]

22. Yep. Never use a machine when you can get help from a real person. nt

[annabanana]

23. Ya gotta love those "thump-and-glares". n/t

[Angry Dragon]

24. self checkouts are the curse of the Devil

repent before it is too late