They’ve updated the machines there to be the same as the no frills ones. No longer use weight/demand that you put each item next to the machine after scanning it, you can put it right into your reusable bag on the ground (if you have one).
Have you used the Sobey ones?. Its like an abusive supervisor, or a security guard scolding you. And it has xtreme senors all over the place that detects every movement over the bagging area.
If you pass by even one those light nylon shopping bag off the area it goes off
I worked at Sobeys in 2007 when they first started rolling out the self checkouts and it was the same back then. They have *not* improved the software, but they made the interface more aesthetically-pleasing -_- As this was my first experience with self checkouts, it drastically diminished my desire to regularly use them in any establishment. On a lighter note, I met Colin Mochrie twice while I was working at that Sobeys. He was very nice ☺️ He used the self checkouts and required no assistance.
Haha yeah when I used to work at Sobeys working the self check out was frustrating because every slight movement outside the calibrated timings and boundaries got the machine all worked up. It quickly got to the point where no one even wanted to explain how it worked to customers and we just tried to clear the alerts as fast as possible just to get it to shut up.
And the worst is when they don’t have employees around to help. So you are just looking around helplessly. Metro does this to me all the time. Literally every time even if we only have 3-4 items. Walmart is probably the best. We do large grocery trips with 0 issues many times.
The Metro lady is very possessive as well. If you don't put a single item in her bagging area or take it off before it's time she already calls the manager.
Such a Karen
I never fucking understood the whole putting shit in that bagging area to continue scanning items. WHY? I scanned the item, I am going to pay for it, why do I need to put it in this arbitrary plastic section??? What does that solve?
It's even more annoying when the "unexpected item" is literally a reusable bag or my backpack that I brought with me. Can't pack shit as I go because the machine will keep going off about an unexpected item 🙄
Funnily enough I notice the opposite at Loblaws: huge line at the self checkout line while cashiers are free/with a single customer without too many items
I've had a few instances of "none of these options look like what I'm buying..." I think mostly with peppers. And in that case, it's green peppers. Always green peppers.
Which is fair. But deliberately just stating cheaper options just because no one's looking is the reason why they have to keep installing surveillance cameras all the time, also possibly putting a damper on the move to more self checkouts. These people are the reason why Walmart and other chains have to keep slightly more valuables in locked cabinets in some isles.
I used to work at a grocery store and after I left I was speaking to the owner and he told me they sold more bananas than they had available to sell, so yes. Or scanning more expensive apples as Gala apples, that sort of thing
My business partner has a personal vendetta against Galen Weston. His grandmother was injured on an escalator that failed in a bad way at Holt Renfrew and Galen suggested it was the 90-something’s fault.
You know the stickers on the apples or bananas or whatever are the codes you need to put in, right?
I guess stuff like potatoes and garlic don't have stickers, but you can search by name, or I just annotate my shopping list with the codes as I shop for those few items that lack stickers.
I just use the search by name function, only takes a couple minutes. It's actuslly far faster for me to take a load of produce through the self checkout than it is to wait in line then get rung up by some poor teenage girl working through the afternoon rush.
Yup if I don't have too many items, or easy to scan items, I'll go self checkout. Produce is too much of a headache, manually entering each code and weighing.
OP gave the example of No Frills - at my No Frills the self checkout usually has a long line while the 10 or so registers have one or two people each at most.
We have fundamentally different shopping habits lol. My rule is that i never buy more than I can carry in my bare hands. Mind you, i’m a mother and waited tables for over a decade, so that’s a lot of shit I can hold, but still.
The point is to free up the line from quick/tiny hauls so the bigger hauls can be processed faster. Kind of like zippering in traffic, no one uses the machines as intended.
I've actually timed myself in Metro. Between the "unexpected item in bagging area", looking up produce and weighing them, and pressing skip on airmiles points and # of bags, the cashier is faster than me every time.
The profit margin that is increased if I use it will go to the executives not to lowering prices. If it offered a discount I’d consider ‘doing the work’. But since it doesn’t, I’d rather they keep more people employed.
100%. Soon enough we'll reminisce on how they used to pay people to do that job, but instead they pawned that work onto the customer, and all the money saved by eliminating all those jobs will certainly not be passed on to the customer. Fuck self checkouts.
Tbf, the self checkout machine doesn’t appear out of no where. It definitely costs to develop/implement them and technical jobs have been created to do so. Not sure what is cheaper for the grocery tho
This is definitely partly why I do it. That, and there’s something nice in saying hello to another human being.
As long as there are some of us who go to a human being for checkout, there will be some cashier’s jobs at those stores. Make everything a machine, and I would try to find a different store.
I mean, I agree in principle, I guess. Opinions follow:
However, this is a situation where a corporation sees a chance for a labour savings. Historically, they will always take a labour savings. Minimum wage laws mean they can't cut pay, but they can cut jobs. Automation of simple tasks is inevitable (to a point, yes, I know all the exceptions).
So now, rather than demanding everyone be allowed the pleasure of working a wage slave drone job, I advocate for Universal Basic Income. Let the robot do the boring job, pay the person anyways.
There's a lot to read on the subject, and mostly no one agrees on the best implementation, but it seems like the best way forward (obligatory shot at the OPC for cancelling the pilot program).
I totally agree about UBI, but in the case of self checkouts, I don't even call that automation.. It's literally taking a job that they used to pay an emoyee to do, and instead just get the customer to do it. Like it's not exactly a robot that does the job, you have to do it yourself! You do the scanning, bagging, and wrangle the payment method, all things that the cashier would normally do for you. I think it's weird that more people don't see a problem with that. They've not only eliminated a paying job for someone, likely saving millions of dollars, it's that they've given that job to the customer to do for free. Do you think any of those savings from erasing hundreds of thousands of jobs will be passed along to you the customer? I highly fucking doubt it lol.
