Grocery Shopping II: Self check out, like or loath?

[Guest]

On 9/11/2023 at 2:21 PM, ICTJOCK said:

SO,  do you do the self check out (which so many want you to do, l

Nope. It's not for me. Bill Burr said it best 😉

[ICTJOCK]

11 minutes ago, Vin_Marco said:

Nope. It's not for me. Bill Burr said it best 😉

I used to pass on the self checkout.   I really don't mind it much now as I am able to focus on each item and the savings they claim are associated with each.   If not,  I ask questions.    Going through a regular line is fine as well.

[+ tassojunior]

It's so much more fun to stick something in your pocket and walk out. 

Self checkout vs cashiers is such an a 20-teens debate. Once I got used to Just Walk Out at my Whole Foods and my Fresh it seems inconceivable (for better or worse) that cashiers or self-checkout either is still around. Amazon must want too much for it's patents and that's Amazon's fault for not getting the tech's cost down yet. Facial recognition is cheap and pervasive. But it's pretty much 100% accurate, they credit your entire tab if there is any mistake (almost never) and there's zero shoplifting.

It's 2023, let's stop pretending Big Brother doesn't already have a million id checks on each of us and everything we do or say. 

Edited September 15, 2023 by tassojunior

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

2 hours ago, tassojunior said:

It's so much nicer to stick something in your pocket and walk out. 

Self checkout vs cashiers is such an a 20-teens debate. Once I got used to Just Walk Out at my Whole Foods and my Fresh it seems inconceivable (for better or worse) that cashiers or self-checkout either is still around. Amazon must want too much for it's patents and that's Amazon's fault for not getting the tech's cost down yet. Facial recognition is cheap and pervasive. But it's pretty much 100% accurate, they credit your entire tab if there is any mistake (almost never) and there's zero shoplifting.

It's 2023, let's stop pretending Big Brother doesn't already have a million id checks on each of us and everything we do or say. 

How does this work with cash payments?

[+ tassojunior]

2 hours ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

How does this work with cash payments?

IDK. I mean I remember what cash is, but I'd imagine anyone who has some of it they need to use would go to customer service to change their payment method for that trip to it or something. You can change your Amazon payment method to a bank account. You can also insert a debit card to enter the store and be responsible for items you take..  But once you get used to shopping without checkouts (including by having deliveries), you appreciate what a pita grocery checkouts are. 

Edited September 15, 2023 by tassojunior

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

1 hour ago, tassojunior said:

IDK. I mean I remember what cash is, but I'd imagine anyone who has some of it they need to use would go to customer service to change their payment method for that trip to it or something. You can change your Amazon payment method to a bank account. You can also insert a debit card to enter the store and be responsible for items you take..  But once you get used to shopping without checkouts (including by having deliveries), you appreciate what a pita grocery checkouts are. 

It's so much easier to pay with cash.  No worries about paying bills at the end of the month, it checking to see how much is left in a bank account.  When my wallet is empty, then I'm done spending until next payday.

I guess it's people's preference for what they think is easier.  My life is easier with cash and no cards or online accounts.  Your life is easier with everything digital and no cash.

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by Vegas_Millennial

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

It's so much easier to pay with cash. ...

If you don't use credit cards, you're throwing away free flights, hotel nights, upgrades, etc. 

[+ tassojunior]

1 hour ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

It's so much easier to pay with cash.  No worries about paying bills at the end of the month, it checking to see how much is left in a bank account.  When my wallet is empty, then I'm done spending until next payday.

I guess it's people's preference for what they think is easier.  My life is easier with cash and no cards or online accounts.  Your life is easier with everything digital and no cash.

 

But in a mostly facial recognition payment system like Just Walk Out you can still have a bank account or debit card for payment that alerts you to spending and balance.Many give awards or there's many 2%-back cards. I just carry 5s. 10s and 20s for tips (very important in life) (plus a quarter in the car for Aldi). 

Edited September 15, 2023 by tassojunior

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

21 hours ago, Unicorn said:

If you don't use credit cards, you're throwing away free flights, hotel nights, upgrades, etc. 

They're not "free".  Someone has to pay for them.  Usually the merchants.  Since I avoid big box retailers like Walmart and Amazon, that means small mom and pop merchants are paying for it through transaction fees (They pay over 5% transaction fee, just so the customer gets 2% back and the bank gets the rest.  That's not healthy for a neighborhood grocery store with a slim profit margin).  And, since I stopped using credit cards in 2020, my spending has significantly declined.  It turns out the statistics are true and I am more thoughtful of my spending when I pay with cash, leaving me with more cash to pay for flights, hotels, and escorts than those "free" points ever gave me.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Vegas_Millennial

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

30 minutes ago, tassojunior said:

But in a mostly facial recognition payment system like Just Walk Out you can still have a bank account or debit card for payment that alerts you to spending and balance.Many give awards or there's many 2%-back cards. I just carry 5s. 10s and 20s for tips (very important in life) (plus a quarter in the car for Aldi). 

