A new feature has cropped up at the self-checkouts at our local Coop. It is annoying employees and customers alike: The self-checkouts are now triggering random checks. Sometimes after you touch the button to say you’ve scanned everything, but before you can pay, the color bar at the top of the screen turns red and says to wait. An employee has to come over and pick one item from your bag and re-scan it. They tend to re-scan meat for some reason. I have yet to see anyone get caught for not scanning items.
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Did you check whether you are then paying for that item twice?
I refuse to use them things, even if a queue is full and they are free. Just no!
I may reconsider my stance if you get things cheaper when you do the work of a cashier.
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Wasn’t it always like that? I think I had a random check at Coop more than one year ago.
I don’t understand the problem? To my understanding, using the self-checkout or handheld scanner you agree that you can be checked (since you haven’t paid yet, they are not searching through your things, the goods belong to the supermarket). If you don’t want to be checked, go to the cashier. Problem solved.
If they don’t find mistakes, you are paying your original bill. Only if they find a mistake they will rescan everything from the beginning.
Using the scanner thingy is less work for me, cashier is irrelevant.
- Scan product
- place product in bag in shopping cart
- Download shopping list to checkout machine, pay and leave with products already in the bag.
Compare to:
- Place product in shopping cart
- Move product from shopping cart to “table” where the cashier scans everything
- Be on a rush to move product(s) scanned by the cashier to bag
- Clumsily pay the cashier while still trying to put stuff into bags
- Enjoy stress of slowing the line while spoiling my tomatoes
Automated checkout is a win-win situation. Less work for customer, lower costs for seller. Of course, tanking win-win deals is the most probable outcome, it’s just human nature.
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I simply don’t like interacting with the staff. Self-checkout is almost like online shopping. You can buy anything without having to talk to anyone.
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Except you will not be searched on check out.
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Yes, but it happens very rarely, sometimes less than once per year, sometimes 2-3 times per year. And they give me a bar of chocolate with Migros logo. My son likes it a lot.
Try and get one of those machines to smile at you, wish you a nice day and ask chirpily for your bonus card.
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Switzerland is not one of those countries where smiling is an essential part of customer service.
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It’s a job. I also use a friendly tone voice, put a smile for customers and wish whatever, it’s part of being professional.
Of course, I’ll take any time a fake professional smile over an honest groan. But, it’s a performance and it takes a toll on the performer. Being friendly a couple hours a week is easy, being under pressure to be friendly 40 hours a week is hell.
I worked in retail as a student, I had to put on the show. Last thing I want is to ask for a monkey to jump when I know what the jumping monkey job is about. Let workers be grumpy while moving boxes around the shop, not forcing them to smile to customers.
Thank God. 
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It depends where you live , the vast majority are pretty smiley and friendly here.
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A lot of cannabis consumption around your place? 
Coop random checks have been in place for at least 4 years ( As I got checked in the coop under my previous work, and that was ages ago).
As meat is expensive, it does get “stolen” often, hence the reason they target it.
That’s been happening here for a while, it’s quite infuriating.
We once had a random check asking the cashier to randomly scan 5 items which was a bit difficult given that we’d only bought 3.
It took them a while to work out how to get around that one.
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and you might not get the goods either. Ask omtatstat, he can sind a song about that as we say here.
Wow, that was quiet a statement.
Some people are introverts and would like to avoid unnecessary interaction with people they don’t know. I also like self-service restaurants where I can take all the food myself. I will never go to the restaurant with waiters if there is a self-service nearby (well, not McDonald’s of course).
I’m glad that more and more simple restaurants, fast foods and take aways are installing the big screens near the entrance where you can create and configure your order yourself. In our favourite burger restaurant we order while we are still in the train on the way there.