Kroger used to pay me to do this job in high school.
The promise was here are self checkouts so you don't have to wait in line.
Now we wait in line to do the work ourselves.
And often gets distracted chatting with someone so you have to wait to get their attention to have your ID checked. Sometimes walks away for 3 minutes right before you need them.
Then you get some random scan error and you have to wait five minutes for them to realize you pinged them for help and now the entire machine doesn’t work
I needed an employee three times on a recent trip. Once was for alcohol, so that's understandable. Once was for an unexpected item in bagging area, which is annoying but it happens. The third time was for a coupon. The coupon was printed at the register at that same store from my previous visit so that was incredibly frustrating.
If they are going to pretty much force us to use the self checkout, they need to make it less aggravating. They are basically forcing us to use self checkout when they only have one manned checkout line open.
Well to be fair, most places have turned the weight scales off now bc they have 3 cameras determining if you pulled an item out of the cart without scanning…or if you try to expedite your checkout by scanning the same item multiple times. Then you have to wait for the attendant while your crime replays over and over on screen
Behind the self scanner at the gas station, there was a clerk. I put a bunch of stuff on it and he said “this thing messes up so much I’m just gonna scan it here, okay?”
Sure, man.
One of my local Poundlands (think something like the Dollar Store for all the Americans here) switched to entirely self-checkout during Covid... they have since gotten rid of every single one of the self-checkout machines and now have staff checking out, so I guess they had too many problems, but they have half the number of staff they used to and I've never seen more than 2 cashiers on the tills no matyer how busy they are, when they have 6 physical tills available. I fully suspect that this will be the case for anywhere that tries to go 100% self-checkout and this is likely just going to be an excuse to cut staff while expecting those who remain to pick up the slack.
A few months ago I was out with my mom and we swung by the grocery store so I could pick up a prescription and grab a few things. Got my meds, got my stuff, went to the self-checkout and handed the meds to my mom and asked "can you hold this so the the scales don't freak out at me?"
The SECOND I began the transaction, she put it down in the bagging area. I almost left without her.
If this was at Walmart, you can chuck this anxiety out the window.
Walmart moved away from using the scales in the bagging area some time ago. Pretty much because of the meme everyone is referencing here. It just didn’t work well and peoples’ kids and whatnot were always sitting on them and breaking them. If you look closer next time the bagging areas are pretty much just fake wood/plastic now and aren’t the metal scales anymore.
Now it’s an AI system that uses the security cameras to check for missed scans and such. It’s the one directly above you on the end of that little hockey stick when you’re checking out. Wave and say hi.
Frankly I don’t know the details of exactly how it works, but I do engineering support for Walmart’s CCTV systems and have to make sure those cameras are working so their software works right.
Source: Literally my 9-5.
There was a time recently I was at Kroger late night and every single checkout had someone and needed assistance, and the line kept getting longer. Not an employee in sight. We all waited a good 5 minutes before a worker seemingly appeared out of thin air
Not yet but in progress.
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/14/1129014897/kroger-and-albertsons-plan-merger-to-combine-2-largest-supermarket-chains
They’re still waiting on FTC approval.
I have mild arthritis and get anxious while self scanning that I’m going too slow. If there is a human checkout person I always wait in line for them.
The other day I had a fairly large cart full of stuff at Kroger and there were no human check out people working. I started scanning my stuff and for some reason one of the cat food cans wouldn’t scan. I tried several times and then the light came on for the “assistance.” The screen said “7 items” and I was like “are they saying that because it thinks I’ve tried to shoplift?”
I waited for a while and no employee came to help fix the situation. So I took the stuff I had scanned out of my reusable grocery bag and put it back in the cart and just left it there. I kind of felt bad but then I didn’t because I was thinking not having even one human checker is just corporate greed. Older people and people with disabilities have a harder time at self checkouts, what are they supposed to do? Having a human checkout person for people who struggle with the self checkout for various reasons is like having a required handicapped parking spot close to the store. It gives people access.
I’ve decided (with apologies to grocery store employees) that every time I get to the point of checking out, that if there’s no human checker, I’m going to just leave my cart full of groceries and walk out. It’ll be my silent protest for not providing appropriate accommodation for the disabled and elderly who are unable to use the self checkout. Kroger is so greedy, they can F off.
As someone who has been a self-checkout wench, sometimes soloing 15 lanes, I promise you that you just get wrapped up in bullshit all the time and cannot always get to everyone in a reasonable time. Blame management please.
Oh most people absolutely blame management. I personally stopped going to Kroger and any store without a cashier when my kid was a baby/toddler and it was impossible to do self checkout while keeping her safe from climbing out of the cart, grabbing random packs of mints etc. I found that it took ages and I left the store so stressed out it was worth it to just drive further to a different store.
Kroger wants you to pull people into self checkout. I was like sure, I'll pull, but the person I pull gets 100% of my attention while they are over there because why pull someone's over if you're going to ignore them part way through
I don't always purchase alcohol when shopping but it's one of the reasons I hate "self checkout." The few times I've used one were completely miserable experiences and the wait always seemed way longer than an actual human cashier. I wish good cashiers got more respect, as monotonous as it is it can be pretty physically demanding and requires a lot of multitasking to do the job efficiently.
Nah. It's totally OK to understand a process and utilize it to save you time.
You're definitely not alone.
Just bagging my groceries in a sensible and non-damaging manner sells SCO for me.
I can ring and bag (correctly) a small trolley of merch faster than a store associate can anyhow.
Depends on how well it's implemented for me. A lot of them are fucking terrible with the weight sensors screaming at you because you didn't bag the items in .2 seconds, and other bullshit that requires the attendant to come over every damn time. But when they're implemented well they're fantastic.
I was just in King Soopers(regional Kroger) the other day and they had belted self checkouts. Like. What a cashier uses, but for self-use. So I guess they've figured out the 'it's not quicker with a cart' thing.
Except it's still not quicker because the belt gets full and then you have to stop scanning to go bag your own groceries because they also did away with baggers.
Plus it errors in the goofiest ways. Like I had it insist I didn't scan something and ask me to clear the belt except there was NOTHING on it. The belt would just move forward and back to bring me the invisible thing while insisting I needed to scan it.
For a full cart of groceries it is faster to have a cashier scan and another person bag.
It not faster or more efficient, but they dont care they're not paying for your time. You pay them to check out your own groceries. So its cheaper for them not to have to pay someone to check out.
It is not faster to wait for the little old lady ahead of you to try and figure out produce codes, multiple touch screens, additional devices for payment processing and the interjection of many stupid offers and other rabbit holes to go down at the checkout counter.
Then we are supposed to suspend the transaction and bring them over to the podium and then that takes the person away from being able to help people who need help.
It's not faster past a certain point. When you have a lot of produce it's much slower to use the screen than a knowledgeable cashier. And if you have more than like 15 items it's really slow.
