Is self check-out faster for you?

I have never seen a self-checkout.
Either way, I could never be faster than this

Self checkout is usually faster in drugstores because people aren’t buying very many items. I prefer to order groceries online for car side pickup, it keeps me from getting distracted and adding unnecessary items or forgetting items I actually need.

Self-checkout is usually slower for me if I have a lot of stuff. The scanner doesn’t work right or I have to bag each item prior to moving to the next or I hit something that doesn’t scan right or needs a live person to verify I am over 18 (I’m almost 62)...all these things (and more) cause delays and make it go slower. If I only have one or two items it is quicker because usually the lines move more quickly because they have 6 or 8 self-checkout stations open and only one or two that have people doing the checking out.

Slower for me, but I prefer it anyway.
Like @seawulf575 stated, the scanner may glitch every now and again, and there’s always the possibility that the staff wants to do a check (that means you can’t start bagging immediately).

I don’t use it.

@cheebdragon I like the curbside pick-up too. I do more of that than going into supermarkets. The only negative is sometimes fresh produce isn’t in great shape.

Sometimes I do a curbside order, and when I get to the store I run in for lettuce and a nectarine, and then drive over to the pick-up area for everything else.

Yes, I use the self checkout & NO I don’t like it!!! I also don’t like standing in line for a half hour to an hour to get to the human cashier. I can scan my groceries, be home, unbag & put up everything before I can get through the staffed register. I place the items on the belt grouped as they should be bagged & in order of how I stock my shelves. That way I can scan & place it in a bag in place of sitting it down at the register & still needing to bag later. I don’t have a lot of problems with scanner malfunction as I don’t make it a race to get done!!! I scan steady NOT with speed. With a steady scan, you get out faster than IF you’re rushing & create a malfunction of the scanner. I don’t care for curbside pickup as they are going to give me the worst of the fruits & veggies where I can pick out the better of what’s available. They also pass along the dented cans that I don’t want!!! I still prefer to pick out my own groceries. I avoided the self checkout for a long time, but now I like it better than the human screwing it up for me!!! That still doesn’t mean that I prefer to do it for myself, but it doesn’t ruin my day when it becomes necessary!!!

For a few quick items I prefer self-checkout.

Just to clarify, I don’t use it mainly for two reasons mentioned by @ragingloli on another thread – one is it takes jobs from people and two, I feel like I’m doing work that was and or should be done by a store employee for free.

As for taking jobs from people, some (in real life) will tell me it doesn’t take jobs from people. I don’t argue with people in most cases in real life, so to them I say “ok.” I still won’t use it. If the line for the cashiers is long, I will go to Customer Service and ask if they can check me out. If lines are so long and/or there’s no help available at Customer Service, I will rethink whether I want to shop at that store in the future.

It varies and really depends on the line length for either.
I can’t process it by myself as fast as someone else there doing their job.
The timing is more in the line wait. Above 5 items and they can scan faster.

Some stores where I live have put in too many self check-out lanes in my opinion. I think having the option is fine, but when I feel forced into self check-out because the line or lines at the manned cashier stations are ridiculously long it’s frustrating. It discourages me from shopping at that store, the same as @jca2 mentioned.

I don’t use it for the same reason as @jca2; it takes away jobs and it having me do something that should be a paying job.

Yes, I use it more often than not, especially if I only have a few items (which is most of the time since I don’t tend to shop in large quantities). It is almost always faster and I don’t want to wait in line. Many self-checkouts have an item limit, so obviously if I have over the item amount, I have no choice. I recently went to a store where the employees were becoming quite impatient and frustrated with people who didn’t want to use self-checkout. I was surprised by that.

^^You just reminded me how for a while a bank I use kept trying to get people to use the automated teller rather than stand in line to do a transaction with a real life person. I don’t use the ATM, and don’t want to. Where I live, people are older and are accustomed to banking in person. I started to get pretty annoyed that employees seemed annoyed that we wanted to deal with a person. It’s one thing to point out I have another option, but another to try to force me into using it by acting annoyed with me. I think 99% of Americans know ATM’s exist.

