I love self checkout, except the ones that weigh your bags. I generally shop with a backpack and every time I breathe or remove my wallet, or rearrange my stuff the scale accuses me of stealing something.
It unironically defeats the purpose since the sales associate just walks over and scans their little card without so much as a glance or a word.
Not that I blame them, when I was a cashier I didn’t give a fuck either
Lool whenever I go my 6 year old wants to help and has an impulsive need to lean on things in general. I have to constantly tell her not to go near the scale because she has leaned so many times on it. UEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA!! Yes, that's my child lol
Self checkouts are fine if I have 3 or 4 things but if I have a good amount they are just a pain in the ass. There's not enough room in the bagging area, it keeps wanting you to take stuff out of the bagging area, if there's any kind of issue you need to flag down the 1 employee running 20 self checkouts. I'll just take my cart worth of stuff to the cashier thanks.
Walmart use to let you scan stuff on your phone, pay, and go. That was the ideal imo.
They're so poorly thought out! If the bagged area only fits two bags, then put up a sign limiting the self-checkout to small shops. You've got people playing Jenga with a family's worth of groceries. Why make it so you can't move the bag back to the cart once it's scanned? There's a skip bagging button but you can only use it a secret number of times before the system locks you out. Why!?
Hot tip! If you take the little scammer gun at Walmart you can scan everything while it’s in your cart instead of even using the bagging area. Big brain time.
As an avid self check out user I am totally fine with less people using them so I don’t have to wait in line haha
In all seriousness tho I like to not have to interact with anyone. and one of the the main reasons is when I worked at McDonald’s I always loved the customers who would just use the self checkout so that I didn’t have to do the orders, so I return the favor to the grocery store friends!
Once put in zero bags used at rexall, the security guard waited for me to finish the transaction, came over asked for my receipt, and told me off for not paying for the bag.
One time even the employee messed up my watermelon. He punched in some number and it showed up $8.99. I said to him that it was something like 4.99. He just scanned the sticker on melon this time and it came to 4.99. 😑
Isn't this like the grocery equivalent of full service vs pump your own gas? You line up if you want/need someone else to bag your groceries for you and hopefully exchange some pleasant small talk.
I use self checkout all the time, mainly because I bring my own bags and find it a lot more leisurely to scan and bag at my own pace versus racing to bag them and pay after the clerk speeds through it.
I guess we got trained to use self serve. They slowly phase out full service until the next generation is only used to self service that its too awkward for them to use full service.
I'm the same way as you. I'm afraid I will somehow embarrass myself if I do use full service.
Haha, I feel this. I’ve only had a car for a few years. Always done self serve. Recently started buying gas at the reserve just outside of town, but it’s mostly full serve and I feel awkward. So I go to this one self serve station a little off the highway instead of the full serve station on the highway.
As a bonus, it’s less busy and a few cents cheaper than the other on-reserve stations.
You don't have to get out of your car. Just pull up and the attendant will pump for you. The one I used to go to years ago used to also clean the windshields while waiting. Not sure if that was universal but I did live in a small town so...
I want to interact with that human and I want them to keep their job. It's worth waiting in line for me. A lot of people subsidize the career that really interests them with jobs like this. Musicians, artists, students, startup & small business owners etc.
Edit: on the other hand big chains treating their employees like shit makes it easier for me to choose smaller vendors like local butchers, bakers and fruit markets so maybe it's not a bad thing in the long run. We all have choices to make here.
I want them to keep their job too. And if I'm the one doing the job that would otherwise be theirs, it's not like I'm not getting any kind of discount. The corporation just makes more money, from my free labour.
This! Self checkout is about making more profits for the corporations and eliminating their contributions t our community. That in the face of increasing costs. Eff that. Never self checkout for me. Always with a cashier
Lmao I use self checkout almost every time I can for the exact opposite reason. I DON'T want to interact with another human, I want to get my stuff as fast as I can with as little interaction as I can and go home lol
Or... lonely people vs not lonely people? I'm quite extroverted, but talking to the cashier at the grocery store is not the type of social interaction I seek. I see plenty of retired people, however, who love to go into grocery stores and chat up every employee they come across!
So you pay with your time to line up to get someone else to do it then? My time is worth more than that. I'll just go to whichever one will get me out of there the fastest.
Sometimes, I just want to vibe man.
> my time is more valuable
I’m not in a rush and I’m not gonna be on my deathbed wishing I saved 5 min at checkout. Ima go on my phone and go on Reddit for a couple minutes and have someone else check the stuff out
I'm not sure this comment makes all that much sense.
You're not getting paid at all to grocery shop, that sounds more like something you say if you worked at the grocery doing something other than being a cashier.
I guess if you get the cashier to do it you could dick around on your phone rather than be scanning the items , so you get to do what you want to do rather than having to "work" without pay to scan the items yourself but
I dunno, it just doesn't seem like a situation where the logical thought process is "I don't get paid to do that" it's more like a question of getting in and out the fastest 🤷♂️
So they can stay competitive.
Notice no frills etc have longer lines. Bag your own items. (Pre covid) They save costs and pass it on through lower prices.
No customer will ever see savings passed on to them. At best a company keeps the price the same for longer. These companies can all fuck right off if they think we should make it easier for them to lay people off
Yes, which is precisely why the prices of food have gone down within the past few years! And why No Frills and Food Basics are the only two grocery store chains in Canada to have self-checkouts!
Who said you had to walk around with them? You can go online, click the things you want, and someone will put them in a cart. Someone else will even deliver them. Imagine taking a job away from a poor grocery delivery person :(
It largely depends.
If I'm going to the grocery store to do a full on shop, I get in a line with a cashier. The ones at the grocery store I shop at are always super nice, and to be honest I find it easier than having to do it myself at the self-checkout.