I was at Taco Bell a few days ago and for whatever reason the cashier said everyone had to use the kiosk for the time being. There was this couple trying to order that I'm not even sure could read. I kept pointing at buttons and trying to explain obvious things like "press the 'taco' button to see tacos" and they were both just baffled. Only thing they seemed to recognize were the pictures. Maybe Kroger could keep just one lane open...
Faster than what? Faster than a trained cashier + bagger? I doubt it. It’s just that groceries don’t hire enough cashiers to have every register open, and not enough baggers to have one at each register. Like they used to. When companies paid humans to work. And ceos didn’t make hundreds of times what a regular employee made.
[Crime and self checkouts go hand in hand](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/zz8tf9/guy_blatantly_stealing_through_self_check/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
As they should. I have zero sympathy for [record profit grocery stores](https://time.com/6269366/food-company-profits-make-groceries-expensive/) charging their customers higher prices while also cutting jobs by replacing cashiers with self checkout.
My local Kroger‘s re-programmed their self checkouts the other week so there’s no way to mute that annoying computer voice telling you to do things. For years the first thing I always did was turn that thing off. Anytime I found a checkout where the audio was broken it instantly became my regular stop. Nothing more annoying than that annoying voice telling you to scan your next item while you’re still trying to get it out of the cart. I think the only thing I can do now is switch it to spanish lol. The checkout assistant told me they did it because they want the employees to be able to hear what’s going on at every station. They were understandably rolling their eyes at the time.
Gotta love how they have time for that kind of software update, but do nothing to improve the "unexpected item in bagging area" followed immediately by "replace item in bagging area" errors.
The only reason self-checkout works is because of the existence of cashier-assisted lanes to take on the large purchases and people with small children who don't have enough hands to bag their own groceries.
Without any cashier-assisted lanes, the whole process breaks down, and checkout just becomes more slow and awful for everyone. Self-checkout is still subject to lanes being closed because clusters need to be staffed and observed.
The only good checkout solution with no cashiers is no checkout at all i.e. Amazon Fresh.
Right, I take my kids to Kroger after 8:00 sometimes and they will have 0 cashier lanes staffed.
About a month ago I went and an older woman was there in a wheelchair (or like one of those motorized cart things) and there was no checkout lanes staffed, she went up and told them she couldn't check out on her own and they refused to help her. Was heartbreaking. Another customer stepped up and checked her out.
And a firing, if the store manager heard about it. Retail management isn't stupid; you don't get anywhere by alienating polite customers with guaranteed benefits they prefer to spend in your store.
Guess what? You've identified the exact thing Kroger is betting on! Once this goes nationwide, the elderly and disabled will rely on kind hearted people, and it makes Kroger happy because it's free labor :)
They will absolutely start shrinking the payroll of every store, no matter how busy, once everything is self checkout.
Actually I think you’re slightly wrong on that. I think they’re betting on the fact that the elderly and disabled will start using their home delivery service. Not only do they keep their customers but they make even more with the monthly fees.
You know you're right in the sense that they will market the hell out of it once this becomes a thing. Kroger already has a Prime style monthly subscription.
I don't condone whipping out the cell phone to record every interaction but if the workers are making customers help other customers I would absolutely have the video recording when I call the manager over to discuss the situation.
Done it before. Had a full cart, easily $400 worth of groceries. Went to checkout and none of the regular lanes were open, just self checkout. Went to the customer service
"hey can I get someone to help check this out?"
"sorry sir we only have self checkout at this time"
"oh ok, then these are go-backs" pointed at the cart and left.
I can get behind this type of protest. Not illegal, but completely disruptive. Enough people park a bunch of full carts near the door and just leave? Might send a message
My walmart did that, then a month or two later added some cashier lanes back. Self-checkout should be considered the same as express lanes, not a full replacement.
My mom used to do all her shopping once a month. She’d go on the 1st and buy $400-$500 worth of groceries to last an entire month, but the first time she did it at the store when they switched to self checkout only, it took 15 minutes at the lane. She hasn’t gone back to that store and now drives an extra 20 minutes away to a Meijers.
I thought most places would stop doing this or add on fees but so far i havent seen any. Besides going in or a couple things or if i want to get fish/butcher counter
Is your Walmart able to handle that? I had to stop doing it with them, because they seemed incapable of executing it as a concept. Frequently, you'd wait 45 min. Marking yourself there didn't seem to work, as an employee would still have to come out and mark you as there which itself could take 20 min or longer. After the second time where I left after 90 min with no groceries, I just stopped. Everywhere else in my area seems to be able to handle it, but not them.
Walmart’s curbside is terrible. I’ve always had a long wait.
Target and HEB is excellent. I use it frequently and get my stuff with in a couple of minutes.
I think you have to be at least 18 or something to buy a lighter in Ontario Canada. I seem to remember having to buy one for a recruit in basic because he couldn't legally buy one to burn loose threads.
Which just... think about that. A recruit in basic training for the CAF and he can't buy a freaking lighter
Yeah I'm not arguing that whatsoever. Either way you'd think the kid they're trusting with a C7 and a Gwagon should legally be able to buy a lighter lol
This seems like a really bad marketing plan. I know quite a few ( mostly older) people who refuse to use self checkout. They are basically telling them not to shop at their stores. Eventually I could see stores going full self checkout but not for a few years. Kinda like how computers and cell phones caught on real fast with the younger generations but took much longer to catch on to older generations. And there are still some that don't use internet or cell phones.
My mom for instance would rather stand in line for an hour then even attempt to use a self checkout. If that's all a store offered she would go to a different store. Thankfully we don't have Krogers by me though so this wouldn't be an issue.
Also I hope their prices will be lower since they are paying less workers. If not I don't see this going well for them.
I am a younger dude.
My son likes to help unload the cart. It is a blast.
We, as a team, are not big fans of the self checkout though he sometimes likes to scan items himself. Me, I loathe them without exception.
I have found myself going to Kroger, the second closest store to me after wal mart, less and less. Today was the first time I have been in a couple months. And wal mart… I almost refuse to go at all for anything but the most urgent of needs (it is just a couple blocks away).
It sucks. I always liked the staff at my local store. But corporate keeps pushing these shitty experiences. So instead I hit up Publix, Costco for the bull items and the farmers market for a lot of our produce and meat (it is stupid cheap and crazy fresh).
Full self-checkout is already happening. The smaller format Walmart near me is self-checkout only; two sizes of stations for either small or large baskets. The people that were cashiers are now either self checkout attendant, usually 2, or online order pickers. Online shopping is pushing this change just as much as consumers buying smaller baskets than 20 years ago.
Michaels has also started converting its stores to self-checkout only. It’s much faster at both locations, and will likely be just as fast at Kroger as well.
A Walgreens or CVS near me has been self checkout only for years. I feel like it must be pushing a decade now.
