Self checkouts in shops have grown in popularity in the last 4 years. When they started out there were 4 tills to one cashier supervising the customers scanning. I’ve seen it grow from 4 tills to 6 and some stores 10.
Despite commonplace thefts where some folk may scan for bananas and weight only for it to be steaks, ice cream or whatever else, companies have doubled down on the use of having the customer do the job they once had hired staff do instead.
Not only has a massive corporation reduced their staff cost, but they still charge you full price for their items to further line their pockets.
Going through the self-checkout should discount the offset in labour for us as customers to do the job of their staff instead of it being the same price of someone who can manage to do the same job faster and more efficiently than me. Until such a time when this discount is made available I would rather line up behind 5 people loaded with massive cart loads than give free labour to a corporation who will still charge me the same amount of money either way.
The initial design of self-checkout was to get customers out the door with their small loads that can scan their 10 items or less. Now it’s turned into a full-shopper availability that only the company benefits from.
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I’d pay more to use self-checkout, i don’t wanna interact with another person.
The labour you do isn’t that much, it’s faster than normal check-out, and if you pack the items as you’re scanning them, you’re doing the exact amount of effort as otherwise.
Self check outs annoy me. I do my best to avoid them at all costs, but now I don’t have much of a choice.
You don’t seem to place any value on your own time, then. For me, I get out significantly faster when I use self checkout, and I rarely have to interact with anyone when I don’t feel like it. Both of those are benefits that I wouldn’t get if I was waiting in line.
I don’t care how it benefits the company or not – I care how it benefits me. Not saying your opinion is wrong, but it certainly doesn’t take all of the benefits into account
I don’t think that you will find this to be an unpopular opinion. And if you “scan” properly, you can discount just about anything you put into the bag. The trick is not getting caught.
It’s so weird how Redditors always post antisocial behaviors in this sub but then commonly hate self checkouts
It’s fucking bizarre.
Self checkout is more popular because it’s more popular. It’s faster, simpler and easier. They basically replaced cashiers for express lanes because now one or two cashiers can help 6+ people express checkout. It just makes sense.
Every item in the supermarket has arrived there with the minimum of staff possible to do the job. It’s no surprise that they apply the same mentality when the products leave.
Self checkout is better for the customer. Less hassle, less waiting time, and you have to pack the bags yourself anyway so what’s the big deal?
Different strokes for different folks. I don’t hold the same sentiment but i can see where your coming from
What cracks me up is when the line for self-checkout is long and there are empty lines with a cashier.
My discount is that I never pay for bags, when it asks how many, i just put zero
The argument against will be the cost of the technology and surveillance.
It’s not an unpopular opinion, just a slightly misguided one.
Oh but they already do, if you know what I mean.
I love self checkouts, but the offset in labor costs, especially in big department stores, would be pretty negligible as a discount.
Nah, I don’t need a discount. I can get out, bag everything in as few bags as possible, and not have to make small talk or hear about the persons day. I want in and out of everywhere as fast as possible.
Eh they still have to pay to maintain the equipment granted is probably less than salary
They do if you steal at least 1 item everytime you use it.
Ever young person needs to learn this:
The world doesn’t work off fairness. Stop assuming you are owned fairness. The world works off leverage.
The store will offer this service because it saves them money and ppl will still use it because they want what the store has and it’s still their best option.
There are stores that don’t have self checkout like Aldi or traders joes but they don’t bring in enough ppl to overcome the savings the stores makes.
Once you realize life is about leverage and not fairness it all gets easier
The discount is getting the hell outta there faster
The self- checkout is frankly a convenience for me. If I swung in to grab three items I needed in a pinch, it saves me time to go right to the self checkout with the other people who only have a few items as opposed to standing in line with folks who have a cart full of groceries. So nah, they do benefit me.
The banana steaks ARE the discount.
That would defeat the purpose of them which is to cut costs for the employer so they don’t have to raise costs to the customer due to increased health plans, wages etc. for employees. It’s a cost stabilization move not a discount move.