memes

I'm faster than anyone who works there, and I don't need to worry about long lines (usually the self checkout is the faster option). The time saved is my payment.

You get a discount depending on how you scan.

you queue up all you like boss...

I love the self checkout. No bullshit small talk, no customers stood right behind you breathing down your neck and I can pack my shit without feeling better rushed. to me that's invaluable...

"Don't you hate it when you walk into a grocer and they expect you to pick out the items yourself? I don't work here, I just want to say "1 pound of ham and 2 loafs of bread" at the clerk, pay and pick them up. I've been to this new Piggley Wiggly, can't find anything, spent like an hour to find beans. Imagine if I was paid for that time, I would have made 15¢!"

OP in 1925, probably.

I know I'm in the minority but I prefer self checkout so I don't have to talk to people. Same reason I quit customer service work. I do not want to hear about your day I want to pay for my shit and leave.

if i've learned anything from this thread it's that y'all have awful self-checkouts.

I get that you are technically doing someone's job for free, but you can always collect your "pay" by giving yourself a "discount." Personally, I prefer to scan my avacados as potatoes so I can have my avocado toast every day and be able to save up for a house. I'm almost there, it's only gonna take 30 more years for a down payment! 😁😀🙂😐☹️😢😭

fun fact: you can get a discount at a self-checkout! grocery stores hate this one trick!

If you feel this way then you should never complain about the length of the lines or the speed with which you get through them.

[…] Me: "I don't work here"

This gives me big "ok boomer" vibes. Instead of this, imo, snarky response, could you not simply politely say that you prefer a human cashier?

Remember the human.

I really like self checkout, tbh. No need to remove my headphones, and it's nice if you're getting a few items. If I'm getting more than one bags worth of stuff, there's the handheld scanners that you can walk around in the store with, and just put your stuff directly in to the bag you brought with you. Really handy, and quick.

I honestly don't hate the self checkout, I hate it when they do it poorly.

Oversensitive scales, improperly weighted products, stuff without barcodes, tiny little bagging areas that can only hold two bags. No belt for unloading groceries. Please remove the item from the bagging area, help is on the way. (Help is never on the way)

The grocery store where I used to live had a bunch of regular lanes, You threw your crap on the belt, Scan it over the sensors and send it down to the collection area where you could bag it. It was honestly pleasant.

I went to Target in the evening once, had an entire cart full of groceries. I push it up front there's no cashier's open only the self checkout. I look at the person manning the self-check out and say

Why aren't there are there any registers open?

Sorry just the self checkout.

This is going to be like 8 bags.

Yeah, sorry.

I shrug leave the cart there and start walking out the door.

No, wait: The cashier goes and opens the closest register to the self checkouts

Genx here

Ok boomer

Some of us prefer non-human interaction

I don’t want it to become the only option, but I actually prefer the self checkout.

Self checkout is the greatest thing ever and I will never understand why so many people seem to prefer waiting in line for a few minutes instead of just using the self checkout.

No human interaction, usually faster because I don't have to wait. What's not to love? Sure occassionally you might get selected for a random check and have to wait a bit, but that still beats the line.

They used to be awful here 10-15 years ago, with a scale for your scanned items that would complain over nothing all the time, but now everywhere I've been has done away with that in favor of random controls and the receipt for opening the gate. I think my highlight so far was the clothing store where you didn't even have to scan, you just put your items in a box and it told you what you have to pay.

I hate how self-checkout treats me like a child and speaks and prompts me a zillion times for things I don't want. How many bags do you want to buy? None, because I have mine like 90% of people, geez. How about a donation? Unexpected item in bagging area. TAKE YOUR RECEIPT. Nooooo

And it even SPEAKS. LOUDLY. It burns through ALL my patience within seconds.

If it just let me scan my stuff having me tap on a touchscreen, and then just let me stay the payment machine in a single touch, and it were silent ... I might tolerate it. Otherwise, get back, demon.

