fun fact: you can get a discount at a self-checkout! grocery stores hate this one trick!

The self checkout person always thinks I'm cute and gives me good deals

All of the top comments are from people who prefer tellers over self checkout.

I mean, I don't much care about the chitchat, but self-checkout is almost always faster. I only avoid it when I have alcohol or pharmacy items.

UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA. Sorry, Jandro, I'm not here to get yelled at by a clanker.

Do you prefer any human interaction?

/s kinda

Cashiers are fast. I don't want to search for the catalog number for all my produce. The cashiers have it memorized

This thread has made me feel so incredibly millennial.

Most produce has a sticker with the code on it and most stores have now made it to where you can just scan the little sticker barcode anyways.

I have add. Proper diagnosis from a doctor and everything.

I've had to learn how to curb impatience. It is not a permanent affliction, it is a bad habit. Patience is a virtue that can be nurtured.

We were talking about this the other day. Is it faster, or does it appear faster since they have removed so many cashiers? Like 20 lanes and 1 cashier, with 4 self checkouts.

I've heard self checkout is terrible in the US, however in Europe they're generally pretty nice

I went to the US for a few days. Their self checkouts seem to be universally awful, compared to the UK or German equivalent.

While the hardware is far less reliable, and more convoluted, it's the users that seem the main issue. Self checkout is generally intended (over here) to shift the fast, small shops out of the main queues. 1 big line and a dozen or more tills. In the states they treat it as just another till. Built for trollies, and 1 queue per till. Combined with a slow user and it becomes hell rapidly.

You support taking away jobs

Well, most stores over here have around 10-16 self checkouts in the space that would be occupied by 4-6 regular lanes. So I'd say it is faster even accounting for people taking longer.

clanker

*Claptrap

That's a perennial problem. How do you connect the responsibility to the authority? The cashiers are the ones who have to face 30 angry customers, (face the responsibility) not the manager. (the one who has the authority to change things) Customers can complain to the cashier, but they have no authority. They can complain to the manager, but the manager is getting a portion of the money not spent on hiring full staff in the form of a bonus, so they're encouraged to ignore the complaint. It takes a certain critical mass of customers all spending less at the store before there's even a possibility of someone noticing a revenue drop, and no guarantee the blame will be put where it belongs if it happens.

I think that’s one of the things that bothered me most. My manager was standing right there about 30 feet away, but the customers were directing all of their anger at me, by choice. One would think a rational person would understand where to direct that anger, but I’m increasingly convinced every year that rational people don’t exist.

I remember checking groceries at frankly unprecedented speed while being a polite as possible, but one guy started yelling names at me from five or so people back. I decided to ignore him and continue serving my current customer with a smile and he yelled “Stop smiling!”. This was so shocking to me that I looked at the other customers in line to share a “Can you believe this guy?” moment to find them all nodding along in angry agreement.

I didn’t even need that job. I’m so angry at my naive younger self for not quitting on the spot and making sure all of them knew exactly why.

Yes cultivating patience is a great skill, but I have no interest in spending more time in line than I have to.

My local grocery store limits self checkout to 10 items or less. My guess is that people have a hard time counting to 10 and just assume that their cart full of groceries is probably 10 items or less.