Self checkout ripoffs.

[powderman]

http://www.yahoo.com/_ylt=AtVJW3zCEmq7wl8fPHjhYmebvZx4;_ylc=X3oDMWFhZnMxaW9wBF9TAzIwMjM1MzgwNzUEYQMxMjA0MTEgbmV3cyBzdXBlcm1hcmtldCBjaGVja291dCBjcmltZSB2BGNjb2RlA3B6YnVmY2FoNQRjcG9zAzQ1BGVkAzEEZwNpZC0yMTk0NTMyBGludGwDdXMEaXRjAzAEbHR4dANTZWxmLWNoZWNrb3V0Y3JpbWV3YXZlBG1jb2RlA3B6YnVhbGxjYWg1BG1wb3MDMQRwa2d0AzEEcGtndgMxMQRwb3MDMARzZWMDdGQtZmVhBHNsawN0aHVtYmxpbmsEdGFyA2h0dHA6Ly9uZXdzLnlhaG9vLmNvbS92aWRlby9idXNpbmVzcy0xNTc0OTYyOC9zdXBlcm1hcmtldC1jcmltZS13YXZlLWluLXNlbGYtY2hlY2tvdXQtbGFuZXMtMjg5MTM2NjYuaHRtbAR0ZXN0AzcwMQ--/SIG=13tmu2n0j/EXP=1334353875/**http%3A//news.yahoo.com/video/business-15749628/supermarket-crime-wave-in-self-checkout-lanes-28913666.html
 
 
A lot of folks are stealing items by bypassing the unwatched self checkers. Several stores have quit using them and gone back to hiring REAL PEOPLE. POWDERMAN. 

[Cuts Crooked]

Now that's just funny! The self check out was supposed to be a huge savings for stores. Yet when they get ripped off "it's costing customers over 400.00 a year in increased costs"

[Sourdough]

I refused to use them.  When they first came out a clerk wanted to show me how it worked to encourage me to use it.  The machine had a problem and after the people that had been in line behind me were checked out by the cashier I threw the item at the clerk showing me the self check out that was not working and left.  Next time I was in another store and the cashier tried to get me to use the self check out I refused.  the clerk got mad, I told the wife too bad, if I don't see a smiling cashier face I won't shop there.  I went into Home Depot one day.  I had about 10 items, and they only had the self check out open.  when the clerk watching the self checkout informed me that I had to use Self Checkout, I shoved the cart down an isle and left.  As I went out the door I informed the clerk I did not do self checkout, if they could not have a cashier availiable they did not get my business.   Over the years I have honestly tried to use self checkout when I only had one or two items.  Every time something went wrong.  The UPC code did not read, the computer crashed, the scanner would not work correctly, or it would not take my money.  Each time I would have been much faster if I had just waited my turn in line for a cashier.  So I no longer use the self checkout period.  Like I said before, If I don't see a cashier's smiling face, I'm leaving my cart and walking out.  I'll shop elsewhere.

[powderman]

I too dislike the self ckeckouts. Stores too cheap to hire cashiers deserve what they get. POWDERMAN. 

[Cuts Crooked]

I too dislike the self ckeckouts. Stores too cheap to hire cashiers deserve what they get. POWDERMAN. 

Unfortunately, it's what the customer "gets" that the stores are doing, not "getting what they deserve". The store aren't suffering because of their parsimony WE are, as noted in my previous post. Listen to the content of the story..."The customers are paying over 400.00 a year more for groceries"......... because of the stores stupidity!

The stores are doing this "Self Check Out" to save money on staffing. But when  it results in losses WE end up paying the cost in the form of increased prices.....not the stores!

[Conan The Librarian]

I usually buy groceries for just a day or two at a time, and buy a lot of produce. The self checkouts were a waste of time for me because looking up produce is a time consuming hassle. I can usually get in line behind someone with a hundred dollars worth of groceries and still get out quicker than if I had used the self checkout.


It works a lot better for people who buy easily scannable things, but you can get stuck behind a slowpoke and again you are slower than when going through a cashier line.  Costco works well for self checkout because they have a lot of them and everything has a bar code on it.


The side effect has been for me to avoid the stores that have the self checkouts because the self checkouts are too slow, and because they often have inadequate cashier coverage, so i just go down the street and buy from the people who dont waste my time and don't pay me for doing their work. The other stores are busier now since the other store started using the self checkouts. I remember leaving the groceries and leaving the store on at least three occasions because i didn't want to wait.

[mcwoodduck]

I remember when the self checks started and you recieved a 2 or 3% discount for using it at the Pathmark in Middletown NJ.
And as the store was usually pretty busy on the weekends it worked out.  The also had a tunnel you ran the items through.
I used it a few times for a few items as I don't remember there being more than one express lane.
When I saw them in CA a dozen years later the machines were always locking up and causing problems and most oftem I was just grabbing something like a boittle of wine 6 or 12 pack as I was headed here or there for a BBQ or dinner and it would not allow you to buy that with the self, and they do nto give a discount so I go to the checkers.
 

[Ex 49'er]

The local Costco had 3 or 4 of 'em. I refused to use 'em. I figure the fees I pay for membership include a human on the other side of the register. A month ago the self-checker stands were gone. I asked a clerk about it and was told it was too much hassle. After doing it for 6 months there were too many bugs in the system and they needed clerks to assist the people having problems and it was easier to have people do their own checkout.

[Conan The Librarian]

Interesting. The costco here has had them since before I started foing there a couple of years ago, and my wife uses it most of the time. There haven't been any problems for us.


I think they have their place.

[gypsyman]

First time I seen one at the local Kroger store, the first thought was, how much is going straight into the shopping cart, and not getting scanned. Guess it takes the college boys a few years to figure this out. Save money by not paying an employee, lose it in theft. They are a pain in the butt with produce, so I usually use a teller when buying veggie's/fruit. One of my biggest complaints is standing in line behind someone that write's a check, or uses a credit card for a purchase less than $20.And something mess's up, and I'm standing there for severeal minute's, waiting a manager or supervisor to come over and straighten out the cash register. Too bad store's don't have a cash only lane. I've already been in line when a woman wrote a check out for one pack of cigarette's, turned around, changed her mind, and wrote out another one for some gum and another pack of smokes. Glad I wasn't married to the stupid B****. gypsyman

[tobster]

I have often wondered about that. It seemed to me it would be pretty easy to do and apparently it is. Kind of  a reverse of the old "butcher's thumb on the scales".

[ironglow]

  I have never liked or trusted those things anyway, so I have never used them.  Now folks will wonder if that someone using the self check-out is trying to steal..     Anyone caught stealing like this should be prosecuted to the fullest extent !
   Our nation and all worthwhile society has a necessary ingredient if it is to last and here it is:
     
   " Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other".
  (John Adams, our 2nd president)
 
 
        It STILL holds true.
 
   

[magooch]

I think they might have been briefly tried here, but there is a further complication.  I live right across the river from Oregon where there is no sales tax; Oregonians do not have to pay sales tax when they purchase stuff in Washington.  Everyone suddenly becomes an Oregonian when you don't have to prove residency.
 
While on the subject of extra expenses to retailers, what about all those grocery carts that get taken by bums and others and not returned to the stores?  A lot of them end up in and along local rivers and lakes, in alleys and generally where bums hang out.  This theft should be classified as grand theft cart and the abusers should be shot.