Yes.

I love it.

But I am also the person that will spend five minutes looking up on the stores website where something is as 5 employees pass by me.

@JLeslie I didn’t like it either, even though I am a self-check user. It made me feel a bit “too bad, so sad” about the “take away jobs” argument if the employees there are so frustrated by people waiting in line that they’re basically forcing self-check on customers who aren’t interested.

Depends on the store, the line for each type, and what I am buying.

At Costco, with a few items, self check-out has been great for me. Little waiting, fast.

At most grocery stores, with more than a few simple items, I’d usually rather wait in line for a checker, especially because of the many awful experiences I’ve had with their check-out computers messing up.

It depends, a cart full of stuff, no. A couple of items and no line, yes. Many places you don’t have a choice anymore. It’s self check only because no other registers are open.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen any store with only self checkout and no open registers.

I don’t like it, and prefer the real check out with a human instead.

@JLeslie: Your comment reminded me of a time when I found long lines in a supermarket, so I took my two items to the Customer Service person and asked if she can ring them up. She asked me in an annoyed tone “is there a reason why you didn’t want to wait on line?” i responded “yes, because there are a lot of people on it.” I was thinking afterwards (feeling kind of like she was chastising me), that I could have responded and should have responded “is there a reason why you’re asking?” That’s partly why I like to do my shopping in CT instead of NY. In CT, they’d never ask such a question. That supermarket was in NY. In NY, they would.

Yes it is faster. At least until everyone else figures it out. : )

I order grocery delivery whenever I can. I use self-checkout whenever I can; Unless I am paying cash. Some stores are experimenting with automated automated self-checkout; Where your Smartphone makes purchases without using the self-checkout. You just walk out with your purchases.

@jca2 I think Publix has some sort of policy if there are more than 3 customers in a line they open another register. I guess the registers have money in them, and some of the employees do other tasks until the registers get busy depending on the time of day. That’s how it seems to me.

Walmart the lines can be ridiculous. That also depends on the time of day, but it’s annoying.

I think McDonalds could move to an Automat set up. Or, have a combined set up for those who want to use the machine or those who want the old fashioned way.

The bank I used to use in TN, if the line was long and the people in the offices weren’t busy they would come out and offer to do deposit transactions. It’s the only place I saw that type of effort to speed the line along. Here the banks aren’t very friendly. Sometimes I get lucky and get someone who is helpful.

@JLeslie: Here, the McDonalds have large computer pads where customers can place their order and then pay and pick up at the counter. This way, instead of having two or three people working the cash registers, they only need one. I don’t use those things, partly because I don’t want to, partly because it’s just easier for me to tell my order to the person.

Very rarely do I go into the bank for a transaction. I use the ATM. That’s the one automated thing I am happy to use. I have been using the ATM’s since they came out over 30 years ago. Just love that they’re 24/7 and the bank lobby may only be open until 4 or so.

We also have huge touch screens in our McDonald’s for ordering. Then you wait for them to call you when it’s ready.

I wonder if they have walk windows outside in places like NYC. The one time I went to McD’s at or near Union Square I think I had to go inside to the registers. Maybe that is reorganized now it’s been so long.

It depends. If it’s a few items then yes. If its more than 15 than cashier checking is way faster.

I only do self-checkout if the regular line is long and I have no produce. It takes a long time to look up the produce number.

I almost always use self-checkout over a human. I prefer not to go through the fake how-are-you? I’m-fine. Did-you-find-everything you need (no but it’s faster to just say yes) Have-a-great-day. You-too bullsh*t. Some days I enjoy it, some not. But I normally get my groceries delivered.

There’s one store (Hy-Vee) where every single person who worked there that I came across asked if I was finding everything I needed or asking if I needed help with anything. They didn’t even have any self-checkouts. I asked the manager why and he said they believed in personal contact with the customers rather than automation. I said that many customers may be having a bad day and don’t wish to communicate with strangers, or may be ill, or depressed, or may even have a phobia or anxiety about dealing with strangers and those people would like a self-checkout aisle. He just said, well that’s our policy. I no longer give them my money. I believe customers should have options.