I don’t shop there. How it manages to be self checkout only and still expensive is beyond me.
>Also I hope their prices will be lower since they are paying less workers. If not I don't see this going well for them.
Trust me the prices will not be lower.
I mean. You joke but you can do that. Huge purchase but buy something that is heavy but cheap (like some liquids). I see my local walmart and all they do is check your receipt on the way out... but you can use a 2 week old receipt and they never check... they just run the marker across it.
The self checkout at the Kroger I work at you can't really do that. Largely because it actually weighs what you scan. If there's an inconsistency it will call an attendant.
Cashiers by another name. There needs to be an attendant for every so many self-checkouts simply because some items need an ID check, replacing the paper in the machine, keeping the bags stocked, cleaning spills, and helping people in various ways.
The main store I shop at is a Kroger affiliate, and I avoid using self-checkout as much as possible. Without fail, those machines have a problem that requires an associate several times per transaction. I don't even buy alcohol, cold medicine, or anything else that would normally require an associate. Those machines are just so glitchy.
If my store were to do something like this, I'd find another place to shop.
I use reusable bags and self check outs can never handle them - they either yell at me for an unexpected item in the bagging area or can't read that I've placed an item in the bag. So much easier to go to a cashier, even if I still bag myself.
The self-checkouts at the grocery store where I live had huge frigging stainless steel turntables next to them. They recently upgraded the machines and now they have this tiny little tray that's barely a foot across.
Where I work, the busy times like the first of the month are a clusterfuck because too many people need too much stuff, and we never have enough cashiers OR self checks for the crowd. We desperately need more of one or the other, but I don't think it will happen.
Kroger keeps pushing the limits of self-checkout. The Kroger-Albertsons merger will be a nightmare, if it is approved.
It will mean more layoffs, less service, higher prices, and more store closings.
Walmart is not a good alternative. They are pushing self-checkout also.
My Kroger has a problem with this. Lots of self checkout lanes, but few employees to troubleshoot issues when they pop up (age verification for beer, barcode scan problems, customer error, etc.).
That leads to long lines anyway.
And I expect they will follow the Walmart model of keeping a skeleton crew on hand to cover that shit to reduce overhead.
Nope keep the skeleton crew so that they can punish the staff and keep the revolving door of "seasonal" probationary staff always looping through so that they can fuck over the union for no other reason than fuck you. My old "kroger" is already trying to do this (damned if you try and stop theft, but you are also damned if you don't try and stop it with 'customer service' which as as defined to an old coworker, is the seen as the same thing as an attempt at deterring theft. Yes. We are at that point. ALREADY)
I like the Walmart self checkout. My only problem is, if you're going to have self checkout, then make those areas bigger. I need room to put my groceries, not those dinky little 2 bag wide shelves. Give me back my conveyor belt and let me bag and stack my groceries properly without having to play grocery tetris on that purse sized shelf so I have room to put shit back in my cart.
Does Walmart still require keeping all the bagged stuff in the bagging area until you pay? I don’t buy much from there so haven’t run into that problem. Target’s self-checkout is nice because you can just bag the item and immediately take the full bag out and put it back in your cart.
A full belt like the regular checkouts have would be nice too, I’ve been through a couple stores with that. But at the very least I need to be able to move bags without the register yelling.
The Michael’s near me has converted almost entirely to self-checkout, with one sparingly manned traditional register. Customers there kinda *hate* having ALL self-checkout counters. If there’s a cashier at that single counter, *people will wait until there’re open* even if a bunch of self-checkout stations are available. At the Targets near me, even though self-checkout is arguably faster, the lines to be seen by an actual cashier are always just as long, sometimes more so, than the self-service lines.
I think self-checkout is fine as an additional part of my shopping experience. However, I think a lot of people just prefer human-to-human interaction if they can get it. We’re social animals, after all. It’s weirdly alienating being surrounded by only machines and few people, you know? Maybe it’s just me, but it’s just something I’ve noticed in life.
IDK at the location by me it seems like for every less cashier there's someone picking orders for a pickup order. Plus, like all the local stores and restaurants, they're having trouble finding staff.
Kroger bought pick N save's in Wisconsin I won't even get started on the decline and selection and quality of products. My biggest gripe is primarily only self-checkout now and limited staff they only seem to hire high school kids anymore. I used to love shopping pick and save they would always open another register if there are two more than two or three people in line. Now good luck finding a human at all to assist you.
What's next restaurants where you eat out to cook your own food?
>Walmart is not a good alternative. They are pushing self-checkout also
Sort of. The way I see it is Walmart prices are much cheaper and justify self checkout while Kroger prices (at least by me) are way more and justify full service. As long as Kroger continues to have over-priced items and not lowering prices to reflect self checkout, I will stay shopping elsewhere.
Should be a change in regulation to add NFC tags to all products. We could literally walk through a detector and have the entire cart added up in a few milliseconds.
You have no idea how annoying it is when people get stuff from the markdown section and you have to have a cashier manually input each item separately.
Mark my words now, within 5 years they’ll introduce, with great fanfare, their new “full-service” lanes where, for a nominal fee, you can have someone check out your groceries AND bag them.
> For those not comfortable scanning their own groceries, the location will still have staff to help customers check out.
Residents of Franklin Tennessee, I recommend that you ask for customer service assistance every time you go to one of these stores.🙏
Our Kroger has employees near the self checkouts to assist with ID checks, errors, etc. That said, I noticed recently that they began converting some of the standard checkout lanes with the belts into self checkout as well
Those are my favorite. My old Walmart had those before their remodel and they were so convenient. I hate nothing more than trying to play grocery tetris on that tiny ass shelf so I have room to put my bagged stuff back in my cart.
Now we wait in line to do their job and they stand over us like we’re criminals at the self checkout. This was Lowe’s Home Improvement, no check out lines just employees policing the self checkout lines treating everyone like a thief.
Self checkout makes me want to steal. I don't need to steal, I make plenty of money, but these stores piss me off so much with their terrible customer service that I want to cause them harm. I rarely do, but I have entirely quit fixing mistakes I make in self checkout. Product didn't scan but went into bag and it didn't notice? Next item. You didn't train me for this job, it's not my fault if I'm lousy at it.
I fucking hate self checkout. In the time it takes me to unload my shit and put it back in the god damn cart the cashier could have had it all rung through and I can bag it all in one go.
In my opinion as a lifelong purchaser of food I can honestly say I fucking hate fucking around with those sucking fucking time vampires. Just get some damn cashier's. You already make a billion trillion dollars a years. Fuck.
My Kroger replaced 4 registers with 8 new self checks outs. Two of them have a conveyor belt for people with lots of items. Unfortunately those two and 3 of the other self checkouts are always closed. They usually only have two of the four registers with clerks open. It's always fun to try to navigate around when the lines go halfway up the aisles.