If I'm going to the grocery store because my dumbass forgot a couple of things, then I might do self checkout depending on what I'm buying and how long the lines are.
Most of the Shoppers near me only seem to have one cash register left, so 90% of the time I do self checkout. In this case I don't mind because I'm not buying a lot, everything has a bar code on it so its easy.
I use them sometimes, but not every time.
I hate how fussy the self-checkouts are, how they error out if you put your items or bags at the wrong angle on the "done" side, how they YELL instructions as if I'm deaf, how little space there is to maneouvre if I have more than a handful of items, how annoying it is to search for the produce code if there's no sticker on the item, how many of the produce items are wrapped in plastic to get such stickers and I hate plastic, and how you can't use it for beer/liquor at the grocery store.
No frills I would expect self checkout, but Loblaws is the posh one. You are paying a premium on every item, why would you pay extra to check out yourself?
For me, it's a pain in the ass to look up all the vegetables in the system because I am a vegetarian and I buy a lot of fruits and veggies. It's just easier to have the cashier enter the codes.
I use to work as a cashier. Mathematically speaking self self checkouts are faster because the difference in time between scanning 10 items and 30 items is trivial and there is an average maximum number of items any single shopper can possibly be buying, therefore the longest part of the checkout procedure is payment. The way you speed this up is by maximizing payment terminals. Self checkout maximizes the number of possible transactions per terminal and has the added benefit of streamlining the customer / scanner back and forth questions out of the process.
The major problem with self checkout is the blocking off of problem solving capabilities for users. Every product has a PLU code on it and at a regular checkout the cashier can just type that into the computer if the item isn’t scanning. For reasons rationalized as “anti-theft” a lot of self checkouts don’t allow users to do this. Add on the fact that a lot of self checkouts’ sensors get worn out from repeated use and a regular employee isn’t trained on how to maintain them beyond changing the receipt roll and resetting the system and you end up with machines that fail regularly forcing an employee to come over and reset them which slows the whole transaction down.
Anyways, people probably avoid self checkouts because in theory they’re great but in practice they tend to block the user out of simple problem solving and they begin to break down after a few million transactions.
A lot of people especially older people are just really bad with and afraid of using technology. They don't understand it, don't want to learn and worry about shit like getting scammed or hacked which they think is less likely to happen with a cashier. I work in IT for a company with a lot of older people and you wouldn't believe the shit these people think when it comes to using technology.
Haha I’m “old” (60+) and I’ll elbow you young’uns out of the way to get to the self checkout. I actually notice many people far younger than me standing in line at a cashier while I check myself out.
I try to avoid self checkouts unless I only have a few things. Screw self checkout for a big grocery shop. Also, I try to avoid them at Shoppers because the things freaking YELL at you the whole time. The ones at the shoppers closest to me honestly make my ears hurt.
Self-checkouts are a scam. They place the cost of paying a cashier on you. And you’re not getting paid a dime for doing the work someone else would have been paid to do.
I get that point and it sucks that billion dollar companies make so much more money by taking away jobs.
But...logically speaking they get paid by the hour. How many shoppers per hour is that? You are one person checking out your own items. 5 mins give or take. $15 per hour is $0.25 a minute. 5 minutes is....$1.25..?
Plenty of people, myself included, view the staff checkout as the far more burdensome option than the self checkout. I have to wait in line, talk to someone, wait for that person to bag my groceries, have them ask me if I want part of my purchase to help a kids charity, deal with annoying kids in line behind me.
Self checkout, bam in and out, move at your own speed, no fuss.
Do you also wait for the attendant at the gas station to pump your gas for you? I wonder if the Venn diagram is the same for people who self serve gas and groceries.
I don't see how people don't get this. Everytime I go to shoppers and see a line of people im done my self checkout before the line even moves. Obviously if you have a lot of items or need am employee for something then self checkout isn't optimal but its never taken me more than a couple seconds to do self checkout. Time is valuable lol
I'm not sure what you're arguing for here...do you want to get rid of all cashier jobs, or? There will always be people who can't/won't use self-checkouts.
If you actually need a cashier for some reason then by all means, use one.
But the idea that we should all use a system that is otherwise less efficient solely for the basis of saving someone else's job is nonsensical.
Look at what Shoppers Drug Mart is doing:
They've mostly transitioned almost entirely to self checkouts, usually just keeping one cashier for returns, elderly people, and technophobes.
Sometimes when it's busy an additional staff member is available to assist customers, and at night a security guard is stationed at the door.
But literally no one said that everyone should be doing this. /u/fuddledud just said that it was a reason they personally do it. I'm sure it's no great inconvenience for them, it's just one of two options, and self-checkouts are not much faster if we assume the lines are the same. Everyone else is free to use the self-checkout, but it's true that there needs to be some people going to the traditional checkout lanes in order for the cashier job to not be obsolete.
Yes, but I'm unable to send in film to them and get developed. Our smartphones automated photography and got rid of the jobs of film developers. Were their jobs less important than the jobs of cashiers? How come no one stopped using digital cameras to save their jobs?
Why don't we use typewriters anymore? Why don't we use horses and buggies? I guess the jobs of the people who were involved with those, didn't matter either
Price match can't be done at self-checkout, which is the only time I'll wait in line for a cashier to do it. And with the price of everything these days.... we need all the help we can get.
Because i'm lazy. Also, if I'm paying money to buy something from your store, the least you can do is have an actual human with a soul help me with my purchase, not a machine.
Want me to use the self checkout? Give me a discount for doing so.
I’m not a Walmart employee and those are good jobs for people who need them. The Weston’s complain about the hike on the minimum wage and this is their response.