I have Just Walked Out and left cash at the counter before when I had already consumed a meal and the restaurant told me afterwards that they are cashless, and I had no cards.  It worked out.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

They're not "free".  Someone has to pay for them.  Usually the merchants.  Since I avoid big box retailers like Walmart and Amazon, that means small mom and pop merchants are paying for it through transaction fees.  And, since I stopped using credit cards in 2020, my spending has significantly declined.  It turns out the statistics are true and I am more thoughtful of my spending when I pay with cash, leaving me with more cash to pay for flights, hotels, and escorts than those "free" points ever gave me.

Yes, retailers essentially give credit card holders a 2% discount on their purchases. This is really a win-win situation for the customer, retailer, and credit card company. In exchange for getting more customers, and immediate payment, without having to worry about whether the customer has enough cash on hand, or whether the check will bounce (and the expense of getting the cash and/or check to the bank), the retailer offers what amounts to a tiny discount or cash back. We live fairly near the Laugh Factory on Sunset Blvd., and sometimes go to stand-up performances there. One of the first times we went, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant across the street called Vivoli. I was shocked when, after we ate, we found out they only took cash. I happened to have enough cash on me (not always the case), but we've never gone back there for that reason (the food and service were fine). I don't know why they don't take cards, but they've got to be losing business due to their balking over their 2% fee. Maybe it's a money-laundering front?

It's a similar situation for one of my favorite restaurants in Puerto Vallarta, the Red Cabbage/Repollo Rojo. They only take cash, and some years I haven't gone because I have to make a special trip to the ATM, guessing how much I'll spend. The business saves their 2% at the expense of lost business (also, I end up having to pay more, since there's a worse exchange rate for the ATM as opposed to the credit card rate, without even factoring in ATM fees). Any business which refuses credit cards is two penny-wise, and pound (or dollar or Euro or Peso) stupid. 

[+ tassojunior]

Unfortunately I think most stores are hybrid checkout now in regular lines. The cashier rings the items up and tosses them down the belt where you have to scurry to bag them as the next customer's items start coming while also trying to get the damn card to work on tap and finally f++kin inserting the thing with the left hand while packing the heavy stuff on top of the bread with the right hand (as the cashier gives you a surly look to hurry the  f up). But you also get the snarly condescending look and comments from the cashier "helping" with 4 self-checkouts if you choose that method of humiliation.   

Edited September 16, 2023 by tassojunior

[+ tassojunior]

[marylander1940]

If I'm buying unpacked vegetables or fruits cashier, if I'm buying other things that are easier to scan self-checkout.

[Thomas_Belgium]

None of the supermarkets in the town I live have self-checkout. The supermarket in the city has self-scan but you give the portable scan device to a cashier.

[marylander1940]

1 minute ago, Thomas_Belgium said:

None of the supermarkets in the town I live have self-checkout. The supermarket in the city has self-scan but you give the portable scan device to a cashier.

I wouldn't be surprised if in some European countries like France self-checkouts are banned because kill jobs.

Here for instance: Jersey girls don't pump their own gas. 

Study: Jersey Girls' Refusal To Pump Gas Is Costing Everyone a Lot of Money

REASON.COM

---

Research on the effects of Oregon's loosening of its self-service gas ban finds that allowing adults to pump their own gas increases supply and lowers prices.

 

[TonyDown]

I did self checkout but switched back to cashier.

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

On 9/15/2023 at 4:04 PM, tassojunior said:

Unfortunately I think most stores are hybrid checkout now in regular lines. The cashier rings the items up and tosses them down the belt where you have to scurry to bag them as the next customer's items start coming while also trying to get the damn card to work on tap and finally f++kin inserting the thing with the left hand while packing the heavy stuff on top of the bread with the right hand (as the cashier gives you a surly look to hurry the  f up). But you also get the snarly condescending look and comments from the cashier "helping" with 4 self-checkouts if you choose that method of humiliation.   

