• NathanielThomas@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    35
    ·
    1 year ago

    I find cashier lines to be too slow because of the socialization so I always go to the self checkouts.

    A lot of old ladies will go to cashiers and have ridiculous questions and requests and you’re standing there with your 3 items dying inside.

      • NathanielThomas@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        1 year ago

        Sometimes the cashiers themselves are slow and scan items like they’re regretting every life decision they ever made.

        What I love about selfcheckout is I go at my pace, as fast or slow as I want to be.

        • monobot@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          Sometimes the cashiers themselves are slow and scan items like they’re regretting every life decision they ever made.

          Such a good description of my local cashiers’

            • monobot@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              9
              ·
              1 year ago

              I was working in fast food for a long time, it was more than enough for me, thank you.

              But looks like good job to automate, let people do something better.

              • Dearche@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                You mean like those no employee convenience stores?

                I like the principal of it, but wonder how much extra work is involved in making sure all the products are properly tracked.

          • frostbiker@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            But that is the problem: when I go to a cashier I feel rushed to bag everything and pay in the time it takes a professional to scan everything. When I go to a self-checkout register, items are scanned exactly at the same rate that I bag them.

            At the same time, there is hardly any waiting for self-checkout lines. In other words, for my taste they are better in almost every way.

            • LostWon@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              As soon as groceries having dedicated baggers (or cashiers who bag stuff for you) ceased to be a thing, I felt that pressure too.

        • Lynda@c.im
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          10
          ·
          1 year ago

          @sndmn
          Good grief! I do not like waiting in lines either. But to say an employee who serves the public should not speak to that public is pretty absurd. And yes, there are fast and slow checkers, just like there is variation in us all.

              • Baggins [he/him]@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                1 year ago

                Not wasting my time waiting in checkout lines so I can act like some kind of social martyr does indeed make me happy.

                • Dearche@lemmy.ca
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  There’s also the fact that you can have three self checkout terminals in the space of a single cashier. Even if it takes you twice as long as a cashier to cash out, you’ll be spending 50% less time in line for every cashier that’s been replaced with self checkout.

                  Nowadays, I only use self checkout as well, because I can get through it in less than 30 seconds, almost never any lines.

  • SharkEatingBreakfast@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    28
    ·
    1 year ago

    Speaking as someone with a physical handicap, self-checkout can be very difficult… especially with a larger amount of items or heavy things

    Even opening finicky bags causes me a lot of frustration, because my dexterity is bad some days. Continuously bending down to lift, bag, & load stuff into the cart? Very very bad.

    Local grocery stores in my area have been cutting back on cashiers, and it is really causing me issues.

    I’ve seen old ladies struggling a lot, too! They probably have it much worse than I do! It’s probably a thing they so they don’t have to pay more workers, but those workers are sorely needed!

    • Smk@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      There are no more cashier at all ? Usually, there’s a self checkout and cashiers, not just self checkout.

      • SharkEatingBreakfast@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        There’s sometimes one cashier, but apparently it is only self-checkout past 6 or 7pm. And often then, they’ll just have self-checkout only at random times.

        I’ve seen them only down to 2 cashiers at absolute peak busyness. No more than that. It’s madness.

  • maxxxxpower@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    28
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    1 year ago

    Do I get a discount for checking myself out? Unless it’s 1-2 items and the normal line is full - it is cashier every time for me.

    • grte@lemmy.caOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Same. I will go to the cashier even when it’s somewhat inconvenient to me just because I despise the idea that the grocery store is making me be the cashier for free.

      • ricecake@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I mean, they’re also “making you” pick up your items off the shelf, just like the gas station “makes you” pump your own gas.

      • Poggervania@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s why if something “fails” to scan or you input some produce at a cheaper price “on accident”, then it’s the store’s fault - you’re not a cashier, just a customer doing self-checkout.

      • nbailey@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        They’re a skilled worker that has memorized the codes for the different types of potatoes, a skill I am unlikely to learn.

        • Victor Villas@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 year ago

          I guess it depends on the machine, but I don’t have to memorize codes. You can search for the item by name when it’s time to weigh it.

            • Victor Villas@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              5
              ·
              1 year ago

              If I can get home faster, it might be wort it. Not always, but sometimes. Specially if I’m picking up a small set of items that are easy to scan.

