Moms for Liberty, known Nazi sympathizers

[Frater I*I]

I NEVER use self check out.

I don't work there.


Once at Wal-Mart there was no checker so I went to customer service-they told me to use self checkout and I asked for the employee discount. They rang me up!

Once at Kroger, I stood in line for a good minute waiting to check out, while the self check out was open and empty, I was just buying my nightly booze, so I had only one item. The clerk asked why I waited when I could be gone already.

I told her: "If I want to ring up and bag groceries, I'll ask for an application..."

[sad-cafe]

I love it

[AndyinPA]

I don't disagree. They don't pay me to do that.

[northland10]

Off Topic

If I only have a few items, I will use the self-checkout because I can do it fast, and I don't want to slow down others in the one or two open regular lanes so that I can have somebody scan a few items. Generally, at the grocery store, I have more, which does not work well in the self-checkout area. Because of the lack of baggers, I have been doing more of my own bagging just to allow the line to move faster. I could avoid that to punish the company but the only ones being hurt are the cashier and the people waiting. I've finally gotten rather good at it, though I chuckled when a bagger came up and asked, "can I bag that for you?".

I cant say want Target, or Walmart, or Costco, do because I rarely go to those stores. I avoid shopping unless absolutely necessary.

[Estiveo]

Nob Hill Foods, where the elite buy their meat, and Estiveo buys his food & stuff, added self checkouts during the covid lockdowns. I use them when I have just a few items, but prefer the regular checkouts. If one has alcohol or wants cigarettes, one must use the regular checkouts, though.

And I cant remember the last time I saw someone buy cigarettes there. I think they still sell them?
(I just hit the 26th anniversary of my last cigarette a couple weeks ago. Yay me!)

[keith]

I never use the self checkout (OK, maybe when I have just one emergency item and the checkers lines are crowded).

But more and more stores expect you to bag the items yourself. I always sort the items on the conveyor belt so the checker can put cold things with cold and non-food items with non-food items and breakable, smashable items on top (potato chips, bread, bananas, etc). But now-a-days, many checkers don't know how to do that, and make it difficult to do it yourself when they don't do it for you by just grabbing items from anywhere on the belt instead of in the order you placed them there.

Ya just can't get good help these days.

ETA: and why can't people figure out how to set bananas down on the points (like a frowny face) instead of points up (like a smiley face) so the bananas don't get bruised? Don't mothers teach their kids anything anymore?

[neonzx]

I first read that as "snob" hill foods. Sorry.

[Estiveo]

I first read that as "snob" hill foods. Sorry.

It has been called that (before Raley's bought it, anyway) so you're not wrong

[Reddog]

I NEVER use self check out.

I don't work there.


Once at Kroger, I stood in line for a good minute waiting to check out, while the self check out was open and empty, I was just buying my nightly booze, so I had only one item. The clerk asked why I waited when I could be gone

I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have saved time. One time I bought some Nicorette (nicotine lozenges), I had to wait for an associate to do ID/age check. With the laws in our state they still need to verify age. Most stores here make me scan my license, it bugs the heck out of me.
What annoys me is the small bagging area. Pretty much 1 bag at a time, and no paper bags.

[sugar magnolia]

I always use the self-checkout when it's available. I can scan, bag (exactly to my preference) and pay an entire basket of items in less time than it takes to stand in line. And I don't come home with a bunch of double-bags either. No matter how many times I tell a cashier that I don't need a bag, or not to double bag, or don't put every item in a separate bag, they seem to do it anyway. I usually bring my own bags but am always surprised at their reluctance to use them, or they bag it in plastic before putting it in my provided bag. Makes no sense to me.

Do y'all also expect a discount for pumping your own gas? If I get that stupid "see cashier" notice at the pump off I go to another station. If I wanted to see the cashier, I wouldn't be paying at the pump to begin with. But I'm team self-serve all the way.

[keith]

Do y'all also expect a discount for pumping your own gas?
.

Absolutely.

You've been pumping your own gas for so long that you don't remember that when it first came in it WAS cheaper to do it yourself.

[northland10]

Do y'all also expect a discount for pumping your own gas?
.

Absolutely.

You've been pumping your own gas for so long that you don't remember that when it first came in it WAS cheaper to do it yourself.

Except those in Oregon who didn't get to pump their own gas until last year.

[sugar magnolia]

Do y'all also expect a discount for pumping your own gas?
.