@smudges I hate when they ask if I found everything ok. I’m checking out! It’s too late now. When I lived in Memphis I never found everything. There were so many items that market didn’t have that I wanted. I never was asked that question until I moved to Memphis, it took me off guard. I don’t think my supermarkets where I live now ask it. I’ll have to pay attention.

I do like the “hi, how are you” and small talk though.

Sometimes I ask the cashier how she or he is doing. I always smile at them and say hello.

I don’t like it. I’d rather interact with a person, and I’d like them to keep their jobs. Also, I don’t want to be watched with suspicion.

Those hi-how-are-you exchanges can be vapid, right enough. But you do have the option to say something interesting and get something interesting back. i’ve learned some things that way. A bonus is that they’re more apt to remember you and greet you next time with fresh attention rather than just mindless automatic comments.

Every self-checkout machine has taken away jobs from one or more people.

I check myself out everyday. Nothing Fast about it.

I use self checkout all the time unless I have a large amount of items, which is rarely. I also rarely have any issues. I can find the codes for veggies and fruit quicker than most cashiers because they usually struggle with their eyesight or they are new and aren’t familiar with the products yet.

@Jeruba I work in asset protection in grocery and I can assure you that eyes will be on you no matter where you checkout. Every move you make in the store can be suspect. We have cameras everywhere and someone is watching.

I use it at Target.

It’s faster for me when there’s a cashier line, although even if there’s also a self-checkout line, I still prefer it.

For one thing, I usually get some fairly heavy items, and I like the extra exercise processing those purchases provides.

Also, I bring my own bags.
When I use SC, I can give myself credit for ALL of them, and not just the 1 or 2 in which the cashier will cram everything.

I tried using it at Hole Foods, but when I did, I couldn’t check-out my alcoholic beverages.
Instead, I had to go through a cashier line to do that.
So at HF, I always use the cashier.

I always take lots of time when I check myself out.

I think everyone should.

I think this poem which I came across recently expresses my feeling about interacting with real people in these situations:

Small Kindnesses
By Danusha Laméris

I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead — you first,” “I like your hat.”

@janbb – I liked this ^^

Thank you.

Honey ;)

It’s not just stores. My local public library no longer has a checkout desk – anyone wanto to charge out a book has to do it self-service. Staff is around to answer questions and help you find books, but not to charge them out.

Self check is USUALLY faster than cashier (for me at least). Several reasons.

First, the cashier is preferred by the old, the chatty, and the dim. Not saying ONLY those groups, but those groups definitely will wait for the cashier. That slows them down. There’s generally MORE self check machines than cashiers, so there’s usually no wait.

Any advantage you think they have in produce is probably small. The codes are typically ON the produce items. There are a few exceptions and in those cases, the cashier would probably beat me, but otherwise I’m likely not much slower than they are.

The one place I admit I lose speed to the cashier is bagging. The cashier can be doing the bagging while I’m dealing with the card reader asking me if I want cash back (I never do) or if I want to donate to the scam charity the store will donate a tiny fraction of money to (I never do) and how many plastic bags I used so my corrupt county can harvest the money (answer’s always zero) and so forth. Whereas I can’t do those concurrently.

Even if the cashier’s line vs the self check were the same time (I believe I’m faster all told), I’d rather be active at the self-check than passive in line. But because the cashiers ALWAYS have a line and the self-check seldom does, I really don’t think the cashier is the faster choice very often.

Yes, there are times when the machine decides it needs an override from the monitor…and they should reduce those. But they don’t really take that long.

Lots of factors.

- line length of checkout
– line length of self-checkout
– line speed of checkout
– line speed of self-checkout
– how many items
– how bulky the items are
– how many items need to be looked up (produce)

I use both. But favor old school cashier. I’ll do a quick assessment of the factors above. But mostly it’s a gamble. Sometimes I make one of the kids stand in the other line to see which moves faster.

I do, however, think the library self checkout is pretty cool. You just put all of your books in a stack and it scans everything and prints out a receipt for you.