Important shopping tip

[madamesilverspurs]

[pappy]

I have never used a self serve check out and never will. I have been asked by clerks to step over and use the self service when the lines are long and always politely refuse, they are just doing their jobs so no need to be rude. If they persist I usually remind them that I am not on the payroll.

[sandnsea]

I confess to using them once in a while. For the most part it is faster for me to take 50 items though the check-out lane than 5 items though self-check. I am just that bad at it, lol. Reminds me of back in the 80s with the warehouse stores. We were all going to save loads of money marking our own food and bagging everything ourselves. Where did those go? Haven't seen one, well, since the 80s.

[Fire1]

(11-21-2012 05:36 PM)sandnsea Wrote:  I confess to using them once in a while. For the most part it is faster for me to take 50 items though the check-out lane than 5 items though self-check. I am just that bad at it, lol. Reminds me of back in the 80s with the warehouse stores. We were all going to save loads of money marking our own food and bagging everything ourselves. Where did those go? Haven't seen one, well, since the 80s.

I feel that way, too. NO WAY am I going to check out a basket full of groceries! I'd be there forever!

[Myra]

This happened in my area last year. I don't use them.

Lucky Supermarket Victim Of Card Reader Scam

[azmouse]

Only one grocery store in Phoenix tried these self-service lanes a few years ago, and they turned out to be more trouble than they were worth. The machines were always misreading prices, malfunctioning, and breaking down. It took more time for employees to help customers frustrated by the machines than it took for a trained store employee to ring up the purchase in the first place.
The machines are long gone and no other grocery store has them now.
Home Depot has one lane of self-service but still has to have an employee staff that lane. I don't see what they gain by these lanes at all.

[sandnsea]

(11-22-2012 10:54 AM)azmouse Wrote:  Only one grocery store in Phoenix tried these self-service lanes a few years ago, and they turned out to be more trouble than they were worth. The machines were always misreading prices, malfunctioning, and breaking down. It took more time for employees to help customers frustrated by the machines than it took for a trained store employee to ring up the purchase in the first place.
The machines are long gone and no other grocery store has them now.
Home Depot has one lane of self-service but still has to have an employee staff that lane. I don't see what they gain by these lanes at all.

Our Fred Meyer has had the self-check for a few years. It's always busy, usually with people with 5 items or less. The regular check-out lanes never have lines, not even last night when the store was packed. I think that's why they do it, it keeps customers happier which means customer retention and that's the name of the food game, I think.

[Willinois]

I hate those things. Major PITA. The machines really throw a fit if you try to bring your own reusable bag.

They seem like an open invitation to shoplift. Maybe the stores have determined that revenue lost from shoplifting is still more cost effective than paying cashiers.