A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment
I would LOVE to use the self checkouts since the grocery chain near me has been replacing all the human cashiers. But the damn things treat you like a thief, make you wait 2-3 seconds between scans, you can't scan your whole cart of groceries without going down and bagging them when the conveyor gets more than half full, etc.
They're horrible. I just wait in line for one of the human cashiers every time.
I just scan my shit and go, it’s the most pain free experience ever. I don’t get how you are having such difficulty with it.
It can vary depending on how the store sets the machines up. I'm on the wrong continent to use Walmart ones, but there's definitely variation in how paranoid and slow they are set here.
I feel it's one of those cases where if you're familiar with them and can think like the person who designed/programmed them, it can work pretty well. If you get confused by unfamiliar card terminals or a phone doing an update, you're in trouble.
E.g. it uses an expected weight and tolerance for products going into the scales. If this is produce you've just weighed, it's going to be pretty precise. Same goes for something really light like a toothbrush; a 50% margin on tens of grams is still not much. If it's a prepacked bag of oranges, then the weight could be way off (add a whole orange over the expected weight) so it won't alarm on e.g. you putting a reusable shopping bag on the scale with the oranges. This lets you skip the annoying use-your-own-bag process.
Knowing and remembering which is the next button to hit helps a lot.
I find they're fine for <5 items especially if the store is busy, but for a full trolley, you're better off with a lane just for staging reasons.
I used to treat them like the 15 item or less lane, but over the last year they have gotten worse as in you're forced to scan more slowly than before, scales are even more sensitive, can't pull the whole drop your reusable bag with the first scanned item anymore or it starts screaming about unexpecteditem in bagging area. It's like they've gone full blown over the top anti theft settings to the point that it's so frustrating to use them now that I hardly ever do anymore.
The experience depends entirely on which shop you go to, how much space there is for your trolley, which model of self-checkout you encounter, how well the touch screen is calibrated and cleaned, which software version is installed and when the last time was that maintenance was done on it, not to mention what state the previous user left it
In other words, it's a stressful and moving feast that many, myself included, absolutely detest.
I mean they work fantastic where I live. They don't have to be horrible
Lol, yeah, they definitely don't have to suck. When they first put those in, they were actually pretty fantastic. But Kroger Corporate said "not on my watch" and cranked up the security to obscene levels and made them horrible. There's just not another decent grocery story close to me, so I'm stuck. Yay food deserts 🫠
I don’t know if the letter is real, but this was my parents. They refused to use the self-checkout because they didn’t work there and it might take away jobs. Meanwhile, they’re the same people who complained that pretty much any basic customer facing job shouldn’t pay a living wage.
They exist.
The letter isn't real in the sense that it says Malwart at the top. Otherwise it does exist.
You know you can take the good part and discard the second one?
I wonder what their reasoning for "customer facing job does not deserve living wage" is.
Remember that multibillion dollar corporations are pushing you to self checkout because they are too cheap to pay someone minimum wage to work a register. The boomers are right.
Alternatively, self-checkout is a great way to shoplift from big corporations destroying civilization and the habitability of the planet.
Doo Doo Doo.... Doo! 🌠
I refuse to voluntarily pay for bags. How many bags did I use? Zero, motherfucker!
You wear shoes to go grocery shopping, right? Do this once, then keep the bags next to your shoes so you remember to reuse them maybe a half dozen times.
Boom now you’re saving the environment and money.
some people don’t want it wait for a million years for the person in front of them with 600 items to get through.
Some solutions are not just about solving one thing or a personal attack.
Like you're not waiting for the person in front of you in self-checkout to fumble their way through scanning those items? Who do you think is faster at it, the boomer in front of you in line or someone who does it all day? You're just buying into the bullshit narrative you're being fed.
Self-checkout has almost always been faster for me. No bullshit narrative, just actual experience.
I only use checkouts with people. The Malwart near me refuses to open any registers other than self checkout. There are always ladies at the front wanting to check receipts. So, I just abandon my purchase a lot.
If they can't hire people to open a single register than they can hire someone to put back the items in the cart.
Arguments:
"But POTOOOOOOOO you are being an asshole!"
I helped build POS machines. I know how often they are inaccurate and if they think you made an error stores are quicker to trust the POS machine more than the person.
The POS machines at self check outs have a ton of cameras and most want you to pay with a credit card. Some machines won't flag you for shop lifting until after the fact. Then they will be able to cross reference the credit card that paid for it.
"You're being paranoid"
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/us/walmart-shoplifting-lawsuit.html
TL;DR: Don't use self checkouts.
