Just got this from the Bundesbank in my inbox:
Self-checkout is very common everywhere here, but they do have humans standing by watching for people cheating. Supposedly lots of people will put like, expensive mushrooms in a bag and ring it up as button mushrooms, or even switch labels between porkchops and ribeye.
Oh, yeah, self-checkout is pretty much the norm here, especially in the “local/metro/express” versions of supermarkets. This is a step further in that there’s no checkout - you carry the scanner with you. And there’s no option to have a human checkout.
Walmart has a trial thing like this at the store near us. Just use their app to scan stuff in on your phone and either pay at a few designated checkouts or thru the app (we did the checkout cuz the app sometime didn’t register a charge). And then have some folks glance thru your bags on way thru the checkout. It was awesome! I think some Sams are doing it now
On the other hand, I gave it a shot at the local chain (Giant Eagle) and wasn’t a fan. There weren’t enough stations around the store to pick up bags, and bagging as you go means people would grab something, then stop in an aisle to bag it while completely ignoring their surroundings. I’m willing to try again in the future, but not for a while… self-checkout worked better for me.
As long as they have a way to say “oops, I don’t want to get this after all” then I’d be up for trying that.
Tag-switching and inputting the wrong product code on purpose are both very real problems at self-checkout, as are things like hiding expensive items under large items that don’t need to be lifted out of the cart (like hiding steaks under a case of bottled water, to use an example I dealt with firsthand a while back). Unfortunately, these are all problems that are difficult to deal with without hiring a significantly higher number of employees to man self-checkout (which for most stores defeats the purpose of having a bunch of registers manned by one employee) or outright employing security guards or at-the-door receipt checks of questionable efficiency and legality.
Stores here have one employee watching over 6 or so self-checkout lanes, which seems like a pretty good ratio in terms of cost/savings.
I actually prefer the self-checkout lanes for groceries now. It gets me out of the store faster, and I don’t have to take off my headphones. I still use cashiers if there’s no line, but that’s solely because doing so might make a tiny sliver of difference in those jobs still existing next year.
I always use self-checkout lanes if all my items are tagged. If I have loose tomatoes in a bag or whatever I don’t want to go to the trouble of figuring out how to enter them.
Yeah self-checkout for produce is a pita especially if you get rarer stuff and can’t spell
At my usual store (Dierbergs), it’s two buttons for that, “Produce” then “Tomatoes.” That would probably be tougher at a Whole Foods or someplace with 19 types of tomatoes, of course, and maybe that’s part of why WF doesn’t have self-checkout.
I regularly forget self-checkout exists because I have three groceries in a mile radius and none of them have it.
I’ve been indulging with Safeway delivery recently. It’s at most $5 and often free depending on promotions.
I’m still genuinely confused about grocery delivery because I haven’t looked at it more than 10 minutes.
I just want Amazon to send me the same basic groceries each week, plus a few special items I take the time to select.
I do a lot of Prime Now deliveries, mostly for heavy seltzer. Living in the city otherwise I would have to carry it in my hands. Sadly they stopped stocking Bubly green apple flavor, which is incredibly delicious.
A pox on anyone who uses self checkout and has enough groceries to use a full size cart. If I see one more chucklehead with a overflowing cart trying to scan and then self bag on the tiny bagging station that the self-check lines have I will scream.
Boo! Boooooo!
Oh, Walmart pickup is great, if you remember to put your order in the day before you want to pick it up.
I use self checkout for a cart with a small number of items. Otherwise I don’t mind waiting for a cashier. Then again, I shop at night so it’s not that busy normally.
I don’t see how Amazon Go would work with produce unless it’s all pre-packaged, and if it is doesn’t that start to move away from the feeling of produce being fresh and healthy?
I’d say we mostly shop the edges of the grocery stores and a lot of the stuff we buy has to be weighed.
The store doesn’t tag produce? My local grocery store has a sticker on produce that has a 4 digit code. When you self-checkout with those items you hit “enter code” - type the number - follow the voice prompt to weight it - and then move on to the next item.
The only tricky thing is baked goods where you don’t know the code. But I have memorized the code for the giant cookie I get on Sundays (87024) so I’m set.
Another thing with self-checkout is the hassle when you buy alcohol. Fortunately my local grocery store has an employee manning the 12 or so self-checkout machines so it’s usually pretty fast to get her to come over and approve your purchase.
My problem with the grocery delivery services I have access to isn’t the fees they charge upfront, which are very reasonable, but the price markup on almost every single item that I want to buy. You go to the store and item A is 4.99, but on the delivery app it says 5.99. And I’m not even talking about sale prices not being included, as I can understand that logic. This is for normally priced items. It’s a shitty way to add more fees for delivery that try to hide the fact that they’re charging more.
So in the end a grocery trip I would take has a $30+ premium to do as delivery. Even more if things are on sale in store. And that adds up over a few trips a month.
Edit: I can do a real comparison here since I was just in Costco doing planning for a big gaming party I’m planning some months from now. Google Express will deliver me Costco stuff.
In store: Plates: $10.59, Bowls: $10.99, Napkins: $8.99, Cutlery: $12.79, Cups: $10.49, Total: $53.85
Delivery: Plates: $13.59, Bowls: $11.99, Napkins: $9.99, Cutlery: $13.99, Cups: $12.99, Total: $62.55
So there’s nearly a $10 delivery fee right there on 5 items that is not explicitly stated as a delivery fee. It’s the same when I shop Publix on Instacart, only there are 30+ items to pay that little bit extra for.