I prefer automated checkouts far more than human cashiers. It's much faster. Maybe there's some problem 20% of the time which is quickly resolved by an employee. (People who would say that the system still needs humans ignore the fact that one person can now look over six checkouts, thus cutting jobs by one-sixth.)

I find the automated checkouts to be much slower than human cashiers.

Humans can optimise the path from the conveyor belt to the bag so that the item just so happens to pass via the barcode scanner.

I could do that too, but the machine throws a hissy fit and doesn't let me scan the next item until I've placed it in the bagging area, and waited a second for the scales to stabilize. In the time it takes me to scan and bag one item on the automated checkout, an experienced human cashier can get 5-6 items bagged.

And that's only if things go as expected. Sometimes the scales bug out. Sometimes I have to navigate menus to specify what fresh produce I'm buying (while human checkout operators have memorised all the numbers). Sometimes I make a mistake and I'm not allowed to self-correct it. I have to wait for a human to come along and fix my mistake.

Not to mention, the machine is yelling instructions at me the entire time. "Yes I know I should use the pin pad to complete my transaction, in fact I did so while you were still playing the previous audio clip."

The only time the automated checkout is faster is when there is a queue at the real checkouts. And even then, the queue might be worth it just so I can avoid the automated checkout yelling at me.

I've had the exact same experience. I could scan the items a lot faster than the machine allows me to (sure, not faster than an experienced human cashier), but it insists me to bag every item, has problems a lot of times when it stops and asks me to call a human agent, can't use some of the gift cards that I want to use with it, and doesn't override the price when the store has advertized a discount and the machine doesn't detect that. Also, for things that don't have barcodes (fruits/vegetables etc.), you have to 'search' from a list and either select the image of the perfect type of pepper that you're buying (or enter a code) - which makes it even slower. A human cashier remembers all those codes and very quickly types in. For a machine to do that right now, it will have to use some advanced image recognition techniques to just find out which of the 100 kinds of Apple it is - and set the price accordingly. Sure, all these problems can be theoretically fixed, but so far, I guess we're just not there.

One question I have about the automated checkouts at my local supermarket is they seem to intentionally slow the user down. For example, if you go to pay and put in a card, it says 'please remove your card, press the -debit card- button, and pay with your card'

It seems like no reasonable person wouldn't notice this flaw, let alone the presumably several people involved in creating this software, so it leads me to believe that there is some reason the shops want to encourage not using these checkouts.

I wonder why?

It's those dreaded words: Minimal Viable Product.

Even if it's slower for the transaction itself, the fact that they generally replace 1 human cashier with 2-3 automated checkouts mean that waiting times are much shorter in my experience.

Although I did discover at my local supermarket that if I'm buying alcohol at a self checkout (which requires someone to confirm my age), it can be paradoxically faster to go when it's busy, because there's always someone at the machines, whereas they rely on wandering staff to see the alert when it's quieter.

Which also paradoxically means it's easier to turn up at a quiet time and steal the alcohol (even if you're underage!) than to buy it legitimately.

I don't mind automated checkouts that much because I worked as a cashier as a teenager and based on that experience I'm able to check myself out pretty quickly. When there's a line for all of the checkouts including the automated ones, though, I avoid them, because the average customer is generally awful at using them and the lines at manned checkouts move much faster.

I guess it depends on the implementation. At my store you bring a scanner and some bags along, and scan and pack each item as you go. At the checkout you simply return the scanner and swipe your card.

What store is this?

Waitrose or Tesco in the UK have these scan as you shop schemes.

Automated checkouts aren't about each individual machine being faster than one cashier, they're about being able to serve ten people while only one cashier watches over.

The slow part of human cashiers is waiting for the people in front of you to get their payment done and move on with their stuff.

