Self serve cashiers

[helen]

Home Depot has a few of them and I noticed that Mililani Wal-Mart had a few stations too where the customers actually ring up what they are buying.

It's great as an express item checkout where if you had one to five items to buy but I don't think it would save time if I had to scan 30 to 40 items.

[Kalihiboy]

KMart has had them for awhile as well. I dont like them, it gives businesses yet another excuse to layoff or not hire workers when the computer can do the job for them.

Bad business.

Makiki Boy

[pzarquon]

I've tried them at WalMart, and I hope the cashiers don't have too much to worry about for a while. The technology needs work. In addition to your having to track down the bar code and getting the scanner to read it (leading to many double scans and a few "price checks" - which require you to signal a person for help), there's a little "eye" that tries to keep you honest by pretending to know if you've put something in your bag that you didn't scan. Suffice it to say, this particular gadget is very, very error prone.

Ultimately, it's easier to go with a conventional cashiered check-out. They do the scanning, they do the bagging, and they're right there if a price is missing or a mistake needs to be fixed.

Or maybe it's all Mr. Bar Code's fault. When RFID gets refined (and WalMart is leading the way (http://www.forbes.com/commerce/2004/06/28/cz_cs_0628rfid.html) to try and get RFID to work in the mainstream)... then "self service shopping" might go a bit smoother. Push your cart through a detector, and the system will catch everything in it, no removing, scanning, or bagging required.

[Miulang]

I've tried them at WalMart, and I hope the cashiers don't have too much to worry about for a while. The technology needs work. In addition to your having to track down the bar code and getting the scanner to read it (leading to many double scans and a few "price checks" - which require you to signal a person for help), there's a little "eye" that tries to keep you honest by pretending to know if you've put something in your bag that you didn't scan. Suffice it to say, this particular gadget is very, very error prone.

Ultimately, it's easier to go with a conventional cashiered check-out. They do the scanning, they do the bagging, and they're right there if a price is missing or a mistake needs to be fixed.

Or maybe it's all Mr. Bar Code's fault. When RFID gets refined (and WalMart is leading the way (http://www.forbes.com/commerce/2004/06/28/cz_cs_0628rfid.html) to try and get RFID to work in the mainstream)... then "self service shopping" might go a bit smoother. Push your cart through a detector, and the system will catch everything in it, no removing, scanning, or bagging required.
And then take it one step further: once a total has been calculated, automatically take the money out of your checking account via a bankcard! (Or even better,you wave your right hand across the scanner and the chip that's embedded in your palm has your bankcard information in it so you don't have to go fumbling around in your wallet or purse for that damned piece of plastic!)

Miulang

[craigwatanabe]

watch out if that chip can send info out to a scanner, then eventually the scanner can send info to the chip. Hmmmm that's weird after waving my hand over the scanner, I have this sudden craving for Hostess Twinkies, hey it just happens to be on sale at Walmart!

Or as you wave your hand over the scanner a fly buzzes around it. Hating flies, you try to shoo them away by waving your hand over the scanner: beep beep beep Oh crap...Um Cashier? :D

[Miulang]

watch out if that chip can send info out to a scanner, then eventually the scanner can send info to the chip. Hmmmm that's weird after waving my hand over the scanner, I have this sudden craving for Hostess Twinkies, hey it just happens to be on sale at Walmart!

Or as you wave your hand over the scanner a fly buzzes around it. Hating flies, you try to shoo them away by waving your hand over the scanner: beep beep beep Oh crap...Um Cashier? :D

Actually, you know, this technology is already available. We microchip our pets so we can find them if they get lost. And the President of Mexico recently had about 600 of his employees (including himself) implanted with microchips. Prez Fox stated that he forced those people to have chips implanted for security purposes . Wee ha! :eek: One of these days I'll tell you guys about an experience I had recently in trying to get credit for a Sleep Comfort bed...it has to do with how the national lenders are forcing you to reveal your SS#and when you decline, they haul out the Patriot Act as their excuse for requiring the SS#...

Miulang

[craigwatanabe]

OOOOOooooo tell us more! Sounds like a good plot for a movie!

Once I bought one of those self-hypnosis tapes on getting rich. After a few weeks of listening to it before bed I started sending away for those sweepstakes figuring if I sent away a million entries I'd hit at least once.

