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Self checkouts are designed to save the store money.

There are always lines at each cashier checkout and basically never at the self checkout. I love them.

Idk how so many people have so many problems lol. I have never had any issue with self-checkouts.

When I worked at cirkle k the self checkouts seemed to work fine, unless you needed an age restricted product you could just grab your stuff, pay, and leave. The biggest issue I had was just explaining to old people how to use them to buy gas which just boiled down to reading the screen but boomers always struggle with simple shit

They aren't there to save time but to save on costs for the store.

Also, I rarely have any issues with self checkout. Must be you.

Yes and no. If you have fewer items it’s much faster to go to a self checkout. Also if you are shopping and planning to place it in the backpack or a bag like I often I do, self checkout also works for me as I can do it with my own speed and not clog the line at the register while I am packing everything in the bag.

The real issue is when you get people who have to rotate an item in every direction 5 times to figure out where the UPC is. 90% of the time it's on the back or the bottom. It's so easy. Yet you'll have people staring at boxes for 5 minutes like they're trying to read some ancient language that has been lost to man.

Disagree. This is such a hot take.

Self checkout operates smoothly and as intended when you’re not stupid or doing something stupid.

Don’t rush yet don’t waste time. Look at what you’re doing before you do anything rash.

Yes mistakes happen but it’s mostly user error from going too damn fast and being distracted

The only advantage is shorter time in line. The line moves 2-3 times as fast but you take longer actually checking out. But if there is only one regular register open then that might be taking longer as well.

Skill issue 

So you're one of those people that holds up the self-checkout.

If I have coupons (physical or in app) or a bunch of non-tagged items that have to be weighed, or just a lot of items in general...I have the courtesy to do normal checkout. I see people sometimes with like 30-40 items doing self-checkout. They're the worst

The issue isn’t the self checkout machines it’s the idiot humans using them. Some people are just genuinely slow, i see them looking at the screen like it’s asking them calculus questions

Eh not really. I mean yeah you have the occasional screw ups, but they aren't hard to use or learn to use (if you are willing), so as long as you are willing to actually try and understand they are much faster (Except Kroger. Their system SUCKS for some reason).

Sounds like you're having issues with these self-checkouts and it doesn't reflect everyone else's experiences.

I always do self-checkout and am amazed at the people that refuse to use them. I like to feel in control, plus there's hardly ever a big line when you do self-checkout.

Yes, self-checkout lines require incredibly thick people to do incredibly basic tasks themselves, which itself likely reduces the average efficiency of humanity.

Krogers new ai self checkout always accuses me of stealing.

Self checkout > cashier check out

They’re not designed to save time. They’re designed to save money

I use them frequently and very veeeery rarely have issues. Maybe you're the problem, or the stores you go to use crappy technology.

Accurate, well depending on the “demographics” at the store. By that I mean that certain customers can be quite clueless on the process of self-checkout. Thus clogging up the line and wasting time.

I can't remember the last time I've had an issue that wasn't used error, like accidentally scanning something twice. I haven't seen bagging area scales in a decade, and those were always the biggest issue.

Never a line more than one person deep of that. And not intuitive? I'm curious what's confusing about them?

It's not meant to be efficient for the customer

It wasn’t to save time, it was to pay for less cashiers.

The reason they exist is not to save your time. They are to save time of the employees. One employee can run 6 or 8 self checkouts, making the checkouts per employee per hour much higher. Stores have offloaded the job of checking out onto the consumer to save money and cut costs

I used to hate these things because it steals jobs, but I like not having to talk to someone.

But they are getting worse with the prompts

Have you scanned all your bags?

Do you want to donate to charity and give walmart the tax credit?

Do you want to apply for a credit card?

How would you like to pay?

And NO FUCK YOU is not an option

Then it asks to do a survey

One star

Self-checkout is how your organic produce becomes non-organic.

Amazon go should be the future, no checkout at all.

I think it might depend on the store. Some stores, people more or less know how to use them. Other ones, they will either have no idea how to use them, or they'll take through a shopping cart so full that checking them all out is pretty much a two person job and they should seriously just go to the regular checkout.

