How do you feel about self-serve kiosks?

[JAS_OH1]

We have dedicated self-checkout workers here. We have 12 of the kiosks at my local Kroger, and always at least two employees present, and usually three.

Kroger seems to be the better equipped that way around here. I was at Meijer today, just as many checkouts, and just one employee, who had a tendency to wander off as soon as she felt no one needed her. Target is much the same, and the less said about Walmart, the better.

I picked up a curbside order from Walmart yesterday. That seems to be a way to help people keep their jobs. And I ordered stuff from different parts of the store. It took me 10 minutes to place the order online and about 5 minutes waiting in the pickup space to receive the order (with 10 minutes driving there and another 10 minutes to drive back. It would have taken me at least 45 minutes to shop and checkout in the store, plus the 20 minutes drive time.

 

[Windigo]

As for self service checkouts, I just use whatever is the easiest or fastest option at the time. I prefer manned tills, because I want jobs like cashiers to keep existing because not everyone can become a professor. But I suppose that will happen anyway. I prefer the self service because I am pretty introverted IRL and like avoiding chit chat, but I go to a manned till when it's free to be one of the people that makes the cashier useful.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

One my favorite innovations was the introduction of "pay at the pump" for gas purchases. I didn't realize it's been around for so long, but we've had it here since the late 1980s. The only time I ever interact with the cashier inside the gas station is if I need to buy something inside, or if there's a problem at the pump.

I'd also much rather use self-checkout at stores. Shopping for me is always a fast scavenger hunt, not something I want to spend all day doing. Anything that cuts down the amount of time I spend there means I have more time for the next thing I need to do. All the machines do take cash, but I rarely carry cash, so that's a non-factor.

Sometimes, though, I think people are too programmed to get in the self-serve lines. There will be a line of a dozen people waiting for one of the 6 self-serve machines to free up. Then, I look over and see a cashier with no one in line. Silly. I always move to the line with a cashier when I see that.

Checking out yourself also helps avoid someone making a guess on what the purpose of your shopping trip was. If I need to buy duct tape, peanut butter, and razor blades, it's not because I have anything weird in mind.

 

[FoodFighter]

Unfortunately, (although my 94 year old mum would disagree) it is!

My best regards to your mum, that's a great age!

 

[GadgetGuy]

They have them in use at the supermarket that I was at yesterday. I walked right by them & went to a live cashier!!

 

[JAS_OH1]

They have them in use at the supermarket that I was at yesterday. I walked right by them & went to a live cashier!!

Some of the cashiers manning registers where I used to shop didn't look so lively. No smiles, no greeting, robotic in motion...some of them downright sullen in attitude! But I attribute that to poor training (and maybe poor screening upon hiring). Sad state of affairs these days!

 

[Mountain Cat]

Never seen a self-serve food kiosk.

EDIT: or do you mean a self-checkout line? I use them sometimes but not often.

 

[Mountain Cat]

Some of the cashiers manning registers where I used to shop didn't look so lively. No smiles, no greeting, robotic in motion...some of them downright sullen in attitude! But I attribute that to poor training (and maybe poor screening upon hiring). Sad state of affairs these days!

Most of the people manning registers at the two places I shop for groceries most often are very friendly. Maybe it is location, location, location?

 

[TastyReuben]

Never seen a self-serve food kiosk.

EDIT: or do you mean a self-checkout line? I use them sometimes but not often.

My original question was about self-service facilities in general, so the self-checkouts at grocery stores, where you can scan and bag your own purchases, and any kind of self-ordering terminal, really; McDonald’s here have self-ordering terminals here, for example, and they’re never busy, so with just a few pokes on a touchscreen, I can order and pay for my food, grab an order number placard thingy, go sit at my table, and they’ll bring it out to me.

Anything like that that minimizes human interaction and maximizes self-service, that’s what I was asking about.

 

[karadekoolaid]

Yep. During the 5 months I´ve been over in TR´s favourite country, I´ve happily adapted to self-service kiosks/checkouts everywhere. So simple! No waiting.
I might be influenced by the interminable queues/lines I had to tolerate in Venezuela: in the supermarket, in the bank, at the petrol/gas station, everywhere. It´s a question of saving (my) time.

 

[kaneohegirlinaz]

At our brand new Crumbl Cookie Store even they have self-sever registers.
When your cookies are ready, they are placed on a "delivery counter" for you to pick up and leave.

 

[Mountain Cat]

My original question was about self-service facilities in general, so the self-checkouts at grocery stores, where you can scan and bag your own purchases, and any kind of self-ordering terminal, really; McDonald’s here have self-ordering terminals here, for example, and they’re never busy, so with just a few pokes on a touchscreen, I can order and pay for my food, grab an order number placard thingy, go sit at my table, and they’ll bring it out to me.

Anything like that that minimizes human interaction and maximizes self-service, that’s what I was asking about.

I think from the wording I was thinking "vending machines" - but ones that served actual food rather than junk slop. I do use the self checkout lines on occasion. If I have a lot of produce it is faster/easter to use the casher-inhabited ones, rather than trying to find how they list various veggies on their machines. Also if I've picked up a bottle containing anything with alcohol, as my age has to be verified by a human. For which you wait.

 

[Naillig]

I prefer dealing with an actual human being, but don't mind using a self service check-out if there are no manned/womanned/humanned tills available, although some checkout operators are more talkative than others. I have given up on bagging - the operators either don't bag, but fire the items down the conveyor belt so fast it's impossible to keep up or bag them completely differently to how I would do it. I just put the items back into my trolley and place them in boxes in the back of my car and put them in bags when I get home. I can take my time deciding which items go in which box, unless I'm in a hurry or it's pouring.

 

[Naillig]

Just a bit of nostalgia - the first time I went to the village shop in the UK, just for a few items, I had no bag, nor did I need one.

As the person at the till rang up my purchases, she set them on a big piece of brown paper (like kraft paper) from a big roll that was attached to the end of the counter.

When she was done and everything paid for, she cut the paper, then quickly and expertly wrapped the whole thing up into a bundle and tied it up with some string, like a big parcel, and that was that.

For some reason, I just loved that. It made me feel like it was about 1950, and I used to get a little thrill going in there after that and buying a few things, just to get them wrapped and tied up. It was wonderful.

I think I would be the same. I loved going shopping with my mum in the 50s, except it was paper bags they put the items in. However, I think my grandmother had the best method of shopping - sit up in bed, list in hand, phone the friendly grocer in town and give him your order, which would arrive at your door in due course.