Amazon ends Walkout Technology from its grocery stores

[Stahlmann]

7 minutes ago, Lunar River said:

geez, not everything is THAT black and white, i'm not saying every time, but occasionally after a long week, i would just like to go shopping and get home without needing to interact with more people. You're acting like i can't speak to people, when that's 90% of my job.

Sorry, my wording was pretty bad in that last section. I didn't make it clear that it wasn't directed at you. I was talking in a more general sense about people who feel anxious as soon as they have to interact with another human being.

 

Still, I don't think it's too much to ask to say "hello" and "thank you" during the 1-minute interaction with a cashier at the grocery store, even if you've had a rough week. It's not like I'm asking people to make small talk.

[Donut417]

3 hours ago, porina said:

They scan every time?

Every time I have used it. Which is about 4 or 5 times.

[Kisai]

9 hours ago, Lunar River said:

well good thing i moved out to "the boonies" for the peace of quiet. and even when i lived in town, i still had a car. You're making quite a lot of weird assumptions about people who decide to live rural.

Listen, I lived "out in the boonies" for a good part of 16 years. I  hated it. The closest grocery store was in town, you could not walk there. It's mountains.

 

1 hour ago, Stahlmann said:

I also live in a rural area, and the majority of people here are not involved in off-grid or self-sustained living. Not to mention most of the people I know who live in cities still have a car that is also insured and has to be refueled regularly...

 

Not so. People who own a car while still living in the city, typically are families with children or a dog. You're not bringing your young kids or dogs on a bus or subway, and people that do, tend to be looked down on for disturbing the peace.

 

And to be perfectly blunt, if you live in a city, you should not have a dog. Heck you shouldn't have children either given that people choose to "Save money" by getting a roommate and taking all the family housing for themselves. If you want to have children or a dog in a city, you need a townhouse or a low-rise apartment.

 

1 hour ago, Stahlmann said:

Personally, I have most of my groceries delivered through Hello Fresh. I go to the city once a week to shop for other basic supplies. While self-checkout may save me around 10 minutes per week by avoiding interactions with cashiers, (if there is no wait time at the self-checkout and it goes smoothly) I believe it is an unnecessary solution to a non-existent problem.

Self-checkouts should be "credit card/Packaged-goods only" so they're not tied up by people using cash (half the self checkout U-scans that are still in use have cash slots on them, but since 2014 most of them have become "card only"), newer self-checkouts that don't have cash slots, also don't have weight scales either, they only let you buy things with UPC codes on them.

 

 

1 hour ago, Stahlmann said:

 

A friend of mine owns a local grocery store and hates the self-checkout lane that his chain has forced into his store. Troubleshooting and assisting customers who struggle with it requires substantially more attention than just having an employee stationed at the cash register.

Because not everyone is a genius. Hell my grandma hates the self checkout and is one of those people who belive that you are paying for service (the cashier scanning your groceries, and the bagger bagging the groceries, which hasn't been a thing since the 80's.)

 

1 hour ago, Stahlmann said:

Why focus on reducing human interaction when this will make basic tasks like grocery shopping just more tedious? Just for the sake of not having to look another person in the eyes? If you're at this level of social anxiety, you should absolutely see a doctor about that.

 

Nah, some people, like myself become Agoraphobic when shopping for certain items because they read others hesitations as micro aggressions.  

 

If you're a cashier you're probably not going to remember every customer. But you will remember that person who comes in every 3rd day because they live next door. That's why the self-checkout exists. It's for people who frequently buy a few items so that they don't tie up your regular checkouts.

 

That said, Save-on's self-checkouts absolutely suck. I use everyone's self-checkouts, and its' only Save-on's that has problems reading the bar codes on the iPhone. It's come down to I've nailed down which self-checkouts suck to use.

 

So save on has 6 self-checkouts arranged like this:

X1|X3 X5|

X2|X4 X6|

Self checkout X2 will never scan a smartphone. X3 will scan a smartphone but the bottom barcode scanner doesn't work, only the side one does. X5 always works. X6 you have to tap the scale first before it will read the barcode. I never use X1 or X4. I always try to use X5 or X3.

 

Real Canadian Superstore, and T&T all have relatively new self-checkouts now. Superstore's old U-scans sucked like Save-on's and wouldn't read smartphone screens.

 

Walmart's self checkouts are still the older U-scan type, but there's no loyalty card to scan, so it's serviceable.

 

Dollarama's self-checkout is the newer type like Superstore's. Dollarama doesn't sell fresh food.

Shoppers has no problem scanning loyalty card apps, and their self checkout lacks the weigh scale. Given Shoppers doesn't sell fresh food.

 

Costco's self-checkouts are interesting because they're designed to bring a shopping cart to, where as Superstore and Walmart don't have space to bring a cart to them.

 

Honestly I really hate the Superstore / T&T self checkout user interface because it uses entirely symbols to represent things, so it's like "which button means this?" Where as everyone elses has a standard pattern:

 

"Welcome to store name, please scan your loyalty card"

*scan*

"Object detected in checkout"

*select I brought my reusable bag*

"Scan first item"

scan everything one by one...

*select pay, select credit/debit*

Scan card/phone at standard pin-pad terminal attached to the self-checkout

"Thank you for shopping at (store)"

and if you take too long picking up your bags

"Please remove your bags"

 

And again, which self-checkouts have the most problems? The Save-on, because it fails to scan smartphones.

