Store Self Check Outs: Love Them or Loathe Them? [POLL]
Hopefully, your answer is somewhere in between the two. And most people do not want to see people lose their jobs. Over the self-check issue or for any other reason. Understanding that corporations always try to do things more "efficiently", and sometimes those companies that report to Wall Street see cost-cutting as more efficient.
For the record, I do use the self check out at Hannaford’s. But I also have 6 to 12 items, not a grocery cart overflowing with items from a weekly shopping list. I tend to go every couple of days to the grocery store.
Walmart took a hit on social media recently when they rolled out more self-check-out kiosks across the nation and speculation was that, as a company, they were going to be cutting back on employees and more check-outs would expedite that process. Not sure. They did say that they would moving cashiers to be customer hosts to help customers with the act of learning the ins and outs of checking out themselves.
They also did roll out a test Walmart Super Store in Texas that has no cashiers, it is entirely self-check for every shopper, no options. Early reports were that there are no longer line-ups to get checked out, and in the past, there were line-ups in the cashiers' check-out lanes. However, isn’t that a case of staffing? Everyone has been to a store of any variety and witnessed lineups at the only 2 or 3 lanes that are actually staffed and open for check out
Some shoppers don’t enjoy the interaction with another human being at a store. They want to get their stuff paid for and get out without lineups, chats or questions about whether you like the brand of dish soap that you were buying. "Oh no, I don’t like it. I bought it because I am a moron."
The only constant is change. And self-checkouts are probably on the list of "not going away soon."