Are self checkout lanes rare?

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In addition to the above,

Price Chopper and Hannaford supermarkets here. Like Matt said, I prefer to bag my own and don't like waiting for the dolt at the end of the runner to hand me a bag once he's decided he has enough in his bag.

Chuck
 
 
There are no "big-box" stores here ... Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.  The regional grocery chain doesn't have them.  WM does, which I used a few times but *always* had some issue or other.  The final straw was when I used one that would take only credit or debit card, no cash, and there was NO notification of the restriction until a little on-screen blurb at end of the transaction.  I didn't fully register the meaning upon glancing at it so I'm standing there like an idiot repeatedly putting my cash into the slot and having it repeatedly spit back out, wondering WTF is the problem, until the attendant comes over to investigate.  I shot off a gnasty email to WM.  A local manager of some level called me the next day.  All sorts of excuses why they couldn't place a large sign on the units that don't take cash so customers know in advance which to use or not.  I refuse to use the crazy things there any further.

I used one at Home Depot (in another town) several weeks ago.  Had the usual fussing from it about "unexpected item in bagging area, please remove item."  Just, no.
 
Self-service checkouts

My experience was always getting: "Unexpected item in bagging area!".

Recently my local Tesco upgraded their units, and they seem to have gone the opposite way, telling me to bag the item!

I usually pay by card, but on one recent occasion put a £10 note (GBP £10) into the machine - it was snatched from me fingers without so much as a by-your-leave! I'd swear that Ebeneezer Scrooge was in the machine.
 
Our local Costco used to have them, but they were removed during an expansion/renovation several years ago. Customers had trouble using them (admittedly, they weren't very user friendly) and supposedly there was an increased incidence of theft (items thrown in without being scanned).

I never had issues with their self-check out lanes, and in fact used Costco more often, since to buy 3-4 items I didn't have to wait in line behind half a dozen customers with $500+ carts. I shop there far less often now. One remedy would be to implement Express lanes, like supermarkets, for patrons with only a few items.
 
I know Home Depot had them at least by 2006, I remember buying a baseboard and it told me to place it in the bag, finally I tapped it on the bottom of the bag and it registered. I used to get the same thing there with the unexpected item and I would take it out and it would say to please place item in bag.

The units at Lowes I notice are always out of order.
 
With the push to raise MW to $15/hr.

Am thinking self-checkout will spread more and more. McDonald's is already introducing/expanding self ordering/checkout in the USA.

Quite honestly in many retail businesses staffing is already so low that self-checkout might be welcomed. There are times at local chain convenience stores where you have only one cashier at the registers with a line that stretches deep.

The other problem is from banks on down many places are having problems finding persons who not only possess the necessary skills (math and so forth) to be trained and work cash registers, but can also pass required background checks.
 
Banks...

I always use the ATM at my Credit Union.  I hate standing in line and they are quick and efficient, just as in the stores.  The ATM can do 90% of what the teller can do and quicker, so what's not to like?

 

I'm glad those of you who do not like self check out and ATMs do not use them.  I get a chuckle watching someone who has never used a self check out lane finding their way around.  I don't mind helping them a bit but they do tend to slow things down a lot.

 

Speaking of self checkout, the one thing i HATE is the voice.  I do not want to hear the price of every item, and directions, I'm glad I can shut the off.
 
I do everything I can electronically and online. In the past 3 years I've only been into my Credit Union 3 times, once to access our safe deposit box and twice to have documents notorized. I deposit checks on my ipad and get e statements, rather than paper statements so I have less paper to shred down the line. When I retired 12 years ago a ordered a box of 200 checks as I was out of them. I'm on the second book of checks and have only used 5 checks for that book, so thats 30 checks written in 12 years. All the bills,including the property tax are paid online.

But I only like to use self checkout for a few items, and only in stores where the damn things work properly. And I agree with the others that have stated, there should be some sort of discount for using self checkout, because after all it is saving the retailer from having to pay a checker. And I would be perfectly OK with no self checkout at all, provided there were adequete checkers on duty all the time so I didn't have to wait for 15 mins to checkout $35.00 of groceries. And really, to protect the jobs of people that need them there should also not be self checkout. Before we know it there will be no work for human beings at all. Unions should be fighting this trend.
Eddie
 
Pulltostart, Publix is the same up here at the north end of the state. Carryout service (no tipping please!), and cashiers. Among the stores around here:

Have them: Wal-Mart, Sams (just put some in recently), Costco, Target, Home Depot, Kroger.
Don't have them: Publix, Lowe's, Fresh Market, Whole Foods.