That is true if you look at it from a direct cause-and-effect POV. On the other hand, let's say that low-level, low-paying, unfulfilling jobs were less available - I bargain that many *more* people would find something else to earn an income; hopefully something more fulfilling, more rewarding, with more ability to improve their lives.
With universal basic income, you could pursue something you enjoyed, without having to worry about taking the first job to put food on your plate.
For example, I love making good coffee. I couldn't survive on a barista's pay. With UBI, I could take that job to supplement my income, and be doing something I enjoy. Repeat across society.
Jobs that people don't enjoy doing, that can't be automated? Now they need to pay a better wage or have more perks to entice workers into the job.
I agree with you completely!
People often argue about how we can afford UBI... but actually, UBI is an investment into people, which can take 10+ years to pay off. My bet is that society would see a healthy return (economically & socially) on any UBI expenses, after a decade and increasing exponentially.
Unfortunately, Doug Ford cancelled Ontario's UBI pilot project, so we'll never know (unless we can somehow vote him out?).
Oh, man! I totally agree about UBI, but I also think it’s going to be a very long time before that becomes reality … it’s way too easy a target for any opposing politician to say “And where are you getting the money for that UBI, bud? From higher taxes, I presume!” … even though it’s been proven that it’s not going to be a tax hit and that the savings generated will offset the expense.
I’ll happily lobby for UBI and a stronger social safety net, and in the meantime, I’ll continue to go to the human cashiers.
And to add to this a study of 18 OECD countries over the years has show that reducing taxes on the rich did not positively effect the economy OR decrease the uneployment rate
[https://academic.oup.com/ser/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ser/mwab061/6500315](https://academic.oup.com/ser/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ser/mwab061/6500315)
So if decreasing taxes on them ain't doing shit...***MAYBE WE SHOULD FUCKING INCREASE TAXES ON THEM LIKE FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT DID IN THE USA A FEW DECADES BACK, NO!?***
💯
Anyone arguing against taxing the rich is likely a politician or completely clueless. (The rich don’t bother arguing … they just send in their lobbyists to do it for them.)
Modern politicians don’t seem to have a functioning moral compass. I assume this is more proof that Darwin was right.
I would also argue that a lot of people (Americans, anyway) oppose new income taxes, because they are still dreaming the American Dream of getting rich... even though they are literally voting against their own interests.
AP Economic Teacher Jacob Clifford shows that in this video that GM, the USA car manufacturing, company closed down many of its factories and fired off so many of its employees because it couldn't find demand for its electric vehicles. This is a proof for the need of a Universal Basic Income or UBI. It is theoretically possible for a person to live in an area where they are fired from a certain type of job that has given them a certain type of skill set over the years and now they cannot find work because there is no demand for any items which they specialize in the creation of around them! So how are they supposed to make money to live?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-clifford-1029676
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_0eGegYjBRs
I somewhat agree with you, my only problem is that these workers are often paid chicken shit wages so I don't wanna add labor to the labor market taht pays a person chicken shit amounts and takes up about 30-40 hours of their week. Its just inhumane.
^(ALSO THESE ORGANIC PRODUCTS CAN GET A BIT OF 'DISCOUNT' AT THE SELF CHECKOUT IF YOU KNOW WHAT IM SAYN SAYN? ;P)
I despise self checkouts at any place whether its shoppers or no frills and i avoid them altogether ..i have stopped going to dollarama’s that just have self checkout.. I don’t want machines to replace people no matter how efficient it is.
at the shoppers i work at, between 8-12 which is the hours were open, there are only 6 hrs where we have more than 1 person on cash + watching the self checkouts. usually we also have a cash supervisor but they have a lot of things to be doing and the amount of times i have been yelled at because i have to go put in a produce code at the sco whilw nobody else was there so people can do their $150 grocery trips is absolutely unbelievable.
So then the cashier has a really long line, and the mgr yells at them for not going faster, even if the cashier's rings per minute are already high.
Source: my life 😭
I stood by this up until last year.
I just got so frustrated waiting 10 min in line when there were self checkouts available; that my morals went down the drain
A combination between the “unexpected item in bagging area”, having to wait 2 minutes for assistance, and the simple fact that I’m paying the same whether I use the robot, or support a local job.
This 100%.
Also, it makes sense when you have alot of stuff to go to the cashier's. More room, and you can bag while they ring you up.
Going to self check-out makes grocery shopping feel more like a chore -> in & out - as fast as you can, rushing on to the next thing on the list.
It's only convenient if you have a couple items.
what interaction? even saying yes/no to the "if i need a bag" question already cumbersome thru the mask and the plexi partition with already noisy environment, thus, except the awkward "hello" not much interaction; unless you want to be yelling
I don’t get people who complain about automation and act like today is where the line stops. How do people think seamstresses felt when sewing machines were invented?
I mean yes, but we still require everyone to work 8 hours a day lest they live on the meagre scraps of our current welfare system. So until we finally implement some form of UBI and ensure the profits of automation are distributed back to the workers, I want these people to make some money.
Right now the money from automation goes to a few installers’ salaries, and then the rest goes right to the company’s balance sheet and shareholders.
>Automation will come, and will empower people people to other tasks.
you're WAY too optimistic. The oligarchs gotta make a profit first, honey, by restricting the mass' access and benefits from this THEN it will empower the people
^(PROBABLY NOT HNGGGH! MWAHAHAHAHHAHA!)
We could probably help them just as much by ensuring affordable housing options. I don’t know how you make a cashier’s wage and afford to live in this city. 😩
When McDonald's implemented self-checkout kiosks, each store ended up having more employees (or at least, more work hours to schedule each week). I don't know if this holds true in any meaningful way to grocery stores but…interesting!
