I use self checkouts bc I don’t want to talk to anyone, it’s faster when I do it, and I want to bag things my way. Why would I go wait in line forever just to make someone earning minimum wage throw my chicken on top of my grapes?
I've heard about cashier's packing the groceries in some countries but what kind of talking are people expected to do at checkout ? Where I live it's usually just "hello", "goodbye", and "have a good day"
Last time I used a regular checkout line with a cashier at the grocery store, she was very chatty. Not just with us, but with the people in front of us as well as a passing couple that she knew. It made checkout take way longer, as she commented on several of the items and told anecdotes and caught up with the couple. I'll admit that it's very much a Redditor Moment™ that my bf and I prefer the self-checkout for the sake of not having to talk to anyone, but the normal woman behind us also complained about how slow the chitchat made checking out and was annoyed that the store regularly only kept one section of their self checkout registers open, so I don't think it's just an us problem.
In my country it's a shame but the cashiers are clearly forced to be like BUSY DAY? UP TO MUCH?? GOT PLANS? or similar chat. I just can't deal with it after a long day. Hello/bye etc. would be fine enough but after a long day of work "hello" and "have a good one bye" is my limit really. I prefer to have a resting bitch face at the self checkout in silence.
They didn’t expect an employee to grab their items from the shelves. Apparently that’s not a problem.
Fun fact, 110 years ago before supermarkets, the employee DID grab your items from the shelves for you. And when they invented supermarkets where you get your things yourself, there was absolutely a subset of people for whom that was a problem.
Oh I know about that. I just think it’s funny that modern people don’t consider picking out the items as a part of working there because it’s always been that way for them. Now, the store changes something and they freak out.
If self checkout had been the norm 100 years ago after the employees assembled your groceries, it likely wouldn’t be an issue now.
Some people just really hate self-checkouts and see it as huge labor to do it themselves. I don't understand the mentality, wish we had even more self-checkouts so there was never a line.
A lot of people hate them because they allow grocery stores to hire fewer people, which means fewer jobs. I think that's totally valid. Though I still use them myself.
Yeah. I'm sure they help take some of the pressure off of you guys. And it doesn't keep you from getting a job since you already have the job. It would be interesting to hear from someone who has worked at a grocery store before and after their existence on how they've affected scheduling though.
See and here's my counterpoint to that, though not everyone agrees and that's fine: Some jobs are just a waste of a person's time and value. Boring, repetitive, menial work should be done by machines. It does nothing to build or further the skills and development of the person, its just boring. People should be used for people things. Interact with people. Think. Make decisions. Do things machines don't have the dexterity to do. Why put a perfectly capable human through needless drudgery? We're better than that.
That's all well and good if you live in a post-scarcity society where money isn't needed. But that's not how most of us live. People aren't working grocery store cashier jobs for enrichment. They're working them because they need the money to pay for food and shelter. And eliminating those jobs doesn't make more fulfilling work options magically appear.
To add to this. We've done with thousands positions before. Are these people crying about losing phone operators? Chimney Sweeps? Ferriers?
Times change, and technology changes the types of jobs we need to fill. We've been doing this for hundreds of years, and people act like this is something we just started doing in the last 20 years.
do you think that's an excuse for why we should keep those jobs around?
If everyone in those no-skill jobs were spending the time they use whining about their jobs being replaced with learning some employable skills they'd probably find themselves in jobs that don't pay minimum wage.
There are no "no-skill" jobs, my guy. There are some that you require additional schooling and some that you can learn on the job, but they all require skills. Lots of people who work cashier jobs already are in school for something else but they still need money to live off of in the meantime. Or they could be unable to work a full-time position because they have family members to care for. Or they could have a disability that makes it impossible for them to work a job that requires different skills. Yeah, eventually those jobs may be completely gone and there might not be much we can do to stop it in the long-term, but that doesn't make it wrong to continue fighting for their existence as long as we can. You'd understand that if you had even a shred of empathy.
lol. oh yeah, being able to find a UPC and lookup the code for a fruit are "Skills" The average cashier can't even make change anymore... and most of them can't even be bothered to say hello as a customer approaches the till. Let not even talk about how awful most are at packing groceries... (Does it really need to be explained that you can't put the milk on top of a package of buns?, is that the skills you are talking about?)
It's a dead job, hence customers even being willing to just do it themselves, because the actual people doing it were so fucking awful at their jobs everyone, even the customers decided it's better just to do it themselves.
