Self checkouts

[forgotten_aria]

I saw the self checkouts at the Porter Star and from first look, they seem far infereior to the ones in Pittsburgh. I should, however, withhold judgement until I get to use them.

On another note, chocolate tea pocky is yummy.

Comments

[tcb.livejournal.com]

self checkout is pretty new for me. the biggest problem I had when I tried them out a week or two ago was that I couldn't figure out the optimal procedure; scan everything and then bag it all at once? or scan and bag as you go?

all in all, I wonder if they really save money for the supermarket. certainly in our society, the higher potential for theft is one I would imagine being a technology stopper.

[forgotten-aria.livejournal.com]

The ones in pittsburgh have a little detecthing thing over the conver belt that is detecting somethign about the product. There is also someone who is watching all the self checkouts, so that they can make sure that people put on the belt everything that they are bagging, if that's true, then the detecting thing makes sure that everything approximatly matches what's been scanned.

I don't know the details, but I see what you mean about the system at porter where you bag immediately after scanning and so it's harder for a staff member to watch what's going on.

[76trombones.livejournal.com]

I used one, and it was ok. They are similar to the ones at the Allston Star, except you give your signature to their little machine, rather than having to sign a physical sheet of paper for an actual human. (It's possible the Allston ones have changed since the last time I used them, which would be about two years ago.) I assume there's some kind of surveillance, but I didn't pay much attention. I was in a hurry.

(If it had been more crowded, then it probably would have been a bad idea to use the self-check-out rather than the regular, because people don't know how to use it yet, so they're slow.)

[totient]

OK, I've used the Porter self-checkouts a couple of times now. The chief annoyance is that you have to get an approval from a supervisor if you've voided an item, and although there's a light indicating that you need an approval this does not summon anyone; you have to go fetch someone from customer service to finish checking out (which most people using the machines don't realize until they've been waiting for someone to appear for five minutes or so). This increases the wait variance tremendously, particularly since the lines for the machines seem to be evolving towards one-line-per-machine rather than a global line. I think I like them when there's one free, but if I'm going to wait in a line I'd rather there was someone at the head of it who was good at making it move.