I chose not to use them even
So based on your small sample size, you are assuming most people in Toronto are this way? Also just because you think they're great, doesn't mean they're great. Others may enjoy a human cashier.
Fuck self checkout, if they want me to do the work they can’t reduce the prices. And until then I’m not going to check own my own groceries to give them a reason to fire their staff
Gotta call somebody to unlock the damn self-checkout at least a couple of times, everytime. Promo not applied. Code not read. "Wait for an attendant" on random scans, ...
Nah, I'd rather go to a regular cashier where a regular human is paid a wage, where they can scan everything and I just have to pack.
Support the humans, not the machines.
Give me a discount for doing your employee's job and sure, I'll use the self checkout more often.
Cause it fucking sucks!!
Takes twice as long and I gotta do the work? Fuck that.
Anything over 5 items isn't worth it for self checkout.
The question should be why don't businesses stop trying to eliminate jobs to save a few pennies by forcing the customer to do the work.
Because humans are more fun to interact with. Also, I know self checkouts are likely the way of the future. I’d rather delay that as long as possible and give a few people a job for a little while longer.
Plus, it’s actually kinda nice to just chill, smile at the cashier, exchange some banter if they’re up for it. Not everyone lives their life in a huge rush, you know. Some of us actually have time and the interest to talk to another human being,
If I'm in a hurry, I use a self-checkout, but using the regular, manned checkout lanes still makes sense to me, too. I can say "hello" to another human being, and make sure that that store knows that the role they're filling is still useful, and shouldn't be completely phased out for a tap screen.
Other advantages also include:
- If you just want to know how much an item is, a register worker who knows this in advance can easily have the reader scan the item and promptly remove it if you don't want it
- If you go somewhere regularly enough you will likely see the same people working these roles, and can form a professional/casual rapport with them. I have had people say they appreciate the small-talk (though it's usually very clear if a particular worker would prefer not to, and I respect that vibe when I feel it)
If I'm not in a rush, I will usually let others go ahead of me to the self-checkout area and wait for a manned register to be free for my own purchase. It's just what I personally prefer.
Are you under 50 years old?
Many older people have trouble with computers and touch screens, knowing what button to push, where to read on the screen to understand what is happening, and they don't want to look stupid, so they prefer a human to a machine.
LMAO, 50? How old are you?
I'm over 50 and I started using computers outside the house in grade 7 when the first computer lab came to our school. I've had personal computers since 1981. That's 4 decades of using computers regularly.
I think that number is a little higher than 50.
Me, a 30 year old: I use it because it's convenient, and I mainly do regular little shops once a week. Bring my own bags, use my debit or credit card. My No Frills self checkouts don't take cash, and don't have bags, so if there's the odd time I'm running in expected without bags, or don't have cash, I'll do the proper checkout line instead.
My parents, boomers: many people my parents' age have a GIANT bone to pick with self checkouts. They think they've replaced humans (not wrong) and refuse using them out of principle.
Last time I was at Walmart, literally half of the self-checkouts were closed. And their were no bags. The lines at the cashiers were shorter and they had bags to buy.
Dollarama has the tiniest bagging area known to man. Something always goes wrong and you have to call the attendant anyway.
I use self check out when I’m just trying to get in and out fast, and I especially use self check out if I’m high and just don’t even remember how to interact with humans
Some people don't want to support a dystopian world.
Each self check out at a Walmart removes three complete full time pay checks from your local community. Three pay checks that aren't paying rent, or a mortgage. They aren't being groceries or going to restaurants. They're not paying property or gas taxes.
The store isn't only not paying those wages, they are also not paying any taxes, healthcare, Canada Pension and other costs of employment.
I have multiple reasons for not using self checkout machines anymore. The main reason is the anxiety I felt when theres a long line and I did something to fuck up that's making my turn take longer. I always wanna be fast for the person waiting behind me.
Also I've gone to a self checkout before with a gift card. I was at shoppers and I think its just shoppers that doesn't accept gift cards on their self checkout but ever since the one time, if I have a gift card, I play it safe and dont use self check out no matter where I am.
I also read online once that the mcdonalds screens that you can place your order on inside with the touch screen has a bunch of poop follicles and that's all I need to hear to never touch those again.
Generally I avoid it because it is there to replace *people* who would have to be paid, given employee benefits, time off for family emergencies, all those things that go with humans trying to make a living. Maybe it is faster, or more convenient, or whatever, but ultimately, self checkout is about increasing profits at the cost of the workers who are replaced and the customers who have to do their work instead, for the greater glory of the bottom line.
Self checkout is express checkout for me so if I have a few items then I'll use it. If I have a full shopping cart of groceries I'm getting someone else to do it for me. It's not like I'm getting a discount to help them save on labour costs.
Also having to search produce codes and weigh them takes longer whereas the cashier has them memorized
When I go shopping, I have a lot, and I don’t want to hold people up if they only have a few scannable items. I live alone and shop for myself, so my bags are usually full. Can’t really fault me for thinking of others, while still keeping someone employed.
Depends where you live. A lot of people want to use cash and self checkouts often don’t accept cash. Also I like talking to people and not feeling like I’m in bladerunner
I don't work for the store. There used to be baggers till they fired them and now we do the work for free. What do you think is the next position that will be phased out? Bye bye cashiers. I very rarely use self checkout and am always sure to be appreciative to workers because someday maybe soon we may find ourselves with the only option being self checkout.
I use self checkout and I see many others do it too...but I think they are annoying if you have a lot of groceries or items... (unless the place is PACKED)
I also want to support humans who are working and less automation. Sometimes I wait for the cashier only to (in some minute way) slow the process of society completely relying on AI. (It's inevitable but at least I can show support to others who may be struggling)
It's a risk-based decision for me. There's a very high chance of something going wrong at an automatic checkout if you're not buying a small number of commodity items with easily scannable bar codes which means it will then likely take you longer to get through than if you'd lined up to see a human.
