Everyone Dislikes Self-Checkouts? Who Knew?

When you’re ready to end your trip to the store and you see the checkout lines, do you head for the one with a cashier or the self-checkouts?

A recent headline about shopping stopped me in my tracks. The story, posted at CNN Business, had a headline that read, “Nobody likes self-checkout. Here’s why it’s everywhere.”

That’s funny. I didn’t realize there was a universal hatred when it comes to ringing up your own purchases.

My first job was as a cashier at a once-major, soon-to-be-extinct retailer known as Kmart. I could “scan and bag” items faster than almost every other cashier I worked with. I would see people come to my line from slower-moving lines.

Yes, it meant a little more work for me, but once the lines were down, it was easier on all of us, and if I ended up getting more customers but getting the lines down sooner, that was still a good trade-off.

When I was a cashier, self-checkouts weren’t a thing. Over the years, as more stores added those self-service cash register stations, I gave a few of them a try.

The earlier models had plenty of problems. An item wouldn’t scan and that would freak the machine out. Occasionally, they would just hang up for no good reason. Often, you’d have to wait for a supervisor to notice that obnoxious light flashing over your head, a signal that either the machine or the customer had taken a misstep.

But more recently, self-checkouts improved. Most of the errors seem to have disappeared. You can usually find an attendant who’s actually paying attention. The machines let you move a little faster than they used to as well.

So what’s not to like, exactly?

The article reports 67% of customers surveyed claim they’ve “experienced a failure” in a self-checkout line. That seems low to me. I think we’ve all experienced some kind of error.

I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t encountered some kind of trouble with anything that involves a computer.

The article also points out that it’s not the customers that have issues:

The machines are expensive to install, often break down and can lead to customers purchasing fewer items. Stores also incur higher losses and more shoplifting at self-checkouts than at traditional checkout lanes with human cashiers.

I’m sure that’s true. A non-working machine is certainly going to cost sales, and when you don’t have an employee ringing everything up, it might be easier to shoplift, even though it seems like there are more cameras than ever watching our every move.

Unfortunately, that’s a cost of doing business as I see it. If you’re going to replace human beings with machines, it’s going to cost you one way or another. You may be able to process more orders faster. But the lack of interaction might enable people to steal. If a company does the math and decides that’s worth it, that’s their problem.

I’ve reached a point where I prefer self-checkouts. These days, it’s seems rare to find a human cashier who’ll actually treat you like they appreciate the business. Yes, I know, they don’t make enough, but none of us make enough. That’s no excuse to disrespect a customer. There’s a certainly grocery store I shop in solely out of convenience in which cashiers will carry on conversations with each other, ignoring the customers altogether.

That kind of service guarantees that when I’m not in a hurry, I always go elsewhere. Occasionally, even if I am in a hurry, I’ll go elsewhere.

If that store had a self-checkout, I’d never inconvenience one of their cashiers again!

I definitely expect to see more of those little self-service systems. I’m fine with that. I just wish I could expect to see more respectful employees for those times we don’t feel like playing cashier.

Do self-checkouts bother you or do you prefer them?