Then the tape deck broke and reality came filtering back. Lesson learned, get a better tape deck. Ha ha ha! :D

[helen]

it gives businesses yet another excuse to layoff or not hire workers when the computer can do the job for them.

It's not the computer doing the work but rather have the customer check out the items themselves. And in the age of using debit or credit cards and automated change machines stuff like this makes it possible. But still problems can occur. The person in front of me had trouble scanning and the Wal-Mart employee came by twice to reset the scanner. And I needed the employee came by once to me when I was scanning my stuff.

[Konaguy]

I know Wal-Mart in Hilo has these self serve checkout counters.
Kmart in Kona used to have them before they were removed.

[adrian]

People still have the urge to go out and actually buy products?

When is online grocery shopping gonna be the next craze? We can already order contacts, medicine, and other things over the phone or web, why not type in the address of your local store (url address that is), "virtual shop", pay with your credit/debit card online, and in 15-30 minutes, you can walk to your door and get your groceries.

With telecommuting and other means of working from your home, we can now tear down the huge buildings and make room for more homes! :D

This world is getting too automated, and soon, some evil geek will come our way, find various loopholes and evil ways to exploit out technology, and use them against us.

[scrivener]

I'm mildly surprised that I haven't heard anyone say this, but I absolutely love self-service checkouts. I don't like watching someone else paw through MY stuff. I don't like it when the person in line behind me can see that I'm buying a six-pack of Fruit-of-the-Looms or something for a rash or whatever. I like shopping, and I like Wal-Mart, but I like it even more when I don't have to interact with a cashier. In fact, I'm resentful when the customer-service person comes over to me when I'm checking out to see if everything's okay.

This is not to say that I dislike cashiers. I generally like them. I just prefer to check my own stuff out.

Also, I don't think it's an "eye" but a scale that monitors whether you've put something in your bag that you haven't scanned yet.

[craigwatanabe]

I hate to say this but unless you're a teenage boy whose buying their condoms for the first time the cashier could care less what you're buying, they see thousands of items everyday at the counters.

As for privacy, there's a camera watching every transaction you make with a VCR recording it. There's also a cashier waiting nearby making sure you stay honest. I'll stick to the human cashier because if you're buying pantyhose for your wife at least you can humbly say it to the cashier rather than the person monitoring the video camera telling his buddies, "Hey isn't that Bob buying those ultra sheer pantyhose? Damn I never knew he was into that stuff" :D

[scrivener]

The point is not whether or not the cashier cares, or even what it is I'm buying. The point is that it's none of anybody's business what I'm buying, and I'd rather not have someone pawing through my stuff if I can avoid it. It's not a paranoia; it's just a personal preference. And that's why cashiers won't be out of a job--some of us prefer to check out ourselves, while others would rather have that personal human contact.

[Miulang]

The point is not whether or not the cashier cares, or even what it is I'm buying. The point is that it's none of anybody's business what I'm buying, and I'd rather not have someone pawing through my stuff if I can avoid it. It's not a paranoia; it's just a personal preference. And that's why cashiers won't be out of a job--some of us prefer to check out ourselves, while others would rather have that personal human contact.
Sorry, but whether you go to the checkout counter and have a live person or a scanner tote up your purchases, the store's gonna know what you buy! It's dat liddo barcode that the live checker and the scanner need to get a price. And it'll get worse when RFID becomes fully deployed. Den maybe da government going know the whole life cycle of everyting everyone buys in dis country. Dat's why da libraries stay all huhu about the government wanting them to provide lists of books people are borrowing! So they can make sure no subversive is going to check out "Judy Blume: The Making of a Terrorist"! :rolleyes:

Miulang

[pzarquon]

In a way, I'm like scrivener, maybe, in that in most cases, self-serve options appeals to me. Actually, perhaps unlike scrivener, I have a bit of a xenophobic side. And I use that term with some humor.

See, year after year I'd nag Michael Titterton and KHPR to accept donations online. I finally brought it up in a meeting we both were at, and explained that I'd much rather participate without having to talk to anyone on the phone, if at all possible. and He said (with that great accent), "Sounds a bit xenophobic to me." Of course, they had online donations that year.

Whether it's a buffet versus table service, or an e-mail versus a phone call, if I can get what I need to get done without requiring the immediate involvement of someone else, I'll do it that way.