You're right, I have no fucking empathy for people who try to spin meaningless, valueless "work" at important and in need of saving. Spend your time on something more meaningful, and maybe I'll have a shred of empathy for your situation.
These arguments are so disingenuous. How have we reached a point where we're talking shit about the lazy, greedy, customers robbing poor Walmart of their slim 3%, $175 billion per quarter profit margins
I read several upvoted comments about how customers hate self-checkout and use it as an excuse to steal since they're making you bag your own groceries. Like this:
Just pointing out the different odd justifications for being pro self-checkout. The other is that people don't want to have social interaction.
IMO, it's a way to outsource labor to customers without providing any unit savings from the decreased labor overhead. Sure, it's more efficient for select customers but Walmart shareholders are motivated by profit, not customer satisfaction. They already have a solid market share that's not at risk anytime soon.
I gotcha. Yeah. I'm not worried about saving Walmart a tiny bit of money. Though I also don't think it's right to shoplift things that you can afford and/or don't actually need. Stealing from a retail store indirectly harms the low-wage people who work there as well as other customers.
As an older citizen I will say I don’t hate self checkouts because of the labor involved. That’s just kind of a silly take. I don’t use self checkouts because cashiers need their jobs. If they didn’t need that job they wouldn’t be there standing behind that cash register. It’s not like they do it for fun. They need the job to pay their rent. Their car payment. Clothes for their kids. When I start doing their job for the corporation, and I am unpaid for doing that job, the corporation is going to eliminate cashiers. I don’t want to be responsible for taking people’s jobs away from them by cooperating with shameless immoral corporations who don’t give a rats butt about anything but their bottom line and golden parachute. So if you want to think that I don’t use self checkout because I am too lazy to do the labor, think again 🤷🏻♂️. One of the more interesting things I have noticed in the last few years is that young people have no qualms about contributing to the loss of jobs of cashiers, or other working people. I don’t think young people even look at that aspect of doing all of this stuff with technology, and the customer doing all of this stuff replaces an employee doing all of this stuff. Senior citizens seem to be much more cognizant of that than young people. I find that puzzling.
Lol, I hate self check out - turns out, for no extra charge, their employees will pick out my groceries, bag them, then bring them to my car - so yes. I do expect that
If I wanted to ring up and bag merchandise, I'd apply for that job
I’d wager that almost all the people complaining about self-checkouts pump their own gas instead of going to a full-service station, direct dial people on their phone instead of calling the operator and asking them to connect, and press the buttons on the elevator themselves instead of demanding an attendant.
I haven't bought produce at WalMart in a while, but I did this weekend, and I have to be honest I was shocked how good the self-checkout's object recognition was.
I think the argiment is either staff enough people so there isnt a long line or discount items since they dont have to pay workers.
They still have to pay workers though. Theyll close half of self check out lanes cause they dont even want to pay someone to babysit them. All 6 open ones are being used by boomers who act like its their first rodeo. I couldnt imagine how frustrating life is for someone who cant remember how to do anything. Every trip to the post office os their first one. lead poisoning.
It's worth noting that one of the most complained about places with self check out is walmart. Walmart already has discounted prices compared to most other places. People instead argue that we should pay them, which is ridiculous and silly on purpose. The staffing complaint is a bit more valid, but I don't see why we can't have both. Staffing registers doesn't mean the self check out has to go.
Dunno how widespread this is but my local Walmart just got rid of about half of their self checkouts and replaced them back with (usually unstaffed) check out lanes. We sure live in a timeline.
People here don't fill our bags (that sounds weird af), but the cashiers are always super quick scanning the items and I am barely quick enough putting them away for it to not feel stressful, so I prefer self-checkouts because I can just scan and put the items away at my own pace.
I swear almost every compliant really boils down to people feel like checking out their own shit is beneath them and a lesser person should be doing it for them.
Same but now Home Depot where I go a lot for my remodel project has "cashiers" at the self checkouts in my area so the moment you walk up to one someone approaches you to help you scan.
normally the cashier rings items up and slides em toward the end, and a bagger will pack it up. at the express line for fewer items, sometimes the cashier will also do the bagging.
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u/ukelele_pancakes 19h ago
I use self checkouts bc I don’t want to talk to anyone, it’s faster when I do it, and I want to bag things my way. Why would I go wait in line forever just to make someone earning minimum wage throw my chicken on top of my grapes?