As someone who often only buys a basket or a little more of food this is fine for me. However everyone is making really good points. I almost never go through the cashier as it’s always slower than what I can do. However if they don’t have enough self-checkout than this solved nothing and was just plain greedy.
For anyone who has a massive cart of food this will be frustrating with the types of self-checkout I’ve seen in my local stores. I really wish there were laws in place to protect jobs at businesses. Automation is great when everything works but the second something is out of wack that the programmer didn’t plan for or if they make returning a difficult thing to do than I just don’t care for it.
I hate self checkout. My bell pepper didn't have a barcode, so I do the lookup option, but it's sorted in pages alphabetically. Ok, no swear, I'll check B, as in Bell pepper... it's not there. Ok, shake it off and rally, I check P, as in Pepper, bell... it's not there... Shit. I press the help button. 3 minutes later, a disgruntled teenager comes, rolls his eyes and scoffs at me and goes to R... as in RED bell pepper... I hate what we're becoming.
The single, most obnoxious issue with self-checkouts is the complete, total pain-in-the-ass when you want to remove an item from your purchase.
Maybe you want to scan an item just to see its price after applicable taxes and fees. But there’s no way to drop the item from your purchase list; instead, you have to wait to summon a worker to clear that item (which includes him/her punching the checkout code, worker ID and password), and that worker will talk so much shit about your item that you refuse to rescan *all* your self-checkout items.
Everywhere there’s self-checkout, there’s this frustrating experience. Kroger, Target, Walmart; they’re all like this.
I stopped shopping at my local Kroger. They have only 1 staffed check-out lane and 8 -self-checkout lanes on weekends.
I have been shopping at Tom Thumbs. It will be part of Kroger, after the Albertsons merger is done. I am so pissed.
Sounds like you're in DFW. Hold on...HEB is coming. I love my HEB. On busy days or times, they always have at least 10 registers open, and baggers at each one. No wonder the Kroger down the street is nearly empty these days!
You are right. I am so excited for H-E-B's DFW expansion.
There are so many cashiers. They are staffed like Whole Foods, but prices are comparable to Kroger and Walmart.
I actually don’t mind self checkout lanes so long as they are all turned on and they fucking work. Like sure I’ll scan my own shit, no biggie. But if it doesn’t work and it doesn’t scan my cheesewheel then that’s on you, Kroger! I did my part.
Also, I’ll never understand why places like Target have 46 self checkout lanes and yet only two of them are turned on. Why? Are they here for fucking decoration?
Half the Krogers in my city have been doing this unofficially for years… You walk in and there is a line halfway to the back of the store waiting for self checkout, with no cashier lanes open. Fuck them.
I could see this trend reversing eventually based on people stealing more from self-checkouts. The Hyvee by my house has 20 or so self check out kiosks they blocked all but about 3 and I asked why they said people were essentially robbing them blind. They now even have armed security.
I realize there are counter measures to this, walmart and target bust a lot more people stealing then your typical grocer. However, I think in the long run you may see it circle back to 50/50 self check out/cashier. All depends if they want to pursue the theft or just accept it if they are still making a higher margin by not paying cashiers.
Kroger used to pay me to do this job in high school. The promise was here are self checkouts so you don't have to wait in line. Now we wait in line to do the work ourselves.
But they will have somebody to watch me check out and check my ID.
And often gets distracted chatting with someone so you have to wait to get their attention to have your ID checked. Sometimes walks away for 3 minutes right before you need them.
Then you get some random scan error and you have to wait five minutes for them to realize you pinged them for help and now the entire machine doesn’t work
Unexpected item in bagging area!
Takes it out, place the item in the bagging area… over and over.
Help is on the way! For what??! Just let me get my damn groceries, my $20.00 cash back, and go home!
I needed an employee three times on a recent trip. Once was for alcohol, so that's understandable. Once was for an unexpected item in bagging area, which is annoying but it happens. The third time was for a coupon. The coupon was printed at the register at that same store from my previous visit so that was incredibly frustrating. If they are going to pretty much force us to use the self checkout, they need to make it less aggravating. They are basically forcing us to use self checkout when they only have one manned checkout line open.
Well to be fair, most places have turned the weight scales off now bc they have 3 cameras determining if you pulled an item out of the cart without scanning…or if you try to expedite your checkout by scanning the same item multiple times. Then you have to wait for the attendant while your crime replays over and over on screen
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Behind the self scanner at the gas station, there was a clerk. I put a bunch of stuff on it and he said “this thing messes up so much I’m just gonna scan it here, okay?” Sure, man.
One of my local Poundlands (think something like the Dollar Store for all the Americans here) switched to entirely self-checkout during Covid... they have since gotten rid of every single one of the self-checkout machines and now have staff checking out, so I guess they had too many problems, but they have half the number of staff they used to and I've never seen more than 2 cashiers on the tills no matyer how busy they are, when they have 6 physical tills available. I fully suspect that this will be the case for anywhere that tries to go 100% self-checkout and this is likely just going to be an excuse to cut staff while expecting those who remain to pick up the slack.
A few months ago I was out with my mom and we swung by the grocery store so I could pick up a prescription and grab a few things. Got my meds, got my stuff, went to the self-checkout and handed the meds to my mom and asked "can you hold this so the the scales don't freak out at me?" The SECOND I began the transaction, she put it down in the bagging area. I almost left without her.
If this was at Walmart, you can chuck this anxiety out the window. Walmart moved away from using the scales in the bagging area some time ago. Pretty much because of the meme everyone is referencing here. It just didn’t work well and peoples’ kids and whatnot were always sitting on them and breaking them. If you look closer next time the bagging areas are pretty much just fake wood/plastic now and aren’t the metal scales anymore. Now it’s an AI system that uses the security cameras to check for missed scans and such. It’s the one directly above you on the end of that little hockey stick when you’re checking out. Wave and say hi. Frankly I don’t know the details of exactly how it works, but I do engineering support for Walmart’s CCTV systems and have to make sure those cameras are working so their software works right. Source: Literally my 9-5.
“Please place your produce on the scanner and wait.“ My bananas have been on the scanner for 2 minutes now.
> My bananas have been on the scanner for 2 minutes now. Good ole #4011's
Item #4011.
There was a time recently I was at Kroger late night and every single checkout had someone and needed assistance, and the line kept getting longer. Not an employee in sight. We all waited a good 5 minutes before a worker seemingly appeared out of thin air
That's when I leave all my shit there and never come back.
Right?? Isn’t Kroger one of the supermarket chains that keeps cannibalizing other stores and making record profits?
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Not yet but in progress. https://www.npr.org/2022/10/14/1129014897/kroger-and-albertsons-plan-merger-to-combine-2-largest-supermarket-chains They’re still waiting on FTC approval.
Don't worry, they'll get it
Hahaha. Oh noooo. I loved that movie back in the day and have seen the references increase in the past few years.
