Self checkout has gotten better. Back in the day they didn’t work for crap. But it’s still often a matter of luck of the draw and whether or not there is a god somewhere that decides to piss on your parade that day.
In the immortal words of Dirty Harry, “Do ya feel lucky punk? Well, do ya?”
If someone doesn’t show up for the random bag check in 30 seconds or so it just automatically skips it.
If you scan alcohol it just beeps on the hand-terminal of the person overseeing the self checkout area and they take one look and click approve if you look old enough. You can just keep scanning while that happens. If you look young enough that you need to show ID then they usually show up within seconds anyway.
The rest of the things you mention just never happen.
Self checkout is a godsend. No more waiting in line. No more awkward small talk with the cashier. No more unpacking and repacking your groceries.
if you need to get a lot of stuff you just grab a portable scanner at the entrance or use your phone. Scan and bag while you go through the store, then return the scanner and just scan your phone at the self-checkout terminal and pay. Zero friction.
Yeah I’ve mastered the art of dodging the things that trigger a 1-5 minute wait for the employee myself. Never bring certain things to self checkout and you can survive the gauntlet. One tip I can offer is to bag the last scanned item as fast as you can and then do NOT touch it again until the transaction is complete. The machines really don’t like if the weight of the scanned items changes by a single gram. Do not even look at the bagged items the wrong way or you’re going to wait.
I’m pretty sure they don’t. No grocery store in my country has ever used self checkout with scales and these things seem custom build for the specific store chain. Why would they include scales which adds costs when they aren’t needed.
I only found this to be a problem with the early ones. Aldi was the first shop I found to use pretty decent ones, and they also took a long time to switch, IIRC initially they didn’t like the quality of the self checkouts available. Of course all the other shops in my area were using near decade old self checkouts by that point.
That and they’re not really saving any money on labor. Like, most of the day, you’re only gonna have one customer at a time checking out, and you need at least one clerk hanging around the self check out at all times to clear errors or scan IDs. Sure, durring busy times you’d need more clerks at registers, but like, you need them in the store anyways most of the day, doing other stuff like managing inventory or cleaning up messes.
So it’s not saving them money, and it’s potentially costing them money in terms of additional equipment and shrink form stolen goods. The real reason to have self check out is to appeal to socially anxious customers or to make the store seem “tech forward”. And like, aldi kind of eschews that kind of stuff, at least in the US. Can’t speak to aldi sud in Germany (Aldi nord is Trader Joe’s in the US.).
They have AI systems now trying to detect if you’re stealing stuff by scanning one item while putting multiple items in your bag. All it really does is make it so you can’t hold multiple items in one hand while scanning and packing them one at a time with the other. The number of false positives make it so the one sorry employee running the stall is never actually going to stop actual theft.
Time to use the self checkout to save time!
No thanks, I’ll just go to the regular checkout lane from now on.
Unexpected item in the bagging area
Self checkout has gotten better. Back in the day they didn’t work for crap. But it’s still often a matter of luck of the draw and whether or not there is a god somewhere that decides to piss on your parade that day.
In the immortal words of Dirty Harry, “Do ya feel lucky punk? Well, do ya?”
Never had any issue like that.
The rest of the things you mention just never happen.
Self checkout is a godsend. No more waiting in line. No more awkward small talk with the cashier. No more unpacking and repacking your groceries.
if you need to get a lot of stuff you just grab a portable scanner at the entrance or use your phone. Scan and bag while you go through the store, then return the scanner and just scan your phone at the self-checkout terminal and pay. Zero friction.
it seems in some countries they just don’t want self-checkout to actually work
I wanted self checkout to avoid awkward social contact, not to feel even more observed, damn.
Capitalism says no to technology as liberation. Technology as oppression only.
Damn, self-checkout here in Tokyo has none of that, it’s really a breeze
I haven’t had that experience in the US.
That said, I’m white which I’m sure plays a huge role in that.
Yeah I’ve mastered the art of dodging the things that trigger a 1-5 minute wait for the employee myself. Never bring certain things to self checkout and you can survive the gauntlet. One tip I can offer is to bag the last scanned item as fast as you can and then do NOT touch it again until the transaction is complete. The machines really don’t like if the weight of the scanned items changes by a single gram. Do not even look at the bagged items the wrong way or you’re going to wait.
Our self checkout terminals don’t have scales.
They all have scales, but the scale can be turned off. When I worked retail I’d always disable them.
I’m pretty sure they don’t. No grocery store in my country has ever used self checkout with scales and these things seem custom build for the specific store chain. Why would they include scales which adds costs when they aren’t needed.
For me, it’s the card readers freezing when i try to do split payments. They use the worst card readers available on the market
I only found this to be a problem with the early ones. Aldi was the first shop I found to use pretty decent ones, and they also took a long time to switch, IIRC initially they didn’t like the quality of the self checkouts available. Of course all the other shops in my area were using near decade old self checkouts by that point.
Aldi in the US is actually in the process of phasing out self checkout.
Interesting, I wonder if the theft increase means it isn’t worth it.
That and they’re not really saving any money on labor. Like, most of the day, you’re only gonna have one customer at a time checking out, and you need at least one clerk hanging around the self check out at all times to clear errors or scan IDs. Sure, durring busy times you’d need more clerks at registers, but like, you need them in the store anyways most of the day, doing other stuff like managing inventory or cleaning up messes.
So it’s not saving them money, and it’s potentially costing them money in terms of additional equipment and shrink form stolen goods. The real reason to have self check out is to appeal to socially anxious customers or to make the store seem “tech forward”. And like, aldi kind of eschews that kind of stuff, at least in the US. Can’t speak to aldi sud in Germany (Aldi nord is Trader Joe’s in the US.).
They have AI systems now trying to detect if you’re stealing stuff by scanning one item while putting multiple items in your bag. All it really does is make it so you can’t hold multiple items in one hand while scanning and packing them one at a time with the other. The number of false positives make it so the one sorry employee running the stall is never actually going to stop actual theft.
please wait another 5 minutes to pay in cash