The ones at Target are the best locally. They scan reliably, and they have the magic "I don't want to bag this item" button, that saves you from being bag-nagged. The ones at Home Depot don't bag-nag, but getting them to scan is difficult sometimes. Wal-Mart varies a lot. One store has ones that are terrible about bag-nagging; you get a constant stream of "Please bag the last item" alternating with "Unexpected item in bagging area!". Another store has ones that nearly always work perfectly.
 
Unions should be fighting this trend.

I don't know the exact position unions have, but I do know someone who is very active with the grocery checker union (even to the level of involvement with contract negotiation) who despises those self checkouts. She always--always--uses a regular line, even though the grocery store apparently prefers the employees to use self checkout. Her husband refuses to shop at Home Depot at certain hours, since that location apparently has times when it's self checkout only.
 
i HATE is the voice

I hate the voice, too. I suspect most people do. I've asked the clerks in charge of self checkouts how they stand it having that voice screeching away all day long. One told me he just got to the point of tuning it out.

 

One cashier commented about the voice, and the crankiness of the machine in general, and referred to the "princess in a box."
 
It is almost enivitable

That as labor and other costs rise for retail, and margins get tighter something is going to have to give; and that is likely more self-service in various forms.

As it is for many even large department/retail stores you have to hunt to find an open cash register.

Recall years ago stores like Macy's would have an open cashier in almost every department. Now it is often more like one per floor. *LOL*

Supermarkets here run the gamut; some have several cashier bays but only ever two at the most are staffed. Others seem to manage staffing to coincide with peak customer demand.

Largest issue one hears from managers is finding people with the maths skills who want to do the job, and take it seriously. You cannot have a cashier whose drawer is frequently short. Nor understands how and can properly closeout/balance their drawer at end of shift.
 
Trader Joe's is very good about keeping all their lanes open. Although they're usually very busy since they were allowed to start selling wine, there's hardly ever more than one person waiting in line.

A local supermarket nearby seems to employ mostly teenagers in the cashier positions (at least on weekends). Probably a first job for most of them, and it would be a shame if automation robbed them of the experience.
 
It's a B*#@$%! running 'em/working at 'em too!!!!

Too many people who don't know how to use 'em reason with 'em when a move IS their fault, and not in any derogatory sense... Just move the stuff into your EMPTY cart when the bagging area is FULL! (And let the machine see you move the basket in FRONT of you--not BEHIND you...)

The screen gets too BLINDING to have to go into & do the price adjustments that the custom needs to go to a real person register to go to...

The weight/bagging problem to relieve the customers from...

Last of all are the people who want to get out of using them altogether coming to my podium that has the real register used to transfer orders to that sometimes have to be paid at if there is a problem w/ cash/card functions/paying by checks or using split payment functions (though I dislike having to do WIC--and just direct customers to regular registers for that & tax-exempt, as well as (when we had that program) price matching (especially in excessive)...

Also, It doesn't help that that register doesn't have a sort of bull-pen, hence folks especially in a hurry try to do their business BESIDE me, or in FRONT of me, or go behind it, instead of in FRONT of it...

And that's not even counting the "free stuff" I'd seen/heard of people make off with when their payment in the card reader doesn't work, or just taking off when no one is looking, from one thing , to a few things, to entire orders, we can't seem to stop, when really it's "when no one's watching", while other customers (mostly those w/ "real (honest) problems" need help...

-- Dave
 
I've used them and continue to use them, when I only have a few items. The majority of the time there isn't any wait, whereas there is a wait at the manned register lines. I rarely have any problems. Usually it takes me a couple of minutes to ring everything up and pay for it. In and out fast.

Personally, if someone is continuously having issues at these, then the best thing would be, is to not use them.
 
I've never had much of an issue with self-checkout lanes.  They've become more commonplace as the cost of wages has either increased or been threatened.

 

Home Depot rarely has more than two manned lanes open.  I try to use them, but when faced with a soccer mom with a cartload, I default to the self-checkout with my five items.

 

I wasn't aware that Lowes was anti-gay.  I go to Home Depot, Lowes and Menards.  Lowes is cleaner.  Home Depot is most likely to have the wrong item in a given spot.  I haven't learned where things are in Menards.  That store wears me out, too big!

 

I almost never go the Wal-Mart.  At night, they only have the door on one side open.  You have to go in, I had to go to the other side, all the way back, grab my items and go back.  They had 2-3 lanes open, then you had to show your receipt at the door.  It was a long walk for a tarp.

 

That reeks of theft control to me.  Wal-Mart is my store of last resort or if you care to see the poorest people in your area.
 

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