Pretty common in german supermarkets in my experience, at least those that only introduced self-checkout recently (so most of who even got one). The gates need to scan the barcode on your receipt.
Not really a noteworthy timeloss in my experience though.

It's still a very uncommon thing in general, my local supermarket even got rid of automated coin counters on normal checkouts again because they worked so bad (refused even slightly dirty coins) and made things slower.

I really like self checkout, tbh. No need to remove my headphones, and it's nice if you're getting a few items.
If I'm getting more than one bags worth of stuff, there's the handheld scanners that you can walk around in the store with, and just put your stuff directly in to the bag you brought with you. Really handy, and quick.

"Please place the item in the bagging area!!!"

you queue up all you like boss...

I love the self checkout. No bullshit small talk, no customers stood right behind you breathing down your neck and I can pack my shit without feeling better rushed. to me that's invaluable...

I prefer self-checkout to reduce the amount of having to talk to or look at someone else.

You technically get a discount. I can't say I've ever heard of having enough cashiers. If they hire more at a higher rate maybe they could get more cashiers. This would increase the expense and this increase the prices. Without that, the price now is what you get. A technically lower price than if they paid cashiers more.

Cashiers aren't paid enough to deal with customers. At least when I'm using the self checkout they don't need to engage with me.

It's a pretty solid hill I'm willing to die on. I like people, even if I disapprove of our economic model I will always choose humanity.

The day I choose a machine over people for the sake of expedience, I feel I will be deserving of the isolation I've earned.

How can you be faster when you have to both scan and bag everything, whereas at the human checkout you only have to bag?

"Unexpected item in the bagging area."
"Please place the item in the bagging area."
"Unexpected item in the bagging area."
"Please wait for assistance."

It's a bullshit job though. Do you refuse to use elevators because they no longer have attendants? Having worked on a checkout at one time, it was always depressing. Plus there were other tasks that could be done and most people you deal with are awful.

People making the same old quips also make the job that little bit more unbearable - "must be free", urgh. Seriously you are not gods gift to comedy with these jokes, workers hear them 100 times every day and it is like some kind of compounding psychological damage each time.

The only times when I've seen anyone complain about the length of lines were times when it was clear staffing was very much insufficient. Line all the way to the back of the supermarket and literally 2 cashiers total.

I hate how self-checkout treats me like a child and speaks and prompts me a zillion times for things I don't want. How many bags do you want to buy? None, because I have mine like 90% of people, geez. How about a donation? Unexpected item in bagging area. TAKE YOUR RECEIPT. Nooooo

And it even SPEAKS. LOUDLY. It burns through ALL my patience within seconds.

If it just let me scan my stuff having me tap on a touchscreen, and then just let me stay the payment machine in a single touch, and it were silent ... I might tolerate it. Otherwise, get back, demon.

I had one of those self checkout machines think we were shoplifting. We had to sit there while the employees went through the video feed to verify it was an error. It was embarrassing. We were treated like criminals.

My local Walmart does that. I just wait by the cigarette area until someone comes by. They ask what kind of cigarettes and I just say I don't smoke.

Also, I use cash for everything. The amount of times that these machines don't have change or accept cash is frequent.

The grocery stores that I go to seem to have an adversarial UI. I haven't been able to use them without them throwing a fit and then I have to wait for the one attendant who is there to oversee 6 stations (who has to help more than 50% of the people) AND do the customer service desk.

They used to have express lanes. Those actually moved fast.

Dollar store? Yeah those ones work well.

Main issue is they haven't lowered the cost to me the consumer. Which is the lie we were told.

Assert dominance and just use a different machine for the rest of the items. It's not like an employee is showing up for a while anyway.

I'm very willing to abandon a shopping cart full of food. This was a thing at the one store I would go to. They opened 1 register and the line was wrapped around the store.

I never stop for them. I'll say "no thanks" or "I'm good, thank you anyway."

Definitely helps to have headphones in.

ahh ok. in the US there are some private membership stores that do that. the public ones can try to stop you but you do not need to obey.

Hint, they're probably not. They perceive themselves as faster, but on average the employees are.