Is there a technical reason why the self-checkout experience is so poor? The barcode scanners seem slower and more finicky than what the staff use. Plus the extra delay while the machine wants to ensure I put an item into the receiving zone. Are the self-checkout isles busy taking pictures of me from every angle before they approve the swipe?
I assumed that barcode scanners were solved technology and should be able to identify a smudged label in microseconds. If I were going to steal something, I am not sure what the slow experience does to deter that.
> The British Retail Consortium has said shoplifting is "out of control" after its annual crime survey found incidents of customer theft reported by retailers in the UK rose by 3.7 million to 20.4 million, and cost retailers ÂŁ2bn.
Surely a moment's reflection on the state of the UK at the moment would offer some ideas about why this is.
Wouldn't people just carry rocks from the parking lot and leave them in stores?
Eventually they will build the scales into the shopping cart itself.
What a terrible idea.
Self checkout offers a (supposed) benefit. No waiting in a checkout line with 9 people or huge carts when you want a few things. Or maybe you don’t want to interact with a cashier.
I’m not saying the benefits have worked out, especially when places replaced all cashiers either self checkout instead of supplementing.
But there is nothing inherently draconian about it to me. I like the option of self checkout and often use it.
Those scales in the picture just scream “prove you’re not a criminal, scumbag”.
There used to be nothing pleasant or helpful or anything like that about them. And if people have to walk through them they could be weighing their customers too. Used a loyalty card? They know your weight!
Hopefully they aren’t doing that. But you get my point. It actively feels hostile. The supposed benefit of finding things that got double scanned seems incredibly unlikely to me. That’s clearly an excuse.
If you’re not going to pair something like this with a very big benefit, like a one in 100 chance of getting your entire cart for free, why would anyone opt into this if you can go to a different store instead?
This just seems like a worse version of self-checkout.
"Unexpected trolly in bagging area." :)
In the UK there has been a big push for self checkout. Tesco is a leading food market and has hand scanners you can carry around with you to scan as you shop. I have used them for a couple of years now. I almost stopped going to Tesco as it seemed every time I would check out my basket/trolley of goods was selected for a random “ check scan” where a worker came and scanned items until the check out gave a green checkmark and indicator. I always passed the test. So it became really annoying to have this “random check” happen ten times in a row. However it appears they have now built my profile and I have not had a “random check” in almost a year. I think this giant scale is silly. If you are trying to play the system you could scan a lower priced good and take the name brand of the same weight. If I were pulled over to have my whole basket/trolley load rescanned I would quickly get fed up with that. There are just too many ways to get a false positive.
I thought that RFID was supposed to solve this 20 years ago. All stores have anti theft scanner that are the last line of defense but I never see anyone approached if that alarm goes off any more.
So what is a technically sane way to solved the self scan problem, and avoid replicating the security theatre at airports?