PLEASE PLACE THE ITEM IN THE BAG: Supermarket Self-Serve Checkout Poll

Love 'em!

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/cashier-3-g.jpg

this not do it for ya, lex

they do underpack bags tho in my experience, giving you more to return than is necessary really. xp

hey if lex figures out how to avoid human interaction completely, we will all be winners

― congratulations (n/a), Tuesday, March 17, 2009 4:45 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^the kind of thing that nick should really find sad and poignant. not even a zing, just being a contemptible dickhead

ahhh human interaction

Well, that burger's still not going to flip itself.

I think they do at Burger King and other places that use gas flame instead of hot griddle! But they still don't assemble themselves.

online / delivery is AMAZING.

i did online/delivery from vons a few times but i stopped because they sent everything in double plastic bags. i would prefer a costco-type approach where they pack your groceries in reused cardboard boxes.

when i get my spud deliveries it's all in one cardboard box, which i return to them when they deliver the next batch.

and fly it to your house on recycled angel farts

something like that

Amazon uses recycled farts in those airbags...pass it on.

except the methane from angel farts is responsible for 80% of global warming

It takes me twice as long at the self-serve checkout because I rarely buy prepackaged stuff so I have to punch a bunch of buttons to find "asparagus" or "garlic" or whatever before weighing things. At my local Safeway the checkers know the numbers for this stuff already and I get out much quicker.

I'll use it on rare occasions when I run in to by one or two easily UPC'ed items, but then again those are usually bottles of wine or beer so I have to wait for someone to come over and get my ID anyway.

!!!

That means cow-tipping = 1-way ticket to hell!!

xpost

I rarely buy prepackaged stuff so I have to punch a bunch of buttons to find "asparagus" or "garlic" or whatever before weighing things. At my local Safeway the checkers know the numbers for this stuff already and I get out much quicker.

That's exactly what I mean!

At our Stop-N-Shop, all of the scales print out UPC codes for produce that can be stuck on the bag and used at the self-checkout (or scanned by yr trusty hand scanner; also, all of the produce has stickers on it that has the catalog number for them on it so even if you waited to weigh until the checkout line, the info is right there on the food; maybe you have to look up one thing because the sticker fell off.

I am coming to the conclusion that Somerville is super-advanced in its supermarket technology!

technological advances in the greater boston/cambridge area? i'm shocked.

I use 'em in M&S, and often end up answering back to the machine, coz they are so pushy.

I am coming to the conclusion that Somerville is super-advanced in its supermarket technology!

but really low tech in its sticker adhesive

wow i'm real impressed by this stop and shop. my somerville-resident gf is closest to the porter square shaws but i need to start convincing her to go there.

i am closest to trader joe's and whole foods so this debate never really comes up for me anymore.

but really low tech in its sticker adhesive

I guess you can't have everything...

i like getting into conversations with the checkout ppl at TJ's. one was like "what do you think of our cheese selection? i think it SUCKS."

did they say it with a french accent?

no, a white-girl l.a. accent

I occasionally like to have a bit of "human interaction" with the checkout folks, but not to the point where I think I am making their day with my entertaining and witty banter. Really, a human cashier is best, but I hate lines, so if the robot is quicker, I'll allow it to service me.

One day, there will be RFIDs in all our supermarket products. If lex is lucky, he can have an RFID implanted, so that for checkout all he needs do is walk out thru the scanner with his bags and there will be a gentle "bong" sound and a green light that goes off above his head as he leaves the market.

thx

a gentle bong

lol

IT HOLDS THE POPTART BOX UP TO ITS HEAD OR IT GETS THE HOSE AGAIN.

the checkers at the Whole Foods are pretty cool. I wish the Safeway near me had self-serve checkout ... basically because I only go there late at night (it's a 24 hour store) and they have one register open, and there is always at least one problem customer in line ahead of me.

On the other hand, to quote suzy upthread, "One person's annoying clientele are another's rich vein of comedy eavesdropping."