The payment part is unnecessarily slow at these things. We should be able to wave something at the device and walk out the door by now. But instead it's hit I'm done, wait a second to be able to hit pay with card, wait for it to tell you to enter a card, enter it, wait for it to tell you to enter pin, answer if you want cash back, wait a few seconds for it to accept and make a buzz to remove your card, wait 6 seconds for the stupid question "did you enjoy your experience today? yes/no" to go away (that I refuse to answer because it shouldn't fucking ask me in the first place), wait a couple seconds for it to decide to print the receipt and the cash to dispense, finally get your bags into your cart, and then leave.

None of the steps are really that long by themselves, but in aggregate it's easily another 1-2 minutes checking out.

> The payment part is unnecessarily slow at these things. We should be able to wave something at the device and walk out the door by now.

Been using this for years in Canada. Most well known as PayPass (MasterCard) but also PayWave (Visa) and Contactless Payments (American Express). By far it's the fastest and easiest way to pay (including vs cash), and I use it whenever I have a choice. I'd say it takes me well under 10 seconds which includes taking out and putting away my card.

I've noticed the newest terminals in sit-down restaurants are even working with it now, by moving the prompt for the tip to the start of the process (before you tap or put your card in) instead of the end.

I prefer automated checkouts out of respect to humans - how terrible job that is! And also as a reminder, how terrible the software is. (I design and write software, not of this type though, for a living.)

Although I take my time to go through it. Damn, if it's done by machine, I can do it on my own pace.

So out of respect you put people out of work whilst increasing the profit of the already wealthy - in most cases - shareholders? Is it more dignified to be out work and penniless?

My position, having worked as a checkout assistant FWIW, is the opposite. Using the self-checkout is redistributing money from the poor to the rich, AFAICT: you're saving the company wages, paying the same amount, and doing the work for free.

If the out of work checkout assistants got a living wage then you might be on to something.

I am social democrat, and as such I am for all people to have living wages.. (and I am actually proponent of basic income and progressive taxes)

However, checkout assistants are not very well paid and the job is horrible (it's not the worst, arguably, but could be improved).

I do not however feel responsible for the bad moral decisions of other people. My action in itself doesn't increase profits of the wealthy, it's actions of other people. These people need to be made socially responsible (for example via progressive taxation), not me.

There was a time when you got good money to work in a grocery store, even in a checkout. I have (older) family members who decided not to finish college because they were making so much money at the grocery store, with pensions, in positions that would only pay minimum wage nowadays.

I worked as a grocery checker for a year or so. My dad did it for half his career. It used to be a solid, union job in most places in the us.

It's really not even that bad, if you like talking to people. The checking groceries part can be sort of meditative and relaxing.

I am not from U.S., so I can't compare. Here (Czech Republic) it's usually one of the worst types of employment, rife with abuse (there were cases where employees needed a permission to go to the toilet, had to stand all day for no reason, etc.).

> I prefer automated checkouts out of respect to humans - how terrible job that is!

I prefer automated checkout too - but I'm curious as to why you think the job is "terrible"?

Before my first software development gig, I worked for 6 months as a cashier. I won't say it was all rainbows and roses, but it wasn't "terrible". Hard on the feet (standing), but I was young at the time so it wasn't too big of a deal. Dealing with irate customers could be interesting at time (pass 'em to a manager if you couldn't calm 'em down). Occasionally you'd get someone trying to return an item bought 20 years ago (actually had this happen to me).

But there were also the "regulars": The 70 year old lady who came in every Wednesday to purchase a bunch of liquor - who'd then walk out, and hop into her brand new Vette. The weird cat dude, who always smelled, but was friendly - purchasing a cart full of cat food, and another of rubbing alcohol and swabs (poor cats). The guy you always carded for beer, because he looked underage - and even though you know he wasn't, you did it anyhow, and he complained - but corporate policy, ya know?

Then a break - go face the aisles, or stock new stuff, or pull the old stuff. Have some lunch or some dinner. Eventually close the store, sweep the aisles, clean up, shut down, and go home.

