Self Check Outs: Where's My Discount?

Seems I remember a time. not too long ago, in a grocery store not too far away, that part of what I payed for at the grocery store went to pay it's employees.
All employees, from the stock person that replenished the shelves with new, fresh product, to the check out person that rang and tallied up the sale.

Of course we can't forget about the pimply faced kid that always asked the question, "paper or plastic?"

Charging a reasonable price for a, likewise, reasonable. service should seem fair to. everyone, and makes. common business sense. This should seem essential to keep any legitimate business going,

Right?

So what happens when the checker and bag boy are no longer in the picture and we are forced to handle these tasks on our own?

You know what I'm talking about, the self checkout register, where we must scan each item ourselves, wrestle with the freakin' UPC code, all while keeping our fingers crossed that some of the last remaining employees actually did their job of ensuring the scanned price matches the advertised price.

Whew, pretty stressful and too much to keep up with already, but we aren't even done yet.

Nope, we still have to move these items over to the bin on the other side of the register for yet another sensor to instruct us to "place the item the bag."

Sure, we are all probably getting accustomed to this new, yet inconvenient technology, and I'm sure we are all getting better and faster at this self checkout thing, but how and why did it come to this?

Maybe we all marvelled in amazement at the coolness factor of these self checkout register a very short time ago that we completely overlooked the obvious.

Since the grocery store now has two less people on the payroll,
shouldn't we be getting a discount for checking out and bagging ourselves?

Makes sense to me.
Is that too much to ask for, especially in the modern day world of DIY?

Ask the store manager next time.

Your "pay" for self-check is the conveneince and time you gain by doing it yourself, by not having to consider the plastic or paper question, nor having to interact with any "pimply-faced" people you find beneath your contempt. Time is money. I consider it a win-win situation.

Then get your money's worth and don't use them.

I haven't seen any of the self checkout grocers yet, but I don't mind the places where I have to pack my own bags. That gives me the option of not overloading the bags, and my fruit never ends up squished...

Wal-Mart

The saveings is the time you save checking yourself out .
Wait in line otherwise !

I refuse to use the self check outs unless I absolutely have to. Even then, it will only be for a couple of items. I had the wonderful experience one time of doing my grocery shopping at a Kroger here in Dallas. I had been in there over an hour, filling a cart to the brim with almost $300 of groceries. By the time I was ready to check out, it was 11:05. I looked for a cashier to no avail, and when I asked where one was, I was told that after 11:00, only self checkouts are available. There were no signs saying this, so I asked if I could please get a cashier since I had so many groceries. they refused, saying that none were in the store. In the meantime, another person was ready to check out, and they were told the same thing. I was not about to scan over 100 items, including fruits and veggies that I would have to weigh and enter the codes myself, so I left the cart there, walked out, and have not been back to a Kroger since then. this was over 5 years ago.

Had they given a 15-20% discount, I may have considered doing it myself, but why should I pay retail for their food when I would have to do the work myself, yet those who were there a little earlier had their groceries rung up and bagged for them at the same price? It is totally unfair. I will instead spend my money elsewhere, where the customer isn't made to do things themselves and is appreciated.

Wow, really? You're ranting about self check out? It's easy! Take your item, scan item, throw it on the belt and move on to next item. You think you deserve a "discount" just because you used a self check out? Your discount is already in your savings! Besides if you don't like self check out then maybe you should stop shopping at that store?

I work at a store with nothing but self check outs and you wouldn't believe the number of dumb ass people I have to deal with on a daily basis. People who have been to the store a million times and should know better! It's one thing to help new customers who have never used one before, or really old people, but the same people I see coming in everyday and STILL need help using a self check out is just pure laziness. Self check out is the easiest most convenient form of check out. I can't believe you had a rant about it and didn't know your 'discount' was already in your savings...