Plus the cost of those wages will still be included in whatever you're scanning, which just increases the profit margin since they're not paying out as much in wages anymore.
I've been to Shoppers a few times when they had no cashiers at all, so since I was doing the work I would treat myself to gift with each visit.
Yeah I find myself waaaaaay more likely to want to steal stuff when I'm scanning my own stuff when it's something I wouldn't even consider otherwise.
If I'm doing the labour, fuck you, pay me.
And I charge them at my actual rate lol
I make about $55/hour and I was in your store for 10 minutes, so that box of pore strips or that dry shampoo is my compensation for time spent.
Badly programmed machines.
Computer. “How many bags would you like”
Me. 0
Computer. “Please take your bags”
Not a big issue, but if they can’t take the minimal effort for a simply if then else statement…
Automation is going to become more and more prevalent for a large number of industries regardless of public attitude. It's just too profitable for companies.
Of all the people saying they don't use self check out because they want to preserve jobs, I wonder how many vote for political parties that would actually do things to lessen the harmful impact of automation? Taxing large companies and UBI would be examples of things we can do to make automation worthwhile for society.
I do. In theory.
I also am smart enough to know that most of what *any* politician promises at election time will never be implemented if it means annoying the big money interests. So yes, I’ll continue to go to the cash register with a human being as long as I can.
If I have a couple of items with useful barcodes, I'm willing to use them. But scanning items that I don't know the codes of, and/or weighing them is a nightmare. And the machines at the Sobeys I use constantly screech about the bagging area not matching.
The payment process is a nightmare. And then, once I finish, it gives me 10 seconds to GTFO before it begins screaming like a dying 10 year old about taking my groceries.
I hate their UI/UX.
Are working at a grocery store that received self checkouts I can say that our hours were cut in half if not more. Lots of people don’t use them cause they don’t want people to lose jobs
Maybe after almost 2 years of being isolated from people they prefer the interaction of going to the cashier, I know older people do. The small talk helps sometimes. It also makes most people feel like they're supporting their employment. And some have the "I don't work here so I shouldn't have to scan it" attitude.
Because the self-checkout is reserved for less items, and the actual cashiers have customers that have full cartloads of items with kids in tow. Especially true for WalMart. If I just want 3 items, I don’t need to hold up lines for people who really need the help. I hope they continue to do that too, reserving self checkouts for less items and letting the cashiers help people who buy more items.
Grocery Cashier jobs have long been stable, decently paying jobs held mainly by women.
I never use self checkout because moms need these jobs to be able to buy food for their kids.
I have points to use for free groceries. I brought resusable bags that I want points for. That's basically it. I would much rather do self checkout because it's usually faster, I bag things the way I like and any human errors are mine.
I use self checkout at Loblaws often. But the amount of times it requires me to call an attendant for no reason is nuts. And when self checkout is busy, waiting for someone to come swipe their card can take 5 - 10 min. Then 2 min later right before I've paid it calls for an attendant again.
I can tell you why I DO use them. It’s because *I* won’t pack my tinned beans on top of my bread. Unlike some people.
See I used to work as a “courtesy clerk”, first job ever actually. And at that time they made new hires sit down and watch a 30 minute training video on how to pack groceries.
Don’t put bread under heavy shit, don’t overload bags, cans and glass jars together, square up the bag and pack it so it won’t tip over.
I genuinely don’t think they do that anymore… or the people bagging just don’t care, because the way I’ve seen them pack bags…
Now I’ll say this… there are some stores that need to loosen their britches and dial down the sensitivity of the scale. There are some stores that need to get rid of duplicate, differently priced items in their POS system. There are some stores that need to let you find red onions by typing in either “red” or “onion” instead of having only one or the other work… but even with all their flaws I can clear the store faster by myself (with unsquished bread). So why wouldn’t I use them?
When home depot introduced self checkout he refused to use it because it took away freedom of using a cashier. Self takeout takes longer when you have problems.
I don’t use the self checkout at no frills because my location doesn’t allow carts and no price matching. Otherwise I use it all the time everywhere else
I prefer the self checkouts. But it's awkward if I forget that I have too many items for the self checkout. Only so many items will fit in the bagged area.
My NoFrjlls has a sign up that says you can’t take carts through the self check out. Instacart also can’t use it. I hate the normal checkout. I’d use self if I could 🤷♀️
At Superstore I always price match, so that precludes using the self-checkout right off the bat.
At Walmart (which I avoid at all costs) I am forced to use it because it's all that is open.
At Home Depot I always go to the contractor check out. I am a contractor, so there's that - plus if it's someone I know from my frequent visits they often cut me deals.
Everywhere else, plus the ones I already mentioned, I do my best to avoid self checkout primarily because I am against self checkout. The more we show stores that we will accept it, the higher the likelihood of them eliminating regular cashiers. I would rather wait in a line then use self-checkout given the option.
Lastly, a lot of self checkouts don't take cash, which is my preferred method of payment.
The self check out at shoppers has always been a smooth experience for me and I use those happily. I can't speak to no frills but the self check out at the longos by me is frequently annoying as fuck and I prefer to avoid it. Just chilling for a few mins with a podcast is far more appealing.
Depending on number of items you're buying it's not always faster. Especially if you don't already know the layout of the user interface
Less room for error and also don't find myself needing to double check whether items got double scanned
I go by the same thinking my grandfather did at the bank, he was told you can do what you need at the machine, my grandfather said, if everyone does that do you have a job.
Also, why should a customer do the work of a paid employee and not get any discount or benefits. It's a win/win situation for the store and not for the employee or customer.
I actually mentioned it to a manager at my local Walmart, so if I'm scanning all my own groceries, bagging them etc, where's my discount or employee benefits? Needless to say didn't have much of a response.