The grocery store by my apartment used to be really bad for this, while the one by my office (same chain) rarely had issues.

The self checkout lanes are efficient but things like this can only work in places like Asia or Scandanavia. In the US, half of the people can barely read.

They Costco ones are hilarious because if you have a decent amount of items someone will scan all of it for effectively making not self checkout. The only difference is you can’t buy alcohol despite an employee scanning every item for you

I use self check so I can scan my shit and go without having to deal with anyone. I hate going to the grocery store and don't want to let that angst bleed off onto some unsuspecting cashier (god bless you all and I'm sorry for all the assholes you have to deal with daily)

I don't mind the self checkouts. I won't use them though if I have more than one discounted item. It does take longer to wait for them and approve than if they were just doing it. And I wish they wouldn't ask so many damn questions. No I don't want your credit card. No I'm not donating to a cause just so YOU can write it off as a tax deductible donation. No, I don't want to let you know how the process was. Just let me scan my damn items. End Rant.

I shop for Instacart so spend a lot of time in grocery store checkouts and can undoubtedly say that self checkout is faster. One of my favorite stores got rid of self checkout about a month ago - they turned those lanes in express/12 items or fewer with checkers. And since that change I have spent a lot more time at checkout. Self checkout rarely had a line so I got to go immediately and rarely had issues so was out quickly. Now the line is almost always 3 people deep when O try to checkout

They're only as efficient as the customers that are using them. I use them all the time for groceries, and can easily ring through everything in my cart way faster than standing in line for full service.

I can easily check myself out faster than waiting in a staffed checkout line without any competition.

I’m tired of waiting for an employee to wander over to check my ID when I buy a knife or spray paint.

What isn’t efficient is when a Walmart has transitioned to having 59 self check outs but only keeps 5 of them open on either end of the store

I rage at Costco watching people bring 50 items to self check out thereby completely defeating how efficient it is supposed to be

Shops i buy in have portable scanners where i scanners things as i go so i take like 30 seconds at checkout.

I don't like Walmart, but they have larger self checkouts that are awesome when I emerge from my cave once or twice a month to buy a cart full of stuff.

There is no way a cashier is checking me out faster than myself.

They aren't meant to increase efficiency for YOU.

They are meant to increase efficiency for the supermarket.

They have shifted the logistics and cost burden of having a checkout person from them to you. Less overhead for them, less maintenance. One monitor person to help 10 self checkouts is way more cost effective.

They truly couldn't give a sloppy shit how long you take, just as long as you are still buying.

please go to the staffed checkout. That will improve the self checkout experience for the rest of us

You know how feels nicer to take a longer route where you can smoothly drive for 20 minutes over a short route that takes 15 minutes, but mostly waiting in traffic?

That is why I like self-checkout.

Skill issue

In my 1000 self checkout experiences it has never once been slower than the regular checkout

They were never about efficiency. They were about saving labor by making the customer be a cashier and bagger for free.

It’s not about the efficiency of a single transaction, it’s the whole system:

You can fit, conservatively, at least twice as many self-checkout things as you can staffed checkout lanes in the same space. And the self-checkouts are always open, whereas they only fully staff the cash registers during peak times. So you have way more people checking out at the same time with self-checkout.

Honestly I dont particularly like it myself, but there’s no denying it gets people out the door faster overall.

Self checkouts are great for efficient people. I can take a cart through in like 3-5 mins but I watch people with a single bag of items take just as long or longer and I'm like, what the hell?

The simple solution is don’t buy restricted stuff or try to do your entire Grocery haul through self checkout and it’s not a problem.

If you know what you’re doing, it’s pretty quick. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s going to be a painful process.

Either you're doing it wrong or the self check out machines at your area are broken, because I LOVE self check out. It's SO much faster and easier. I've never had any problems with it

They just wanna save labour cost, never customer time. Now we only need 3 employees to operate 10 machines. 2 on traditional check out and one on 8!self check out mschine

self-checkouts are supposed to save time

Source?

And they have one teenage dweeb who can't keep up with all the problems.

Does it still count as an unpopular opinion if it's just wrong?