The grocery stores that I go to seem to have an adversarial UI. I haven't been able to use them without them throwing a fit and then I have to wait for the one attendant who is there to oversee 6 stations (who has to help more than 50% of the people) AND do the customer service desk.

They used to have express lanes. Those actually moved fast.

Dollar store? Yeah those ones work well.

Main issue is they haven't lowered the cost to me the consumer. Which is the lie we were told.

The self checkout person always thinks I'm cute and gives me good deals

It's a bullshit job though. Do you refuse to use elevators because they no longer have attendants? Having worked on a checkout at one time, it was always depressing. Plus there were other tasks that could be done and most people you deal with are awful.

People making the same old quips also make the job that little bit more unbearable - "must be free", urgh. Seriously you are not gods gift to comedy with these jokes, workers hear them 100 times every day and it is like some kind of compounding psychological damage each time.

I prefer self-checkout to reduce the amount of having to talk to or look at someone else.

Oh yeah, instead I'll get in the line behind Mildred who is paying by check and has to have a 20 minute conversation with the checker because her kids never call anymore. Then after that the employee can slowly scan my items and pack them with cold stuff across all bags and fragile stuff under heavy stuff.

Having worked cashier in a past life, I'll gladly let the employees do better work than dealing with having to scan my shit and do a bad job packing for me.

what has me upset is that they spent all that time getting rid of cashiers, for self check out… THEN THEY CLOSE 3/4 OF THEM! they will have 2 rows with a person there, for cigarettes and such, then have a single person watching 6 self checkouts. if trader joes/aldi had name brand snacks i would cut out wall-mart wholesale from my routine. the whole shopping experience is terrible, and for some reason wall mart is more expensive and worse quality

You people don't have self scanning? Pick a barcode scanner at the entrance, scan everything when you put it in your bags in the cart, and just pay at the exit and walk out (unless you get a semi-rare random check). One of the favorite features of the store I use is that I fill the shopping list at home in the app (that can be shared with other accounts) and then I see the list in my phone or the store scanner, sorted by the order of sections in the store, so eg. all fruit and vegetables will be next on the list when I get to that section. I also like that you see your total in real time and the scanner reminds you if there's a "3 for 2" or other offers.

We all love to hate on Walmart, but in my part of the world, it's got the closest implementation to what I consider acceptable self-checkouts.

The biggest quality of life feature is that they don't use the the weight sensors in the bagging area. You can use the hand scanner to scan every item in your cart sans weighted produce, as fast as your body will allow.

On the flip side, most of the chain grocery stores in my area have the bagging area scanners that need constant overrides, use AI cameras that lock up after every third item and require an override each time, slow machines that seem to have to compute the pi to the 10 sextillionth digit after each item is scanned before it will be ready for you to place it in the bagging area, and things of that nature. Those suck for sure.

Meh. I’m usually happy to just scan my own shit and bounce. Even a $500 Costco trip. I usually shop with earbuds in, so it’s just me and some tunes anyway. I just switch off my brain, follow my list, and go.

I suppose you might also leave trash at your seat in a movie theater or restaurant. After all, cleaning up is someone else's job and you don't even work there. Plus, you can pat yourself on the back for contributing to that person's job security with your added burden like some of the people here.

This thread has made me feel so incredibly millennial.

I had one of those self checkout machines think we were shoplifting. We had to sit there while the employees went through the video feed to verify it was an error. It was embarrassing. We were treated like criminals.

My local Walmart does that. I just wait by the cigarette area until someone comes by. They ask what kind of cigarettes and I just say I don't smoke.

Also, I use cash for everything. The amount of times that these machines don't have change or accept cash is frequent.

It's a pretty solid hill I'm willing to die on. I like people, even if I disapprove of our economic model I will always choose humanity.

The day I choose a machine over people for the sake of expedience, I feel I will be deserving of the isolation I've earned.

oh nooooo, how dare they offer you a convenient option that saves time