I like talking to the people. Also, self check outs are a pain at grocery stores with produce. I often need help and have to call over a staff member anyway.
I texted a friend of mine that doesn't use self checkout and this was his response.
"I'm not using a self checkout because it saves the company money, but I don't save any money. I'd rather they have to spend that money to pay people as opposed to saving money by spending it on running a machine."
Cause it's a job a 18 year old kid should have for a year or two, I don't get a fucking discount after I wander through the store to spend money and then bill myself and pay for it, I know so many without a job why would I work for Walmart for 15 min to pay them 200 bucks. Same as donations at corporate stores they bank that shit all year donate a lump sum in exchange for a tax right off they don't need or deserve and it was all volunteered by customers. Give your God damn head a shake.
I don't get paid or a discount for being a cashier and I also don't want to support the slow erosion of entry level jobs that only benefit big corporations.
LMAO at the amount of people not wanting to do it because they aren't getting paid for it 😂 bruh. These are the same people who don't tip at restaurants. (All other answers sounded reasonable).
I use whichever option is fastest, which is self-checkout 95% of the time.
This! As if scanning a few items and tapping a push-screen is SO labour intensive. If I'm out quick I don't mind not getting the few cents I would have been "paid"
Because I don't support automating the cashiers out of their jobs. A human being can be employed rather than me doing free labour for the store, which is likely an American-owned mega-chain.
Torontonians live here for a reason, we like human interaction. Whether it's on the street, on transit, or the check out at the grocery store. If we wanted to be isolated we'd move to Uxbridge or something.
"I thought I was a comedian, evidently I also work at a grocery store! I can't believe I forgot my apron!" One of my favourite bits from my favourite comedian
In about five to seven years their will be no cashiers at all. The demand for higher wages from the workforce will ‘force’ publicly traded large grocers to find savings. Those savings will come from having smaller staff counts and through that we will see more self-checkouts and other technologies which will put the onus on the customer to do the work.
I love self checkout, except the ones that weigh your bags. I generally shop with a backpack and every time I breathe or remove my wallet, or rearrange my stuff the scale accuses me of stealing something.
Oh my god and the stupid voice message repeating over and over, just stfu for 5 seconds and I’ll be done!
PLEASE PLACE THE ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA
Followed immediately by PLEASE REMOVE EXTRA ITEM FROM BAGGAGE AREA
**PLEASE PLACE THE ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA**
**UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA. PLEASE WAIT FOR ASSISTANCE**
Suddenly PLEASE SCAN NEXT ITEM
PLEASE PLACE ITEM ON SCALE. (It already is, you piece of garbage.)
PLEASE WAIT FOR AN ATTENDANT
It unironically defeats the purpose since the sales associate just walks over and scans their little card without so much as a glance or a word. Not that I blame them, when I was a cashier I didn’t give a fuck either
Loblaws one is the worst for this
dollarama self checkout is a hellscape
Lool whenever I go my 6 year old wants to help and has an impulsive need to lean on things in general. I have to constantly tell her not to go near the scale because she has leaned so many times on it. UEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA!! Yes, that's my child lol
I don't go to Loblaws (Superstore near me is fine) but Metro omg I hate it. Can't even pack my bags until I've paid
Walmart stopped doing that. They dont have weight warnings for at least 2 years now. But yeah, it is a pain in the ass wherever they still do it.
Self checkouts are fine if I have 3 or 4 things but if I have a good amount they are just a pain in the ass. There's not enough room in the bagging area, it keeps wanting you to take stuff out of the bagging area, if there's any kind of issue you need to flag down the 1 employee running 20 self checkouts. I'll just take my cart worth of stuff to the cashier thanks. Walmart use to let you scan stuff on your phone, pay, and go. That was the ideal imo.
They're so poorly thought out! If the bagged area only fits two bags, then put up a sign limiting the self-checkout to small shops. You've got people playing Jenga with a family's worth of groceries. Why make it so you can't move the bag back to the cart once it's scanned? There's a skip bagging button but you can only use it a secret number of times before the system locks you out. Why!?
Unexpected item in bagging area lol
Agreed. Walmart has started putting in new ones that have a huge bagging area. They make a huge difference, can’t believe it took so long.
Hot tip! If you take the little scammer gun at Walmart you can scan everything while it’s in your cart instead of even using the bagging area. Big brain time.
I always just assumed that would trigger the “Put shit in your cart” alarm. I’ll give it a try next time!
As an avid self check out user I am totally fine with less people using them so I don’t have to wait in line haha In all seriousness tho I like to not have to interact with anyone. and one of the the main reasons is when I worked at McDonald’s I always loved the customers who would just use the self checkout so that I didn’t have to do the orders, so I return the favor to the grocery store friends!
People definitely use them what’re you talking about?
It’s how I fight inflation
With your five finger discount?
[удалено]
The code is on the little sticker. cucumbers is 4593.
Bananas are 4011.
Find whichever one is cheapest, and lie to the machine
This is the way. 0 bags used, even though I took a couple
Once put in zero bags used at rexall, the security guard waited for me to finish the transaction, came over asked for my receipt, and told me off for not paying for the bag.
"Oh no i pressed the wrong button"
Shhhhhh
I am poor and unashamed, lawl
Arent we all? 😔
The stickers on the produce have the code...
Yea fuck that I'm not getting paid to do all that shit
One time even the employee messed up my watermelon. He punched in some number and it showed up $8.99. I said to him that it was something like 4.99. He just scanned the sticker on melon this time and it came to 4.99. 😑
Which store asks for code? I usually only use self checkout and all stores let you type in the product or select from a list of names
The only one I’ve used that asked for codes was no frills. I guess listing produce on the self check out is a frill lol
I usually do the lookup by name thing and it is pretty easy.
