The Boomers are right sometimes, like about keeping email.
Yeah, this response is a rare boomer W.
I have 20k emails in my inbox
I will only clean it when I get complaints
You’re either the kind of person who reads their emails in real time and freaks if that little blue number ever reads “2” or you’re the kind of person who selects their entire inbox and marks it as read twice a decade.
My wife is the former. I am the latter. I get too much junk. I go through my inbox a few times a day, read what looks important, and ignore the rest. I have 2,174 unread emails in my inbox and a folder called “auto junk” with 5,116 in it.
See if your email provider lets you whitelist addresses. Every known sender goes to inbox, all the rest to trash. Great for keeping things tidy and helping to sniff out fake emails from eboy.
I’ve never understood the people who seem to not get that some people actually don’t mind scanning their stuff and putting it in bags, and insist that that’s the line between what the customer does and the employee. They also used to carry your groceries to the car for you, and you can also get them to pick everything up, bag it and bring it to your car or house. It’s not like the checkout process is the special part that can’t change.
Yeah, they want to save money by having fewer people get more customers checked out faster. I don’t really care since the part I like, getting finished at the store, happens faster.
I don’t have a problem with self-check. I use it most the time because I usually have < 10 items.
I DO have a problem with only self-check lanes being open or only ONE regular clerk check lane open. both of which happen at walfart.
I know this because I used to work there and policy was to hire floor associates that can run a register so the store won’t need to pay for cashiers just standing around.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Walmart cashier without a line. Doesn’t matter how many cashier lanes and self checkouts are open. Find it hard to belief they are ever able to just stand around.
that’s exactly the point. WM mgmt sees that as a win. every employee has a queue depth they can complete in x time, be it customers they help or tasks they complete.
if you can’t complete the minimum queue depth according to WM you’re pulled up for a performance eval and eventually fired.
Mgmt doesn’t want to hire more people because “home office” provides a bonus to mgmt to keep operation costs low. at “performing” stores this can be as much to go out and buy a new car.
so the next time you’re waiting in line for an hour at WM ask to speak to the store mgr directly, or better yet ask for the contact details of the district mgr. enough complaints and that store is marked as “non-performant” and the store (and mgrs) will be pulled up for a performance eval.
But in the end won’t it be the cashiers who will suffer/be blamed, instead of management hiring another one to help carry the load? I mean, even if you ask to speak to the manager, and wait for them, and say, “obviously you’ve understaffed this shift, so you need to open a register yourself and start ringing people up, you can start with me,” they are just going to blame the poor cashier who got stuck with Grandma’s coupons and check-writing or whatever. Or if they are decent, they’re already working a register, and it’s someone higher up who refuses to hire more staff, despite having a “ghost job offer” that sits out there to look like they’re hiring.
I love self checkout. Conversation with strangers is difficult, slow and often not fun. Separating that aspect from checking out is the best customer service a lot of stores offer.
Some stores near me are removing or disabling self checkout. Apparently this better serves the customer. Can’t quite see how taking away options improves things, but …
It doesn’t, it’s because people shoplift at self checkout all the time and the big retailers can’t figure out how to stop it. Almost every shop in my town forces you to do self checkout, they don’t even have cashiers most of the time. Last time I was at my local walmart they had like 6 self checkouts and 4 cashiers just standing there staring at everyone trying to find shoplifters. They still can’t find them though lol.
Which is bizarre, because shrinkage due to theft at all major retail chains is at historic lows, but they keep complaining that they can’t make any money due to rampant shoplifting. Then you look at their profits for each fiscal year and wonder what their deal is if losses due to shoplifting have never been lower and profits have never been higher?
It’s an easy scapegoat to justify closing low performing stores. It essentially shifts the blame onto the community, rather than the greedy suits.
Well, this can’t possibly be the case. The giant corporations who assuredly only have my best interests in mind tell me it’s what I want, not what they want.
I respect your preference, and for some people it could even be considered a “reasonable accommodation.”
