At the grocery store near my house, they installed some fancy-dancy automated check-out machines a few months ago.
The concept, in theory, is that technology is an advance because it gets people through the check-out process without having to deal with check-out people – you know, the kind that costs you money, demand raises, treat customers with indifference on occasion, and call in sick. Given grocery stores operate on razor-thin margins, the machines are seen as an godsend.
The problem is the machines suck.
First, the grocery experience is already impersonal enough. You do all the work; you pick, you pack, you push your cart around the store, you bag your own groceries, and then take them home. Now, the machines remove the personal part of grocery shopping.
Second, the machines are annoying. Who was the genius who provided the audio instructions. In particular, it drives me crazy when the voice says “Put your items in the bag”. Listen, I’ve been grocery shopping for a long time so the last thing I need is someone telling me to put the items in the bag. I mean, where else am I going to put the items?
Third, the system is imperfect, which is why there are always a few employees monitoring the situation to keep people from banging their heads against the machines when things don’t as they should.
Not surprisingly, I’ve abandoned the machines. I want to deal with a real person even if the check-out person isn’t always super-friendly.
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I love the self-checkouts. They’ve recently added them to a Walmart and a Home Depot in Fredericton as well.
Yes, they occasionally screw up and you need to get help from the attendant, but in my experience that is rare. I find them more efficient than the regular check-out aisles because there is a single line for four machines so it moves quite quickly.
I will admit that recently, the machines have got worse. They have a new interface that is terrible compared to the old one, but I’m used to it now.
My biggest problem with self-checkouts is that they are not fast enough. As someone who worked his way through college in numerous minimum wage type jobs, I still have that nagging manager’s voice in the back of my head that I am not scanning fast enough.
I agree. I don’t care for these machines, especially when I have my 3 year old with me.
Mark — I had the same reaction when I first played around with the new checkout machines at our local loblaws, er, Great Canadian Superstore. Overly fussy and flawed. Not worth the trouble.
Still, as more and more of the shoppers get used to the finicky machines, the store will gradually put fewer people on cash. Someday you will look at the 20 person line-ups at the staffed tills, and you will find yourself back in the line for the machines. I know; I have.
Interestingly, I find that the machines make it harder to purchase some itmes (fresh bakery and produce, anything lacking an barcode) and I’ve actually seen people put their back of peppers aside as they approach the machine cash. I think it’s interesting to think how the automated check out will change packaging and purchasing behaviour (humans adapting to the machine, unfortunately) over time.
I see it as a ‘determine your need’ type situation.
If I’m picking up two to four grocery items at Sobeys the self serve checkouts are a dream. I whip right through.
When it comes to a full grocery shopping trip complete with having to having to weigh my own produce and then try to adjust more bags than there are holders for… it’s not nearly as efficient.
I found the self check outs to be very practical when they were first launched in Montreal, especially on weekends after 5PM when our silly provincial laws forced supermarkets to operate with only 4 employees.
My only beef with them now is that I rarely use shopping bags and find myself arguing with a machine that keeps on repeating “please place item in the bag”
Amusingly, sometimes I find the lines at check-out lanes manned by people is actually sometimes shorter and faster than the automated ones…
You forgot about the annoying “Please wait for cashier assistance”, if something goes wrong. Especially if you put a light item into a bag after the prompt to “Please place your item in the bag”.
Like others I only use the self serve for small quick purchases other than that I go to the staffed check outs. Plus I know a lot of the kids who work at our local Loblaws, I like to make sure they will have jobs!
When we lived in Boston they started installing self-checkouts, but nobody there used them. They all preferred the service of cashiers.
In Canada they seem to always be in use, though I still go to the cashier. I like that personal touch and conversation.
And the reason they keep telling you to put the items in the bag is because they track the weight to ensure that you aren’t taking anything you didn’t pay for.
I think the self-checkout interface will improve over time. It *is* a painful process right now. I’m regularly embarassed when the cashier assistant has to unravel my errors….
But at least in some locations – the new, fancy Walmarts have carousel like bag holders which have reduced the challenge of not having enough room for the grocery bags.
I pay attention to the folks around me who are also using them, and the average age is mid 20′s to mid 30′s…. likely anyone who is already comfortable with technology. It took years for my mum to get accustomed to even using a debit card. I can’t imagine the larger population wanting to get entangled in the self-checkout process.
Cheers,
jules