      • dangblingus@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I don’t have to do the thing myself. They’re doing it for me. Unless I’m misunderstanding your question.

      • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Honestly, it’s immoral but yeah. I tried scanning something out of my pile of 15 items at Dollarama. It didn’t register after I slapped it against the scanner 5 times so I was like whatever. I was too tired to bother so I just put it in the other side. I wasn’t trained on how to use it properly.

  • mommykink@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    22
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don’t mind self checkouts, I mind stores that never bothered to expand their two self checkout stations and simultaneously stopped staffing their normal checkouts so the self checkout line always takes 30 minutes to get through

    • stealth_cookies@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      As far as I can tell there isn’t a single one that isn’t a steaming pile of shit. Where have you found acceptable ones?

      That said I’m against them because it reduces the employment that a business requires while pushing the work onto the customers. Unless they are giving me a discount for using the self checkout you are effectively being an employee for free for the store.

      • EhForumUser@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        you are effectively being an employee for free for the store.

        You already accepted being an employee of the store when you decided to enter the warehouse to pick the items off the shelf yourself.

        The only question is: Can you clock out faster if your co-worker helps you process the items you picked or will it be faster if you do it all by yourself?

      • ricecake@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        My local store let’s me scan with my phone as I shop. When I get to the checkout I scan a QR code, it transfers everything to the register asks if I have anything else. Occasionally it’ll have someone come over and scan a few items to spot check, but not super often. Then I pay and leave.

        Usually takes maybe 30 seconds to check out.

      • Player2@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        As some other people have said, I like the ones where you can scan with your own device or a handheld one they provide. However, I don’t mind the regular ones where you scan everything at checkout either, though that’s definitely easier given that I live alone and in walking distance, so I don’t need to buy that many things at once.

      • Im14abeer@midwest.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Just do what I do, steal the most expensive small thing in your cart as payment for doing the job.

  • jcrm@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    1 year ago

    I’m a huge self checkout fan, but I think we need more perspective on how shitty ours is sometimes. Loblaws and all of them are way behind on how it should work. Look at the Netherlands and how it’s often done there, you walk around with a scanner so you can scan as you go and quickly pay at the end.

    Or even better, look at how Uniqlo is doing it. It’s all RFID, so you just drop your basket on the checkout, and it scans it all for you basically instantly.

    The problem isn’t self checkout, it’s that the grocery stores are using it to purely cut costs and don’t actually care if it’s better for the consumer in any way. But hey, at least it’s easy to “accidentally” not scan something right now.

    • commandar@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Look at the Netherlands and how it’s often done there, you walk around with a scanner so you can scan as you go and quickly pay at the end.

      Walmart and Sam’s Club have this with their Scan & Go app in the US. Scan the barcode with your phone, add it to your cart, pay from your phone, and someone at the door will scan a QR from your phone then scan a few random items in the cart and you’re done.

      I pretty much wouldn’t shop at Sam’s if it didn’t exist. The checkout lines there have always been long and a pain. It cuts a ton of time standing around waiting in line out of a trip.

  • Papamousse@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    1 year ago

    I like self-checkout especially when there’s lot of people and you have 1 or 2 items, it’s convenient, for me. But as written in the article, someone in need like this woman, needs a cashier lane. I’m not against self, but all stores should have at least one lane with cashier, always, for people in need.

    • mike@lemmy.dlct.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yes I agree I think having a mix of the two is best. Let the customers decide what they would like to use.

  • cheery_coffee@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don’t like self checkouts.

    I don’t like fiddling with the thing, I don’t like how they lay the interface out (it’s designed to not be efficient, and there’s always so many clicks to pay), I don’t like entering vegetable UPC codes, I don’t like touching the screen 100 other people touched without it being cleaned, and I don’t like feeling like I’m being watched, and I don’t like context switching between scanning, choosing, and bagging.

    I just want to load my items onto a belt, the cashier scans them and enters codes, then I bag them. I’ll simply say no to donating and tap my card and leave. Simple.

  • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don’t appreciate stores trying to force me to do the cashier’s job.

    I also don’t appreciate them trying to pull the rug out from under the economy. If there’s one thing my country does not need, it’s millions more homeless people.

    • EhForumUser@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      I don’t appreciate stores trying to force me to do the cashier’s job.

      But you don’t mind the fact that they have you doing the warehouse picker’s job?

