Thing that make you go hmmmm.

[MIButterfly]

I just got back from Costco and it wasn't the zoo I thought it would be. I did see something that I've noticed at other stores (mostly Kroger) that I can't figure out for the life of me. The self-service checkout had a line a mile long and the lines with cashiers had only one or two people in them. At Kroger, I've seen the self-service line go 3/4 of the way down the aisle while the line for the cashier RIGHT NEXT TO THE SELF-SERVICE LINE had only one shopper in it. Why would anyone want to spend 30 minutes in a line to scan their purchases and bag them themselves when they can have someone else do it for them and be out in 10 minutes?

It boggles my little mind. It makes absolutely no sense to me.

By the way, I try to avoid using the self-service checkout because it eliminates jobs.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Easier to 'cheat' on the self check-out...

[kimbutgar]

2. I always buy alcohol at Costco so rarely use the self checkout

That said, I was in a Lucky’s supermarket yesterday buying two items a woman ahead of me had a full grocery cart full more than 15 items and during the time I started waiting in line and checking out my two items she was still checking out and her daughters kept bringing her more items. The self checkout clerk never said a word. While in the self checkout line in the front line spot I looked over to the two open regular check out lines and there was hardly anyone there. When I see the regular check out with minimal lines I go there first.

[Pharlo]

3. I prefer the self check out for the simple reason

I can pack everything the way I want it packed. No cold items with hot, no heavy items with bread or breakables... If you have an adult checker who has experience unpacking items at home, it's not so bad, but when you get a teenage checker with no friggin clue just throwing items in a bag haphazardly, you become wary. And around here, a lot of the packing is done by younger people who have probably never had to worry about the condition of the items at the other end of the shopping process.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

4. When I can't remember the words!

[MustLoveBeagles]

5. I very rarely use self checkout

For the reason you mentioned.

[chowmama]

6. I moved to self checkout during Covid.

My closest well-stocked store had a checkout person who didn't believe in masking. Even when they made her, she let it slip every chance she got. And smirked. I couldn't always avoid her line. (Actually, I did - I once even abandoned a cart and went elsewhere.)

She also demonstrated her resentment at the whole mask thing by spending every break mask-free on a bench by the exit. There was no way to stay 6 feet away from her and she just sat there and smiled while watching people try. Apparently, they couldn't make her mask unless she was on the clock. Between the ignorance and the sadism, I felt that if anybody in the place had it, she probably did; if she behaved like this at work, I could only imagine what she was doing off-site.

I seldom go there anymore and travel a bit farther for my non-co-op groceries. But self-checkout was fast and far away from everybody and near an exit that just was a longer walk to the car. It's still a good way to avoid people and I'm as fast or faster than the pros by now.

[anciano]

7. I almost always have groceries and sundries

delivered now. It not only saves me time, but contributes toward keeping jobs for actual people, the in store shoppers and the delivery drivers.

Happy Holidays to you and yours! 🎄

[moniss]

8. People get

"trained" to a method and will become nearly robotic to it. Many years ago I knew a very bright fellow from Florida (yes I know) and we spent a few weeks together during the summer just kicking around together.

One day we stopped at McDonalds for lunch. It was busy. Before we got to the counter he said told me to watch what he did and what resulted. His turn in line came and all of the employees are scurrying around back and forth and instead of talking to the cashier he told a worker scurrying by behind the counter to get him a soda. The result was chaos.

The poor kid reacted with instant confusion and stopped in his tracks with a "What?" sort of response and a dumbfounded look. This stoppage instantly broke the flow of movement of all of these others who were scurrying about and they began bumping into each other and trying to get around each other. That only added to the mayhem.

It did settle and my friend gave the cashier his order. But it was clear how the "robots" were disrupted by the simplest of things. The flow was broken even if just momentarily. We had a good chuckle and discussion about it later. To other people who knew me they thought I was spending a "lost summer". This fellow knew a great deal about many things and I learned throughout our couple of months of vagabond friendship. I could do with some more "lost summers" like that.

[catchnrelease]

9. One possibility

When I go to Costco I normally just have a few items, and in those cases I use the self check out. I've noticed the people in the employee check outs usually have carts really full. So that may be the difference. Even the fastest most efficient checker can't get through a cart heaping with goods vs an individual* with 6-10 items at self serve.

On Sunday morning however, I just needed to pick up one pharmacy item and was probably the first person to check out of the store and I used a regular checker. The self serve registers at my store always have at least 2 employees attending them, sometimes more.

*Edited to add: It occurred to me after I posted that it depends on the individual at the self serve--if it takes someone 5 minutes to get their cards out of their wallet after they get to the scanner, or they don't know the process and stand there like a deer in the headlights....you're better off going to the Costco checkers who ARE very speedy.

[Cheezoholic]

10. I think people have literally been conditioned over the last 50 years that self serve is more efficient and faster

Starting with pumping gas. You make a great observation and I truly believe it's generational training of the Ayn Rand Fountainhead/Atlas Shrugged type of conditioning of Objectivism. Only through the individual can one be successful. And capitalists want us to be individually isolated and thereby easier to market to. With cell phones and SM we're almost there. We're almost just individual pixel's on a screen inputting and outputting on command. To associate with another pixel or group of pixels is a violation of the social fabric. I think its an observation Terry Gillam was trying to present in the movie The Zero Theorem which I, unlike many, loved. Anyway lol...
Merry Xmas!

[TBF]

11. I prefer packing my own groceries -

Some of the packers are horrifically bad and I've had things squashed! I'd be totally ok with someone else doing the scanning and I could just pack the things in my bags myself. eta - with the exception of Costco, in that store I appreciate the help.

[Chemical Bill]

12. I wouldn't wish cashier jobs on most people...

and there aren't enough Cabinet positions to staff most stores after they get out of jail.

I'd rather we have universal basic income and self checkouts. OTOH, I like the idea of "slow lanes" for people who want to talk, and I bet people would apply for those jobs.