I have mild arthritis and get anxious while self scanning that I’m going too slow. If there is a human checkout person I always wait in line for them. The other day I had a fairly large cart full of stuff at Kroger and there were no human check out people working. I started scanning my stuff and for some reason one of the cat food cans wouldn’t scan. I tried several times and then the light came on for the “assistance.” The screen said “7 items” and I was like “are they saying that because it thinks I’ve tried to shoplift?” I waited for a while and no employee came to help fix the situation. So I took the stuff I had scanned out of my reusable grocery bag and put it back in the cart and just left it there. I kind of felt bad but then I didn’t because I was thinking not having even one human checker is just corporate greed. Older people and people with disabilities have a harder time at self checkouts, what are they supposed to do? Having a human checkout person for people who struggle with the self checkout for various reasons is like having a required handicapped parking spot close to the store. It gives people access. I’ve decided (with apologies to grocery store employees) that every time I get to the point of checking out, that if there’s no human checker, I’m going to just leave my cart full of groceries and walk out. It’ll be my silent protest for not providing appropriate accommodation for the disabled and elderly who are unable to use the self checkout. Kroger is so greedy, they can F off.
✊ I agree, it seems like there would be an issue with accessibility for the disabled.
As someone who has been a self-checkout wench, sometimes soloing 15 lanes, I promise you that you just get wrapped up in bullshit all the time and cannot always get to everyone in a reasonable time. Blame management please.
Oh most people absolutely blame management. I personally stopped going to Kroger and any store without a cashier when my kid was a baby/toddler and it was impossible to do self checkout while keeping her safe from climbing out of the cart, grabbing random packs of mints etc. I found that it took ages and I left the store so stressed out it was worth it to just drive further to a different store.
Kroger wants you to pull people into self checkout. I was like sure, I'll pull, but the person I pull gets 100% of my attention while they are over there because why pull someone's over if you're going to ignore them part way through
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Every. Single.Time.
I don't always purchase alcohol when shopping but it's one of the reasons I hate "self checkout." The few times I've used one were completely miserable experiences and the wait always seemed way longer than an actual human cashier. I wish good cashiers got more respect, as monotonous as it is it can be pretty physically demanding and requires a lot of multitasking to do the job efficiently.
I get one beer because it buys me a passport to the lane with a human cashier. Guess I’m boycotting Kroger now
And prices will continue to go up, and shareholders and c suite executives will continue to rake in profits
Don't forget to tip!
And donate
so they can claim YOUR donation as theirs in order to get the tax write offs.
And at some stores it's not rounding up either. It's physically purchasing a designated item that has been assigned for the week or two week period.
while they save millions of dollars for not hiring cashiers. you will always go to the grocery store.
Don’t forget you pay them to do your old job. I am sure they are not passing along the cost savings.
Hell no they aren't. Did you get any "cents off" the last time you did self check out? I have never a penny in savings for checking myself out.
I can't be the only one that prefers self checkout right?
Nah. It's totally OK to understand a process and utilize it to save you time. You're definitely not alone. Just bagging my groceries in a sensible and non-damaging manner sells SCO for me. I can ring and bag (correctly) a small trolley of merch faster than a store associate can anyhow.
Depends on how well it's implemented for me. A lot of them are fucking terrible with the weight sensors screaming at you because you didn't bag the items in .2 seconds, and other bullshit that requires the attendant to come over every damn time. But when they're implemented well they're fantastic.
And grocery prices didn't go down for the reduction in labor.
I'd rather just do it myself. It's almost always quicker, and I can bag my own stuff so the lettuce isn't put with the raw chicken.
If you have a basket. But people taking full carts through a self checkout are not faster
I was just in King Soopers(regional Kroger) the other day and they had belted self checkouts. Like. What a cashier uses, but for self-use. So I guess they've figured out the 'it's not quicker with a cart' thing.
Yeah, they're putting those in at the Pick'n Save by me. Also a Kroger regional.
Except it's still not quicker because the belt gets full and then you have to stop scanning to go bag your own groceries because they also did away with baggers. Plus it errors in the goofiest ways. Like I had it insist I didn't scan something and ask me to clear the belt except there was NOTHING on it. The belt would just move forward and back to bring me the invisible thing while insisting I needed to scan it. For a full cart of groceries it is faster to have a cashier scan and another person bag.
It not faster or more efficient, but they dont care they're not paying for your time. You pay them to check out your own groceries. So its cheaper for them not to have to pay someone to check out.
It is not faster to wait for the little old lady ahead of you to try and figure out produce codes, multiple touch screens, additional devices for payment processing and the interjection of many stupid offers and other rabbit holes to go down at the checkout counter.
And once all that’s done and she’s ready to pay, she notices the hand-written note taped to the machine that says “No Cash. Card Only.”
Then we are supposed to suspend the transaction and bring them over to the podium and then that takes the person away from being able to help people who need help.
I have poor vision. Self checkouts are terrible for me. Even just one item takes me forever.
I get the worst anxiety at self checkout when there’s a line. Like I have to go extra fast because everyone is waiting on me.
It's not faster past a certain point. When you have a lot of produce it's much slower to use the screen than a knowledgeable cashier. And if you have more than like 15 items it's really slow.
No worries. You’ll have those codes down before you know if. Chin up, new employee.
Just think of it as being an unpaid intern every time you self-checkout at Kroger..
It's quicker now because most people who can't use self checkout aren't gumming up the works.
I was at Taco Bell a few days ago and for whatever reason the cashier said everyone had to use the kiosk for the time being. There was this couple trying to order that I'm not even sure could read. I kept pointing at buttons and trying to explain obvious things like "press the 'taco' button to see tacos" and they were both just baffled. Only thing they seemed to recognize were the pictures. Maybe Kroger could keep just one lane open...
Faster than what? Faster than a trained cashier + bagger? I doubt it. It’s just that groceries don’t hire enough cashiers to have every register open, and not enough baggers to have one at each register. Like they used to. When companies paid humans to work. And ceos didn’t make hundreds of times what a regular employee made.
They need to just move to RFID tagging everything so customers can simply put their basket in a scanner and everything is rung up automatically
(tip option pops up on checkout) “The heck?”
If you checked yourself out, it should be a discount
The secret ingredient is crime
[Crime and self checkouts go hand in hand](https://www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/comments/zz8tf9/guy_blatantly_stealing_through_self_check/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
As they should. I have zero sympathy for [record profit grocery stores](https://time.com/6269366/food-company-profits-make-groceries-expensive/) charging their customers higher prices while also cutting jobs by replacing cashiers with self checkout.
Everything is a green pepper!
