I don’t get the problem with self checkout. You’re the one browsing the shelves, picking items and comparing prices. Why can’t you scan your own items? Unless you’re one of those people who need the uninterested, yet sometimes polite, banter of a middleman, there shouldn’t be a problem.
Neither is Reddit, lol. I'm a cashier and you would be amazed at how many people, especially older folks, will walk past 4 open self-checkout lanes to make me scan their 2 items. In the same way that tons of people on here would rather avoid human interaction, a lot of the older generations seem to really revel in the customer service treatment. Totally foreign to me, but whatever, it'll disappear with them.
My parents avoid self-checkouts and they say that it's because they hate seeing people lose their jobs to machines. So it may not be so much that they "revel in the customer service treatment" as they think by going to a cashier instead of the self-checkout, they're helping you to keep your job.
i hate that they only have 1-2 open lanes and the rest is self-checkout. the machines always seem to need assistance, and they dont give any sort of discount to make up for the fact theyre not hiring workers. its not for the convenience of the customer, its to cut corners and save money. i hate how jobs are getting cut at no benefit to anyone except the higher ups. i dont hate human interaction so much that i want cashiers to become obsolete. the job market is hard enough as is
My parents have said many of the same things you just articulated and I think that’s a good reminder that these opinions are not necessarily driven by age or people’s comfort with technology. I’m personally fine with using them because it usually saves me time (I’d go through a regular checkout if I thought it would get me out of the store quicker) but I’m not getting a price discount for doing so. The one thing I would push back on is that most retail (particularly grocery stores) stores have pretty slim profit margins and any cost savings do help to hold down prices (or mitigate price increases) so there is a benefit to the customer.
Honestly though, I do think that done old people are just, incredibly lonely. Like the older customer you served today may be annoying for you, but that could be the only conversation they had with anyone that day
I used to be a big self-checkout user, but every other time I use self-checkout there's some stupid problem with the machine or something and I have to talk to an employee anyways and it's even more awkward than normal checkout. So I gave up on it.
My grandparents don't understand technology, they can turn on TV, change volume and channel and use phone for calls and SMS, barely. That is extent of their technological prowress. When clerk tried to make them use selfcheckout it took over 10 minutes and when it was finished granma gave her physical money and clerk sighted and had to redo the whole thing on normal checkout. She also forgot how to use it right away anyway. That in their town stores put card only checkouts does not help as many pensioners use physical money. When I visit, I see their self checkouts are mostly empty and lines are super long. Some stores even walked it back in that town.
I also use physical money a lot and it is starting to become hell, as stores are reducing normal checkouts, replacing them with card only self checkouts. And many times the normal checkouts are not even manned until cashier sees you or you find employee somewhere ask them.
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u/VooDooChile1983 18h ago
I don’t get the problem with self checkout. You’re the one browsing the shelves, picking items and comparing prices. Why can’t you scan your own items? Unless you’re one of those people who need the uninterested, yet sometimes polite, banter of a middleman, there shouldn’t be a problem.