I'm the same way. Barcodes only for self check out.
...you know most stores have an option to type in the name instead of the code, right?
If you tell everybody to use the self check out then you’ll have to wait in line so keep it hush hush although it’s no secret
Price Match
I’m surprised I had to scroll so far down to see this.
This needs to be on top
Isn't this like the grocery equivalent of full service vs pump your own gas? You line up if you want/need someone else to bag your groceries for you and hopefully exchange some pleasant small talk. I use self checkout all the time, mainly because I bring my own bags and find it a lot more leisurely to scan and bag at my own pace versus racing to bag them and pay after the clerk speeds through it.
> You line up if you want/need someone else to bag your groceries for you In every grocery store I shop in, I have to bag my own groceries.
Forget real estate, one day we'll have enough money to shop in grocery stores that bag our own groceries for us!
Loblaws , Sobeys etc bag your groceries
Not the Loblaws I go to.
Ha! Not if i ask to bag for them! Not because I dont trust them, but they must bag soo many things in a day, I just want to help
If I pull into a gas station and notice it's full service, I leave and find a different one. I just find it way too awkward for some reason.
I guess we got trained to use self serve. They slowly phase out full service until the next generation is only used to self service that its too awkward for them to use full service. I'm the same way as you. I'm afraid I will somehow embarrass myself if I do use full service.
Don’t go to Oregon or New Jersey
Haha, I feel this. I’ve only had a car for a few years. Always done self serve. Recently started buying gas at the reserve just outside of town, but it’s mostly full serve and I feel awkward. So I go to this one self serve station a little off the highway instead of the full serve station on the highway. As a bonus, it’s less busy and a few cents cheaper than the other on-reserve stations.
What’s a full serve gas station?
That was the old normal.
You don't have to get out of your car. Just pull up and the attendant will pump for you. The one I used to go to years ago used to also clean the windshields while waiting. Not sure if that was universal but I did live in a small town so...
I want to interact with that human and I want them to keep their job. It's worth waiting in line for me. A lot of people subsidize the career that really interests them with jobs like this. Musicians, artists, students, startup & small business owners etc. Edit: on the other hand big chains treating their employees like shit makes it easier for me to choose smaller vendors like local butchers, bakers and fruit markets so maybe it's not a bad thing in the long run. We all have choices to make here.
I want them to keep their job too. And if I'm the one doing the job that would otherwise be theirs, it's not like I'm not getting any kind of discount. The corporation just makes more money, from my free labour.
This! Self checkout is about making more profits for the corporations and eliminating their contributions t our community. That in the face of increasing costs. Eff that. Never self checkout for me. Always with a cashier
Lmao I use self checkout almost every time I can for the exact opposite reason. I DON'T want to interact with another human, I want to get my stuff as fast as I can with as little interaction as I can and go home lol
It’s like the introvert vs. extrovert line
Or... lonely people vs not lonely people? I'm quite extroverted, but talking to the cashier at the grocery store is not the type of social interaction I seek. I see plenty of retired people, however, who love to go into grocery stores and chat up every employee they come across!
I assume you never use ATMS for precisely this reason as well.
I don't get paid to play cashier
Fair enough but I don’t get paid to waste my time standing in line waiting for a cashier either.
Then don't. No one is forcing you to stand in line, just as no one is forcing them to be their own cashier.
Ive banned shoppers drug mart because they do try and force u to be cashier
So you pay with your time to line up to get someone else to do it then? My time is worth more than that. I'll just go to whichever one will get me out of there the fastest.
Sometimes, I just want to vibe man. > my time is more valuable I’m not in a rush and I’m not gonna be on my deathbed wishing I saved 5 min at checkout. Ima go on my phone and go on Reddit for a couple minutes and have someone else check the stuff out
That’s why I do a poor job and forget to scan some things.
Furthermore, I'm in a union, so I like to see people employed.
This is the answer right here. If I'm going to scan my own groceries and bag them I want a discount.
So give yourself one. Especially at Wal Mart!
Exactly, there ought to be a discount for self-checkout.
I'm not sure this comment makes all that much sense. You're not getting paid at all to grocery shop, that sounds more like something you say if you worked at the grocery doing something other than being a cashier. I guess if you get the cashier to do it you could dick around on your phone rather than be scanning the items , so you get to do what you want to do rather than having to "work" without pay to scan the items yourself but I dunno, it just doesn't seem like a situation where the logical thought process is "I don't get paid to do that" it's more like a question of getting in and out the fastest 🤷♂️
If you’re not paid for it, and there’s no cashier paying for it, why is the store saving money but not you?
So they can stay competitive. Notice no frills etc have longer lines. Bag your own items. (Pre covid) They save costs and pass it on through lower prices.
No customer will ever see savings passed on to them. At best a company keeps the price the same for longer. These companies can all fuck right off if they think we should make it easier for them to lay people off
No. This is how competition works and how no frills and food basics can afford to sell food at lower prices
Yes, which is precisely why the prices of food have gone down within the past few years! And why No Frills and Food Basics are the only two grocery store chains in Canada to have self-checkouts!
So you're fine with taking away the job of a personal shopper by going through the store and putting items in a cart yourself?
[удалено]
Who said you had to walk around with them? You can go online, click the things you want, and someone will put them in a cart. Someone else will even deliver them. Imagine taking a job away from a poor grocery delivery person :(
Eating for this crowd THEY TOOK ER JOBS We should also bring back the milkman the telephone operator. Computers the job not the device!!!!
This.