But I prefer to have the person who does this all day whip through the scanning and bagging while I pay up. It may not be rocket surgery, but good cashiers have an efficiency of eye/brain/hand motion that I can’t match. Especially when there’s multiples of the same item, their machine trusts them to do it the efficient way rather than scanning and weighing each item. Or having the produce codes at their fingertips without stopping to read them. And since all machines have little quirks, it’s helpful to know exactly where to apply “percussive maintenance.”
I am comfortable speaking with strangers, so I always thank them and wish them a good day. And I don’t stand for entitled assholes giving them shit, either.
Having both options is best and should be part of ADA compliance.
That’s fair.
Have you ever rang a TV through as bulk onions?
I fucking love self check out!
The check out is the part where the actual sales transaction occurs. It really is materially different from those other services you mentioned.
Also,
I don’t really care since the part I like, getting finished at the store, happens faster.
That was true until they realized they could enshittify by closing all the regular check-outs and force everyone into it. Now it’s just as slow as full-service used to be.
check out is the part where the actual sales transaction occurs. It really is materially different
Like a vending machine? Or the gas station? Or the grocery pickup, where I pay online?
What makes a human being present for me giving my money to a machine different if it’s a grocery store as opposed to one of those?Sorry your experience sucks. Stores near me regularly have both open and the self checkout is invariably significantly faster. It’s not like I just didn’t notice that something I do several times a week actually sucks.
I mean, walmart could easily fix that by having fucking cashiers.
At the walmart I go to they put in like 60 self checkouts and have, maybe, one cashier running at a time.
I don’t mind self checkout as a concept. Its fine if you are just buying a couple things, or something you might be personally embarassing for you… but they are not a replacement for cashiers.
Cashiers and belts are needed to handle bigger purchases like monthly groceries and shit.
Unless you are gonna take 25% off my bill for labor savings, I am not going to take my monthly shopping through a self checkout. I had to once when I had no choice, and I’ll never do it again.
Unless you are gonna take 25% off my bill for labor savings, I am not going to take my monthly shopping through a self checkout. I had to once when I had no choice, and I’ll never do it again.
I also faced that scenario once and walked out of the store leaving my $400 worth of groceries sitting in front of the abandoned cashier lanes. The profit from just my purchase would have paid for a full cashier shift that day. Instead they got to pay for restocking and ruined frozen food and meat.
Walmarts keep the same number of cashiers before and after self checkouts are installed.
not in any walmart where i’ve witnessed the changeover.
I’m just basing it off of being married to a Walmart manager for 10 years but hey, maybe outsiders’ anecdotal feelings on the topic are more accurate than observed first hand experience.
Walmart is ALWAYS hiring cashiers.
Yeah, and you know where they are? stocking shelves and picking for the online pickup orders. Not running checkout lines.
My parents refused to use the self-checkout because “They take people’s jobs.”
They were hardcore republicans perfectly happy to make sure those jobs got paid shit.
They were increasing demand for labor which pushes up the price of labor.
Maybe in spite of themselves, they were helping.
I’ll give them a “partly right in spite of themselves” for sure.
IE. We like the idea of slavery! Someone to do the dirty work while we act superior…while shopping at Walmart.
Not wanting to do free work for a company (they don’t even give you a discount if you use self-service) is being a boomer?
That’s the first time I’ve seen the word “boomer” on the opposite side of the word “sucker”.
Exactly! Back in my day, people used to fill up my gas for me and carry my things up to my hotel room. Young people are getting lazy and entitled! Corporations need to make them work harder. Makes it hard to humiliate the poors if they make ME do the work.
Tbh back then the pay was more fairly in line with cost of living for some of the jobs. however, it has been a good 20 or so year since it was more fair. Nowadays, it is absolutely scary the cost of living. it’s down right criminal.
They also don’t schedule enough employees to keep the lines running quickly, they only have 2-3 lanes open most of the time when it’s busy as having another line is 2x $13-15 an hour for a bagger and a cashier. This gets people to either go to self checkout or wait forever. Naturally most people go through self checkout, which they’ll probably use as an excuse to make more self checkouts.
(talking about the store I work at specifically, which isn’t a Walmart, but I assume Walmart does the same)I don’t think I’ve seen a bagger in a decade, maybe it’s a regional thing?