 

The 7-11 mobile app process is actually pretty seamless but, again, it's often faster to just check out at the cashier, because it takes more time to scan and wait for everything to react than it does a self-checkout.

 

Now would it make more sense for stores to all move to mobile-app checkout? No, it wouldn't, because unless there's a weigh scale at the exit of the store to confirm you scanned everything, people will just make mistakes a lot, sometimes on purpose. These stores need to have more floor staff if they're going to do this, one staffer per aisle on each end rather than the one staffer per checkout lane. That staff is there to help put things back on the shelf and help people get things down from high shelves, and make sure they scan the item. Where as the status quo is typically people don't ask for help and then break things trying to get it. There is never enough staff around to help everyone.

 

Walmart is especially terrible here, Walmart locks things like razor blades and tooth paste in cabinets. Go ahead, try and find someone. You won't find someone.

 

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

Why focus on reducing human interaction when this will make basic tasks like grocery shopping just more tedious? Just for the sake of not having to look another person in the eyes? If you're at this level of social anxiety, you should absolutely see a doctor about that.

I think the biggest issue is finding people that want those jobs. Most of the cashier's at our local Walmart for example are older people, if I had to guess those who are not making it on social security. Hell my aunt works at Meijer for that exact reason.

 

I have observed that the younger generation likes it with less human interaction. I do to as well, but Im heavily an introvert due to my time working in customer service.

[Donut417]

3 minutes ago, Kisai said:

the cashier scanning your groceries, and the bagger bagging the groceries, which hasn't been a thing since the 80's.)

Meijer is bringing it back. They dont always have a dedicated bagger but many times they do. Its kinda nice. Since the remodel they have increased the number of self check outs, decreased the manned isles (but they dont have a majority open most days anyway), and added bagggers.

[Kisai]

2 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Meijer is bringing it back. They dont always have a dedicated bagger but many times they do. Its kinda nice. Since the remodel they have increased the number of self check outs, decreased the manned isles (but they dont have a majority open most days anyway), and added bagggers.

My preferred option would be that stores have equal numbers of manned checkouts and unmanned ones, because far too many "self checkout" stores will have like all the self checkouts open but only have one or two manned ones open. Superstore for example, when I originally moved here, only had 9 self-checkout u-scans, and 75% of the regular checkouts would be closed. The only time all checkouts were ever all open is christmas eve and boxing day. Meanwhile London Drugs which has no self-checkouts, and will even bag your purchases, only ever has one checkout open. I've never, Ever seen checking 1-4 in this store open. I've only seen checkout 5 and 6 open, and when there are too many people for the single checkout, customer service ends up doing checkouts.

 

If the manned checkouts are not busy enough, then move them to customer service and returns (cause good gawd, the amount of stuff that people return and then stays in the customer service department when it needs to be refrigerated or frozen is high.)

 

[Donut417]

4 minutes ago, Kisai said:

My preferred option would be that stores have equal numbers of manned checkouts and unmanned ones, because far too many "self checkout" stores will have like all the self checkouts open but only have one or two manned ones open.

Thats exactly what happens. Friday night at Walmart or Meijer we have maybe 2 manned lanes. But these stores dont want to pay people and therefore have a hard time finding help. Especially with all the warehouses in the area who will pay more. The best part of working in a warehouse is you dont have to deal with the general public, which has gotten worse over the last 4 years (too many dont know how to act in public).

[Kisai]

Just now, Donut417 said:

Thats exactly what happens. Friday night at Walmart or Meijer we have maybe 2 manned lanes. But these stores dont want to pay people and therefore have a hard time finding help. Especially with all the warehouses in the area who will pay more. The best part of working in a warehouse is you dont have to deal with the general public, which has gotten worse over the last 4 years (too many dont know how to act in public).

*chuckle*

 

You want to know why it sucks to work retail?

1) They will not hire full time

2) They do not pay benefits to part-timers

3) This:

 

Want to make a retail worker's life miserable? Claim you've been short changed. This is a page from one of the union agreements.

 

When I worked for a different store under this union, they basically gave the farm away.

So what they do is make sure you never work 13 consecutive full time weeks. What a scam.

And...

Oh boy, 50 cent raises per 1000 hours, oh wait, no they changed it to 25 cents.

 

This is why people don't want to work retail, not only are you paid less than a living wage, denied full time employment, denied benefits, and raises are given once a year by making sure you can't work full time. Why would anyone willingly work for these stores unless they didn't know better.

 

 

 

[Donut417]

1 minute ago, Kisai said:

You want to know why it sucks to work retail?

I already know the reason. Worked for Samclub from 2013 to 2015. I will not work any job thats majority customer service. And I will not work any job that does cash handling.

[BrandonTech.05]

It's almost as if everybody wants AI to do way more than it's capable of. 

AI hasn't been and still isn't ready for most of the applications that people are trying to use it for. 

[Donut417]

On 4/4/2024 at 8:59 AM, BrandonTech.05 said:

It's almost as if everybody wants AI to do way more than it's capable of. 

AI hasn't been and still isn't ready for most of the applications that people are trying to use it for. 

To be honest when the launched the stores AI was kinda meh, it was still really really new. They probably could have AI do the job now. My guess is Amazon doesnt want to take the time to build and train an AI to do it.