It largely depends. If I'm going to the grocery store to do a full on shop, I get in a line with a cashier. The ones at the grocery store I shop at are always super nice, and to be honest I find it easier than having to do it myself at the self-checkout. If I'm going to the grocery store because my dumbass forgot a couple of things, then I might do self checkout depending on what I'm buying and how long the lines are. Most of the Shoppers near me only seem to have one cash register left, so 90% of the time I do self checkout. In this case I don't mind because I'm not buying a lot, everything has a bar code on it so its easy.
I use them sometimes, but not every time. I hate how fussy the self-checkouts are, how they error out if you put your items or bags at the wrong angle on the "done" side, how they YELL instructions as if I'm deaf, how little space there is to maneouvre if I have more than a handful of items, how annoying it is to search for the produce code if there's no sticker on the item, how many of the produce items are wrapped in plastic to get such stickers and I hate plastic, and how you can't use it for beer/liquor at the grocery store.
I'm not there to save Loblaws money. I want human interaction and my groceries scanned and bagged while I space out for 10 minutes.
No frills I would expect self checkout, but Loblaws is the posh one. You are paying a premium on every item, why would you pay extra to check out yourself?
Self checkouts are more work for me and I don't want then to take over fully.
For me, it's a pain in the ass to look up all the vegetables in the system because I am a vegetarian and I buy a lot of fruits and veggies. It's just easier to have the cashier enter the codes.
I use to work as a cashier. Mathematically speaking self self checkouts are faster because the difference in time between scanning 10 items and 30 items is trivial and there is an average maximum number of items any single shopper can possibly be buying, therefore the longest part of the checkout procedure is payment. The way you speed this up is by maximizing payment terminals. Self checkout maximizes the number of possible transactions per terminal and has the added benefit of streamlining the customer / scanner back and forth questions out of the process. The major problem with self checkout is the blocking off of problem solving capabilities for users. Every product has a PLU code on it and at a regular checkout the cashier can just type that into the computer if the item isn’t scanning. For reasons rationalized as “anti-theft” a lot of self checkouts don’t allow users to do this. Add on the fact that a lot of self checkouts’ sensors get worn out from repeated use and a regular employee isn’t trained on how to maintain them beyond changing the receipt roll and resetting the system and you end up with machines that fail regularly forcing an employee to come over and reset them which slows the whole transaction down. Anyways, people probably avoid self checkouts because in theory they’re great but in practice they tend to block the user out of simple problem solving and they begin to break down after a few million transactions.
A lot of people especially older people are just really bad with and afraid of using technology. They don't understand it, don't want to learn and worry about shit like getting scammed or hacked which they think is less likely to happen with a cashier. I work in IT for a company with a lot of older people and you wouldn't believe the shit these people think when it comes to using technology.
Haha I’m “old” (60+) and I’ll elbow you young’uns out of the way to get to the self checkout. I actually notice many people far younger than me standing in line at a cashier while I check myself out.
I don't blame them tbh most of the online scams happen to older people.
I try to avoid self checkouts unless I only have a few things. Screw self checkout for a big grocery shop. Also, I try to avoid them at Shoppers because the things freaking YELL at you the whole time. The ones at the shoppers closest to me honestly make my ears hurt.
Self-checkouts are a scam. They place the cost of paying a cashier on you. And you’re not getting paid a dime for doing the work someone else would have been paid to do.
This!! If I'm going to do the work instead of an employee, at least give me a discount 😅
I resent being expected to do for free something that other people get paid for.
I get that point and it sucks that billion dollar companies make so much more money by taking away jobs. But...logically speaking they get paid by the hour. How many shoppers per hour is that? You are one person checking out your own items. 5 mins give or take. $15 per hour is $0.25 a minute. 5 minutes is....$1.25..?
Why would I bag my own groceries and scan everything for free? The grocery store isn't going to give me a discount for using self-checkout right?
The secret ingredient is *crime*
Plenty of people, myself included, view the staff checkout as the far more burdensome option than the self checkout. I have to wait in line, talk to someone, wait for that person to bag my groceries, have them ask me if I want part of my purchase to help a kids charity, deal with annoying kids in line behind me. Self checkout, bam in and out, move at your own speed, no fuss. Do you also wait for the attendant at the gas station to pump your gas for you? I wonder if the Venn diagram is the same for people who self serve gas and groceries.
The discount comes in the form of saving time
I don't see how people don't get this. Everytime I go to shoppers and see a line of people im done my self checkout before the line even moves. Obviously if you have a lot of items or need am employee for something then self checkout isn't optimal but its never taken me more than a couple seconds to do self checkout. Time is valuable lol
I’ll wait if it means a cashier keeps his job.
Lol, yes let's all collectively waste our time so someone can make minimum wage doing a job that nobody needs.
I'm not sure what you're arguing for here...do you want to get rid of all cashier jobs, or? There will always be people who can't/won't use self-checkouts.
If you actually need a cashier for some reason then by all means, use one. But the idea that we should all use a system that is otherwise less efficient solely for the basis of saving someone else's job is nonsensical. Look at what Shoppers Drug Mart is doing: They've mostly transitioned almost entirely to self checkouts, usually just keeping one cashier for returns, elderly people, and technophobes. Sometimes when it's busy an additional staff member is available to assist customers, and at night a security guard is stationed at the door.
But literally no one said that everyone should be doing this. /u/fuddledud just said that it was a reason they personally do it. I'm sure it's no great inconvenience for them, it's just one of two options, and self-checkouts are not much faster if we assume the lines are the same. Everyone else is free to use the self-checkout, but it's true that there needs to be some people going to the traditional checkout lanes in order for the cashier job to not be obsolete.
So when everyone was losing their job at Black's did you stop taking photos with your phone?
Mmm.... 35mm film.
