Have supermarkets reached peak self-scan?

BBC ^ | Aug 25 | Emer Moreau

[RandFan]

After years of encouraging shoppers to scan their own groceries, some supermarkets are checking out a move back to traditional tills.

Asda said it would put more staff on checkouts, while Morrisons admitted it might have "gone too far" with self-scan. Northern upmarket chain Booths has got rid of them altogether.

The dreaded "unexpected item in the bagging area" announcement is among a list of customer complaints about self-service tills.

But some shoppers told the BBC they're happy to skip the queues and the chit chat if it speeds up their shop.

The debate over staffed versus unstaffed tills has continued to rumble on as the number of self-scan tills has increased over the past 20 years to some 80,000 in the UK.

[BudgieRamone]

They cant get the RFID chip into the label/packaging in a cost effective manner. Sad too. if I could just walk out through a scanner and bag at my car I would go for it.

[Fury]

At one supermarket they have a device attached to the cart and it scans items as you put them in the cart. I put my groceries in two plastic milk crates (one that needs to be cooled, one that doesn’t). Then you go to a couple of self checkout lanes for these carts and device, the total comes up, you pay and you’re ‘outta there in record time.

[Dr. Sivana]

Albertson’s must suck then. Any scan of alcohol at WalMart stops the transaction

The poster's point was that the alcohol was never scanned to begin with. You scan some corn flakes and some refried beans, pay for those, and walk out with a chuck roast and a Jim Beam.

[monkeyshine]

Everything about grocery shopping is absurd to me. First, they know who I am. I type in or scan my special supermarket member card which I’ve had for eons. And why do I need my card to get the better prices anyway, if I say I don’t have my card the checker will just scan some other card to get me the $1 off. In any case, they already have a full database of my shopping habits.

Second, why do they need my special club card when they already know my credit cards which I use and should be tied in their database with my member ID. Why isn’t my club membership tied to my cards on the front end. They already have it on the back end. Why do I need to scan 2 cards to check out?

Third, if I order booze via grubhub etc (which I rarely do, but once I had to order booze for a party and we were in no condition to drive) the driver scaned my ID on his phone. Why can’t they do that at the checkout counter? They already know nearly everything about me between what I buy, when I buy it, and whatever other data they can collect from 3rd parties. With bar codes and facial recognition and databases full of information the whole experience is just ludicrous.

End rant

[Rural_Michigan]

I sure hope so. Self scan sucks. And last I Checked the supermarkets aren’t giving me a credit for doing their work for them.

The local Meijer just removed 60% of their checkout aisles and installed a maze of self scans. The lines on the remaining manned checkouts are long and people are pissed.how is pissed off angry customers a win for the supermarkets? I can go to the Walmart nextdoor and have plentiful staff and shorter wait times and not have to deal with the significant frustration of doing my own scanning. For quick trips of a few items it’s ok, but anything else and it’s a PITA

[Grampa Dave]

Apparently, some, of the Fresh Foods do that with their Amazon Prime credit card customers.

[mass55th]

What I hate about grocery stores today is that I usually have to go to three different stores in order to get all the food items I need. Yesterday I went to Walmart. One of the things I needed was duck sauce. They had none. They had 20 different brands of soy sauce, but no duck sauce. They've shrunk their Asian section and have hardly anything. I also needed canned bean sprouts for a recipe. They had none, so I had to go to another store to find both of those. And one small bottle of duck sauce was almost $5.00.

Another thing I hate about grocery stores is that they don't think that short people shop at them. I hate having to either hunt down an employee, or ask some woman's husband to get something off the top shelf for me. I'm 77, and refuse to climb up the shelves to grab something.

The other thing that ticks me off about grocery stores, is that you can buy a product for years at one store, and then suddenly, they don't carry it anymore. That has happened a lot to me. I used to buy the small packets of Carolina Long Grain Wild Rice With Seasonings at my local Price Chopper. They were a dollar a packet, so I used to stock up. Then they stopped carrying it. The other two stores in my city don't carry the Carolina long grain and wild rice packets either. Neither does Walmart.

I called Riviana Foods, Inc., the company that distributes Carolina Products, in order to find out why no stores in my area carry that specific rice packet anymore. Walmart and the other two stores here all carry the Carolina Yellow Rice Packets, but that stuff is nasty. My oldest son lives in Troy, NY, near Albany, and he can't find the long grain and wild rice packets anymore either. Says all they carry is the Yellow Rice, and the shelf is overflowing with that because nobody wants it. The long grain and wild rice product is still featured on the company's website, so it's not as if they not producing it anymore.