Krogers still have baggers.
trader joes, cashier does it too
I REFUSE to put how many bags I took if I have to self checkout. I also buy less. in many states now there is a bag fee. if I have to scan and bag my own shit, you’re eating that cost and for not paying an extra employee to be there to help. I also don’t frequent you as often.
you’re eating that cost
Isn’t the bag fee usually a tax though? By not paying it you’re not screwing the store, you’re screwing whoever would get that tax (e.g. infrastructure, aid programs, etc)
I also don’t frequent you as often.
This might actually do something, if enough people are committed to it.
I usually see lines at the self checkouts too, and they move a lot slower.
I’m on Team Boomer on this one.
I am and I’m not. If it’s like 2 items, give me a self checkout. If it’s over 15. Bring on a cashier.
I always prefer self checkout because too many people suck at bagging.
Don’t put a leaking pack of meat with my deli you dumb shit. All while I see people pushing full carts that have meat touching produce…
The only place I trust to bag for me is Trader Joe’s. Tetris masters over there.
Then offer a discount for self checkout.
In some places, they are making you subscribe to Walmart+ to use self checkout. Like, it wasn’t just annoying enough, now if you don’t have their subscription service, you have to stand in the extra long non-self checkout line. Can they make us hate it any more?
Sounds like screwing up both customers and cashiers this way.
The best system I saw for self checkout was at a place in New Zealand about…shit. Nearly 20 years ago now.
You would walk in, scan a barcode on your store card, pick up a hand held scanner and scan the items as they went into the cart. Including fruit and veg, there was a weigh station for that. As you put stuff into the trolley you’d scan it.
When you got to the front there was a special lane. You didn’t unload, you walked through and paid. Randomly - like 1 time in 5 to start with - they’d ask you to rescan so you unload into the belt, which was faster because dedicated lane. But if you always had exactly the same items that you’d scan, the trust threshold in whatever system would greenlight you. No bagging either. Just the stock boxes on a table as you left, or like us you just shove it all in crates in the boot of the car.
There was a.minor rebate in terms of store points which unlocked specials for using it but holy shit it was sooooo much faster because it moved the scan point back to you loading the cart. You could see how much you were going to spend and delete items from the scanner itself.
I am not a grocery fan so to be able to do a full week shop in under 20 minutes was awesome. As per tradition we was young and on a tight budget so it was super easy to keep tabs on how much we were spending and saving.
I agree with the boomers on this one. I’m not in the habit of providing free labor to a corporation I don’t even work for.
I agree! I was at a Walmart one time and some chick ran out right by us at a high speed. We had no idea what was going on but apparently she was stealing. The one worker said as they walked by us “you got all these people standing around doing nothing and they couldn’t stop her?” It was a smart ass comment. Did that employee really believe that I would risk my life for Walmart, of all places? I don’t work there, I’m not security, I’m not a police officer. Not my problem.
Boy, you’re not gonna be happy when you learn how food stores used to work. They’ve been offloading things labor used to do onto the customers for a century.
I actually prefer being able to choose my own produce and meats.
Edit: I definitely get suckered in by the impulse purchasing though.
It’s easier to steal shit. So pay yourself with a nice cheap can of Pinot Gris.
Stealing is wrong.
If you see someone steal food, no you didn’t.
Then pay for delivery and get it right to your door…
Cashiers and baggers are underpayed and forced to stand, if you want someone to chat to, you should pay extra. But you don’t want to pay more for groceries to pay people a living wage, the solution is to pay for delivery, sorry that still removes the ability to chat, but they aren’t obligated to, they only need to scan your groceries. Why do you think they need to do more?
These people being forced to stand all day in the USA is pure insanity looking from the outside.
Yup. There’s no reason they couldn’t have a stool.
I don’t think, nor did I say, they needed to do more. I’m also not particularly fond of small talk, so I dont typically chat with them. They’re paid to do a job, so why would I offer to do that job for free?
I’d rather “work” than wait behind people with 100+ items. I can be out the door in 2 minutes.