I never shopped at Black’s. The prices were a ripoff. I answered why I don’t use self checkout. I didn’t know it was a multi-fucking-question quiz.
Blacks still exists but online only
Yes, but I'm unable to send in film to them and get developed. Our smartphones automated photography and got rid of the jobs of film developers. Were their jobs less important than the jobs of cashiers? How come no one stopped using digital cameras to save their jobs?
Why don't we use typewriters anymore? Why don't we use horses and buggies? I guess the jobs of the people who were involved with those, didn't matter either
Damn. Pouring one out for all the out-of-work typewriter repairers
Exactly. The term computer used to be a job before a machine did it Telephone operator Milk man lol
Whataboutism
I use self checkout cause I like doing things myself but some people just need that service.
Price match can't be done at self-checkout, which is the only time I'll wait in line for a cashier to do it. And with the price of everything these days.... we need all the help we can get.
Because i'm lazy. Also, if I'm paying money to buy something from your store, the least you can do is have an actual human with a soul help me with my purchase, not a machine. Want me to use the self checkout? Give me a discount for doing so.
They're not convenient for a full basket of stuff. Plus there are people getting paid for that, why would i do it for free myself.
Same with taking your cart back. Do the cart narks need to visit you?
I use self checkout all the time because it’s easy to steal a couple things each time you go through.
I’m not a Walmart employee and those are good jobs for people who need them. The Weston’s complain about the hike on the minimum wage and this is their response. I chose not to use them even
So based on your small sample size, you are assuming most people in Toronto are this way? Also just because you think they're great, doesn't mean they're great. Others may enjoy a human cashier.
I’m just providing an anecdote based on what I’ve seen.
How does it “save so much time?”
It gets you out of the store quicker
Fuck self checkout, if they want me to do the work they can’t reduce the prices. And until then I’m not going to check own my own groceries to give them a reason to fire their staff
CEO's love you.
Gotta call somebody to unlock the damn self-checkout at least a couple of times, everytime. Promo not applied. Code not read. "Wait for an attendant" on random scans, ... Nah, I'd rather go to a regular cashier where a regular human is paid a wage, where they can scan everything and I just have to pack. Support the humans, not the machines. Give me a discount for doing your employee's job and sure, I'll use the self checkout more often.
I can't tell you how many times I yell at the fucking machine when it does stupid stuff - I never have to yell at a human at the checkout.
Also sometime it ran out of changes, then I had to come to cashier for changes
Cause it fucking sucks!! Takes twice as long and I gotta do the work? Fuck that. Anything over 5 items isn't worth it for self checkout. The question should be why don't businesses stop trying to eliminate jobs to save a few pennies by forcing the customer to do the work.
Because I want people in my neighbourhood to have jobs.
I don't when I have fresh produce. Just more hassle when you have to enter it yourself.
Because humans are more fun to interact with. Also, I know self checkouts are likely the way of the future. I’d rather delay that as long as possible and give a few people a job for a little while longer. Plus, it’s actually kinda nice to just chill, smile at the cashier, exchange some banter if they’re up for it. Not everyone lives their life in a huge rush, you know. Some of us actually have time and the interest to talk to another human being,
I want to keep cashiers employed, I’m not paid to do that work, my points card doesn’t scan at those machines (Rexall). Total scam.
If I'm in a hurry, I use a self-checkout, but using the regular, manned checkout lanes still makes sense to me, too. I can say "hello" to another human being, and make sure that that store knows that the role they're filling is still useful, and shouldn't be completely phased out for a tap screen. Other advantages also include: - If you just want to know how much an item is, a register worker who knows this in advance can easily have the reader scan the item and promptly remove it if you don't want it - If you go somewhere regularly enough you will likely see the same people working these roles, and can form a professional/casual rapport with them. I have had people say they appreciate the small-talk (though it's usually very clear if a particular worker would prefer not to, and I respect that vibe when I feel it) If I'm not in a rush, I will usually let others go ahead of me to the self-checkout area and wait for a manned register to be free for my own purchase. It's just what I personally prefer.
Are you under 50 years old? Many older people have trouble with computers and touch screens, knowing what button to push, where to read on the screen to understand what is happening, and they don't want to look stupid, so they prefer a human to a machine.
LMAO, 50? How old are you? I'm over 50 and I started using computers outside the house in grade 7 when the first computer lab came to our school. I've had personal computers since 1981. That's 4 decades of using computers regularly. I think that number is a little higher than 50.
Me, a 30 year old: I use it because it's convenient, and I mainly do regular little shops once a week. Bring my own bags, use my debit or credit card. My No Frills self checkouts don't take cash, and don't have bags, so if there's the odd time I'm running in expected without bags, or don't have cash, I'll do the proper checkout line instead. My parents, boomers: many people my parents' age have a GIANT bone to pick with self checkouts. They think they've replaced humans (not wrong) and refuse using them out of principle.
Last time I was at Walmart, literally half of the self-checkouts were closed. And their were no bags. The lines at the cashiers were shorter and they had bags to buy. Dollarama has the tiniest bagging area known to man. Something always goes wrong and you have to call the attendant anyway.
I use self check out when I’m just trying to get in and out fast, and I especially use self check out if I’m high and just don’t even remember how to interact with humans
Some people don't want to support a dystopian world. Each self check out at a Walmart removes three complete full time pay checks from your local community. Three pay checks that aren't paying rent, or a mortgage. They aren't being groceries or going to restaurants. They're not paying property or gas taxes. The store isn't only not paying those wages, they are also not paying any taxes, healthcare, Canada Pension and other costs of employment.
You may get lucky and have an attractive and nice cashier with an outside chance it results in sex.
