I started using grocery self-checkouts during COVID, but I’ve kept using them because there’s rarely a line (and I’m a misanthrope). I’d probably go back to using regular human checkouts if I had to dig through all my crap to prove what I bought.
Having said that, I’ve noticed myself making mistakes. I’ve accidentally failed to scan an item, and I’ve accidentally entered incorrect codes for produce. When I notice, I fix them, but I’ve probably missed a few.
I guess the easiest answer is for grocery chains to reinvest some of those windfall profits and hire more cashiers.
I prefer self-checkout because cashiers don’t know shit about bagging groceries in a reasonable manner. I don’t like dealing with people and I like my groceries bagged to my specifications. Self-checkout is a godsend.
That said…
I have made mistakes. I’ve accidently stolen from WalMart. I’ve been an employee of WalMart; I am not crying over this. WalMart is a shit employer and they have a ton of self-check so they can continue to refuse full time jobs to cashiers so they don’t have to pay benefits. Fuck them.
I never have a problem bagging my own groceries at the cashier. It’s the best of both worlds: highly skilled checkout operator and a fairly skilled bagger.
I think the dedicated baggers they used to have were better at it than I am, though. They somehow managed to Tetris everything into appropriate bags that were of similar weight and were almost as stable as using a box.
I think the throughput of a cashier and a skilled bagger is much better than a bagging cashier and definitely better than self-checkouts.
This is 100% the reason I use self checkout. I really can’t stand my groceries being bagged in a way that essentially guarantees that something is going to be smashed, ripped, or spilled. Or that the paper bag is going to rip itself to shreds as I try to carry it in.
I most recently had a guy shove way more heavy shit into a paper bag than was even remotely reasonable and then tell me, “you gotta grab it from the bottom, the handles always rip off.” And I’m just standing there thinking to myself that I almost never have handles rip off the bags when I bag it myself. Which means that this guy is consistently overloading the bags every single time, causing the handles to rip off.
I don’t particularly mind if you’re going to stuff the bag full, but double bag it for fuck’s sake. You’re making minimum wage or near to it - you’re not getting a goddamn bonus if you use fewer bags to help the store’s bottom line.
Never had an issue here, but even in the regular checkout they haven’t done bagging for years. It just goes down the belt and you still have/get to bag it yourself
We have reusable nylon bags and those are nice and sturdy. My local grocer… I line up my groceries on the belt in little piles and put one bag with each pile. I would think the point was obvious. They grab the bags and just throw whatever they want into each bag. raw meats mixed with boxed goods. heavy items on my eggs. I dislike going to my local grocer because there’s no self-check option. I was a cashier for a while and got a lot of compliments and praise from my customers because I bagged smartly. It’s not that hard to say “oh this is a freezer item, maybe I should put it with other freezer items”.
I haaaaaaaate packing my own bags. But it beats dealing with people.
Having said that, it’s bullshit that I’m doing unpaid labour for the grocery chains. I should get a discount on my bill.