So this is pro-self checkout? Why would you be pro self checkout? Besides the extra time and effort for the customer to check out if they have more than a couple items, I recently read an article saying that even for the companies they haven’t worked out: besides the problems and delays they cause where they have to provide employee assistance anyway (“Unexpected item in bag”, etc), they’ve lost more to theft and are having to spend more money on adding more anti-theft tech, etc. One company they interviewed is phasing them out.
(edit after reading some comments) The article also talked about people getting in trouble for accidentally not getting something scanned.
I LOVE self-checkouts for small shopping. No human interaction bullshit. Just beep your stuff, whip out your card and go. Rarely do I encounter technical problems.
Wait a minute, do you mean to tell me that the mighty MBA class are actually just short-sighted, trend-hopping, avaricious shitbags?
Yeah, if you can’t pay people enough to notice and/or care if I steal from you, I get to steal from you. Them’s the rules.
“If you aren’t able to stop me, I get to rape you. Them’s the rules.”
That’s how fucking stupid you sound.
I mean that’s literally how rape works. Not saying that’s a good thing, just that a law is mere words on a page if it’s not enforceable.
I just like the feeling of privacy. When the staff redirects customers to the cashiers because there’s less queue than at the self checkout, I pretend not to hear with my headphones on.
Same. I’m one of the few people that prefers self checkout. Covid was a magical time for me while grocery shopping. No one awkwardly had to smile after eye contact, everyone gave space and avoided each other, just get in and get out without ever taking out my headphones. Self check out is always faster where I’m from too.
As a hermit forced to live and work in the modern world, COVID is the high I’ll never get again.
Ditto. Then, when we went back to “normal,” I felt like I had to pretend to hate it because everyone else hated it so much. For me, it felt like freedom and relief.
I only prefer self checkout when I’m buying rubbers and lube. Anything else I’d rather have the checkout person scan and bag for me.
If you have social anxiety, the checkout person conversation is one of the easiest interactions for you to practice those skills on. “Hello, here are my items, thank you” is about the gist of what’s necessary.
Oh I have absolutely no social anxiety, I just prefer to keep what I’m buying to myself when I can, rubber or not.
Well I hope you use cash for all purchases and wear a mask that covers your face, otherwise everything you bought is recorded along with your identity in the store systems and potentially sold to 3rd parties like advertising companies, maybe to your health insurance company too.
They are HUGELY advantageous to shoplifters. My local grocery store did it for a few years and stopped all together.
Why would you be pro self checkout? Besides the extra time and effort for the customer to check out if they have more than a couple items
In what alternate reality does self-checkout take more time and effort?
- If you go to a cashier then you have to wait in line. At my local supermarket there is one cashier vs. 16 self-checkout machines. Even if you go at an extremely busy time there is almost always a self-checkout machine available.
- With self-checkout you simply scan the items from your basket and put them in your bag. With the cashier you have put all your items on the conveyor belt, wait for them to be scanned, then put them in your bag.
- If you have more than a few items you simply grab a hand-scanner or just use the app on your phone and scan the items as you put them in your cart. Then you just go to a self-checkout machine and pay. No unloading the cart at checkout, you just pay and take your cart to your car.
the problems and delays they cause where they have to provide employee assistance anyway (“Unexpected item in bag”, etc)
What do you mean unexpected item in bag? The self checkout machine can’t look into my bag.
The article also talked about people getting in trouble for accidentally not getting something scanned.
Never seen that happen. You get random bag checks before you pay (so at that point it’s technically not theft). If you missed something, they simply re-scan all the items and you pay the correct amount, that’s all.
Management can fuck right the hell off. Self checkout is taking jobs away from people and getting us to work for free.
Do you feel the same about self serve gas?
Self serve gas was actually lower priced than full service back when the transition was happening, so there was actually a reason to do the work yourself.
If it had been the same price, only I have to do the work of pumping it, damn straight I would have felt the same.
In retrospect it was a bad deal because once full service went away entirely, so did the price difference, so I’m smarter now and wouldn’t use self checkout even if they gave a discount.
