Amen, m’dear.

As supermarket employee of 6 years, i can thoroughly understand the frustration. We dont have self checkouts at the store i work for, but i have been at other places that do and i itch to go up to the people with less than half a brain, push them out of the way and say “let me do” and have them out of MY way…

A big-box chain out here has installed “large order” self checkouts, replacing several rows of cashier-managed checkouts and, it seems, the cashiers themselves. So imagine your scenario, but mutliplied by the single mom with five kids who just bought a week’s worth of groceries (involving two carts). She has chosen the self-checkout because there’s only one actual cashier on duty and she foolishly thinks she might get out of there faster if she does it herself. She scans at a glacial pace anyway, but her five wild kids running everywhere keeps her plenty distracted, slowing her scanning down even more. Of course, none of them could be bothered to actually bag the groceries, so the groceries all bottleneck in the bagging area, which causes the computer to insist that the bagging area be cleared, causing Mom to stop scanning and start bagging for a bit, returning to scanning only when the computer stops complaining. In the end, it takes twenty-five minutes for Mom to get through self checkout, and she leaves with a major nervous tic.

An even more civilised solution that I used back in the U.K. , a decade back ,which is scanning the items as they are put into the cart with a quick verification at the end.

That way the fumblers still get to fumble but on their own time.

Thank you, MEGAN!

Personally, I don’t use them unless the cashier queues are gigantic because 1) in such poor economic times, I don’t want my usage statistic to support getting rid of supermarket workers who, let’s admit it without sounding too snobby, more often than not would struggle to get a job at a higher grade against experienced office workers, and 2) I’d rather someone else did it quickly, and wait a couple of minutes for the privilege and maybe have a day-brightening conversation, than get nagged by a very laggy computer system about the sodding bagging area. I’m computer literate and I find the process slow and frustrating, so I have no idea how the trier-outers must feel about it and no wonder really. Whenever I use them, I wonder if anyone actually bothered to test them and make sure they were swift and friendly. Your supermarket’s software mileage may vary.

Wow. Erika, I’ve had similar experiences on the self checkout line. Especially at Stop And Shop for some reason, where many patrons in the line put the emphasis on *Stop.*

Thanks for summing it up. Let’s hope the dinks evolve some.

RB

Lisa – they have them and they don’t work on self checkout. You either have to know the code of the item in question or get help. It’s a pain, so I have learned to not pick those items up when going through self checkout.
ALSO – in order to use the system you have to KNOW WHAT A BAR CODE LOOKS LIKE (not bitching at you Lisa). Ergo, stop waving the detergent around as if you are calling in all dirty clothes like a rancher uses hay to call in cattle.

Way to embrace the skills of a grocery store customer service professional/scanning WIZ!

AGREED! Complete UI #fail.

But what about the bar codes that the scanner arbitrarily decides it doesn’t like? Maybe it wants a more exciting color. Or thinks that straight lines are so last year.

Self-checkout evolved because stores want to cut labor costs, not because they care about customer service or convenience. If the uberchecker has to help every other customer, it defeats the primary purpose. So UI matters. Many grocery customers are morons. Stupid people have to eat too.

I confess I have never used the Self-Check Out line as Safeway where I do because I do not want to look like a dunce. So thanks for the Info. Just waiting for my turn in line like other customers gives me time to do standing meditation and practice my patience! On second thought I might try it for a few items next time and hope you are not behind me! ~ http://twitter.com/Peta_de_Aztlan ~

Love this post. I often run down to the grocery store near my office on my lunch hour, and it is such an ungodly hassle when people cannot manage such simple technology. I shit you not, this exchange happened the last time I was in there:

*clueless woman holding oranges just stands there*
*me, trying to be nice* “Just touch the “PRODUCE” button on the screen.”
*still standing there* “No.”
Me: “Um. You kinda have to follow the instructions in order to get fruit processed.”
“I’m not touching that screen. It’s germy! Do you know the kind of people who come in here?”

I wanted to take my cane and smack her upside the head with it.
She glares at me, and then tells me that she wants it to scan her oranges without her having to touch the screen.
I blink and ask why

Yes, I was just laughing so hard I started crying right in public at a coffee shop (there’s probably a bitch slap in there somewhere). The unfortunate truth of this bitch slap is those that need to read it….well they can’t even self checkout so you think they’ll ever find your blog?

The largest stores Tesco and Asda ( Walmart) were heading towards the US model at the time and probably have the same NCR droids cajoling people to put the item back.

I prefer the machines to most mainstream store cashiers whenever I buy produce. Shallots seem to be an item that isn’t discussed in training and it’s too bloody painful to even get into celeriac and how the store may have classified it:

We have a “security” checker who stands and watches everyone “self checkout” This person has a computer screen which follows each check out lane. they can watch everything you key in. Also, the items are weighed before and after. Even so, we have caught some trying to cheat. They didn’t realize they were being watched. Plus the computer said the stuff didn’t weight the same after as it did before.

Nine: the magic number of the clueless.

So, you’re saying the post is a total miss?

Why does Darwinism not work? *sigh* “germy”

I’m delighted I could make you guffaw.

Prehistoric dink, I love it. These folks were the last in line for the “no child left behind” policy that dumbed down the entire curriculum for anyone with a brain.

OTOH, while I realize these self serve things are computers, someone built them, and the someone who did so at Lowe’s needs to be bitch slapped from here to the Home Depot parking lot. Every other item gets a cheery “please check with attendant” message, whereupon said attendant (if she isn’t discussing her social life with fellow employees, presses a button on her register, which kind of sends the whole self serve theory out the window (not that Lowe’s has any windows. It’s a box, after all). And if the poor slob customer (that would be me) manages to get through the process without firing off an aneurysm, we get to the insert credit card part, which opens up a whole new vista. Type in last four numbers…Type in code on the back…Not recognized, try again…Please check with attendant.

Ah well, it does make life interesting but then so does stepping on a rusty nail on the one day you decide to forgo the sandals. Oh and by the way, how come three out of four of these brilliant computer devices have a bag over their plastic heads reading “Out of Order”? Never mind, rhetorical question.

Ah, Cherry – you’re not a dink. Dinks aren’t cognizant of their dinkitude

I think gun control is a good thing, too Know thyself.

G’Day Erika ,
Amen! Allelujah! And so say all of us! So much of this technology is so simple that only a child can use it.

Please turn your attention to all that so called training on the web that presumes that the trainee-read “customer”-knows more web jargon than Nerd of The Year and is perceptive enough to be able to follow pathetically inadequate and incomplete instructions.

Let’s send the writers of this twaddle to the self-serve checkout lane behind an indulgent mother of twin 4 year olds with a full trolley.

What an inspiration you are!

Regards

Leon

HAHAHAHA! Too funny.
As always, you are right on target here. You should be in charge of everything! The world would be a better place.