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Comment by tbran | Hacker News Reader

I disagree with you.

I've used self-checkout 4 times in 4 different stores in the last week and had a problem 2 out of 4 times. 50% success is not success.

Every store is different:

- Do they weigh stuff in the bagging area?

- Do they scan produce bar codes?

- Does it take cash, or card only?

- Is there annoying lag? (Frequently, yes!)

- Is it going to scan something twice because I hovered, because it lagged?

Also, let me ask:

- Why isn't there space for my cart?

- Why am I juggling stuff in a tiny bagging area?

- Why do the bagging area hooks suck?

- Why is there only one attendant in the stores that have really sucky systems?

- Why are half the self-checkout kiosks closed?

Self-checkout is not made for shoppers. I prefer self-checkout, but I wish good systems were more common.

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That you've managed to have problems does not negate the fact I have as many bad experiences per year as you've had total experiences this year (this yer alone, I've used self-checkout at least 80 times ... probably a lot more)

Dislike self-checkout you want, but still sounds like a "you" problem, and not a "self-checkout" problem

Neat fact! You don't have to self-checkout at any store I've been to in the last 5 years (unless it's super weird hours ... and even then - you're probably there by yourself, so the attendant's likely to come over to "help" just to have something to do)

1st problem: Scan gun for home center materials did not work as the system was momentarily down.

2nd problem: 2 barcodes on the product.

Not sure which one of these is a "me" problem. You also misread my comment.

Sounds like you just want to throw around low-effort personal insults instead of addressing anything I said. This is HN, you can do better.

>Sounds like you just want to throw around low-effort personal insults instead of addressing anything I said. This is HN, you can do better.

You're insulting my success (and, quite frankly, the overwhelming majority of people I've observed over the last close to decade) with self-checkout by saying you have had 2 bad experiences?

You can do better

Or maybe you can't?

Self checkout in combination with a regular cashier is great. Not because I want to go through the person but because people will form unreasonably long lines to avoid self checkout. This means I can normally have a minimal wait as the self checkout is less congested.

I'm using self checkout almost daily, in different stores with different systems. I almost never have any issues. The last time I had to call for help due to an unscannable bar code was at least 6 months ago. Staff is also available to approve purchases that has a minimum age requirement.

I don't recognize the situation that you describe, and I have been using these several times a week for a decade.

You mention paying by cash, which tells me you are probably an American (I pay by card or an app). It could be that your systems are worse, but there's nothing wrong with self checkout in general

fwiw - I've only done self checkout in the US

cash or card, have a couple issues per year total (across hundreds upon hundreds of transactions)

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