I’ve driven through Oregon before back when you weren’t allowed to pump your own gas and it felt ridiculous and inconvenient waiting for an employee to come pump gas for you. But maybe that’s just because I’m accustomed to self serve.
For groceries it’s nice to have the option to do self checkout. If I have a small number of items then self checkout is faster/easier. If I have a large number of items then going through the line with the cashier is faster/easier.
Tell me where I can find a place that pumps it for me at the same price and that’s where I’ll be getting it.
Boomer question of the day
With self checkout I can literally get in and out the grocery store in like 10-30 minutes where 98% of the time is me choosing products instead of waiting 5-15 minutes in the cashier lane waiting for old people to put their shit on the rolling thing
I like them because it makes my bagging more efficient. At the lanes, if I’m getting a decent amount of groceries, I usually end up bagging for a while after I’ve paid and feel like a dick because I’m in the way of the people getting rung up behind me.
At self checkouts, I take it out of the cart, scan, then stick it right in the bag. Even better if they don’t have the stupid weighing thing that assumes I’m trying to steal shit if they don’t micromanage every item going into my bag.
Also, in this case, management is telling workers to not make fun of people who don’t want to use self checkouts.
Don’t feel like a dick for that! That again is management’s fault!
Remember that bagging your groceries used to be part of the service and part of the price, they eliminated that job to increase their profit margins!
At least around here Walmart still bags them for me, except they now have the cashier doing it instead of a dedicated employee for bagging.
I’n Italy we use barcode scanners during the shopping and you scan everything. After that you only pay.
Super useful as well because you can price check all the groceries while you pick them up and scan
That would be nice, though I’ve got some questions.
- Do you bag as you shop, then?
- Do you need to involve staff if you change your mind about an item?
- Do they have a bag/receipt checker doing random searches in many stores?
- Are all stores like that?
1 yes 2 no, you click “delete item” and re-scan what you want to delete 3 yes 4 more and more, if they don’t usually I wont shop there
Boomer uncle literally drives his electric bill payment to the local office to pay it when they have a perfectly fine online portal.
Same exact response ‘that’s someone’s job’ like the employee actually has a say.
There’s no justification from a pure convenience standpoint, but I could respect the pettiness if the electric company ran their shit like one local government office in my hometown, where there was this small annual fee they charged like $9 for…but then to pay it, you could either mail in a check, hand deliver cash or check or card…or pay online…where they added a $5 “convenience fee” to a sub-$10 payment.
You bet your ass that I paid that shit in person every year, in loose change, and requested a receipt (which they had to write up manually because they didn’t have a system to process and print one).
I live by this philosophy
If you charge me more to make both our lives easier, I will make both our lives harder out of spite.
It will cost you more than the fee you tried to squeeze out of me, and I will have spent nothing.
My city’s water bill went from a free online portal to a shittier one with a fee. I pay it by check now out of pettiness.
No fee for the portal. His only justification was it is some human interaction, which is fine. Just feels like a boomer mentality.
Hell, you can even pay through a check via the banks online portal. Dude doesn’t have a cell phone and never has.
I refuse to use them as a union worker, when I’m told to use the self checkout as I’m in line for the only cashier I just refuse. I’m doing it for you kids
This is broken window fallacy, akin to throwing garbage on the floor so some custodian keeps his job. These workers still have other shit to do. I get to waste less time waiting. So it’s win-win-win situation.
I see it as every employee walmart has to hire and pay to solve this problem is a local and the money will be saved and spent locally, not automatically going to be another drop in some CEO’s bucket.
The best choice is to shop local in the first place but some places don’t have that luxury. And who knows if enough local money builds up people might open their own businesses
I was once mistaken for an employee somewhere and my sleep deprivated response was to say “I am wearing pants so clearly I dont work here.” I have no fucken clue what that means but I think it was a threat.
We’re you at a strip club?
Pretty sure I was at an Ace hardware or some shit. Like I said I was severely sleep deprived and was looking for something, pretty sure it was duck tape for reinforcing an air conditioner.
Frankly speaking once I got to my car and realized what I said I started laughing my ass off since it was such a non sequitur.