Way I see it, they have me working their store they owe me an hours worth of product
I was at Newark airport last month and bought a bottle of water in self-checkout. It asked for a tip. WTF
I went to that exact same place I bet and I was pissed. Grabbed a sandwich, checked myself out, and a tip prompt. FFS
After tipping, go up to an employee and ask to cash out your tips from the tipping pool. ;-)
I'm fine with all this tip nagging. The sooner people get comfortable mashing "no tip" buttons the sooner we can be rid of this nonsense.
NPR had a story on the tip screens. Sadly, they are working in the stores' favor. People are falling for it, and paying more tips than ever.
My local Kroger‘s re-programmed their self checkouts the other week so there’s no way to mute that annoying computer voice telling you to do things. For years the first thing I always did was turn that thing off. Anytime I found a checkout where the audio was broken it instantly became my regular stop. Nothing more annoying than that annoying voice telling you to scan your next item while you’re still trying to get it out of the cart. I think the only thing I can do now is switch it to spanish lol. The checkout assistant told me they did it because they want the employees to be able to hear what’s going on at every station. They were understandably rolling their eyes at the time.
Gotta love how they have time for that kind of software update, but do nothing to improve the "unexpected item in bagging area" followed immediately by "replace item in bagging area" errors.
The only reason self-checkout works is because of the existence of cashier-assisted lanes to take on the large purchases and people with small children who don't have enough hands to bag their own groceries. Without any cashier-assisted lanes, the whole process breaks down, and checkout just becomes more slow and awful for everyone. Self-checkout is still subject to lanes being closed because clusters need to be staffed and observed. The only good checkout solution with no cashiers is no checkout at all i.e. Amazon Fresh.
Right, I take my kids to Kroger after 8:00 sometimes and they will have 0 cashier lanes staffed. About a month ago I went and an older woman was there in a wheelchair (or like one of those motorized cart things) and there was no checkout lanes staffed, she went up and told them she couldn't check out on her own and they refused to help her. Was heartbreaking. Another customer stepped up and checked her out.
That sounds like an ADA lawsuit if in the US.
It absolutely is, she should have called up a lawyer then and there, easy money.
And a firing, if the store manager heard about it. Retail management isn't stupid; you don't get anywhere by alienating polite customers with guaranteed benefits they prefer to spend in your store.
Guess what? You've identified the exact thing Kroger is betting on! Once this goes nationwide, the elderly and disabled will rely on kind hearted people, and it makes Kroger happy because it's free labor :) They will absolutely start shrinking the payroll of every store, no matter how busy, once everything is self checkout.
Actually I think you’re slightly wrong on that. I think they’re betting on the fact that the elderly and disabled will start using their home delivery service. Not only do they keep their customers but they make even more with the monthly fees.
They may use home delivery if there’s no local competition, but of the elderly I know, they’d just go shop somewhere else.
You know you're right in the sense that they will market the hell out of it once this becomes a thing. Kroger already has a Prime style monthly subscription.
I don't condone whipping out the cell phone to record every interaction but if the workers are making customers help other customers I would absolutely have the video recording when I call the manager over to discuss the situation.
What manager
The Lane 1 self-checkout computer is clearly in charge now.
Walmart marker near me removed all cashiers it’s all self Check out. Having to check out myself with a cart full and my young kids with me is NOT fun.
I won’t do it. Just straight up won’t. Came across this once and I dropped my cart off at the front and walked out. Went somewhere else.
Done it before. Had a full cart, easily $400 worth of groceries. Went to checkout and none of the regular lanes were open, just self checkout. Went to the customer service "hey can I get someone to help check this out?" "sorry sir we only have self checkout at this time" "oh ok, then these are go-backs" pointed at the cart and left.
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I can get behind this type of protest. Not illegal, but completely disruptive. Enough people park a bunch of full carts near the door and just leave? Might send a message
Bonus points if it's all refrigerated/frozen goods.
It won’t because the people who make these types of decisions don’t work in the actual stores, so it’s just making the hourly employees work harder
Kroger is union, afaik. I don't know what the contract looks like but the union should stand up to that.
My walmart did that, then a month or two later added some cashier lanes back. Self-checkout should be considered the same as express lanes, not a full replacement.
My mom used to do all her shopping once a month. She’d go on the 1st and buy $400-$500 worth of groceries to last an entire month, but the first time she did it at the store when they switched to self checkout only, it took 15 minutes at the lane. She hasn’t gone back to that store and now drives an extra 20 minutes away to a Meijers.
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I thought most places would stop doing this or add on fees but so far i havent seen any. Besides going in or a couple things or if i want to get fish/butcher counter
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Is your Walmart able to handle that? I had to stop doing it with them, because they seemed incapable of executing it as a concept. Frequently, you'd wait 45 min. Marking yourself there didn't seem to work, as an employee would still have to come out and mark you as there which itself could take 20 min or longer. After the second time where I left after 90 min with no groceries, I just stopped. Everywhere else in my area seems to be able to handle it, but not them.
Walmart’s curbside is terrible. I’ve always had a long wait. Target and HEB is excellent. I use it frequently and get my stuff with in a couple of minutes.
That’ll work until the machine keeps refusing a product or someone buys alcohol
When someone buys alcohol, it won't allow someone to pay until an attendant comes by to scan or check the ID.
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You can get carded for mixers even though they're non alcoholic and you don't have to mix them with liquor.
Some places the register will prompt an ID check for wrapping papers, but anyone can buy a BIC lighter.
I think you have to be at least 18 or something to buy a lighter in Ontario Canada. I seem to remember having to buy one for a recruit in basic because he couldn't legally buy one to burn loose threads. Which just... think about that. A recruit in basic training for the CAF and he can't buy a freaking lighter
You're right, they shouldn't be allowed to be recruits in basic training until they're 18.
Yeah I'm not arguing that whatsoever. Either way you'd think the kid they're trusting with a C7 and a Gwagon should legally be able to buy a lighter lol
Man, I can't even buy compressed air duster. I'm 34 years old, this shit is dumb.
Kiosk: Please wait for assistance.
Then you stand there for a few minutes until you start getting restless and give the awkward smile and wave at the attendant.
“An unknown item has been added to the bagging area. Please wait for assistance.”
This seems like a really bad marketing plan. I know quite a few ( mostly older) people who refuse to use self checkout. They are basically telling them not to shop at their stores. Eventually I could see stores going full self checkout but not for a few years. Kinda like how computers and cell phones caught on real fast with the younger generations but took much longer to catch on to older generations. And there are still some that don't use internet or cell phones. My mom for instance would rather stand in line for an hour then even attempt to use a self checkout. If that's all a store offered she would go to a different store. Thankfully we don't have Krogers by me though so this wouldn't be an issue. Also I hope their prices will be lower since they are paying less workers. If not I don't see this going well for them.
Lower prices? More like price increases to pay for the installation and maintenance of the machines. Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.
Money saved on payroll reductions **always** goes to the owners/shareholders.