When there is no bag boy, I never start to bag my own groceries until the cashier is finished and I have paid.  I do this to keep my eye on the prices until transaction is finished.  Then, I will bag my items as the next person begins their check-out.  It really takes no time to bag at all.  I use paper bags only, and usually can fit everything into 3 paper bags instead of the 10 plastic bags that others use for a similar haul.  When emptying my cart for the cashier, I arrange my items in the order I want them to be bagged, grouping together refrigerated items, non-refrigerated items, and non -food items.  Typically these fit into one or two paper bags each.  It's a habit passed to me by my father, who used to work in a grocery store in the 1940s/1950s.

[+ Charlie]

5 hours ago, Vegas_Millennial said:

When there is no bag boy, I never start to bag my own groceries until the cashier is finished and I have paid.  I do this to keep my eye on the prices until transaction is finished.  Then, I will bag my items as the next person begins their check-out.  It really takes no time to bag at all.  I use paper bags only, and usually can fit everything into 3 paper bags instead of the 10 plastic bags that others use for a similar haul.  When emptying my cart for the cashier, I arrange my items in the order I want them to be bagged, grouping together refrigerated items, non-refrigerated items, and non -food items.  Typically these fit into one or two paper bags each.  It's a habit passed to me by my father, who used to work in a grocery store in the 1940s/1950s.

I also prefer to bag my own items, because I encounter so many "baggers" who have no logical system for loading the bags. I bring different kinds of bags for different categories of items.

[Lookin]

On 9/12/2023 at 12:37 PM, wsc said:

I don't like the self-checkout and I don't use it. First, I don't work there. Second, because of the self-checkout, neither does someone else who used to, and I don't like being complicit -even in such a small and indirect way- in someone losing their job in order that a huge chain can make a bigger profit; it's obscene.

A slippery slope indeed.

Personally, I do the self-checkout when I don't want everyone to know I'm buying five bags of potato chips for the price of two.     But I wait for the cashier when I've got more than a few items.

In their pursuit of every last nickel, I'm not sure how long my market will even have a cashier, let alone a bag boy.  At least they haven't sent me around back to help unload the delivery trucks.

Not yet anyway.  

Edited November 19, 2023 by Lookin

[+ azdr0710]

has anybody gone to the self-checkout at Costco and an employee comes running up to scan all your items??!!......

happened recently and I jokingly said to her, "wait, it says self-serve up there!".....she thought I was serious and backed off like a hurt puppy.....I assured her I was kidding and thanked her profusely for her help......I think?? she finally realized I was joking.......

despite it being a multi-national, powerful, profit-making (enter other anti-business claims here) corporate entity, they really know how to run a business and keep employees happy (the single most important part)......

[TonyDown]

I agree with the above comment wanting to watch the prices as the cashier rings up my items.  However, at my Walmart last week, there was no screen to see prices.   

$%$@ Walmart, ya know?

[pubic_assistance]

I don't even pump my own gas. So I refuse to pack my own groceries. I was in London this summer and jumped into a market from some fruit. They ONLY had a self check out (with a little glass gate that wouldnt let you out without scanning your receipt). So when I want service, I just act like I just got off the short bus.

I deliberately fucked up the scanner over and over until someone came and took care of my order for me. Then I looked around and said where's the bag ( they charge for bags ). The attendant wanted rid of me by than and didn't bother charging me for the bag. I made him hold it while I place my grapes inside. 🍇 'fuck 'em. I'm not getting paid to work in the store.

[+ azdr0710]

11 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

I don't even pump my own gas. So I refuse to pack my own groceries. I was in London this summer and jumped into a market from some fruit. They ONLY had a self check out (with a little glass gate that wouldnt let you out without scanning your receipt). So when I want service, I just act like I just got off the short bus.

I deliberately fucked up the scanner over and over until someone came and took care of my order for me. Then I looked around and said where's the bag ( they charge for bags ). The attendant wanted rid of me by than and didn't bother charging me for the bag. I made him hold it while I place my grapes inside. 🍇 'fuck 'em. I'm not getting paid to work in the store.

I hope this didn't perpetuate the "Ugly American" stereotype......what is that old saying?....oh, yeah: "when in London, do as the Londoners do"  /s

Edited November 19, 2023 by azdr0710

[pubic_assistance]

12 hours ago, azdr0710 said:

I hope this didn't perpetuate the "Ugly American" stereotype......what is that old saying?....oh, yeah: "when in London, do as the Londoners do"  /s

Well...the "ugly American" is one who demands that Europeans comply with their own American standards. In this case the idea of self-service is already an ugly American invention so my expectations were the opposite.

(Also I wasn't demanding all....in these instances I just act like I'm mentally disabled). Blind, elderly and stupid people still get help. 😉