Seriously, go to this Safeway and wait in line around 2am, after which they aren't legally able to sell booze - cheap entertainment.

Dan is right, it's all about avoiding the line and what's quicker in a given situation. Most stores here don't seem to have automatic checkouts, though. Or ones that do are places I rarely visit due to being out of the way.

They replaced 75% of the 'real' cashiers with these in the city-centre Sainsburys I go in nearly every day. I was pretty mad at first because it's basic maths - if you've got a cashier scanning your stuff you can be bagging it and getting your Nectar card out etc etc at the same time. So really it's twice as slow on the self-service machines, more when you factor in people that can't use them or the machines that break down.

But it has actually increased the number of tills that are used (a lot of the checkouts used to have no cashier there at busy times) so overall it's worked out OK. People still tend to take a big basket to the real cashiers. I did accidentally steal some green beans once - I got mad that it wasn't working properly so just dumped them in my bag before the previous item had gone through. The poor guy that's ALWAYS got the job of looking after the machines just beeps everything through.

2am, after which they aren't legally able to sell booze

what the hell kind of asinine legislation is that?

uh it's pretty common in a lot of US states

i'm just super-neurotic -- the whole process is awkward and kind of exhausting, i get really self-conscious about having all my food items picked up and examined

See now I'm pretty neurotic too but I find that less awkward and exhausting than having a machine repeatedly shout "PACK FASTER" or "UNKNOWN ITEM YOU THIEVING FUCK" when I'm trying my best to do what it tells me in the exact 200 millisecond window it thinks it should happen in, and then when it inevitably thinks I've made too many mistakes or I've bought something that won't scan summoning someone from several feet away to scrutinise what I'm doing and turn the magic "whatever, shut up" key.

(Don't like 'em, but the other half swears they're faster even though I'm pretty sure they're not since there is usually a bigger queue for them than the checkouts and they make such a fuss about everything. Last time he insisted I mentally raced someone in the cashier checkout and they won by some margin. Uh, not that I told him, as it seemed a dumb thing to be all unverifiably I TOLD YOU SO about, but anyway.)

You can't buy booze after 10pm in supermarkets in the UK. 2am seems a really odd cut-off point.

that's when the bars stop serving in a lot of places

in new york (or at least nyc) it's 4am.

this is one of those things the US is pretty weird about. there are still a lot of states that don't sell alcohol on sundays, or have different hours for beer/wine/liquor sales... my personal favorite is Utah's "no alcohol served before 8 PM on Election Day" law (!!!)

I imagine it's to keep politicians from trading free beer for votes.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Huh, interesting thread. Pretty much no supermarkets here have self-serve checkouts (there may be some "beta" ones somewhere, but generally no). Also, our cashiers bag all our groceries for us, even when you bring your own calico bags, unless you say you'll do it for them (they have special baggy holder things to pop stuff into the bags easily).

Kind of glad for once we're "behind" in some regard.

I use them sometimes to "forget" I put a bunch of Coca-Cola 12 packs on the bottom rack near the wheels @ Wal-Mart or Albertson's.

"Have you seen Bob?" was the secret code that we baggers were supposed to ask the cashier when someone came through the checkstand "forgetting" to bring up the case of soda or dog food or whatever. The bottom of the cart was in the line of sight of the bagger but not the checker, so it was on us baggers to tattle to the checker by non-nonchalantly asking if they had happened to see ol' Bob (Bottom Of Basket) lately. Checker would say, "no, I sure haven't, sorry," wink, and then look down and happen to notice there was a case of soda or dog food or whatever down there.

whoops, the first non was a non-necessary non there

I hope you don't hate me now.

i hate when i go through the self checkout and then there's someone to check my work. Fuck off! I did it right!

Never do it. I don't even use the drive-through at the bank. I'd miss my favorite teller that way, and besides, my dog doesn't even like those biscuits. I always go inside.