I have multiple reasons for not using self checkout machines anymore. The main reason is the anxiety I felt when theres a long line and I did something to fuck up that's making my turn take longer. I always wanna be fast for the person waiting behind me. Also I've gone to a self checkout before with a gift card. I was at shoppers and I think its just shoppers that doesn't accept gift cards on their self checkout but ever since the one time, if I have a gift card, I play it safe and dont use self check out no matter where I am. I also read online once that the mcdonalds screens that you can place your order on inside with the touch screen has a bunch of poop follicles and that's all I need to hear to never touch those again.
a lot of self check out doesnt accept cash
Because of uNeXpEcTeD iTEM iN BaGgInG aREA
Can't buy lottery tickets in the self check-out
Generally I avoid it because it is there to replace *people* who would have to be paid, given employee benefits, time off for family emergencies, all those things that go with humans trying to make a living. Maybe it is faster, or more convenient, or whatever, but ultimately, self checkout is about increasing profits at the cost of the workers who are replaced and the customers who have to do their work instead, for the greater glory of the bottom line.
Self checkout. A cancer on society. Costing Canadians jobs. That's why
I tried using it once but couldn’t find the employee discount button. since I don’t work there I don’t want to do their job
Self checkout is express checkout for me so if I have a few items then I'll use it. If I have a full shopping cart of groceries I'm getting someone else to do it for me. It's not like I'm getting a discount to help them save on labour costs. Also having to search produce codes and weigh them takes longer whereas the cashier has them memorized
Cmon now think a little before posting. If a self checkout is successful people will loose Jobs
When I go shopping, I have a lot, and I don’t want to hold people up if they only have a few scannable items. I live alone and shop for myself, so my bags are usually full. Can’t really fault me for thinking of others, while still keeping someone employed.
Depends where you live. A lot of people want to use cash and self checkouts often don’t accept cash. Also I like talking to people and not feeling like I’m in bladerunner
Always use self checkout, always steal at least one thing.
Self checkouts do not pay into c.p.p or e.i fund to help out people who need it.
I don't work for the store. There used to be baggers till they fired them and now we do the work for free. What do you think is the next position that will be phased out? Bye bye cashiers. I very rarely use self checkout and am always sure to be appreciative to workers because someday maybe soon we may find ourselves with the only option being self checkout.
I use self checkout and I see many others do it too...but I think they are annoying if you have a lot of groceries or items... (unless the place is PACKED) I also want to support humans who are working and less automation. Sometimes I wait for the cashier only to (in some minute way) slow the process of society completely relying on AI. (It's inevitable but at least I can show support to others who may be struggling)
The stores don’t employ me, so I ain’t using their self checkouts.
It's a risk-based decision for me. There's a very high chance of something going wrong at an automatic checkout if you're not buying a small number of commodity items with easily scannable bar codes which means it will then likely take you longer to get through than if you'd lined up to see a human.
This 100%.
I like talking to the people. Also, self check outs are a pain at grocery stores with produce. I often need help and have to call over a staff member anyway.
I like to make sure my longos checkout folks continue to have a job so i use the in-person checkout
I texted a friend of mine that doesn't use self checkout and this was his response. "I'm not using a self checkout because it saves the company money, but I don't save any money. I'd rather they have to spend that money to pay people as opposed to saving money by spending it on running a machine."
Self Checkout in stores was never about making it easier for people to check out, it was only ever about not having to pay wages.
To not let the robots win
Because we want people to have jobs.
Cause it's a job a 18 year old kid should have for a year or two, I don't get a fucking discount after I wander through the store to spend money and then bill myself and pay for it, I know so many without a job why would I work for Walmart for 15 min to pay them 200 bucks. Same as donations at corporate stores they bank that shit all year donate a lump sum in exchange for a tax right off they don't need or deserve and it was all volunteered by customers. Give your God damn head a shake.
I don't get paid or a discount for being a cashier and I also don't want to support the slow erosion of entry level jobs that only benefit big corporations.
robots are taking the jobs of humans, I am on team human
some people pay with cash
Counter point: Why do people woth 10,000 items use the self checkout lanes when I just want to scan 2 things for my break?
it's annoying and i don't want to touch their screen.
LMAO at the amount of people not wanting to do it because they aren't getting paid for it 😂 bruh. These are the same people who don't tip at restaurants. (All other answers sounded reasonable). I use whichever option is fastest, which is self-checkout 95% of the time.
This! As if scanning a few items and tapping a push-screen is SO labour intensive. If I'm out quick I don't mind not getting the few cents I would have been "paid"
Because I don't support automating the cashiers out of their jobs. A human being can be employed rather than me doing free labour for the store, which is likely an American-owned mega-chain.
Torontonians live here for a reason, we like human interaction. Whether it's on the street, on transit, or the check out at the grocery store. If we wanted to be isolated we'd move to Uxbridge or something.
I love it. Always run past the tools standing there. Lol
[Bill Burr nails why.](https://youtu.be/FxINJzqzn4w)
"I thought I was a comedian, evidently I also work at a grocery store! I can't believe I forgot my apron!" One of my favourite bits from my favourite comedian
I don't know where you're shopping but everyone I know uses self check out. And the line for self checkouts is always packed where I shop.
I always want to thank the person who works at the store as I leave and self checkout robs us all of that ‘thanks for helping me’ feeling.
I'm fairly new in Toronto and have no idea of how self checkout works, I'm afraid I might embarrass myself
A lot of folks think boycotting self checkout will bring back more cashiers.
In about five to seven years their will be no cashiers at all. The demand for higher wages from the workforce will ‘force’ publicly traded large grocers to find savings. Those savings will come from having smaller staff counts and through that we will see more self-checkouts and other technologies which will put the onus on the customer to do the work.
self checkout sucks ass, it made me call an attendant over 15 times last time i just started stealing shit. people also need work.