One thing I noticed about the checkouts at Costco is that it seemed like every third person screwed something up so the scanner would lock up, the flashing light would go on, and some employee would have to come and fix things. I imagine it was almost as resource intensive as a regular checkout line was.
I’ve notice that with self checkout too. They still need people working there to be available to fix the checkout when things get messed up.
I’ve also noted in supermarkets, when buying alcohol, the scanner stops and then you have to wait for someone to come over and OK your alcohol purchase.
My other complaint about self checkout is that in many cases it takes longer than traditional checkout. Many people scan the items, do their credit or debit card, get receipt, and then and only then start to bag up their items. My observation is that this process is a lot faster with employees doing this. That said, self check does work OK and quickly if people just have a handful of items.
some employee would have to come and fix things.
I shop often at Fresh and Easy where checkout stations are all self checkout. 90% of the time something happens that requires assistance, usually in the scanner process and reading the bar codes correctly.
That's the way it is when I do that (very infrequently). The machine tries to talk me through it and I can't keep up and then I look at the attendant and shrug. I don't like self-checkout. Maybe it's just 'cuz I'm old. I might like it better if the store would offer a small rebate for using self-checkout - I mean if they're saving some by not having an hourly employee wait on me, I think I should get a little of that.