Walmart, Costco and other companies rethink self-checkout, some stores removing them

return2ozma@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 646 points –
Walmart, Costco and other companies rethink self-checkout | CNN Business
cnn.com
355

You are viewing a single comment

Self checkout is useful when you only want a few things. Much faster.

If you're getting a full trolley, you'd need a barcode scanner to take round the shop with you. If you don't have that, it's faster to go with a manned checkout.

A grocery store near me has the self-scan as part of the app. It's pretty good, but honestly it's not that bad to do a full trip through the self checkout.

Wegmans tried that at first but failed and removed it. No one wants to scan products with their phone while shopping.

Oh dang, I love it. It's awesome to be able to see what my total cost is as I shop. I definitely buy less when I do it that way, and added bonuses include everything already being bagged the way I like it and not having to talk to people (at least usually). I did it all the time during the pandemic.

The only thing is that I wish I had something other than the phone for the scanning. Using the phone camera to scan isn't anywhere near as fast/good as using a scanning gun.

But my guess is that it got removed because too many people were "scanning" and just taking off. It's pretty easy to fool self check, but enough people will avoid trying because there are people there, cameras, etc. Pretty hard to get that coverage on the whole store.

Maybe, and that's probably the reason they cite, but honestly I bet the real reason is that people were buying less and so they wanted to make it as difficult as they could without removing the option entirely.

I do. It’s kinda new here in Germany, but I think it’s working pretty well.

I did when Smith's had it. I found a lot of coupons that way.

You say that, but Walmart and SamsClub's Scan and Go is extremely well received because it allows people to scan shit as they put it in their cart and pay on their phone.