I love self checkout, i can do it fast and easy and be on my way. I really love scan and go at Sam's Club. Scan my stuff, swipe to pay with my stored CC, let the person up front scan the code on my phone and a few items and I'm gone!

At the stores others go to that have self-service checkouts, do they have one employee watcher per station? All the ones I go to that have anywhere from four to eight (possibly more) have one employee doing the watching—and sometimes not even one. I’m guessing that if there were four to eight regular checkout lanes available (in addition to the others) that that would require four to eight employees to operate them—no? What am I missing?

My wife ( retired ) was a manager at Lowe's . She said the Self Checkouts were a major headache for her for various reasons . She tried not to open them but the store Manager would see it and tell her to do it .

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
At the stores others go to that have self-service checkouts, do they have one employee watcher per station? All the ones I go to that have anywhere from four to eight (possibly more) have one employee doing the watching—and sometimes not even one. I’m guessing that if there were four to eight regular checkout lanes available (in addition to the others) that that would require four to eight employees to operate them—no? What am I missing?

I go to just about every self checkout I can find and I've never seen more than 2 employees for 8 to 10 stations. In most of the cases though, there was just 1 employee for 8 to 10 stations.

quote:

Originally posted by p08:
I love self checkout, i can do it fast and easy and be on my way. I really love scan and go at Sam's Club. Scan my stuff, swipe to pay with my stored CC, let the person up front scan the code on my phone and a few items and I'm gone!

Sam's scan and go is great. Most self checkouts are garbage and take significantly longer than it should to check out with the numerous voice prompts, inability to enter a number of similar items by scanning one and selecting how many items you've got, and so forth.

Only self check out lines in Lowe’s Dripping Springs, Texas. Forced to use them.

4 registers and 3 employees standing there thumb banging their butts while “monitoring” the process. They have to step in and assist about every 3rd customer.

Would be faster for everyone if those 3 employees manned registers instead of standing around waiting for a self check out to fail.

Unless my purchase requires some special attention (i.e. large/bulky or fresh produce, anti theft tag...), I prefer to use self checkout.

As for employees hawking over you, never really felt that and it shouldn't bother you unless you're actually trying to steal something.

Went to HD yesterday . All of the Self Check Out's were marked " Card Only " . I wanted to pay cash .The Pro Desk is manned by a real live cashier . It's down by the big lumber doors .

quote:

Originally posted by MitchbSC:
You're doing it wrong.

They "filled up their carts, and simply walked out."

I had an encounter over summer. I pulled into my local HD and parked further out next to a island. I was sitting talking to a buddy on the phone when I see a black male headed my direction with a cart full of copper wire and a few power tools. He ended up unloading the cart into a vehicle occupied by another BM just on the other side of the island. The fact that he was a bit hurried and a HD employee was somewhat following him indicated to me that he likely utilized his five finger discount. I got out and took a few photos which really didn't seem to faze him. He was startled a bit that I was open carrying (I uncover while driving and usually cover back up when I get out) but he continued loading up his items. When I went into HD I contacted the manager and offered up a statement and the photos. She took my statement but didn't care to take the photos nor was local PD called as far as I know.