If there is a cashier available, then I refuse to use self checkout.
These things seem to be meant for people buying a few items, not for 250 items a family of 4 would have In a cart.
this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2025
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If you’re there for a bag of brown sugar or a carton of half and half self checkout makes sense.
I’ve used scanners outside of this retail environment and I know how to pack both a vehicle and a box well. But the awkward height, shape, configuration of self checkout and its bags or lack thereof turns me into a fingerless, blind man trying to use a calculator.
I remember self checkout arriving in 2008 when I was living in the arse-end of Ireland. Took quite a few years for it to arrive anywhere in France, I guess because we could clearly see it was gonna kill more jobs... anyway, they didn't take over but for little old me who is used to it, it's a godsend when I'm faced with families doing their weekly shopping or, worse, pensioners...
And yet, somehow, after all these years, I regularly meet people who indeed seem to have never faced one. No hate on them, I just find it amazing! And I always wonder what suddenly pushed them over, made them decide "today is the day I face my fear and confront the Beast!"
This is the kind of person that complains about people only going 55Mph in a 40-50 zone. Like wtf mate. What's wrong with you people? Everybody's gotta go through the same thing, so mind your business. You ain't special.
Move your arse and let other people use self checkout. You ain't special either.
This is the most true thing anyone has ever said.
No matter what line I pick at the supermarket, that’s the line that will have a technical issue, a grandma with 200 coupons, a guy who wants to scan 50 lottery tickets, and a price check that takes 10 minutes.
Also no matter what spot I pick in line, that’s the spot where people decide to pass through
That the saving grace of self-checkout lines; it tends to be one line for a dozen checkouts. So the dense fucker claping their block of cheese to their chest - in the manner of fleeing refugee carrying a child - while the machine repeatedly begs them to "please place the item in the bagging area" only slows down the line a little bit, but the Hutt going supernova at the cashier because they can't use a different supermarket's app's discount code for 15% off Kleenex on a 3L bottle of Pepsi and demanding to see the manager grinds everything to a halt until they're adequately soothed.
🤣🤣🤣
The problem is that, at least over here, every supermarket chain seems to have vastly different machines.
Either that, or I have to wait for an employee myself for the stupidest reason, i.e. that I've brought a canvas bag that they have to verify I didn't steal.
Your supposed to weigh the bag first, at least in some stores.
I know ~~my~~ I am, same thing here, but even when I do, if it's a bag previously bought from the same place, they usually want to verify. Maybe the system's watching for the store logo on the bag. Most likely they have cameras watching the self-service checkouts to make sure you don't do anything funky, i.e. weighing apples and selecting carrots on the screen.
if it's a bag previously bought from the same place, they usually want to verify.
Fucking hell, where do you live where stores treat customers like potential shoplifters stealing bags costing 50 pence?
That’s why I use my Walmart bag at king soopers
Unexpected item in bagging area. Please remove unexpected item in bagging area. An associate has been alerted.
You sometimes have to press a button for using your own bag first
It’s irritating for sure. They’ve been around for long enough that 95% of shoppers should know how to use them.
I remember before these things came out. It would typically take forever to get through the line to have a cashier ring you up. There was always an old person in front of you that wanted to pay via check, which slowed the line down even more. How about the guy using his 2-way, on speaker, in front of you? That fucking chirp going on and on. What’s that? Someone wants to buy a lotto ticket, which means the cashier has to go to another counter to get the ticket and come back. Next, the soccer mom has 20 coupons she wants to use, half of which are expired or are for a different store. It was so much fun!
I much prefer the self checkouts. I can get through those within a few minutes. It sucks that those cashier jobs have mostly been eliminated. But that’s the price of progress I suppose. We’ve known that automation was coming for all of those types of jobs for years now.
Try going to an Aldi checkout line.
I'm far happier waiting in line with how absurdly fast they train and empower their cashiers to be then I ever have been at Kroger or Walmart. By now all the cashiers recognize me too because they're paid well enough to reduce churn like that, and I don't even get ID checked for alcohol most of the time.
It's a breath of fresh air after being forced to wait in line for self checkout at any store where everyone is slow. Even myself, and even you, because the machines don't let you go fast because they don't trust you or I. It just feels faster because you're doing something the whole time.
Self checkout isnt automation, its YOU doing the job instead of an employee.
I don’t follow that argument. Am I really doing actual work? Spending 5-10 minutes scanning some items and then paying?
Is this some sort of “principle of the matter” thing? Because it seems like one of those arguments for arguments sake.
If you went to a cashier, you still have to put your items on the conveyer belt. The only thing the cashier is doing is scanning the items and placing them in bags. Most people pay by card, which again is something that you do yourself.
I don’t buy the whole “YOU doing the job” nonsense.
What part of it is automated though? Im not trying to make a point about whats better, self checkout or cashier, only saying all the tasks are still done by humans.
Perhaps I worded that wrongly.
Huh, never really experienced that myself. Excluding self checkout at fast food though.
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