I have hardly ever shopped at Walmart for several years now but that has changed. I stopped in a local Walmart few months ago and is at least 75 percent self check out with self check out lanes galore, dozens of them for both small orders and large orders and on each side of the store.

Used to be I would stop in Walmart and they had two registers out of forty open with long slow lines. It seems the other grocery/GM stores are going that way too. A new humongous Woodmans opend recently and it is the same way as is the Amazon Fresh store.

Walmart did it right and everyone gets onto one single line to the self checkouts and as one opens up the next person goes to it. They have so many that I almost never have to wait. No more being stuck in line behinf someone who has a problem with their EBT card or telling the checker that the Hoover carpet cleaner in their cart had a sign up saying it was $7.99

Saturday I was on the way to pick up some food from our favorite BBQ place and wife mentoned we had no soda. Walmart was right on the way and I was in and out with my soda in under five minutes. That is quicker, not to mention much cheaper, that the convenience stores as they always seem to have lotto players in line hogging the register area nd holding up the line.

I know a lot don't like self check out lanes but I love them and how fast I can get out of a store.

With the big push for higher minimum wages, they're looking to phase out cashiers.

Even better, with Walmart+ (which i get complimentary with my Amex Platinum card) you can scan items with the app while you shop then when you're done, use the self checkout and scan the code on the screen and you're on your way. No need to scan the items at the checkout. So you can have an entire cart full of shit and only spend 20 seconds at the self checkout. Pretty awesome. I've used it. Worked perfectly. Especially when I was in a huge rush with a mountain of household goods.

If you were a business and could get the customer to do part of their job for free - wouldn't you?

I try to never self check for the most part.
With only a few items it isn't terrible but the concept is.

Or the store could be properly staffed so you don't have to do their job.

I don't mind it if I don't have a cart full of stuff otherwise it's annoying to watch employees standing around talking while I do their job.

I always take self checkout if it's available.

I don't feel like waiting in line while some old fudd acts surprised that they have to pay when everything's rung up, then they can't find their credit cards, then the sale gets denied on one card, so they dig out another...ad nauseum.

I self checkout and hit the road, no problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Even better, with Walmart+ (which i get complimentary with my Amex Platinum card) you can scan items with the app while you shop then when you're done, use the self checkout and scan the code on the screen and you're on your way. No need to scan the items at the checkout. So you can have an entire cart full of shit and only spend 20 seconds at the self checkout. Pretty awesome. I've used it. Worked perfectly. Especially when I was in a huge rush with a mountain of household goods.

We use Sam's Club here and they have the same basic deal as part of their app. We didn't know about it until a friend mentioned it to us and we tried it out the last time we shopped there. You tell the app you want to check out that way. Then, as you place items in your buggy, you scan them with your phone/the app. When you've finished shopping, you just tell it which card (linked to your account) you want to pay with and you're done. It displays a receipt barcode on your phone so you completely skip the checkout area and go straight to the associate at the exit for them to scan. Easy peasy.

I enjoy it also, sometimes I do curbside pickup if my legs are bothering me.

I try to stay out of WalMart, but when I do I self check out, despite the fact that most of the things I buy there require assistance from store staff anyway.

Mrs. Angus hates the self check outs.

One day we were in the check out line at Wal-mart. An employee called out to Mrs. Angus and said there was no waiting in the self check out lane next to her. She replied, "No thank you, I don't work here"

quote:

No more being stuck in line behinf someone who has a problem with their EBT card or telling the checker that the Hoover carpet cleaner in their cart had a sign up saying it was $7.99

I am constantly behind people who have the most complicated transactions known to man. "$55 on an EBT card, put $20 on this mastercard, I'll write you a check for $10, and here's 75 cents for the remaining balance".

This is why I shop at the yuppie grocery stores like Whole Paycheck and Fresh Market. I don't want to scan my own shit, and I don't want to be behind people with complicated payment methods.

The wave of the future in many places.
I'd much rather do it myself anyway.

I, too, prefer the self-checkout when I can get it. I like the self-CO units that feature the conveyor belts like the standard lanes if I’m buying more than just a few things; our closest Walmart has a few of those.

You can try to blame Walmart for the self checkouts, but we all know businesses can’t get anyone to work, or show up when they take a job. We went to a restaurant for lunch recently. The had a big sign on the front door asking for patience and respect for the “workers who showed up.” You ordered and paid at the counter. Took a number with you to the table, and a server brought your food. There were two ice/water/soft drink machines in the dining area. It actually worked very well.

At least Walmart provides enough room and counter space to check yourself out.

I love self checkout. I get the whole “you’re doing their job for free” argument but personally my time is valuable to me and I can do the job more efficiently than most checkout people anyway. Hell at the local grocery store that doesn’t have self checkout I end up bagging most of my own items anyway simply because I do it better and I don’t want to wait.

It’s also not like the stores are opening less registers than they were. I can remember 20+ years ago bitching because only two of the twenty lanes were open. Now two of the lanes are staffed and there’s up to a dozen more self checkouts.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Even better, with Walmart+...

I’ve never heard of that but I’m going to check it out (by myself too ), sounds great!

We do our weekly run to Walmart Sunday mornings before church.

No crowds. In and out in 45 minutes.

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I'm with Mrs Angus. Hate 'em.
The very few times I tried to use them the stupid system would hiccup over an item or two requiring me to flag down someone for assistance. This at the military commissary a couple years back.

After these experiences I swore off them. That said I don't get out much anyhow what with my neighbor doing a weekly grocery run for me.

I use self-checkouts in general only for small purchases of items that don't have to be looked up or weighed. (e.g., most produce.) I'll say this for Walmart's, it doesn't continually harangue me with "please scan your next item," "unexplained items in the bagging area" and other crap.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
Or the store could be properly staffed so you don't have to do their job.

I don't mind it if I don't have a cart full of stuff otherwise it's annoying to watch employees standing around talking while I do their job.

And you've been pumping your own gas for how many years?

Curbside pickup. Only way to go.

I prefer to do it myself. Some of the folks running the cash registers at the stores around here don’t seem to be familiar with basic hygiene.