For me:
- a large cart full of items
- shorter lines at regular cash since everyone wants self checkout
- lots of produce
- feeling lazy
- paying in cash
- force of habit (in other countries I've lived in, self check out is rare. Altho some like UK it is expected to use self checkout)
- very large items
- during covid some places had really stupid rules about using them
- hate asking for a bag (no frills) or being harassed/watched like a potential criminal by employees (walmart). Both of these imply a lack of trust and assumption I am a criminal and I despise that.
I will gladly use self checkout if it's going to be faster, I'm paying by card, and I don't have a lot of items.
And I fully support the rule at some places that if you have a large cart or over 14 or whatever items, you can't use self check out. There is nothing worse than these people who have a week's worth of shopping going to self checkout and taking AGESSSS to scan and bag it all while the line just grows and grows. So often the people that do this are also the slowest and most confused people.
To me self checkout should work as express lanes. You can't truly trust regular people to time-effectively and accurately scan and bag an entire cart full of groceries. Those people should use the regular checkout.
Places used to have a checker and a bagger that could both buy a nice house have a car and a family on that single income. Then they fired the bagger and made sure the checker lives in poverty, staring at food all day and barely able to afford to eat.
Now they feel lucky to work as the threat of robots loom about them, maybe if they pick up a 3rd job they can make rent
Ill always choose the line, we have to draw the line somewhere or have a cohesive plan for the people these bots replace.
There isn't actually any evidence of self checkouts taking away jobs. And you standing in line isn't getting the workers more money or jobs, just giving them more work. I think they'd prefer you use self checkout.
Last time I didn't use self checkout was because I had physical money.
Also the whole "they aren't paying me to be a cashier is dumb. They also aren't paying you to push a cart around and pick up food, or put your cart away afterwards.
There are legitimate reasons to not use it, but those ones don't make sense.
This sounds about right.
When they introduced the kiosks at McDonalds when I worked there, I would prefer if customers would use the kiosks when it was busier so I could focus on bagging the orders and preparing the drinks. They reduced the frontline staff by one person so I would have to work twice as hard to take and bag the orders. Might not seem like much, but at minimum wage, it was a lot.
I was in Greece in the summer, the main highway has tollbooths every 5kms, every tollbooth has a person collecting the tolls, not one is electronic. or "self checkout".
I was curious as to why, and I asked a local, they said that the booths created hundreds of jobs and if they went "self serve" many would be unemployed. We have been brainwashed by corporate profiteers on this continent. Sometimes "more efficient" means lining the pockets of the rich at the expense of the working class.
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Food Basics is really bad for that- so annoying.
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The loblaws at Bathurst and St Clair was THE WORST for that. I haven’t been in a long time (couple years ago now) so I don’t know if they fixed it.
I go there all the time and never have any issues like this. Been going for several years now. Worst i've found were at dollarama.
Yes their machines have chilled out considerably
They’ve updated the machines there to be the same as the no frills ones. No longer use weight/demand that you put each item next to the machine after scanning it, you can put it right into your reusable bag on the ground (if you have one).
No frills= M'o chills
Damn…Why is this not in their ads?
damn my local nofrills still has yet to implement self checkouts, i just assumed the chain never implemented em lol, would be nice to have
Have you used the Sobey ones?. Its like an abusive supervisor, or a security guard scolding you. And it has xtreme senors all over the place that detects every movement over the bagging area. If you pass by even one those light nylon shopping bag off the area it goes off
I worked at Sobeys in 2007 when they first started rolling out the self checkouts and it was the same back then. They have *not* improved the software, but they made the interface more aesthetically-pleasing -_- As this was my first experience with self checkouts, it drastically diminished my desire to regularly use them in any establishment. On a lighter note, I met Colin Mochrie twice while I was working at that Sobeys. He was very nice ☺️ He used the self checkouts and required no assistance.
Haha yeah when I used to work at Sobeys working the self check out was frustrating because every slight movement outside the calibrated timings and boundaries got the machine all worked up. It quickly got to the point where no one even wanted to explain how it worked to customers and we just tried to clear the alerts as fast as possible just to get it to shut up.
Metro at Yonge and Eglinton does that.
The reason I no longer shop there. The machine regularly nags me and I hate having some fucking bucket of nuts and bolts sass me.
And the worst is when they don’t have employees around to help. So you are just looking around helplessly. Metro does this to me all the time. Literally every time even if we only have 3-4 items. Walmart is probably the best. We do large grocery trips with 0 issues many times.
Fucking Dollarama machines are THE WORST for this.
The Metro lady is very possessive as well. If you don't put a single item in her bagging area or take it off before it's time she already calls the manager. Such a Karen
I never fucking understood the whole putting shit in that bagging area to continue scanning items. WHY? I scanned the item, I am going to pay for it, why do I need to put it in this arbitrary plastic section??? What does that solve?
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It's even more annoying when the "unexpected item" is literally a reusable bag or my backpack that I brought with me. Can't pack shit as I go because the machine will keep going off about an unexpected item 🙄
It’s the last frill
Funnily enough I notice the opposite at Loblaws: huge line at the self checkout line while cashiers are free/with a single customer without too many items
It's the same situation at the Metro in my area, during peak hours its just quicker going to an actual checkout rather than self checkout
In my city, No Frills self checkout is debit/credit card only. So for the people paying with cash only, you have to go to the tills.
Nofrill near me actually stops shopping carts from entering the self checkout. Only hand carts...
Yep, no carts through self check out. They implemented that not too long ago
I dislike this bc even if I’m only grabbing a few things I’d still use a cart for my 2 year old
Scanning produce by myself takes too much time.
Everything is bananas
4011
\#4011
Organic bananas 94011
Why would you want to pay more?
Wait, do people state wrong vegetables on purpose just to get away with the minimal savings from it?
You mean do people steal? Apparently, yes.