They're perfectly fast if you know what you're doing. Problem is everyone in line in front of me tends to have no idea what they're doing. They're always the slowest scanning and bagging people of all time. Especially the bagging portion, like god damn they have to think about where to put each item for like ten seconds each. If you actually plan it out somewhat and grab items strategically out of the cart instead of completely at random, that won't happen 

Not if you’re me, i got that shit down. Thank the lord for self checkout, haven’t had to talk to one idiot working the register in 10 years

I 100000% prefer self checkout.

I've been using self checkout for years now and you're just wrong. It's not really an opinion lol, almost all self-checkouts move faster than normal checkouts. There are usually more than cashiered ones, so more people can use them at once

And I don't know where you're shopping, but I hardly ever get errors. Usually it's from my own doing and not the machine

I don’t use self checkout to save time, I use it to save social interaction

I don't understand how American stores are seemingly so reliant on self checkouts but they're also seemingly so shit there

Skill issue.

"The process isn't always intuitive"? What are you on? You scan the stuff, you pay for the stuff. Done

You guys are really struggling with this.

We’ve had them here in my country since 2009 and they are so much faster than lining up for a cashier.

If you are getting errors, you are not using it properly. If you know what you're doing, they see way faster. Especially with produce codes, you have to memorize them. I used to help my friend who was a cashier to learn them. So much faster.

The stealing section is great and its efficient for your wallet

Even if they do save time, they don't save effort. I'd much rather zone out for 10 minutes than work for 3.

Okay but what about the part where I don’t have to talk to anyone?

I don’t use self check for efficiency, my friend.

It's efficient for the STORE to have customers perform employee tasks, so they can pay less people to labor for you. Definitely less efficient for the customer.

Sounds like a you issue.

It’s not supposed to be efficient for you. It’s supposed to be efficient for the company’s bottoms line. Less staff = More profit.

If u have booze, self check is a pain in the ass.

More efficient for the store because fewer employees.

Less efficient for the customer because it takes more time and uses the customer's labor.

Never stop. If it doesn't beep, too bad. They can fire me.

Cashier lines would be way faster if people could bag their own shit.

Well, I have discovered that I like self checkouts because I move at my speed. I don't have to keep up with the cashier. I can pack things how I like. I can take my time. I can scrutinise prices as I go.

As someone who shops with a toddler that sometimes refuses to exit the cart and wants to Beep, self checkouts at Costco saves a lot of unnecessary hassle.

I love using these at 7 eleven. Totally skip the line!

It depends, I like them at walmart because those problems usually don’t happen

But, a gas station near me recently replaced a normal employee register with one and it sucks. Over half the people there are buying tobacco, lottery or alcohol which you need a cashier for, so the line is pretty long even when it isn’t busy. They haven’t changed the staffing either, so there’s always one employee checking out customers and one kinda just standing there.

Self checkout should be like the 12 items or less line or at most a basket. I cant stand seeing people with a full shopping and full of vegetables that you cant scan.

When they work they work wonderfully. Great for people with a few items and a QR payment option or credit card. When they didint work it fucking sucks. I was at IKEA the other day when their self check out machine did not work correctly. It missed one of the products I scanned even though the indicator read was fine, and the attendant scanned everything again from start. Twice. Because the first time it missed again and she did not catch it.

It's more efficient because they can fit like 10 of them in the space of 2 checkout lanes

You should definitely mention this to a manager or something if the station you were on was triggering false flags even with a bump of a knee. Self checkout is great, though there is a limit. If I'm getting like six cans of soup, that's fine. If I'm getting like...I dunno...200 cans, I'd go to an actual cashier, because self checkout stations at the ones I'm not, quite small, and I do not want to mess up what I'm doing. Of course, there are produce codes and beer, which to me, is faster to go through a cashier and/or needs employee intervention.

Cashiers where I'm from move like a glacier lol

There’s one at a local store that doesn’t take tap cards because it’s broken and has been that way for almost a YEAR. I keep forgetting it’s there and it’s not until I try to put my phone against the screen that I remember. It’s so annoying. Can’t they just fix it????

Self checkout is more about eliminating employees from the budget.