I can't even begin to understand the "you are being an asshole" argument. Am I an asshole because I protect jobs? Am I an asshole because I don't want to pad the earnings of a multi-billion dollar corporation at the expense of workers? No, dude, I am 100% with you. I have abandoned my purchases as well, and I actively avoid stores that push self checkout.
I have mixed opinions on self checkout… but the best is when I go to buy beer, and only beer. Someone that works there has to ID me and plug my birthday into the computer anyway so it’s like shrodingers self check out.
On a more serious note, I enjoy not having to make small talk with the cashier but also would rather not be watched like I’m a thief when I ring out my stuff.
Also, it’s kinda nice to eat all organic fruits and vegetables and only pay the prices for the GMO versions.
Burn all the self checkouts, what do I get out of this lazy " automation " I'm not touching one till I get a discount for don't someone else's job
PS let me smash those stupid one way gates at the entrance with a hammer
You transport yourself to the store, walk around the store, pick the items up off the shelf, take them around the store, take them with you to checkout, take them to your car, bring them into your house, and put them away. But moving the item 36 inches from your basket to your bag is something you're too enfeebled or important to do yourself?
I heard they are trying to charge for self checkout now, it was already a no thanks, now it's a fuck no.
If I hear that, I'm dropping my shit where I stand and going to the grocery store down the street.
Don't do that, it's not effective feedback. Ask for a manager, explain to them that you're dropping your shit where you stand and going to the grocery store down the street, and why. Should be a brief conversation, and if multiple people do that then it's more likely to trickle up to corporate.
What, charging for access to something that has minimized their front labor needs? Are they going to still stay with just one cashier open a time even during rush periods?
And for some reason they now restrict to only a few of the many self checkout registers at a time. Like they have ten counters, and I get sometimes one may be not working...but they only have three open at a time with a long line forming for self checkout. I'm not sure what the goal is there.
I hate the self checkout at my local Kroger because it works like fucking dog shit. Always playing a patronizing voice telling me to put the item in the bagging area even though it already is. Always has an inadequate amount of space in the bagging area.
If the purge happens everyone is going to be looting and murdering. I'll be the person burning down Kroger.
Upvoating because it's funny. Not because I agree with Walmart.
Malwart
The fear of employment replacement through automation hinders creativity which would actually provide safer, better and more meaningful employment.
If people (workers, consumers, neighbours) would own or have a foot in their workplaces (i.e. cooperatives), they would care more about that.
When I get called to open a checkout because some lazy fuck doesn't want to use the self service, I take my sweet fucking time, I'll fuck up scanning and have to re scan, I'll just straight up stare into the void for some time, anything I can to make the situation as long and frustrating as possible.
I had one lady go " I bet I saved you from a crappy job" I just said " Nah, you've actually put me behind in my job and now I have to bust my ass to get back on track because you needed to be served."
The only good thing about your store being run with a skeleton crew is they are less likely to fire you for being a dick to customers.
I don't get paid to listen to your entitled bullshit.
I have no problem serving the elderly tho, unless they're dicks about it. Then they get treated same way everyone else does.
If you hate your job, don’t abuse the customers, just quit.
I didn't say I hated my job, I like my job, but my job isn't serving people on checkout, I get pulled away from my job that I like doing because of entitled customers who have this need to be served.
No one wants to work on checkout, customers need to buy their stuff, so self service is the current option.
don’t abuse the customers
Well can customers stop abusing us because of a decision corporate made? I get abused on the daily because customers are rightfully angry at the company, but wrongly attack the staff who have abso-fucking-lutely no control over the situation.
Abuse corporate, ring those assholes and make their days shit, don't attack us underpaid shit kickers who are living paycheck to paycheck because some corporate cunt wants a bonus this year.
We've had customers physically attack my co-workers over this, it's pathetic and childish, but we're the assholes.
Beautiful username for this post.
The major supermarket chain where I live has a "shop and go" system. You get a battery powered barcode scanner that you take round and scan items before you put them in your trolley, then hand it over to an operator at the end. They can download the list of items to the till, then you pay and leave.
They have a "random spot check" system where sometimes they pick a few random items out of your trolley and check that they are on the list. I'm imagining that some people get away with theft, but it's probably not a lot more than people who are going to steal normally anyway
I actually like the Self-Checkout, it's faster for me. The people who have difficulty with them just don't want to put a single thought into things.
I can also self-check faster than waiting for a cashier but I do put thought into it; the thought is "these things cost jobs".
Self-checkout lanes are anti-union machines. Theft was the only way we are getting rid of them