Hopefully I’ll be dead by then … lol … One reason I prefer the manned lines is b/c they give my neighbors an opportunity for good paying jobs.
I hope that you’re still alive at that point.
I use the self-checkout at Costco, Kmart, and Kroger Supermarket. And I am ever so careful that each and every item scans… I heard where some hapless individual was caught mis-scanning an item (just one item and not all that expensive an item) and they were in a world of hurt, legal and otherwise…). And I do not want to have to deal with some Loss Prevention “hero” who claims I am stealing that dental floss or a can of peas…
In my area there have been a rash of folks stealing by using the self-checkouts and since they got caught and the stealing was quite elaborate and large, the stores have stepped up surveillance and enforcement…
The have been some folks that while the self-check associate is busy or simply not looking, they place their hand over the UPC code as they run it across the scanner and then put the un-scanned item in the cart. They did not account for the security cameras on every checkout…
Then there was a group that had photographed the UPC of an inexpensive item and printed it on a label and they stick the cheap UPC label over the real code and buy a large screen TV for the price of power strip or something…
And there was a group who printed a cheap UPC onto a band aid type label and stuck it to their finger and when they rang up expensive cuts of meat, they hold their hand over the UPC label and it rang their finger as a “bag of corn or something…”
We pay with our credit union’s charge card that gives 5% back… Not on everything, but we can change the category each month (groceries, gas, etc…) and 2% back on the non-chosen categories…
They also did not account for the reality that any up-to-date grocery store has an incredibly-accurate weight scale linked to the area where you place your goods after scanning. Placing a non-scanned item in that area will result in the intervention of the employee who is monitoring the 8, or 10, or 12 self check-out scanners.
If you don’t scan something, and then place it in the area for scanned items, you will get a no-go reaction from that terminal, and that will require the intervention of an employee.
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That’s one add’l annoyance offered by the supermarket diy scan stations. If you have 4 items of the same thing, you’d like to scan one of them four times. But doing that will sound an alarm bring upon you the full attention of the staff, who will be thinking you are a thief. They insist you scan each item one at a time and then place it on the scale. Another reason to avoid the self-scans lines. The best reason however is that going through the manned line gives someone a job.
I like the self serve check outs. I’m a heck of a lot faster than the clerks and don’t need to share what I am buying except of course the nsa has the full digital list.
Yeah but call me a Luddite but spectrum says I have to install a new modem firbtheir improved speed. So the instructions say to down load the app and follow the instructions. But I& I pull the modem, I will not have Wi-Fi service, no? So maybe I’m over thinking it. Still I’m debating. Put the app on my phone that I’ll need to magnify to read? Same thing with the Wi-Fi thermostat I’m having the guy upgrade my hvac to. Dowload another app. Where’s a 14 year old when you need him/her/them?
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The self-check outs at the base commissary with require an associate if you even bump into the bagging area with your leg…
At Kroger, although I’ve never paid much attention to it, the scanner will give you the choice to put the item (or at least some items…) into the bagging area or back into the cart. On out last trip, we bought a case of soda and I put it in the cart and I followed up with the eggs, and a few other items. I’ll have to pay attention the next time…
Some states are looking at taking action with a $5,000 tax on each kiosk in the stores that install the self-checkouts to compensate the states for the loss of jobs…
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Believe it or not…these internet terms like WTF is very very old school. It goes back to the early days of teletype machines (late 1800’s). These shorthand terms were even used by Morse Code operators. Nothing new.
We had a big hoopla a few years ago in Wakefield MA with kids at Wakefield Highschool wearing WTF tee-shirts. Which kids at Wakefield High-school have been wearing for DECADES. Wakefield Track and Field.
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Walmart is shutting down self checking in at least one location due to theft.
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WTF stands for welcome to facebook.
[quote=“MikeInNH, post:93, topic:192385”]
These shorthand terms were even used by Morse Code operators.
That is what I always thought.
I do not know about you but I took cursive back in grade school, Morse Code must have been an AT course… L 
L…
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I was in a Ham Radio club in high-school. Have to know morse code to get your Ham Radio license. I couldn’t do it now.