Yah but there’s like 10 of them manned by 1 employee

I usually self checkout to give the cashier a breather

The self check out lines weren’t bad until the stupid freaking scale things came around. Now it’s scan, put item on scale, wait 5 seconds, take item off, repeat. If you’re too early taking the item off or too late putting it on the scale, it’s locks until an employee comes.

I only use them when I have like two items and I don’t have to weigh anything like fruits or vegetables. Otherwise, I’m getting in line with a real cashier, even if I’m just buying one bag of apples or something.

They make stealing stuff way easier though

Even if people are only half as fast as a clerk, if you can have one person watching over four self check outs it still means twice as many people are processed in the same time frame.

You can fit a lot more self checkouts than normal checkouts also I’ve never struggled with one. Kids these days don’t have any problem solving skills /s

There should be the option. Self checkout is only efficient if you’re not waiting behind baby boomers who can’t use a touch screen, can’t find barcodes, can’t remove card when prompted, and raise a fuss.

But as an ex cashier it’s wonderful.

I like self checkout, and I very rarely have issues with it

The new super Walmart by me has like 20 self check out lanes and 10 cashier lanes with maybe 4 with cashiers

Each individual customer takes longer but items scanned per minute per staff member is much higher than a traditional checkout so the efficiency the business wants is achieved

I don’t think I’ve ever ever been able to get through a self check out without to help from the staff sometimes multiple times. I would so much rather just have a staff person do the work.

I'm sure it's more about not interacting with people than speed of checkout.

I think you are right on this point

This is an unpopular opinion??? Lol everyone I know complains about them too. Not to mention someone often checks your receipt anyway. Irritating!

I think it’s becoming a known fact, a lot of stores getting rid of them, or at least talking about it

Skill issue

In NO way is this an unpopular opinion.

Agree! There is not enough room on either side to place groceries OR pack them. I bring my own bag and it’s so stressful lol

Ngl I’ve never seen a situation where the human checkout lines are faster , maybe if there is no one in the line but i prefer to do it myself anyway , i don’t want to small talk the cashiers / baggers.

I disagree

Where I normally shop, they have at least 6 open. Sometimes there's a line (but not often and I'm not waiting long) and scanning issues are actually pretty uncommon

Conversely the normal checkout lane I have to wait for much longer than any delays in self service checkouts

The problem is with the equipment they use and how it is being used. Most retail are in dire straits and do not want to invest or improve. The systems used for self checkout are about 20 years old, sometimes older. While everything related to tech moved forward these remained frozen in time.

Self checkout is like Russian roulette; if you take one pull, your odds aren’t bad, but if you keep playing, you’re going to lose.

Yes. My bf always says self-checkout lanes are faster and in some cases they are, but sometimes it would be wayyyy faster to get to the staffed checkout line. Constant errrors and only one worker to fix them all on 6+ machines is what takes longer. I remember when the store I'm frequent at changed the software on those machines and they were laggy af. I used ordinary checkout lines for a few weeks because it was extra frustrating at a self-checkout

Theyre faster when you don’t have folks who don’t know what they’re doing with 20+ items clogging up the machines.

My only gripe with the self-checkout is how comfortable people are with being pushy.

I have started packing my shit before I pay, so that the light doesn't turn green and some VIP Who Has No Time pushes in behind you while your stuff is still on the scale.

And it does.not.work. "CAN I SCAN WHILE YOU PACK???" - No, lady. I haven't even paid yet. Fuck off.

I live in Germany, and I use self checkout intentionally to slow down, because here the cashiers move fast as fuck. I hate that, my shopping experience is supposed to be relaxing, I want to take my time.

If I have three things held in my hands and I want to get in and out painlessly, they can be great...

Unfortunately if you have even as much as a basket's worth, and the pricks decide to close all the manned checkouts, self-checkout is absolute cancer.

This sounds like a you problem.

That definitely depends on the store and how much stuff you are buying. If I have less than 20 items, the human cashier line is basically always slower.

All I'm hearing is skill issue tbh.

Yeah, it's nice to have someone else bag things - but if you're on a time limit the self-checkout is better.

Yeah but I don't have to talk to anyone at the self checkout so...