      I also don’t appreciate them trying to pull the rug out from under the economy. If there’s one thing my country does not need, it’s millions more homeless people.

      And maybe the first millions wouldn’t be homeless if you weren’t so keen to take their warehouse picking jobs. Once upon a time it was a respectable profession. Why do you care so little about them?

        • EhForumUser@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          The person who works in the warehouse to pick the items off the shelf when an order is placed. You know, the job you were conned into doing when you enter one of these warehouse-style stores that we are talking about.

          It wasn’t always that way. Historically, you would place your order at the front counter and a diligent worker would work behind the scenes to gather your request. Some businesses still operate this way, to be sure, but it has largely gone the way of the dodo. It is generally more profitable when the customer does the work.

          • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Unless I’m mistaken, all online retailers of non-digital goods operate that way, so that job is far from extinct.

          • tempest@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yeah, and people are apparently not super pumped about being warehouse pickers either because online ordering is only going up.

  • blazera@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    I try to do self checkout whenever i can. Cashier is one of the most soul crushing jobs, no one needs to be dealing with food shoppers

    • Nougat@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m the other way around, kind of for a similar reason. I like to use the regular cashier line, because it gives me the opportunity to interact with adult humans outside of my own house. And I take that opportunity to be as supportive and friendly as possible to those people, partly in order to help “uncrush their souls.”

      Also, I don’t like fighting with trying to open the plastic grocery bags, and I’m too forgetful to remember to bring my own bags.

      • blazera@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        most of the time I dont want to be a captive audience even for someone trying to be friendly. I have to be polite, and Im at work, I cant just leave.

        • Nougat@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          I try hard to relate to people sincerely and as a fellow human being, and not walk over that line between employee and customer. I totally understand that the person is just doing their job, and maybe just doesn’t want any more interaction than absolutely necessary. I like to tell quick dadjokes, at the very least, and I feel bad about kind of pressing one on someone who clearly did not want to be a part of my hijinks the other day. I did get a little smirk back, so it wasn’t all bad, but still.

          On the other hand, for example, another recent shopping trip put me in a cashier line behind someone who was obviously being somewhat difficult to a clearly young cashier. After they cleared out, and after my transaction was complete, I made a point of saying to the young man, “You’re doing an excellent job, really. I felt you might have needed to hear that.” I wasn’t lying, he was being focused and patient, although some of his nervousness was still showing through. He thanked me, and said it was his first day solo on the register. “Well, you’re doing great,” and I departed.

          I have many more experiences like the latter than the former, so I think my approach is doing good overall.

          • blazera@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            remember we’re comparing to self checkout. It’s not really a point to say you can cheer someone up after dealing with a rough customer, because neither of those experiences would happen with self checkout. They’re somewhere else they’d rather be, it’s a job that shouldn’t exist.

            • Nougat@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              You’re right, and I completely agree that solely using self checkout would dramatically reduce unneccesary, and possibly stressful, customer interactions.

              While there are certainly some people who, as employees, enjoy interacting with customers, and even some who enjoy resolving problems and conflicts for customers, I also understand that people who cashier at retail groceries are generally not empowered by management to exercise those kinds of skills.

              I also agree with the sentiment that individual human cashiering is “a job that shouldn’t exist,” although maybe not so completely. There are always going to be transactions which require customer-employee interaction, because they fall outside the more rigidly programmed options available in self checkout. That said, I have watched as self checkouts have grown in both their number and their usage, as the number of employee operated cash registers seems to be declining. McDonald’s, for example, doesn’t even have cashiers standing at the ready at all times any more. You can go order from a person, at the sole register which exists for that purpose, but you will need to wait for a person to come to you instead of the other way around. Their kiosks and mobile app have made the “row of smiling cashiers awaiting your order” a thing of the past. And I think that level of “self-service” at retail establishments is a well balanced one.

      • NathanielThomas@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        You’re the reason I go to self checkout. You’re seeking out social interactions in a purely business relationship. I want my avocado and grapes and to get the fuck out of there, not stand there while you ask somebody how their day was and whether the weather might be getting cooler this weekend.

        • Nougat@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          In your example, I’m the employee. In actuality, I am the customer. And I try to interact with everyone on a “we’re both people with lives and hopes and dreams” sort of basis, not in the banal “weather chat” kind of way.