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In the mid '70s, I had a supervisor in the Air Force who had been a Ham Radio operator for many years. He had his radio set up in a spare bedroom and two walls were covered with those post cards they send each other after making contact. He also operated as a volunteer Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) operator. That it where two ham radio operators act as a “go between” with connecting a military member with someone else far away, often when deployed overseas with no phone service while in the jungle or the desert or while at sea… I tried it several times, and it was very difficult for us uninitiated to remember to say, “Over” when we finished a thought, and then listen patently while the other party spoke and have to wait for them to say “Over” so you could respond… Ham Radio is all one-way communication, only one person can speak at a time. So many times one of us would forget to say over and there was dead silence and you were not sure what was going on…
Ah, memories of a gone by era…
Doesn’t really work that way. Remember way back when K Mart advertised if more than three people in line we will open another check out line? In a K Mart (they were the only store that stocked my size of home HVAC filter), eight of us were in line. A sign above us had the three in line policy advertised plus an 800 phone number. The lady behind me had a cell phone ( not yet common) called the 800 number, the reply “we don’t do anything about it, just take the report”.
About the only option to keep locals employed is to shop the store on line and use curbside pickup.
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That is true, but… for how much longer?
First, it was the supermarkets, and now both Lowe’s and Home Depot have installed self check-outs. Management always wants to reduce overhead expenses, and probably the best way for them to do that is to reduce the number of employees.
Whether drastically reducing the number of employees is the morally or ethically-correct way of doing things, I will leave that to others to decide, but that is the prime way of reducing expenses by slashing expenditures for salaries and benefits. Even the checking of store shelves for adequate stocking is now being automated, which will–again–reduce staffing needs:
At some point, shoppers will have to adapt to the new world of grocery and hardware retailing, either by “learning” the very user-friendly format of self checkouts, or by ordering their groceries online for either curbside pickup or delivery.
And, to keep this on an automotive footing, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see self checkouts at places like Autozone & Advance Auto.
We have a local chain here in the New England called Market Basket. ZERO self-checkouts. Multiple checkout lanes open, along with baggers and people to help you load groceries in your vehicle. They offer very competitive wages. You’ll find many workers who’ve been there for decades. The company is growing and really killing the competition.
It can be done…and companies can be very profitable at it.
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Of course it can be done, but there are a lot of CEOs who want to be able to wring every possible dollar from their sales. Take the case of the Ford Pinto, where the issue of the placement of the fuel tank–with resultant fire danger-was known during the design phase, and where their engineers devised a solution that would have cost ~$4.00 per car.
Upper management nixed that $4.00 per car expenditure, and… well… the rest is history…
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Well maybe it does save some over the long haul. At my Lowe’s they have four self checkouts but there is always a staff person standing there to help.
In marketing class, one of ou4 project# was to make marketing decisions for a grocery store. Back then they ran a profit margin of 2%. We d have teams of two and decide to cut or add staff, change inventory, etc. our decisions were then fed into the computer each week and the next week we’d see how we did. We always managed to lose money. It’s not easy turning a profit at 2%. Ya think all these stores are just rolling in cash and saving $15 an hour but cutting staff so they can pay their $10,000 a month utility bill? Just sayin be happy if they can manage to save enough to stay in business so ya have a place to buy chicken wire. It’s not easy these days.
I hear ups is getting a 40% raise so expect freight costs to go up.
Or it might a hit to service quality. Here in San Jose the city council recently agreed to an unfunded city-staff pay raise. But the question remains, where is the money for this pay raise going to come from?
News article clip follows, Mayor’s worry that the budget solution will be to make cuts in city-wide programs.
“I can tell you traditionally, sadly, where past councils have (cut) have been things like parks, libraries and community centers and after school programs,” Mahan said. “Those are the types of programs that don’t always have the strongest constituencies or frankly, interest groups organized around them.”
No more midnight basketball. Crime will soar (sarc).
We could discuss the utter incompetence and family hiring practices in Lahaina. So many errors made it is impossible to pin point any one in particular. The guy in charge was the same one in charge in the shooting in Las Vegas that we never got answers for. Just move them around. My fil used to say you could not pay a good employee too much but you could not pay an incompetent one too little. Takes your pick what’s you want. But the rot starts with the head on down. Passed my incident command training so head spinning.
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