For me, it was an "after school" kind of deal - not a career. But it wasn't a terrible job. Just difficult on the mind and body (it was a bit boring at times). My fellow employees were all friendly, and management was nice and helpful. I always got paid on time, meager as it was.

It gave me a better perspective and understanding for those working behind the counter, because I know what they're going thru. Plus, it also taught me how to properly scan items quickly (though when I started, the place I worked at didn't have scanners - they didn't get those until a couple of months later). Even so, when an item doesn't scan, I find it a bit frustrating, but most systems have a way still to enter the UPC number...

...still, I wouldn't want to go back to those days.

I strongly dislike the automated checkouts; I prefer to wait in line to get a human.

I don't like the bagging system that has to ensure you put your item into a bag, and that has a quite noticeable delay in responding to your actions.

I also don't like the tiny area they have for the bags. What am I supposed to do? Put full bags back into my half-emptied shopping cart alongside items that haven't been scanned yet? It makes me uncomfortable, like they'll think I'm up to something.

I also tend to buy items in bulk, like 2-liter bottles, and it's nice to say "I have 8 of these" and pass one to the cashier.

Yeah, when I checked groceries and had the produce codes memorized, I could blast through a grocery cart full of food in the time it takes me to check out a dozen items in the self checkout. I always go to a person for anything other than the express line.

> I also tend to buy items in bulk, like 2-liter bottles, and it's nice to say "I have 8 of these" and pass one to the cashier.

This is really not the case the self-checkout lines are designed for.

I use them almost exclusively for those cases where I duck in and grab a couple things quickly, and want to get the hell out. It's always faster and easier than even the 12-items-or-less express checkout line, not to mention the regular lines, where you get stuck behind somebody with a cart rounded to the sky and $400 worth of groceries in it.

OTOH, you can make sure your 2-liter bottles and tortilla chips are bagged separately.

>It's much faster.

It depends on the store. At the grocery store a few miles away, I can scan an item and immediately put it in a bag. At the grocery store closest to me, you scan the item and place it on a belt, which takes it to the end of the counter. You bag everything at the end. By contrast, at that store, a cashier can scan an item an place it directly in a bag.

Those self checkouts aren't automated. Those are having human customer do the checkout work.

Automated would I walk out the door and rfid or whatever senses what I'm carrying and charges my account.

Or, I don't go to the store at all and shit just shows up on my doorstep, periodically or whenever I hit a button.

I feel like a lot of people miss this point. The technology has existed for years although clearly the cost to implement a touch screen console has also plummeted.Even accounting for that most self-service checkouts are just a tilled turned around.

I wonder how much of this is super markets jumping on to the fact people are conflating automation with using a machine and assuming self-service checkouts are proof of a technological revolution. At the end of the day the same amount of work is being done at the till as if a cashier was working but it is now being done for free and a company won't miss a chance to capitalise on an opportunity like that.

Amazon Prime Pantry seems to do the latter. We've been getting some of our stuff delivered that way the past few months.

I shop at Aldi's where the prices are low and the employees are well compensated. The owners, 2 brothers, have some unique ideas about efficiency. They haven't installed any machines because they are slow, customers are slow, and they don't handle edge cases well. Employees are few and far between. Generally 1 cashier and 2 on extra busy days.

The Target on the other hand has rows and rows of empty checkout tills. They try to get you to use the automated tills but that line is so much longer that it just boggles the mind. Any time savings is wasted on the machine having an error,

While I haven't used Target's, I do like Home Depot's self checkouts. They are pretty intelligent on their own, like just swiping a card to initiate the payment process, even if you don't press the "pay now" button. Then, when you do encounter a problem, there's an attendant for every four checkout stations that can help you from their workstation. Usually they know you're having a problem before you can even turn to tell them so, and by the time you do, they're waving you on and the problem has been resolved. My only issue with them is that they shut them down about an hour before closing, and waiting for a human cashier is even more annoying after the self-checkout experience there.

How come there is no remove scanned item option like the real cashiers have. It happens to me -every single time-. Prefer the human option, truly.