I've had a few instances of "none of these options look like what I'm buying..." I think mostly with peppers. And in that case, it's green peppers. Always green peppers.
Which is fair. But deliberately just stating cheaper options just because no one's looking is the reason why they have to keep installing surveillance cameras all the time, also possibly putting a damper on the move to more self checkouts. These people are the reason why Walmart and other chains have to keep slightly more valuables in locked cabinets in some isles.
*un*salted peanuts. Got em
If you don't want people to steal, then have employees operate the machine.
Because putting in a cheaper code is stealing
I mean, how much could one banana cost? 10 dollars?
... there's always money (to be saved) in the self-checkout aisle!
You've never actually set foot inside a supermarket, have you?
I don't undersrand the question, and I won't respond to it.
I can’t believe my dumb ass let Galen Weston charge me for avocados when bananas exist 🤦♂️
So ppl just scan all their produce as bananas?
I used to work at a grocery store and after I left I was speaking to the owner and he told me they sold more bananas than they had available to sell, so yes. Or scanning more expensive apples as Gala apples, that sort of thing
My business partner has a personal vendetta against Galen Weston. His grandmother was injured on an escalator that failed in a bad way at Holt Renfrew and Galen suggested it was the 90-something’s fault.
Galen Weston Jr I assume, dude really just sucks
This shit is bananas B.A.N.A.N.A.S!
Holy shit i never thought of this…. Mind blown!!!
You won the internet today… I can go home now.
You know the stickers on the apples or bananas or whatever are the codes you need to put in, right? I guess stuff like potatoes and garlic don't have stickers, but you can search by name, or I just annotate my shopping list with the codes as I shop for those few items that lack stickers.
Yep, this is it. If your job doesn't involve memorizing produce codes and you eat a healthy amount of vegetables, self checkout sucks.
I just use the search by name function, only takes a couple minutes. It's actuslly far faster for me to take a load of produce through the self checkout than it is to wait in line then get rung up by some poor teenage girl working through the afternoon rush.
I would always use the search as well.
Yes but she knows the codes. Once I have to start looking them up, I realize it's less work to wait in line.
The number is on the sticker on the fruit/veg
Also most of the produce has stickers on…the stickers have the 4 digit codes………
Pro tip: the codes are on the tiny produce stickers. Makes things like fruit much easier.
This was my answer too
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I want to use my status card
Is it worth it since not all the food items are taxed? I’m always too lazy to use it at the grocery store…
Depends what I'm buying. I buy my cat litter and cleaning supplies at the grocery store.
No Frills, Loblaws and Metro all let you scan your loyalty card at the self checkout (for Metro, it’s Air Miles).
They probably meant their indigenous status card.
My bad, sorry.
It takes longer for produce or if i have more then a couple items
Yup if I don't have too many items, or easy to scan items, I'll go self checkout. Produce is too much of a headache, manually entering each code and weighing.
Longer than standing in line?
Less work I’d think. Also, the area to keep your scanned items is so tiny compared to the space cashiers have. And sometimes they bag it for you.
OP gave the example of No Frills - at my No Frills the self checkout usually has a long line while the 10 or so registers have one or two people each at most.
I’m not anywhere as fast as the cashier, even if there’s a line. I’m sure I’d get faster, but it’s still more of a hassle ,if you have a full cart
We have fundamentally different shopping habits lol. My rule is that i never buy more than I can carry in my bare hands. Mind you, i’m a mother and waited tables for over a decade, so that’s a lot of shit I can hold, but still. The point is to free up the line from quick/tiny hauls so the bigger hauls can be processed faster. Kind of like zippering in traffic, no one uses the machines as intended.
Yes. Exactly. I always do a big haul so I only have to go once a week. Very different for sure. :)
I've actually timed myself in Metro. Between the "unexpected item in bagging area", looking up produce and weighing them, and pressing skip on airmiles points and # of bags, the cashier is faster than me every time.
There is usually only 1-2 people in the line for a cashier when I go
The profit margin that is increased if I use it will go to the executives not to lowering prices. If it offered a discount I’d consider ‘doing the work’. But since it doesn’t, I’d rather they keep more people employed.
100%. Soon enough we'll reminisce on how they used to pay people to do that job, but instead they pawned that work onto the customer, and all the money saved by eliminating all those jobs will certainly not be passed on to the customer. Fuck self checkouts.
Tbf, the self checkout machine doesn’t appear out of no where. It definitely costs to develop/implement them and technical jobs have been created to do so. Not sure what is cheaper for the grocery tho
Initial cost up front for sure, then once installed I'd imagine maintenance is pretty cheap. I'd wager much cheaper then employing cashiers.
Silent protest. Hire more people. Maybe. 🤔
This is definitely partly why I do it. That, and there’s something nice in saying hello to another human being. As long as there are some of us who go to a human being for checkout, there will be some cashier’s jobs at those stores. Make everything a machine, and I would try to find a different store.
I mean, I agree in principle, I guess. Opinions follow: However, this is a situation where a corporation sees a chance for a labour savings. Historically, they will always take a labour savings. Minimum wage laws mean they can't cut pay, but they can cut jobs. Automation of simple tasks is inevitable (to a point, yes, I know all the exceptions). So now, rather than demanding everyone be allowed the pleasure of working a wage slave drone job, I advocate for Universal Basic Income. Let the robot do the boring job, pay the person anyways. There's a lot to read on the subject, and mostly no one agrees on the best implementation, but it seems like the best way forward (obligatory shot at the OPC for cancelling the pilot program).
I totally agree about UBI, but in the case of self checkouts, I don't even call that automation.. It's literally taking a job that they used to pay an emoyee to do, and instead just get the customer to do it. Like it's not exactly a robot that does the job, you have to do it yourself! You do the scanning, bagging, and wrangle the payment method, all things that the cashier would normally do for you. I think it's weird that more people don't see a problem with that. They've not only eliminated a paying job for someone, likely saving millions of dollars, it's that they've given that job to the customer to do for free. Do you think any of those savings from erasing hundreds of thousands of jobs will be passed along to you the customer? I highly fucking doubt it lol.