Absolutely.

You've been pumping your own gas for so long that you don't remember that when it first came in it WAS cheaper to do it yourself.

Except those in Oregon who didn't get to pump their own gas until last year.

But I don't think New Jersey will let you pump your own.

[johnpcapitalist]

ETA: and why can't people figure out how to set bananas down on the points (like a frowny face) instead of points up (like a smiley face) so the bananas don't get bruised? Don't mothers teach their kids anything anymore?

Now that you mention it, that makes perfect sense. I'm sixty-something and have never heard anyone suggest that before.

So apparently my mother brought me up wrong. I'll mention that the next time I talk to her. "Hey, mom, some ocker Crocodile Dundee wannabe from the Land Down Under thinks you're guilty of malparenting." Living at the antipodes will not save you from her ire.

[Sam the Centipede]

Yabbut keith's bananas should be upside-down as he's stranded in the southern semiball so the Coriolis force rotivates counteranticlockwards and the first quarter moon is the third quarter so he wears socks on his hands and needs corks around his hat brim so gravy doesn't push it skywards. And the emus steal the bananas.

[johnpcapitalist]

I NEVER use self check out.

I don't work there.

Once at Wal-Mart there was no checker so I went to customer service-they told me to use self checkout and I asked for the employee discount. They rang me up!

That's a cleverly humorous way to protest by pointing out just who benefits from self checkout, but one that probably goes over the head of many retail employees.

However, it's factually inaccurate. The company never saves money by having employees check themselves out. All retailers everywhere require that an employee purchasing stuff for themselves and receiving the employee discount be checked out by another employee so they don't do exactly this type of "skip scanning." In other words, the store saves zero on labor when employees buy stuff for themselves.

In addition to skip-scanning, there are all sorts of other frauds employees could commit at the register if they could scan their own employee discount transactions. For example, if you got 20% off on everything, you could have your friends come in, load up their carts, put in your employee number, get your 20% discount and have your friends Venmo you 10% of their checks, splitting the savings.

In certain types of retail, typically stores selling consumer electronics, employee transactions over a certain amount have to be countersigned by a manager as well as being rung up by another employee. That's not only to prevent "skip scanning" but also to prevent price altering. That can be done either by putting the bar code for a cheaper item over the original bar code, or by scanning a smaller TV then walking out with a larger one.

In general, employee theft is perhaps the biggest cause of "shrinkage" for retailers, far more than shoplifting. There are some spectacular examples of organized theft, such as several loading up carts full of expensive power tools at Home Depot then rushing the exit door that have been shown on TV. The National Retail Federation recently put out a big announcement about how "organized shoplifting" was exploding, but that turned out to be a complete lie.

The point of this whole rambling discourse is that they're not saving any labor on ringing up employee purchases, so of course they're not giving you an employee discount because you're donating the labor.

[johnpcapitalist]

Yabbut keith's bananas should be upside-down as he's stranded in the southern semiball so the Coriolis force rotivates counteranticlockwards and the first quarter moon is the third quarter so he wears socks on his hands and needs corks around his hat brim so gravy doesn't push it skywards. And the emus steal the bananas.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

I love self-checkout. I can bag groceries the way I need them bagged, and I have no interest in human interaction during a transaction. When not-yet-Dr. Vicklund was in Canada for a year for her dissertation research, my only contact with people other than at work or my parents (at the time I lived in town, so I kinda had to stop by every so often) or some weekends across the border was a New Years party hosted by friends. When Covid lockdowns hit, I was in my element.

I may be just a teensy bit introverted.

[Rolodex]

I love self-checkout. I can bag groceries the way I need them bagged, and I have no interest in human interaction during a transaction. When not-yet-Dr. Vicklund was in Canada for a year for her dissertation research, my only contact with people other than at work or my parents (at the time I lived in town, so I kinda had to stop by every so often) or some weekends across the border was a New Years party hosted by friends. When Covid lockdowns hit, I was in my element.

I may be just a teensy bit introverted.

I was in my element during lock-down, too! But I always use a clerk at the grocery story. I do like interacting with them because it's a super short interaction, it's always pleasant and I tease the bagger about how well (or not) they might do in Tetris. I do get a teensy annoyed when they don't put my heaviest stuff in my most sturdy bag with the longer shoulder straps and use the bags the store sells. I do tell them "I know everything will fit" so they don't put 2 items in a bag; stuff that bag full!!

