They’re Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Demand Penalties

Re:They’re Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Dem... by TeMPOraL on Saturday August 18, 2018 @05:20AM (#17787633)

The key gem I remember from an UI/UX rant posted here recently[0] is this: computer should wait on humans, not the other way around. This is what I hate about self-checkout machines. The process is infuriatingly slow. I could get out there in 1/10th of the time if the stupid machine wasn't so full of modal dialogs, talking, and if not for the weird delays in processing of the scanned barcode. Just let me scan items as fast as I can pick them up from my basket, and then press a button and pay.

I can't imagine how you can fail so spectacularly at your job as to design the self-checkout experience, so I'm forced to believe that all those issues are there on purpose.

[0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17682494 -> https://brandur.org/interfaces

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:They’re Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Dem... by MrMember on Saturday August 18, 2018 @10:58AM (#17788748)

A few years ago Target changed their self checkout machines to be less infuriating. It doesn't yell at you to place your item in the bagging area and then yell at you for putting an unexpected item in the bagging area. It lets you scan items as fast as you want. When I use some other store's self checkout machines it's a serious step backwards.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:They’re Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Dem... by RileyJames on Saturday August 18, 2018 @05:36PM (#17790896)

I’ve noticed the same thing with Walmart in Canada. It’s not a bad experience now.

Although scanning each item individually is still time consuming. Removing that requirement would be awesome.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:They’re Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Dem... by expertentipp on Saturday August 18, 2018 @05:26AM (#17787651)

Then, once one is abroad not speaking the local language and switches the self-checkout to English, a loud voice sounds out (louder than the voice in native language) "START YOUR CHECKOUT, SCAN YOUR ITEMS", basically screaming "this is a foreigner, they have no idea what they are doing", only adding to the stress level.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:They’re Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Dem... by woah on Saturday August 18, 2018 @11:23AM (#17788877)

Maybe the machine is not designed for your expectation of a bad ass checkout experience. Maybe the main considerations are getting acceptable performance when used by people with an extremely wide range of technical literacy and cognitive skills.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:They’re Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Dem... by TeMPOraL on Saturday August 18, 2018 @01:39PM (#17789575)

One does not exclude the other. Accessability doesn't require slowing users down.

[ Parent | on HN ]