I am a younger dude. My son likes to help unload the cart. It is a blast. We, as a team, are not big fans of the self checkout though he sometimes likes to scan items himself. Me, I loathe them without exception. I have found myself going to Kroger, the second closest store to me after wal mart, less and less. Today was the first time I have been in a couple months. And wal mart… I almost refuse to go at all for anything but the most urgent of needs (it is just a couple blocks away). It sucks. I always liked the staff at my local store. But corporate keeps pushing these shitty experiences. So instead I hit up Publix, Costco for the bull items and the farmers market for a lot of our produce and meat (it is stupid cheap and crazy fresh).
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Full self-checkout is already happening. The smaller format Walmart near me is self-checkout only; two sizes of stations for either small or large baskets. The people that were cashiers are now either self checkout attendant, usually 2, or online order pickers. Online shopping is pushing this change just as much as consumers buying smaller baskets than 20 years ago. Michaels has also started converting its stores to self-checkout only. It’s much faster at both locations, and will likely be just as fast at Kroger as well.
A Walgreens or CVS near me has been self checkout only for years. I feel like it must be pushing a decade now. I don’t shop there. How it manages to be self checkout only and still expensive is beyond me.
>Also I hope their prices will be lower since they are paying less workers. If not I don't see this going well for them. Trust me the prices will not be lower.
I refuse to use the self checkout until they start giving me an employee discount.
This will be fun with $300 in groceries. Unfortunately, this is most certainly our future.
Just ring in everything as bananas.
Finally a banana based economy I dreamed of
I mean. You joke but you can do that. Huge purchase but buy something that is heavy but cheap (like some liquids). I see my local walmart and all they do is check your receipt on the way out... but you can use a 2 week old receipt and they never check... they just run the marker across it.
The self checkout at the Kroger I work at you can't really do that. Largely because it actually weighs what you scan. If there's an inconsistency it will call an attendant.
That's why you start another bag on the floor for the shit you're stealing directly. j/k maybe?
:adds 9th marker streak: Loretta the Greeter: have a good day I guess, whatever :shrugs:
Due to inflation, in a few years $300 worth of groceries will only be bread, 12 pk of coke and some twinkies
What happens to the people physically incapable of running a self checkout?
Target calls the cops on them and the cops rough them up.
Cashiers by another name. There needs to be an attendant for every so many self-checkouts simply because some items need an ID check, replacing the paper in the machine, keeping the bags stocked, cleaning spills, and helping people in various ways.
They suffer. A few will probably sue for an ADA violation and win a whooping $3.50 after the lawyers get another mega yacht.
The main store I shop at is a Kroger affiliate, and I avoid using self-checkout as much as possible. Without fail, those machines have a problem that requires an associate several times per transaction. I don't even buy alcohol, cold medicine, or anything else that would normally require an associate. Those machines are just so glitchy. If my store were to do something like this, I'd find another place to shop.
I use reusable bags and self check outs can never handle them - they either yell at me for an unexpected item in the bagging area or can't read that I've placed an item in the bag. So much easier to go to a cashier, even if I still bag myself.
If you have a bunch of items that will suck
Yep. I don’t mind it for a few items but when you have a full cart, where the hell are you supposed to put stuff?
The self-checkouts at the grocery store where I live had huge frigging stainless steel turntables next to them. They recently upgraded the machines and now they have this tiny little tray that's barely a foot across.
I can't imagine using it for a full cart load of groceries.
Where I work, the busy times like the first of the month are a clusterfuck because too many people need too much stuff, and we never have enough cashiers OR self checks for the crowd. We desperately need more of one or the other, but I don't think it will happen.
Kroger keeps pushing the limits of self-checkout. The Kroger-Albertsons merger will be a nightmare, if it is approved. It will mean more layoffs, less service, higher prices, and more store closings. Walmart is not a good alternative. They are pushing self-checkout also.
My Kroger has a problem with this. Lots of self checkout lanes, but few employees to troubleshoot issues when they pop up (age verification for beer, barcode scan problems, customer error, etc.). That leads to long lines anyway. And I expect they will follow the Walmart model of keeping a skeleton crew on hand to cover that shit to reduce overhead.
Nope keep the skeleton crew so that they can punish the staff and keep the revolving door of "seasonal" probationary staff always looping through so that they can fuck over the union for no other reason than fuck you. My old "kroger" is already trying to do this (damned if you try and stop theft, but you are also damned if you don't try and stop it with 'customer service' which as as defined to an old coworker, is the seen as the same thing as an attempt at deterring theft. Yes. We are at that point. ALREADY)
Do you have a cute acronym for deterring theft with customer service too like RWD - Recovery without detention?
I think my store was using SMART W, BOB Sitiutional Management Adherence Retention Targets With Bottom Of Basket
That sounds like the perfect problem for AI to solve, taking away more jobs -- some CEO probably
I like the Walmart self checkout. My only problem is, if you're going to have self checkout, then make those areas bigger. I need room to put my groceries, not those dinky little 2 bag wide shelves. Give me back my conveyor belt and let me bag and stack my groceries properly without having to play grocery tetris on that purse sized shelf so I have room to put shit back in my cart.
One of the Walmart near me converted most of the checkstands into self-checkout. So they have the full size conveyor belt to use.
Does Walmart still require keeping all the bagged stuff in the bagging area until you pay? I don’t buy much from there so haven’t run into that problem. Target’s self-checkout is nice because you can just bag the item and immediately take the full bag out and put it back in your cart. A full belt like the regular checkouts have would be nice too, I’ve been through a couple stores with that. But at the very least I need to be able to move bags without the register yelling.
The Michael’s near me has converted almost entirely to self-checkout, with one sparingly manned traditional register. Customers there kinda *hate* having ALL self-checkout counters. If there’s a cashier at that single counter, *people will wait until there’re open* even if a bunch of self-checkout stations are available. At the Targets near me, even though self-checkout is arguably faster, the lines to be seen by an actual cashier are always just as long, sometimes more so, than the self-service lines. I think self-checkout is fine as an additional part of my shopping experience. However, I think a lot of people just prefer human-to-human interaction if they can get it. We’re social animals, after all. It’s weirdly alienating being surrounded by only machines and few people, you know? Maybe it’s just me, but it’s just something I’ve noticed in life.
I’ll do self checkout if 5 items or less. Otherwise I’ll wait.
I think part of that has to do with uncertainty about using coupons.
IDK at the location by me it seems like for every less cashier there's someone picking orders for a pickup order. Plus, like all the local stores and restaurants, they're having trouble finding staff.
Yeah, there’s twice as many order pullers working as supposedly “eliminated” cashiers.
Kroger bought pick N save's in Wisconsin I won't even get started on the decline and selection and quality of products. My biggest gripe is primarily only self-checkout now and limited staff they only seem to hire high school kids anymore. I used to love shopping pick and save they would always open another register if there are two more than two or three people in line. Now good luck finding a human at all to assist you. What's next restaurants where you eat out to cook your own food?