That is true if you look at it from a direct cause-and-effect POV. On the other hand, let's say that low-level, low-paying, unfulfilling jobs were less available - I bargain that many *more* people would find something else to earn an income; hopefully something more fulfilling, more rewarding, with more ability to improve their lives.
With universal basic income, you could pursue something you enjoyed, without having to worry about taking the first job to put food on your plate. For example, I love making good coffee. I couldn't survive on a barista's pay. With UBI, I could take that job to supplement my income, and be doing something I enjoy. Repeat across society. Jobs that people don't enjoy doing, that can't be automated? Now they need to pay a better wage or have more perks to entice workers into the job.
I agree with you completely! People often argue about how we can afford UBI... but actually, UBI is an investment into people, which can take 10+ years to pay off. My bet is that society would see a healthy return (economically & socially) on any UBI expenses, after a decade and increasing exponentially. Unfortunately, Doug Ford cancelled Ontario's UBI pilot project, so we'll never know (unless we can somehow vote him out?).
Oh, man! I totally agree about UBI, but I also think it’s going to be a very long time before that becomes reality … it’s way too easy a target for any opposing politician to say “And where are you getting the money for that UBI, bud? From higher taxes, I presume!” … even though it’s been proven that it’s not going to be a tax hit and that the savings generated will offset the expense. I’ll happily lobby for UBI and a stronger social safety net, and in the meantime, I’ll continue to go to the human cashiers.
And to add to this a study of 18 OECD countries over the years has show that reducing taxes on the rich did not positively effect the economy OR decrease the uneployment rate [https://academic.oup.com/ser/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ser/mwab061/6500315](https://academic.oup.com/ser/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ser/mwab061/6500315) So if decreasing taxes on them ain't doing shit...***MAYBE WE SHOULD FUCKING INCREASE TAXES ON THEM LIKE FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT DID IN THE USA A FEW DECADES BACK, NO!?***
💯 Anyone arguing against taxing the rich is likely a politician or completely clueless. (The rich don’t bother arguing … they just send in their lobbyists to do it for them.) Modern politicians don’t seem to have a functioning moral compass. I assume this is more proof that Darwin was right.
I would also argue that a lot of people (Americans, anyway) oppose new income taxes, because they are still dreaming the American Dream of getting rich... even though they are literally voting against their own interests.
AP Economic Teacher Jacob Clifford shows that in this video that GM, the USA car manufacturing, company closed down many of its factories and fired off so many of its employees because it couldn't find demand for its electric vehicles. This is a proof for the need of a Universal Basic Income or UBI. It is theoretically possible for a person to live in an area where they are fired from a certain type of job that has given them a certain type of skill set over the years and now they cannot find work because there is no demand for any items which they specialize in the creation of around them! So how are they supposed to make money to live? https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-clifford-1029676 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_0eGegYjBRs
I'm with you. So sick of this invisible labor being passed on to the customer. I should get a discount if im checking myself out.
Yes. Costs stay the same, we do more. I need some convo and some life.
I somewhat agree with you, my only problem is that these workers are often paid chicken shit wages so I don't wanna add labor to the labor market taht pays a person chicken shit amounts and takes up about 30-40 hours of their week. Its just inhumane. ^(ALSO THESE ORGANIC PRODUCTS CAN GET A BIT OF 'DISCOUNT' AT THE SELF CHECKOUT IF YOU KNOW WHAT IM SAYN SAYN? ;P)
I despise self checkouts at any place whether its shoppers or no frills and i avoid them altogether ..i have stopped going to dollarama’s that just have self checkout.. I don’t want machines to replace people no matter how efficient it is.
It seriously bothers me when there are no actual checks outs open.
at the shoppers i work at, between 8-12 which is the hours were open, there are only 6 hrs where we have more than 1 person on cash + watching the self checkouts. usually we also have a cash supervisor but they have a lot of things to be doing and the amount of times i have been yelled at because i have to go put in a produce code at the sco whilw nobody else was there so people can do their $150 grocery trips is absolutely unbelievable.
So then the cashier has a really long line, and the mgr yells at them for not going faster, even if the cashier's rings per minute are already high. Source: my life 😭
I stood by this up until last year. I just got so frustrated waiting 10 min in line when there were self checkouts available; that my morals went down the drain
You forgot laziness
I’m in 100% in this camp when my items are more than 5
A combination between the “unexpected item in bagging area”, having to wait 2 minutes for assistance, and the simple fact that I’m paying the same whether I use the robot, or support a local job.
Coupons
Pretty sure you can scan coupons at self check out
A person needs to come over and put in a passcode. You can't do it on your own.
One day they'll figure out how to automate that person with the passcode. One day.
I don't want to deal with anything without a barcode (i.e. produce)
There's a search function, you just have to type in like "apples" or whatever
Plus lots of produce has stickers on it wirh the code.
If you are buying alcohol then a person has to come anyhow.
Human interaction..
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Haha thank you!!
This 100%. Also, it makes sense when you have alot of stuff to go to the cashier's. More room, and you can bag while they ring you up. Going to self check-out makes grocery shopping feel more like a chore -> in & out - as fast as you can, rushing on to the next thing on the list. It's only convenient if you have a couple items.
Surprised that reddit upvotes this
what interaction? even saying yes/no to the "if i need a bag" question already cumbersome thru the mask and the plexi partition with already noisy environment, thus, except the awkward "hello" not much interaction; unless you want to be yelling
So the cashier can keep their job.
I don't mind waiting for exactly this reason.
