Thoughts on Self-Check Out Stands

From Wizbang Jay Tea has some thoughts on self check-outs at Wal-Mart:

The Supercenter I occasionally visit (a combination of geographic convenience and personal economic factors) is doing some remodeling. As a part of the reworking, they decided to institute self-service cashier stations. At the same time, they also did away with the express lanes.

I’m not a big shopper. I recall maybe half a dozen times I’ve bought more than 20 items at that store, and been ineligible to use those express lanes. I also don’t enjoy waiting in lines, so I’ve appreciated being able to get out quickly.

Now, though, they’ve apparently decided to do away with those lanes. If I’m in a hurry, I can cash myself out.

I don’t like self-service cashier stations. If I’m going to spare the company the expense of paying someone to ring me out, then they ought to be willing to share some of those savings with me, since I’m doing the work they previously paid someone to do. A discount per item, or a percentage off the total, would be appropriate, I think.

But apparently not. “We pass the savings on to you” is, it seems, a thing of the past — along with their former policy of opening new registers whenever there were three or more people in line.

Now, I find it interesting that they got rid of the Express Check Outs. They’ve not done so at the Boise Wal-Mart. Hopefully, that’s not coming, because a lot of people for reasons like he listed never use the self-check outs.

The things honestly have a lot of bugs in them out here and I’m sure they do on the West Coast. There are so many little quirks in these things, particularly if you’re trying to buy 12 packs of Coke. I remember the time I tried to ring up 2 weeks worth of Groceries at the self-check out. Definitely won’t try that one again.

In terms of my overall feelings on it. To me, using the self check-out doesn’t make me any more a grocery clerk than pumping my own gas makes me a service attendant or pushing a button on an elevator makes me an elevator operator. Its innovation and its progress, and in the end, savings do get passed onto the consumer, just not in the form of a direct rebate.

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