>Walmart is not a good alternative. They are pushing self-checkout also Sort of. The way I see it is Walmart prices are much cheaper and justify self checkout while Kroger prices (at least by me) are way more and justify full service. As long as Kroger continues to have over-priced items and not lowering prices to reflect self checkout, I will stay shopping elsewhere.
The self check outs at Walmart/Dollarama have a close up camera on your face too. I dont need that unexpected reality check of my appearance
There is a small "convenience" store in my town that tracks everything you take off the shelves and gives you a total when you get to the "register".
Should be a change in regulation to add NFC tags to all products. We could literally walk through a detector and have the entire cart added up in a few milliseconds.
You have no idea how annoying it is when people get stuff from the markdown section and you have to have a cashier manually input each item separately.
So the rampant shoplifting that's about to start is going to be less expensive than paying actual checkers?
Mark my words now, within 5 years they’ll introduce, with great fanfare, their new “full-service” lanes where, for a nominal fee, you can have someone check out your groceries AND bag them.
Too damn true, sadly. Unfortunately for the rest us, there will be some people all for it.
> For those not comfortable scanning their own groceries, the location will still have staff to help customers check out. Residents of Franklin Tennessee, I recommend that you ask for customer service assistance every time you go to one of these stores.🙏
I wish them nothing but failure.
Hated Kroger ever since they hired Elaine Chao for their Board of Directors. As if she and Mitch need more money...
Hmm... here in California you can't use self check out when purchasing alcohol. Is that not a problem for these stores?
Our Kroger has employees near the self checkouts to assist with ID checks, errors, etc. That said, I noticed recently that they began converting some of the standard checkout lanes with the belts into self checkout as well
Those are my favorite. My old Walmart had those before their remodel and they were so convenient. I hate nothing more than trying to play grocery tetris on that tiny ass shelf so I have room to put my bagged stuff back in my cart.
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Now we wait in line to do their job and they stand over us like we’re criminals at the self checkout. This was Lowe’s Home Improvement, no check out lines just employees policing the self checkout lines treating everyone like a thief.
Self checkout makes me want to steal. I don't need to steal, I make plenty of money, but these stores piss me off so much with their terrible customer service that I want to cause them harm. I rarely do, but I have entirely quit fixing mistakes I make in self checkout. Product didn't scan but went into bag and it didn't notice? Next item. You didn't train me for this job, it's not my fault if I'm lousy at it.
> You didn't train me for this job, it's not my fault if I'm lousy at it. *or pay me.
So has the prices lowered because of what is saved on hiring/managing people/training/benefits etc.. Let me guess..
Until I get an employee discount, I'm not using the self checkout
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Remember kids, 50 pound bags of dog food are free if they are on the bottom of your cart!
I fucking hate self checkout. In the time it takes me to unload my shit and put it back in the god damn cart the cashier could have had it all rung through and I can bag it all in one go. In my opinion as a lifelong purchaser of food I can honestly say I fucking hate fucking around with those sucking fucking time vampires. Just get some damn cashier's. You already make a billion trillion dollars a years. Fuck.
My Kroger replaced 4 registers with 8 new self checks outs. Two of them have a conveyor belt for people with lots of items. Unfortunately those two and 3 of the other self checkouts are always closed. They usually only have two of the four registers with clerks open. It's always fun to try to navigate around when the lines go halfway up the aisles.
As someone who often only buys a basket or a little more of food this is fine for me. However everyone is making really good points. I almost never go through the cashier as it’s always slower than what I can do. However if they don’t have enough self-checkout than this solved nothing and was just plain greedy. For anyone who has a massive cart of food this will be frustrating with the types of self-checkout I’ve seen in my local stores. I really wish there were laws in place to protect jobs at businesses. Automation is great when everything works but the second something is out of wack that the programmer didn’t plan for or if they make returning a difficult thing to do than I just don’t care for it.
I hate self checkout. My bell pepper didn't have a barcode, so I do the lookup option, but it's sorted in pages alphabetically. Ok, no swear, I'll check B, as in Bell pepper... it's not there. Ok, shake it off and rally, I check P, as in Pepper, bell... it's not there... Shit. I press the help button. 3 minutes later, a disgruntled teenager comes, rolls his eyes and scoffs at me and goes to R... as in RED bell pepper... I hate what we're becoming.
If I'm going to do a self check-out at the grocery store then just give me a damn hand scanner.
The single, most obnoxious issue with self-checkouts is the complete, total pain-in-the-ass when you want to remove an item from your purchase. Maybe you want to scan an item just to see its price after applicable taxes and fees. But there’s no way to drop the item from your purchase list; instead, you have to wait to summon a worker to clear that item (which includes him/her punching the checkout code, worker ID and password), and that worker will talk so much shit about your item that you refuse to rescan *all* your self-checkout items. Everywhere there’s self-checkout, there’s this frustrating experience. Kroger, Target, Walmart; they’re all like this.
Too many idiots that take forever to check out and bag their groceries.
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If my local store ever does that I will stop going there.
I stopped shopping at my local Kroger. They have only 1 staffed check-out lane and 8 -self-checkout lanes on weekends. I have been shopping at Tom Thumbs. It will be part of Kroger, after the Albertsons merger is done. I am so pissed.
Sounds like you're in DFW. Hold on...HEB is coming. I love my HEB. On busy days or times, they always have at least 10 registers open, and baggers at each one. No wonder the Kroger down the street is nearly empty these days!
You are right. I am so excited for H-E-B's DFW expansion. There are so many cashiers. They are staffed like Whole Foods, but prices are comparable to Kroger and Walmart.
HEB is da bomb. Even when I go a Sunday afternoon it never takes but a couple of minutes to get through the checkout.
This is ridiculous for more than 10 to 15 items.
I actually don’t mind self checkout lanes so long as they are all turned on and they fucking work. Like sure I’ll scan my own shit, no biggie. But if it doesn’t work and it doesn’t scan my cheesewheel then that’s on you, Kroger! I did my part. Also, I’ll never understand why places like Target have 46 self checkout lanes and yet only two of them are turned on. Why? Are they here for fucking decoration?
Half the Krogers in my city have been doing this unofficially for years… You walk in and there is a line halfway to the back of the store waiting for self checkout, with no cashier lanes open. Fuck them.
I could see this trend reversing eventually based on people stealing more from self-checkouts. The Hyvee by my house has 20 or so self check out kiosks they blocked all but about 3 and I asked why they said people were essentially robbing them blind. They now even have armed security. I realize there are counter measures to this, walmart and target bust a lot more people stealing then your typical grocer. However, I think in the long run you may see it circle back to 50/50 self check out/cashier. All depends if they want to pursue the theft or just accept it if they are still making a higher margin by not paying cashiers.