You only got X bux 'til payday at the end of the week, you “budget” your expenses as to not run out, so only get a chickwich and nothing else, and can still hang out with the peeps after work.
With plastic, you just present your Magic Get-Anything Card, and walk out with 2 chickwiches, large fries, onion rings, jumbo thick shake, apple pie, and a terminal case of The Itis.
And then have to decide at the end of the month whether to pay the minimum balance on the card(s) or pay the rent.
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The gas stations and restaurants around here are charging more for using plastic. The per gallon discount is about 30 cents. About 3% at restaurants. I still use CC because my rewards rate is still much better. Very, very few places do I use cash anymore.
I prefer self-checkouts because I’ve been a cashier and I’m faster than most of the sad/depressed staff at most stores.
Plus, I get to avoid:
pointless small talk
warranty up-sells
store card offers
“Did you find everything alright?”
There’s probably more I’m missing.
Surprisingly, the worst (slowest) self checkouts around here are at Costco. The whole system treats the customer like an idiot and is slow to boot. The Walmart self checkouts are the fastest and most streamlined.
Now, Costco’s system is probably better at loss prevention. However, Costco already has someone standing at the door counting your stuff and comparing your receipt on the way out.
What’s to stop people from casually noticing what’s the 59¢/lb expired loose potatoes and memorising the code, then entering that code instead of the 8.99/lb organic blackberries?
1.2lb or however much, in either case, so…?
“Whups… must’ve entered the wrong code! This is the first time I ever had to do this, and I had nooooooo idea! Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk.”
Yeah they still do that. I think the stores are starting to evaluate the labor savings to theft ratio. Wegmans lets you weigh your own produce and enter the code in the produce section of the store so yeah you could enter the regular banana code instead of the organic code but that really speeds up their in person check out process. They have like 25 checkouts going and only a couple of them are self. Self are only for a few items too. Other grocery stores require you look up the code and weigh your produce at the checkout.
I dislike self checkout. I like the interaction . Murphy law say’s you’re in the wrong line anyway so in stead of randomly choosing which checkout line to get in … I just pick the prettiest girl . Sometimes those choices can be difficult as well . Is Larry looking better today than 97 year old Edna ?
Some supermarkets have been using laser printed and edible barcodes on fruits / veggies, with today’s technology it would be simple to require scan instead of entered 4/5-digit PLU, eliminating vector of fraud.
Just avoid young men, they are slow on purpose usually so as to not get picked/punished doing checkout.
Look for old ladies but not too old, they are quick and some do not like the manager/management and may let things slide in your favor. Always be nice whatever the age, a smile is Free and it works wonders. If you have ever worked Retail you can relate and have compassion for the worker especially during holiday season. Been there done that, have the scars
Lastly Always get in the tobacco line if possible as they have to be a certain age with good training.
I used Scan and Go for the first time today. Worked well and I probably will be using it exclusively from now on. Still unsure what the exit scan is up to though. How can it work with a full cartful of items? Seems like it would slow things down to a crawl if they had to check things well.
I used to hate self check out and automated phone system, now I prefer them over people, it seems like people are more clueless, and do not give a crap anymore.
That is exactly it. I read the whole process makes you feel more accountable. Of course the people that just walk straight out the door without paying still do and the honest people are still honest. Scan and Go also gives the store a reason to stop everyone as they exit.
Walmart has that here and doesn’t even have self checkouts, lol. Also the slowest traditional checkouts I’ve experienced ever, anywhere.
I don’t mind IVRs when they’re competently designed, don’t rely on speech recognition (which never works) and let you both skip all the minutes and minutes of useless messages, and mute the hold music. Unfortunately that’s very few of them.
I’m surprised that Walmart operation actually varies so much place-to-place. I can’t even imagine a Walmart without self-checkouts! I think our Walmarts were the first stores in town to have them.