I don't use them, unless it's an only option.
I guess I am lucky in that the employees at my local grocer know me well enough that they will grab my cart, pull it over to a self -checkout lane..then scan and bag everything for me.
I've told them numerous times that I prefer humans over those self checkouts..
Although, it probably won't be long that everything will be RFID'd and your whole cart will be scanned at once.
Oh Joy.

reply to post by TopherWayne


Like the poster just above you, I also live in the Dallas area and Kroger is exactly the grocery store I was referring to in this thread.

If one lane is a self check out lane and the very next lane has a cashier, you're damn right I deserve a discount.

Why?
Because I'm basically doing the job of that cashier and not getting paid for it, so why not ask for a discount?

Besides, I thought the whole point was trying to keep people employed, which is why I don't understand why you are quick to defend a process that might someday replace even you.

reply to post by Alxandro


No you shouldn't get a discount. Don't be lazy. Maybe you guys shouldn't be shopping after hours if you don't want to self check out? You guys are lucky that the store is even open until 1AM so you can do your after hours shopping at your own convenience. They have to pull all the money from the registers and get it in the safe by a certain time every night which is why they can't have checkers past 11. It was 11:05 and they told you there was nothing they could do? Well they were telling you the truth. The cash was already pulled and put in the safe. You can't get into a register once the money is already pulled for the night.

reply to post by TopherWayne


Why do you label me lazy when I'm there to pay for what I need?
I shouldn't have to work as a cashier/bagger while I'm paying for groceries..

Focus!
I am not the one that went in after hours, that was my Dallas neighbor.
What I am referring to is what I see during regular business hours, ten full service registers yet only about three have an actual live person, one express lane, and about six self service registers.
Doesn't matter which lane you pick because all lines are all backed up, yet over half of availble registers are unmanned.

I usually go through the self service lane when I have only a few items but when I have a cart full I will do full service, even if it means having to wait longer to get checked out but also so that the check out cashier does not become extinct.

I'm starting to think these self service lanes were put in place because grocery store are no longer able to find qualified and dedicated folks to man the cash register.

You know how you get a discount with the self checkout?

I call it "creative scanning"

If you are buying fruit or veggies, find the cheapest fruit or veggies, pull the sticker off them, and put it on your (more expensive) fruit you are buying. Instant savings!

If you are buying beer, or something that comes in bottles that are in a 6-pack carry case thing, get creative! Instead of scanning the bar code for the whole box, take a single bottle out, scan it, put it back in the pack, and set it on the floor. Instant savings!

If you have several of the same small item, pack of gum, boxes of jello or pudding mix, or any sort of small box or package, hold 3-4 of them together at once, and then scan only one of the bar code. 3-4 for the price of one!

There is usually a single guy that watches over all of the self checkout lanes. If you have a more expensive item, go up to the guy and say "This was supposed to be on sale! There was a tag that said it was only $7.99!" 9 times out of 10, he wont check, he will just modify the price with his master screen/computer thing. This also works for Beer. "This six pack was supposed to be on sale for $6.99! It rang up as $9.99!" He will usually just change it. Instant savings!

There are also those little printing machines that will print out coupons. People don't usually bother taking these. Before you start checking out, walk around and check out the other machines and and see what kind of coupons they have. I usually find a$2.00 off or 10% off coupon almost every time I go to the store. Nobody around here ever bothers to check them.

Another trick. Go take back bottles and get a decent tab on the bottle return machines. Like $5-$6.

Go home, scan it, and print out a bunch more. Or go to kinkos and copy a whole bunch. The paper is the hard part, I found some at a independent paper store around here, I think it was called receipt paper or calculator paper or something like that.

Then when you redeem your bottle return ticket, spill some soda or otherwise mess up the bar code on it. When it won't scan, they will just manually enter in the amount it says on the ticket.

These tips are for entertainment purposes only. I never have done, and never will do any of these things. And I don't suggest you do, either. It's just a joke!

Anyone want to calculate their discounts?

A cashier gets say 8 bucks an hour, puts through up to 50 people in that time. That leaves you with a whopping 16 cent discount.

Now don't go spending it all in one place.

On the slow days you should get a dollar though...

But by refuising to sue the sel-f checouts when there is an option forces companies to who keep the option to retain real workers.