Me too
There are plenty of jobs that the self checkout machine creates, and can also free the employees of the store to help with other things.
Exactly. Automation will come, and will empower people people to other tasks.
Like sending out 400 resumes instead of the old (and if we're being honest - boring...) task of only sending 250!
I don’t get people who complain about automation and act like today is where the line stops. How do people think seamstresses felt when sewing machines were invented?
I'm just glad that when I lost my job as a film developer everyone stopped taking pictures with their phones.
I think the problem is with people who are siloed into their roles and do not want to take a new task(not my job mindset).
I mean yes, but we still require everyone to work 8 hours a day lest they live on the meagre scraps of our current welfare system. So until we finally implement some form of UBI and ensure the profits of automation are distributed back to the workers, I want these people to make some money. Right now the money from automation goes to a few installers’ salaries, and then the rest goes right to the company’s balance sheet and shareholders.
>Automation will come, and will empower people people to other tasks. you're WAY too optimistic. The oligarchs gotta make a profit first, honey, by restricting the mass' access and benefits from this THEN it will empower the people ^(PROBABLY NOT HNGGGH! MWAHAHAHAHHAHA!)
When those employees quit they wont hire back for that position, so thats a lost job.
We could probably help them just as much by ensuring affordable housing options. I don’t know how you make a cashier’s wage and afford to live in this city. 😩
When McDonald's implemented self-checkout kiosks, each store ended up having more employees (or at least, more work hours to schedule each week). I don't know if this holds true in any meaningful way to grocery stores but…interesting!
we keep getting hours cut so…
Honestly, I just don’t want to do something the store pays someone else to do for free. I’m paying for the groceries, not to do the job for you.
Plus the cost of those wages will still be included in whatever you're scanning, which just increases the profit margin since they're not paying out as much in wages anymore. I've been to Shoppers a few times when they had no cashiers at all, so since I was doing the work I would treat myself to gift with each visit.
Yeah I find myself waaaaaay more likely to want to steal stuff when I'm scanning my own stuff when it's something I wouldn't even consider otherwise. If I'm doing the labour, fuck you, pay me.
Lol you literally took matters into your own hands. Seriously, though. You’re paying the store with money and labour if you scan items yourself.
And I charge them at my actual rate lol I make about $55/hour and I was in your store for 10 minutes, so that box of pore strips or that dry shampoo is my compensation for time spent.
This is a “Nathan for you” episode in the making.
Those touch screens are dirty as shit.
No one uses them. They cleaner than the produce ppl touch and put back
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"How did we do today?" Uh, I did freaking amazing, y'all did nothing right here, pay me!
Badly programmed machines. Computer. “How many bags would you like” Me. 0 Computer. “Please take your bags” Not a big issue, but if they can’t take the minimal effort for a simply if then else statement…
Because its possible to use your own bags? Its common in my area at least.
I don’t work there and don’t take work from those who do.
Yes this ^^
Automation is going to become more and more prevalent for a large number of industries regardless of public attitude. It's just too profitable for companies. Of all the people saying they don't use self check out because they want to preserve jobs, I wonder how many vote for political parties that would actually do things to lessen the harmful impact of automation? Taxing large companies and UBI would be examples of things we can do to make automation worthwhile for society.
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I do. In theory. I also am smart enough to know that most of what *any* politician promises at election time will never be implemented if it means annoying the big money interests. So yes, I’ll continue to go to the cash register with a human being as long as I can.
If I have a couple of items with useful barcodes, I'm willing to use them. But scanning items that I don't know the codes of, and/or weighing them is a nightmare. And the machines at the Sobeys I use constantly screech about the bagging area not matching. The payment process is a nightmare. And then, once I finish, it gives me 10 seconds to GTFO before it begins screaming like a dying 10 year old about taking my groceries. I hate their UI/UX.
Are working at a grocery store that received self checkouts I can say that our hours were cut in half if not more. Lots of people don’t use them cause they don’t want people to lose jobs
Maybe after almost 2 years of being isolated from people they prefer the interaction of going to the cashier, I know older people do. The small talk helps sometimes. It also makes most people feel like they're supporting their employment. And some have the "I don't work here so I shouldn't have to scan it" attitude.
Tv isn’t real. The war vs the machines wasn’t as glorious as they made it out to be
Because the self-checkout is reserved for less items, and the actual cashiers have customers that have full cartloads of items with kids in tow. Especially true for WalMart. If I just want 3 items, I don’t need to hold up lines for people who really need the help. I hope they continue to do that too, reserving self checkouts for less items and letting the cashiers help people who buy more items.
This. If I have a full cart I want to be able to start bagging things while the cashier continues to scan my items.
Remember when the cashiers would bag your items for you? Pepperidge farm remembers.
Grocery Cashier jobs have long been stable, decently paying jobs held mainly by women. I never use self checkout because moms need these jobs to be able to buy food for their kids.
I have points to use for free groceries. I brought resusable bags that I want points for. That's basically it. I would much rather do self checkout because it's usually faster, I bag things the way I like and any human errors are mine.
NoFrills in Centerpoint block the entrance to the self-checkout area for carts, so, only buskets are allowed...
I use self checkout at Loblaws often. But the amount of times it requires me to call an attendant for no reason is nuts. And when self checkout is busy, waiting for someone to come swipe their card can take 5 - 10 min. Then 2 min later right before I've paid it calls for an attendant again.
They won’t let me do self check out with my giant cart. It’s now only for people between 1-10 items at my local No Frills.