So if these self-serve cash registers worked better, I'd probably use them all the time. My few attempts have been mostly frustrating, though (and if you think a cashier behind the counter is intrusive, wait until you need to flag one down to help you run the damn thing), and I see more than a few furrowed brows clustered around the machines than smiles. After testing my "get through" time with a cashier versus a self-service customer, I decided I valued my time more than my privacy (or occasional aversion to humanity). :)

[scrivener]

Without meaning to sound condescending, PZarq, I will gently say that I've never had a single problem with self-serve checkouts at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or Home Depot, and suggest that perhaps a little bit of practice might make things move more smoothly. On the other hand, it's not like I have a problem with people who'd rather stand in regular cashier lines--it makes the wait that much shorter for me!

And yeah. If I can buy it online, I do. If I can communicate it via email, I will. I love people, and I love socializing, but I prefer to conduct business with as little interaction as possible.

I love it, though, when someone initiates conversation with me at a bookstore or coffee shop. Ask me what I'm reading! Share a table with me! These are the interactions that mean something to me. "Here's your change, and have a nice day," however, is not the same thing.

[craigwatanabe]

Okay leave the change. Whatever you do don't go to Checker's Auto store then. Their registers remember who you are, what you bought and when you bought it for how much. I went to the Punahou Checkers once and they told me my wife bought some skittles and starburst candy there the previous week. I asked if she bought any chocolate bars, he said no just the two mentioned.

So with that I knew which two of my kids were with her on what day because one likes Skittles and another likes Starburst AND I knew she was also maintaining her diet! :D

[Miulang]

Without meaning to sound condescending, PZarq, I will gently say that I've never had a single problem with self-serve checkouts at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, or Home Depot, and suggest that perhaps a little bit of practice might make things move more smoothly.

Eh, izdat one slam against us old kine futs who weren't born with a mouse in our hand and a computer monitor next to our crib???? :D

Miulang

[Karen]

Finally, I notice this thread, and a fun one it is! Ijust heard on local christian FM station an announcement that someone conducted a recent study about which is faster, the self-serve checkouts or the ones where we are waited upon, and they averaged that we save one minute and a few seconds with self serve.

I don't use the self serve. I'd rather stand in line in a semi-zombie state (G) and just write my check, and leave. I am usually pondering my next errand or something, anyway. Can the self serve accept checks? Oh, I know they are slowly becoming extinct, but I shall hang onto my checkbook till they pry it from my...oh wait, that's the cliche for guns. LOL...

[craigwatanabe]

Eh Miulang...right on...you go female :D !

Jus wait until these young buggahs get old like da rest of us old futs...oh yeah dea kids going say: Eh pops I saw dakine old videos you guys went nuts ovah wen you waz keiki time...wat da hell is dat group Outkast? Ho wow das some mental stuff back den and only on high definition TV, ho so lamo dat one, us generation X (to da 14th power) stay watching on our Sony Brainman implants with 12.7 channel supah THX feel-a-vision. 3.2Ghz Pentium 4 wit hypatred, slow...we stay up at 2.6GoogleHz, go donate dat dinasaur to Goodwill das one embarrassment! :D

[helen]

I didn't notice that as an option at the Wal-Mart on Sunday but I did hold up the line by paying for my stuff in cash with $1 bills and it was around $7 and change worth of stuff that I brought.

[craigwatanabe]

Helen...come on now...if you going hold up one line with dollar bills, go all the way! Use pennies! What dis kine no mo imagination! I tell you, go back school and learn from da masters! :)

[helen]

I don't know about the pennies but for sure the machine should have taken nickels and while it would be fun to see that one could feed the machine $8 worth of nickels, just hauling that much nickels would cause one's back to be bent out of shape.

[Miulang]

Helen...come on now...if you going hold up one line with dollar bills, go all the way! Use pennies! What dis kine no mo imagination! I tell you, go back school and learn from da masters! :)
Hoo yeah! Betta yet, if you owe income tax, go pay foa dat in pennies! Had one guy up heah who wen try foa pay his income tax wid pennies...he had someting like 2,000 pennies. Eh, da Income Tax buggahs no like accept da loose change...but da guy wen go tell 'em: "eh, I thought pennies were da kine legal tender! What kine dis, anyway???!

Miulang