Self Checkout

Stat, I have found it is 50/50 when it comes to checker preferance of produce labels. Some like them to have the sticker others don't. One said they never trust the customer and often finds more items in the bag than when they labeled it. He even said once somebody tried to sneak broccoli out as peas. They punched in the code for peas or something and then put in 3 stalks of broc. What clued him in is when 3 stalks of Broc cost about .92 cents. Duh.

I like to cover up the sticker on my laundry soap or other items needing the round HEB sticker to show it was scanned and paid for. I will surround it with other bags. Not once has a security or front door person ever stopped me to ask to see it. I won't be mean or anything, I am just curious as to how effective those guys are. My verdict is not very.
 
I think the whole "price of groceries better drop because I'm doing their job" thing is bunk. Does that mean you don't unload your own basket onto the belt, or that you only shop at those ergonomic disasters where the checker picks and scans your stuff directly out of the basket?

Anyway, how is the price of groceries ever going to drop if they have to keep the front-end fully staffed with indifferent or incompetent checkers and baggers because of all the people who can't or won't use self-check? More self-check means eventually they can cut back on staff to reduce prices (assuming the cost of fuel and general food demand in China/India isn't outpacing labor cost reductions at US retailers).

It's a choice of which will be faster, for me. If there's a pile of old farts or general attention-not-payin' ******* at self-check-out who are too head-up-the-asstic to notice the relative queue lengths of the open check-out lanes, I'll go to a humanoid check-out and deal with the hardsell, granny who doesn't start writing check until the total button is punched, and risk the fucksicle ahead of me who needs the flip-top Marlboro Light 190's that are only at the far end of the store (or worse, the checker from ANOTHER line who needs help from the checker in MY line to find a pack of cigarettes in the overhead rack).

****, that was long. better stop now.

"you're only as big as the things that annoy you"
 
I'm waiting for the RFID tags on groceries, so you just bag your groceries as you buy them. When you walk up to the checkout, it tells you how much you owe and you pay.
 
I like it, but when it keeps saying "place the product in the bag, place the product in the bag, place the product in the bag," I want to beat it to death with a three-pound sledge.
 
If they are empty, and the other lines are full, self check is way faster, especially if you aren't a moron. Then there are the people that will pick up one item, scan it, hear the beep, look at the screen to double check that it was scanned, place it in the bag, then go pick up the next item. I don't even look at the screen, I pick up one item with my left, scan it, and am putting it in the bag with my right, as I pick up another item. That and I pretty much have the interface memorized, so I don't really read the screen. I just know where the buttons are.
 
I don't know if the cashiers at HEB have an incentive to stop theft.

Really sad to hear about people bold enough to just walk out of central market with ****.
 
I don't mind self checkout unless stores abuse it by understaffing the normal lines thereby driving HUGE lines to the the self-checkout. I work next to the busiest Home Depot in the Pacific Northwest in downtown Seattle. I've been in there when the ONLY thing open is the self checkout with 30 people in a single file line waiting to use on of their 4 self-checkout machines. Most the time a hardware store products are too difficult for self checkout.
 
I tend not to go if I have (a) produce (and there is no barcode printer in the produce section) or (b) alcohol. Otherwise, yes. The River Oaks Kroger by me has two banks of self checkout units and the past few times they've only had one person working each console. So if she's at the other one, she can't see when someone needs assistance at the other bank. When I have to figure out what the code is for my unlabeled fruit and have to wait for the worker to get around to looking at my ID, it ain't worth it. But normally, I'm a big fan of the self checkout.
 
I love self-check. For produce, I just push the "Produce" button, punch in the four-digit code on the label that's stuck to the produce, then set the produce on the scanner. It weighs and calculates the amount -- it's so freaking easy. I don't understand why people are afraid of the self-checkout. I always use it if I've fewer than 20 items.

For beer, I just give one of "those looks" to the guy working as the monitor and he usually laughs and pushes the "OK" button. Of course, I'm 51 so there's no need to check my ID.

The only problem is that I've not figured out how to tell it I need a bag of ice. I always have to tell the monitor so he can push the right button. But I'm going to figure that one out this weekend.
 
How sensitive are the scales, or the software designed to detect cheating? If I scan one tomato (assume sold by item, not by weight) but place two in the bag, will that be detected?
 
I like to use them when I go to Home Depot but I always seem to get behind the "first-timer". I also buy alcohol every time I go to the store so that slows things down a bit. I live a couple of blocks from Harris Teeter here in Northern Virginia and I usually walk to the store. Whenever I tell the person that's sacking the groceries that I'm walking a couple of blocks, they try to put everything in one bag. No one knows how to bag groceries. One lady put my eggs and bread in the same bag a milk and laudry detergent.
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Oddly self-checks are less common in Northern California. Safeway is the largest chain and they don't look to be geared up to head in that direction any time soon.

I would think the theft rate - just not ringing up one or two semi-expensive items - would be pretty high. Doesn't sound like there's any safety check.
 
HEB managers require the bags to be packed as densely as possible. As usual, it's not the employees, it's the higher ups.
 
I like them but the lines are always long because some dingbat is using it for the first time and decides he's gonna self check a whole cart full of groceries. It's like watch a monkey operate the space shuttle. Dumbass doesn't realize that it's taken him 3 times as long to do it himself as it would have taken in a regular line and he's holding everyone else up. Only use these lines when you have a few items and if you are tech saavy enough to set a clock radio.
 
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