The company rep told me to speak to the store manager about special ordering it for me. I did, but unless you want to buy a whole case, you're out of luck. When I couldn't find it at any of the stores here, I checked at Wegman's in Syracuse, and they didn't carry any Carolina Rice products. When I checked for the product on Amazon, one seller had only a few packets left, and they wanted about $3.50 for one small packet. I said forget that. When I just now searched for that same product on Amazon, it didn't appear, and the only one available was the crappy Yellow Rice packets.

[mass55th]

"If I have to self checkout, I expect a discount. I did all the work."

I use self-checkout the majority of the time, because I can easily distribute the weight in the bags that I'll be dragging up three flights of stairs.

[Grampa Dave]

Bingo! “It isn’t my job to handle the cash register scanning, nor to bag my groceries and put them in the cart!”

[PGalt]

Some scammers cut off the UPC for an inexpensive item and scan it for an expense item.

[AndyJackson]

I had a horrible cold and drank too much Robitussin during the night. I woke up in a fog, felt dizzy and awful and it took ten minutes of staggering around and washing out my eyse before I looked out the window and discovered that the reason everything looked foggy was because there was a dense fog and that I was halucinating having halucinations. So the stuff is not for sissies. Whatever the effects, it was a whole lot better than the symptoms that caused me to need the vile stuff in the first place. I made a resolution never to have a cold like that again in my life.

[AndyJackson]

I had a horrible cold and drank too much Robitussin during the night. I woke up in a fog, felt dizzy and awful and it took ten minutes of staggering around and washing out my eyse before I looked out the window and discovered that the reason everything looked foggy was because there was a dense fog and that I was halucinating having halucinations. So the stuff is not for sissies. Whatever the effects, it was a whole lot better than the symptoms that caused me to need the vile stuff in the first place. I made a resolution never to have a cold like that again in my life.

[mass55th]

"Yep! Every other state I lived will let you buy booze through self checkout (after an employee verifies your ID) but California needs to be special."

I live in NY State. They don't allow the sale of liquor in grocery stores, only beer. And being diabetic, I don't drink alcohol of any kind. If I need wine or brandy for recipes, I stop at a local liquor store, and get the smallest size they have. It lasts a long time in this house.

[No name given]

I know how you feel, but then again, minors would be able to lie about their age to purchase such items if shoppers were allowed to check their own IDs.

[MD Expat in PA]

I used to work grocery retail for many years, beginning as a checkout clerk then eventually as a dairy manger then as an assistant store manager and working the service desk, and later after getting into accounting and PR, at a Target and a We B Toys and a We B Babies for seasonal PT work to earn some extra $ for several years during the Christmas season, so I know how to scan items, bag and check out.

But I swear every time I try to use the self-checkout at my grocery store, there’s always a problem.

EVERY. DAMN. TIME.

There’s always some sort of problem with some item that won’t scan, or I can’t find the produce item in the look up quickly enough, or when I try to pay, it won’t accept my payment method because the system thinks I’m paying with credit card instead of with a debit card and it won’t accept my PIN that then that voice says - “Assistance Needed” and the whole thing shuts down.

But most of all, the whole thing shuts down if I don’t remove the item from the checkout area into the bagging area quickly enough and then that automated voice starts yelling at me and calls for assistance. I really hate that bish!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HTXy7PoxNE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-cV68JmpiI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XpLl7XNTGY

So even if the line is longer, I always opt for the human cashier. At the grocery store just around the corner from me, I’ve gotten to know the few cashiers they still have, and I have my favorites. While they are quick and efficient, they also engage in some pleasantries and banter and I really appreciate that.

[OldHarbor]

Sunday at WalMart is like Third World Day. All the self checkouts had 10 minute wait times. The only checkout manned is the one that sells cigarettes .

[Gaffer]

Walmart goes back to cashier scanning at peak times to keep STEALING down. Mosly at times when shopper load is a little higher so that Loss Prevention has a harder time. You can watch youtube all day long where shoplifters are caught at Walmart.

[FamiliarFace]

I was a cashier (not a grocery store) for over 5 years. It takes very few brain cells to scan your items. It takes a few more brain cells to pack your groceries into bags correctly.

1. Don’t put my bread or chips on the bottom of my bag.
2. Put frozen items together, and refrigerated items together.
3. Canned and heavy items together.

When my local grocery store can begin to do this right, without overcharging me for something, then I may go back to letting them scan and bag my groceries.

Until then, I do a much better, faster job.

Don’t send me an “associate” after every 7 items, just because you want to. I DON’T need your help. YOU could honestly learn from me.

[TChad]

My nearest Walmart uses self-scan. The software has bugs, but when it works, it really speeds up shopping. I like it.
A friend works there, and her job requires that she sometimes has to verbally confront thieves inside the store (never outside). There is no physical contact, but I still I worry about her.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

"...my sixer of Bartles & James..."

They still MAKE that stuff? LOL!