Now I deliberately avoid any automated checkout and go straight to the human cashier. if you insist on replacing humans with machines, it has to be flawless
Humans can optimise the path from the conveyor belt to the bag so that the item just so happens to pass via the barcode scanner.
I could do that too, but the machine throws a hissy fit and doesn't let me scan the next item until I've placed it in the bagging area, and waited a second for the scales to stabilize. In the time it takes me to scan and bag one item on the automated checkout, an experienced human cashier can get 5-6 items bagged.
And that's only if things go as expected. Sometimes the scales bug out. Sometimes I have to navigate menus to specify what fresh produce I'm buying (while human checkout operators have memorised all the numbers). Sometimes I make a mistake and I'm not allowed to self-correct it. I have to wait for a human to come along and fix my mistake.
Not to mention, the machine is yelling instructions at me the entire time. "Yes I know I should use the pin pad to complete my transaction, in fact I did so while you were still playing the previous audio clip."
The only time the automated checkout is faster is when there is a queue at the real checkouts. And even then, the queue might be worth it just so I can avoid the automated checkout yelling at me.
It seems like no reasonable person wouldn't notice this flaw, let alone the presumably several people involved in creating this software, so it leads me to believe that there is some reason the shops want to encourage not using these checkouts.
I wonder why?
None of the steps are really that long by themselves, but in aggregate it's easily another 1-2 minutes checking out.
Been using this for years in Canada. Most well known as PayPass (MasterCard) but also PayWave (Visa) and Contactless Payments (American Express). By far it's the fastest and easiest way to pay (including vs cash), and I use it whenever I have a choice. I'd say it takes me well under 10 seconds which includes taking out and putting away my card.
I've noticed the newest terminals in sit-down restaurants are even working with it now, by moving the prompt for the tip to the start of the process (before you tap or put your card in) instead of the end.
Although I take my time to go through it. Damn, if it's done by machine, I can do it on my own pace.
My position, having worked as a checkout assistant FWIW, is the opposite. Using the self-checkout is redistributing money from the poor to the rich, AFAICT: you're saving the company wages, paying the same amount, and doing the work for free.
If the out of work checkout assistants got a living wage then you might be on to something.
However, checkout assistants are not very well paid and the job is horrible (it's not the worst, arguably, but could be improved).
I do not however feel responsible for the bad moral decisions of other people. My action in itself doesn't increase profits of the wealthy, it's actions of other people. These people need to be made socially responsible (for example via progressive taxation), not me.
It's really not even that bad, if you like talking to people. The checking groceries part can be sort of meditative and relaxing.
I prefer automated checkout too - but I'm curious as to why you think the job is "terrible"?
Before my first software development gig, I worked for 6 months as a cashier. I won't say it was all rainbows and roses, but it wasn't "terrible". Hard on the feet (standing), but I was young at the time so it wasn't too big of a deal. Dealing with irate customers could be interesting at time (pass 'em to a manager if you couldn't calm 'em down). Occasionally you'd get someone trying to return an item bought 20 years ago (actually had this happen to me).
But there were also the "regulars": The 70 year old lady who came in every Wednesday to purchase a bunch of liquor - who'd then walk out, and hop into her brand new Vette. The weird cat dude, who always smelled, but was friendly - purchasing a cart full of cat food, and another of rubbing alcohol and swabs (poor cats). The guy you always carded for beer, because he looked underage - and even though you know he wasn't, you did it anyhow, and he complained - but corporate policy, ya know?
Then a break - go face the aisles, or stock new stuff, or pull the old stuff. Have some lunch or some dinner. Eventually close the store, sweep the aisles, clean up, shut down, and go home.
For me, it was an "after school" kind of deal - not a career. But it wasn't a terrible job. Just difficult on the mind and body (it was a bit boring at times). My fellow employees were all friendly, and management was nice and helpful. I always got paid on time, meager as it was.
It gave me a better perspective and understanding for those working behind the counter, because I know what they're going thru. Plus, it also taught me how to properly scan items quickly (though when I started, the place I worked at didn't have scanners - they didn't get those until a couple of months later). Even so, when an item doesn't scan, I find it a bit frustrating, but most systems have a way still to enter the UPC number...
...still, I wouldn't want to go back to those days.
I don't like the bagging system that has to ensure you put your item into a bag, and that has a quite noticeable delay in responding to your actions.
I also don't like the tiny area they have for the bags. What am I supposed to do? Put full bags back into my half-emptied shopping cart alongside items that haven't been scanned yet? It makes me uncomfortable, like they'll think I'm up to something.
I also tend to buy items in bulk, like 2-liter bottles, and it's nice to say "I have 8 of these" and pass one to the cashier.
This is really not the case the self-checkout lines are designed for.
I use them almost exclusively for those cases where I duck in and grab a couple things quickly, and want to get the hell out. It's always faster and easier than even the 12-items-or-less express checkout line, not to mention the regular lines, where you get stuck behind somebody with a cart rounded to the sky and $400 worth of groceries in it.
It depends on the store. At the grocery store a few miles away, I can scan an item and immediately put it in a bag. At the grocery store closest to me, you scan the item and place it on a belt, which takes it to the end of the counter. You bag everything at the end. By contrast, at that store, a cashier can scan an item an place it directly in a bag.
Automated would I walk out the door and rfid or whatever senses what I'm carrying and charges my account.
Or, I don't go to the store at all and shit just shows up on my doorstep, periodically or whenever I hit a button.
I wonder how much of this is super markets jumping on to the fact people are conflating automation with using a machine and assuming self-service checkouts are proof of a technological revolution. At the end of the day the same amount of work is being done at the till as if a cashier was working but it is now being done for free and a company won't miss a chance to capitalise on an opportunity like that.
The Target on the other hand has rows and rows of empty checkout tills. They try to get you to use the automated tills but that line is so much longer that it just boggles the mind. Any time savings is wasted on the machine having an error,