Self-Checkout Suck

[Gibbo]

Chip and pin machines are too taxing for most of our customers, nevermind a whole checkout. I hope we don't get them, as they'll probably be burned out shells within a week.

[Andara Bledin]

He's gonna give himself a stroke attack if he's not carefulyou're lucky.

FTFE. Hopefully, it'll be somewhere far away from your store.

^-.-^

[Jay 2K Winger]

Actually, the good news is that in a great many stores that employ SCOs these days, they keep the same amount of workers but they're freed up to do the numerous other tasks that usually can't get done because the store can't afford to hire more employees and needs x registers open.

And this is exactly what I tell people when they use that argument. When we installed them, we did so at the end of the summer one year, when we were about to lose part of our workforce to school. So we didn't lose any workers we weren't already going to lose.

The bad news is, of course, that customers are insane and will make you pay out the teeth for that kind of luxury by being insane. See: Mr. IHSCO.

He's gonna give himself a stroke attack if he's not careful.

Come to think of it, I can't help but wonder if that's Mr. IHSCO's goal. Work himself into a froth and have a heart attack, then try to sue us over it. Sure, it's illogical and highly dangerous, but who said SCs are logical?

[Imogene]

Nobody's forcing anyone to use the SCO.

That's exactly the complaint that customers coming through my store after 11 PM are using... after 11, there usually isn't an extra cashier, and people come through with massive, overflowing carts of food...

[MrsEclipse]

I never use SCO's. They take part time hours and jobs away from people.

Actually, the good news is that in a great many stores that employ SCOs these days, they keep the same amount of workers but they're freed up to do the numerous other tasks that usually can't get done because the store can't afford to hire more employees and needs x registers open.

The bad news is, of course, that customers are insane and will make you pay out the teeth for that kind of luxury by being insane. See: Mr. IHSCO.

He's gonna give himself a stroke attack if he's not careful.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Mr. IHSCO returned recently. It was last week, on Thursday. I'm on a regular register, ringing people out and generally being Awesome Cashier Guy when I hear some commotion over at the SCOs, as my coworker TC is trying to help someone, and he's yelling and carrying on. I look up, and lo and behold, it's Mr. IHSCO.

I just sort of sigh to myself. I don't have any customers at present, but I also don't have a SCO authorization card to go help. So I watch as TC tries to calm Mr. IHSCO down, only to hear him snap something at her. She then abruptly says something in response and walks away.

When I remarked to her after he'd left that "Every time he comes in, he goes through self-checkout and EVERY time he gets pissed off at them." She nodded and said he'd started swearing ("I hate these fucking machines") and she told him not to swear and refused to help him further.

The general consensus is Mr. IHSCO carries on driving his blood pressure up like this in the hopes that a manager will give him a gift card or something as a means of calming him down. Good luck with that, buddy.

[jackfaire]

don't want a bag!

Oh god yes seriously I feel like when I decline a bag that I am gonna suddenly have the PBM (Plastic Bag Mafia) standing there saying, "It might be good for your health if you take a bag know what I'm sayin?"

[Dave1982]

I've never liked SCOs, mainly because after all the time I've spent cashiering, I have a certain way I like to it, and no SCO lets me do it my way. I have to adapt to the specifics of that store's SCO, and it's annoying as hell. But that's me, not the SCO.

[WageSlaveofDoom]

if I forgot my bags and ask the cashier to just hand me the single bottle of $1.98 shampoo and the receipt so I don't waste a plastic bag, I am guaranteed to be stopped at the door to have someone check my purchase.

I always find it so funny how people react when I buy something small enough to carry by hand and refuse plastic bags. I've had LPs actually follow me down the street after leaving the store, because they can't fathom that I just don't want a bag!

You rock, BTW. I'm so glad I'm not alone in this.

[Andara Bledin]

I never use SCO's. They take part time hours and jobs away from people.

And horseless carriages put the buggy whip makers out of business.

Things change. People adapt. Life goes on.

^-.-^

[EricKei]

If you work at the warehouse store that starts with a C and ends with an O then he's going to be mighty disappointed to hear that they aren't carrying Coke products anymore. I read an article about it today about how they are having a major dispute with Coke.

It's probably just as well that we don't have any of these here...In this town, "Sorry, we don't carry Coke products" is equivalent to saying "We don't want your business" (legitimate grudge or no).

[jackfaire]

I love SCOs because on my way to work is a Fred Meyers and somedays if I missed breakfast I have 10 minutes to get off the train grab something and get back on those SCOs save me a buttload of time.

[EvilEmpryss]

I have only been to one store that does this that actually does it. Most just look at the receipt glance in the general direction of your things and move on.

Agreed. I can walk out of the store with those cloth bags packed full of stuff, and I don't get stopped, even if I set off the alarms at the door because the scanner didn't deactivate my DVD security tag. But so help me, if I forgot my bags and ask the cashier to just hand me the single bottle of $1.98 shampoo and the receipt so I don't waste a plastic bag, I am guaranteed to be stopped at the door to have someone check my purchase. *sheesh*

I wish the Costco where I live had an SCO, though. I love the things. The Walmarts near where I live tend to have them all shut down.

[jackfaire]

This, supposedly, helps prevent shrink. It does, to a degree, though I'm sure there's stuff we miss.

I have only been to one store that does this that actually does it. Most just look at the receipt glance in the general direction of your things and move on.

[LadyAndreca]

Exactly. If you can't figure out how to use a SCO, go to a regular register and have a cashier ring you out. Nobody's forcing anyone to use the SCO.

Try my store...early in the morning, or on days with too many callouts, the options tend to be 'use the SCO' or 'walk down to the end of the store to use the register in the lumber department'. Sometimes the garden register is open, but this time of year we've got no plants and the Christmas trees aren't in yet, so they've taken to closing that register on slow days.

People who will rant, spit, and curse at the SCO also tend to be the ones who whine the most about "I have to walk down THERE?" or "But there's always a LINE there!" (It IS hit-or-miss, I'll admit. Either the cashier is dying of boredom or you're stuck behind someone checking out $1000 worth of panelling and timber.)

You can't win. What they actually want is a regular register open, right where they are, with no line - or, if they MUST, they'll put up with one person ahead of them. We don't have it, so they bitch.