My normal store did not have a particular item I needed not long ago, so I was forced to go to the Small-Mart (walmart's grocery-only shop - I pretty much boycott WM). There was only one checker and the line was super long. I didn't have ton of things so I thought what the heck I'll do self check (lines for those, too, but shorter). I was totally flummoxed. I didn't understand the onscreen instructions. Some items wouldn't scan. It was a nightmare and I know everyone behind me was super annoyed. Just another reason to not patronize the Waltons.

[noblepa]

Giant Eagle, a large grocery chain out of Pittsburgh that has spread into Ohio, has hand-held scanners that allow you to scan items as you make your way around the store. You bag them as you go. Then, when you are done, there is a special kiosk where you point the scanner at a bar code on the screen and it looks up your list of items, you scan your credit/debit card and you're off.

I like it.

[Rolodex]

Giant Eagle, a large grocery chain out of Pittsburgh that has spread into Ohio, has hand-held scanners that allow you to scan items as you make your way around the store. You bag them as you go. Then, when you are done, there is a special kiosk where you point the scanner at a bar code on the screen and it looks up your list of items, you scan your credit/debit card and you're off.

I like it.

I've heard my local Sam's Club has that system. I also read that they're doing away with the person looking at your receipt and counting items as you exit will be replace with AI.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

Giant Eagle, a large grocery chain out of Pittsburgh that has spread into Ohio, has hand-held scanners that allow you to scan items as you make your way around the store. You bag them as you go. Then, when you are done, there is a special kiosk where you point the scanner at a bar code on the screen and it looks up your list of items, you scan your credit/debit card and you're off.

I like it.

Been a while since I shopped at GEagle. In my neck of the woods, Meijer has a phone app that supposedly works the same way, but I can't get it to connect to my store discount account.

[poplove]

I always use the self-checkout when it's available. I can scan, bag (exactly to my preference) and pay an entire basket of items in less time than it takes to stand in line. And I don't come home with a bunch of double-bags either. No matter how many times I tell a cashier that I don't need a bag, or not to double bag, or don't put every item in a separate bag, they seem to do it anyway. I usually bring my own bags but am always surprised at their reluctance to use them, or they bag it in plastic before putting it in my provided bag. Makes no sense to me.

Do y'all also expect a discount for pumping your own gas? If I get that stupid "see cashier" notice at the pump off I go to another station. If I wanted to see the cashier, I wouldn't be paying at the pump to begin with. But I'm team self-serve all the way.

I almost always use self check as it's quicker and more convenient for me because I hate standing in line. I usually have just my reusable bag with my items. Target has gone to 10 items or less with self check so I don't use those as much. Costco self check has nice employees with scanners that assist you so it's not totally self check and that helps the lines move quickly. Employee owned Winco is a great store with great prices, but the customer has to bag their purchases at checkout.

My first active duty base was Fairchild AFB in Washington in 1972. The nearest grocery was a discount store in Airway Heights. Customers were given a marker to write the price on the items and would self bag at checkout. A lot of things were cheaper than the commissary.

Sometimes I wonder if the anti-self check folks go into the bank and get their cash from a teller instead of using the money machine. Some of my friends hate self check and that's fine, but it's certainly nice to have a choice.

[Maybenaut]

Giant Eagle, a large grocery chain out of Pittsburgh that has spread into Ohio, has hand-held scanners that allow you to scan items as you make your way around the store. You bag them as you go. Then, when you are done, there is a special kiosk where you point the scanner at a bar code on the screen and it looks up your list of items, you scan your credit/debit card and you're off.

I like it.

The Costco I used to shop at had that too, but they got rid of it. What they were losing in skip scanning was more than they were saving on cashiers, and the line to get out of the store were really long.

[keith]

Sometimes I wonder if the anti-self check folks go into the bank and get their cash from a teller instead of using the money machine. Some of my friends hate self check and that's fine, but it's certainly nice to have a choice.

Visitors to Australia be prepared.

Banks have actively discouraged actually entering a bank, for any reason, for decades.

Since covid they are reducing the number of ATMs. And the number of branches. All suburbs used to have branches from all 4 big banks and some smaller ones. Now many suburbs have none. Its killing small towns.

Most retail transactions are electronic nowadays. The newsagent I do 4 hours a week at is probably less than 30% cash. I've been carrying around the same two $50 notes for 3 weeks at least.