        • Lynda@c.im
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          @NathanielThomas @Nougat
          So the only “social interaction” a grocery store check-out employee should have are the negative, abusive ones? If I chat pleasantly with a checkout person, I am interfering with your life? Hmmmm……

      • CoderKat@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Are plastic bags still a thing anymore? I think Ontario banned them, cause I haven’t seen them anywhere. It’s especially awkward if you use Instacart cause they just keep giving you need reusable bags every time. But even before this, they’ve been dwindling for ages, with lots of big chains no longer having em.

        • Nougat@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Oh I forgot this was /canada - I’m in Illinois, outside Chicago. Cheap plastic shopping bags as far as the eye can see.

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don’t mind there being a self-checkout, but for the love of everything good in this world, these companies need to stop asking 21 questions when you use one! “Do you want to apply to a credit card?”, “Do you want to donate?”, “Did you want a receipt emailed?”, “Did you want to fill out a survey?”, “How many bags did you use?”, etc.

    And if it’s a self-checkout at Walmart, expect to have 10 available, but only 2 working and three staff overlooking them…

    • phx@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Ironically, the local Walmart has been closing them all later in the day so that people must use cashier’s, presumably due to increased theft etc

    • NathanielThomas@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      At the self-checkout at the Walmart near me a little man would go around asking if we want to save on groceries by signing up for their credit card.

      The fourth or fifth trip there that he did this I had to get a bit ruder until he finally grabbed the self-checkout and clicked the credit card opt-in and I had to tell him to fuck off. He acted shocked but dude I go to self-checkout to avoid human interaction, not be sold a bullshit credit card only a teenager would fall for.

    • FeatherConstrictor@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Uniqlo stores around me almost have this implemented. You don’t scan the individual items, you just place your basket on the machine and it somehow knows every item in there. Super fast and convenient. I think it’s only a matter of time.

      • SamanthaStankey@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        It scared the hell out of me the first time because it somehow knew what I had in my arms and I didn’t know what to scan to check out. But the items kept appearing and I didn’t know if they were actually mine or not and it was a very creepy black mirror-esque experience for me.

        Great store though, really impressed.

  • TanakaAsuka@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year ago

    Most stores near me don’t let you use the self checkout with more than a basket, but then they will not have anyone at any of the normal checkouts while having 3-4 employees just chilling “watching” the self checkouts.

  • nyan@lemmy.cafe
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    My insistence on paying cash for in-person purchases means that I can’t—and won’t—shop at a store that only offers self-checkouts. I haven’t come across any yet in this neck of the woods that don’t have at least one cashier, but if I did, chances are good that I’d put the goods down and walk out without buying.

    I do understand, however, that most people aren’t willing to make that level of sacrifice just to keep the credit card companies from tracking part of their purchase history.

      • nyan@lemmy.cafe
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Chacun à son goût. I admit that many people I know don’t carry cash anymore, or only carry a small amount “for emergencies”.

      • CoderKat@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Only at places like farmers markets for me, and even then, I’d say at least half of vendors accept credit cards. And frankly I hate using cash. I don’t want to carry physical money around when tapping my phone is so easy.

      • Victor Villas@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I haven’t touched a note or a coin for 6 months now, last time I just had to because the machine only accepted coins

    • FreeBooteR69@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I still pay cash quite a bit, i like to avoid tracking to piss off the vultures. Also, i’d rather keep the money they would make from transaction fees.

      • nyan@lemmy.cafe
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I have yet to encounter one that does, but since I avoid self-checkouts in the first place, that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.

    • monobot@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I am buying vegetables and healthy stuff with card. Alcohol and sweets only cache.

    • Nomecks@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      We have Interac in Canada, which don’t use credit card debit systems, and pre-date them by like 20 years

      • nyan@lemmy.cafe
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        I’m aware (I live in one of the more thinly-populated parts of Ontario). Interac just allows the bank to do the tracking instead of the credit card company, which is a distinction without a difference as far as I’m concerned. It’s the act of linking purchase to identity that I object to.

  • Fishroot [none/use name]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    If self check is too hard to use, just take the items for free

    I got into a situation where a cashier came to debug an issue and she wasn’t able to.

    It just ended up with her letting me go with the item for free because ‘‘she isn’t paid enough to fix this shit’’