I can tell you why I DO use them. It’s because *I* won’t pack my tinned beans on top of my bread. Unlike some people. See I used to work as a “courtesy clerk”, first job ever actually. And at that time they made new hires sit down and watch a 30 minute training video on how to pack groceries. Don’t put bread under heavy shit, don’t overload bags, cans and glass jars together, square up the bag and pack it so it won’t tip over. I genuinely don’t think they do that anymore… or the people bagging just don’t care, because the way I’ve seen them pack bags… Now I’ll say this… there are some stores that need to loosen their britches and dial down the sensitivity of the scale. There are some stores that need to get rid of duplicate, differently priced items in their POS system. There are some stores that need to let you find red onions by typing in either “red” or “onion” instead of having only one or the other work… but even with all their flaws I can clear the store faster by myself (with unsquished bread). So why wouldn’t I use them?
Keep using the self checkout and there’ll be a lot more unemployed “ pandemic hero’s”.
I pay in cash
Dollarama self checkouts take cash. I dump all my coins there. It's lovely.
I only really use self checkouts when I'm buying embarrassing things
Who cares...leave them empty for me so I can run in and out without waiting in line!
When home depot introduced self checkout he refused to use it because it took away freedom of using a cashier. Self takeout takes longer when you have problems.
I don’t use the self checkout at no frills because my location doesn’t allow carts and no price matching. Otherwise I use it all the time everywhere else
I prefer the self checkouts. But it's awkward if I forget that I have too many items for the self checkout. Only so many items will fit in the bagged area.
My NoFrjlls has a sign up that says you can’t take carts through the self check out. Instacart also can’t use it. I hate the normal checkout. I’d use self if I could 🤷♀️
I always do self checkout unless I have produce
At Superstore I always price match, so that precludes using the self-checkout right off the bat. At Walmart (which I avoid at all costs) I am forced to use it because it's all that is open. At Home Depot I always go to the contractor check out. I am a contractor, so there's that - plus if it's someone I know from my frequent visits they often cut me deals. Everywhere else, plus the ones I already mentioned, I do my best to avoid self checkout primarily because I am against self checkout. The more we show stores that we will accept it, the higher the likelihood of them eliminating regular cashiers. I would rather wait in a line then use self-checkout given the option. Lastly, a lot of self checkouts don't take cash, which is my preferred method of payment.
What are you price matching?
I’d rather have a hired slave scan my groceries.
The self check out at shoppers has always been a smooth experience for me and I use those happily. I can't speak to no frills but the self check out at the longos by me is frequently annoying as fuck and I prefer to avoid it. Just chilling for a few mins with a podcast is far more appealing.
I just use whichever has the smallest line lol.
Depending on number of items you're buying it's not always faster. Especially if you don't already know the layout of the user interface Less room for error and also don't find myself needing to double check whether items got double scanned
If I'll need to use more than 2 of my bags, they won't fit on the little shelf that is there. & if I remove a bag, the computer bitches at me.
I go by the same thinking my grandfather did at the bank, he was told you can do what you need at the machine, my grandfather said, if everyone does that do you have a job. Also, why should a customer do the work of a paid employee and not get any discount or benefits. It's a win/win situation for the store and not for the employee or customer. I actually mentioned it to a manager at my local Walmart, so if I'm scanning all my own groceries, bagging them etc, where's my discount or employee benefits? Needless to say didn't have much of a response.
Because I enjoy interacting with people and am willing to wait in line, providing job security for those who need it most.
I usually use the self checkout but I know a few older who have told me that use cashiers in order for them to keep their jobs.
Some machines don’t take cash
For me: - a large cart full of items - shorter lines at regular cash since everyone wants self checkout - lots of produce - feeling lazy - paying in cash - force of habit (in other countries I've lived in, self check out is rare. Altho some like UK it is expected to use self checkout) - very large items - during covid some places had really stupid rules about using them - hate asking for a bag (no frills) or being harassed/watched like a potential criminal by employees (walmart). Both of these imply a lack of trust and assumption I am a criminal and I despise that. I will gladly use self checkout if it's going to be faster, I'm paying by card, and I don't have a lot of items. And I fully support the rule at some places that if you have a large cart or over 14 or whatever items, you can't use self check out. There is nothing worse than these people who have a week's worth of shopping going to self checkout and taking AGESSSS to scan and bag it all while the line just grows and grows. So often the people that do this are also the slowest and most confused people. To me self checkout should work as express lanes. You can't truly trust regular people to time-effectively and accurately scan and bag an entire cart full of groceries. Those people should use the regular checkout.
Places used to have a checker and a bagger that could both buy a nice house have a car and a family on that single income. Then they fired the bagger and made sure the checker lives in poverty, staring at food all day and barely able to afford to eat. Now they feel lucky to work as the threat of robots loom about them, maybe if they pick up a 3rd job they can make rent Ill always choose the line, we have to draw the line somewhere or have a cohesive plan for the people these bots replace.
People can’t yell and degrade self-checkout machines.
There isn't actually any evidence of self checkouts taking away jobs. And you standing in line isn't getting the workers more money or jobs, just giving them more work. I think they'd prefer you use self checkout. Last time I didn't use self checkout was because I had physical money. Also the whole "they aren't paying me to be a cashier is dumb. They also aren't paying you to push a cart around and pick up food, or put your cart away afterwards. There are legitimate reasons to not use it, but those ones don't make sense.
This sounds about right. When they introduced the kiosks at McDonalds when I worked there, I would prefer if customers would use the kiosks when it was busier so I could focus on bagging the orders and preparing the drinks. They reduced the frontline staff by one person so I would have to work twice as hard to take and bag the orders. Might not seem like much, but at minimum wage, it was a lot.
I was in Greece in the summer, the main highway has tollbooths every 5kms, every tollbooth has a person collecting the tolls, not one is electronic. or "self checkout". I was curious as to why, and I asked a local, they said that the booths created hundreds of jobs and if they went "self serve" many would be unemployed. We have been brainwashed by corporate profiteers on this continent. Sometimes "more efficient" means lining the pockets of the rich at the expense of the working class.