Supermarkets, self checkouts and honesty

[Knobby22]

It sucks how at some point our brains just refuse to absorb things as efficiently, not just technology but everything else, it's something we need most especially when things evolve so fast and there's always that "next big thing"

It also sucks that foreigners target our older members of the population who were used to a time when people in Australia were generally very honest.

You see now, when you go to the supermarket and the tellers are free but there is a queue for self checkout that honesty has reduced

 

[colly601]

It also sucks that foreigners target our older members of the population who were used to a time when people in Australia were generally very honest.

You see now, when you go to the supermarket and the tellers are free but there is a queue for self checkout that honesty has reduced

True, however it remains important to humanize every side, past generation's welfare and progressiveness has allowed traits like honesty and trust to be embraced and rewarded accordingly, in less fortunate countries, it's the complete opposite, people are as good or bad as the world allows them to be really (Mostly, exceptions are always there ofcourse no matter what)

 

[Value Collector]

You see now, when you go to the supermarket and the tellers are free but there is a queue for self checkout that honesty has reduced

Just curious, but how does that show honesty is reduced.

I always will line up for self checkout, even if there is a manned checkout free, I just prefer to avoid the human interaction, and just process my own groceries as I listen to my music. I think it’s best to leave the manned checkout for some one who needs it, a bit like a disability car park.

 

[Knobby22]

Just curious, but how does that show honesty is reduced.

I always will line up for self checkout, even if there is a manned checkout free, I just prefer to avoid the human interaction, and just process my own groceries as I listen to my music. I think it’s best to leave the manned checkout for some one who needs it, a bit like a disability car park.

You would prefer to join a queue and let the kid behind the checkout lose his job??

 

[Value Collector]

You would prefer to join a queue and let the kid behind the checkout lose his job??

He won’t lose his job, he will probably just be redeployed to picking online orders.

Have you seen those employees running around the store filling up those carts for the online orders and deliveries? They probably employ more people now doing that than they did before, and that’s great for people with disabilities, or people with babies etc.

——————————————
If we really want to preserve employment, just ban bulldozers and say only shovels can be used

 

[divs4ever]

You would prefer to join a queue and let the kid behind the checkout lose his job??

up in our area the person behind the checkout is more likely to be ( near ) pension age ( my guess over 50 .. are they widows and supporting parents , just an observation in a largish rural town )

but lose their job , not me , they are often a source of unexpected information

 

[divs4ever]

Just curious, but how does that show honesty is reduced.

I always will line up for self checkout, even if there is a manned checkout free, I just prefer to avoid the human interaction, and just process my own groceries as I listen to my music. I think it’s best to leave the manned checkout for some one who needs it, a bit like a disability car park.

not me the only ( recent ) time i used one it took multiple times to give it my notes ( i don't use cards ) and some items needed more than one attempt at a scan

probably the last time i shop at BIG W

( i hold WOW still after selling down 90% of an inherited holding )

 

[farmerge]

It also sucks that foreigners target our older members of the population who were used to a time when people in Australia were generally very honest.

You see now, when you go to the supermarket and the tellers are free but there is a queue for self checkout that honesty has reduced

@Knobby22 we refuse to use the self service checkouts no matter where we shop, supermarkets, that very large hardware outlet etc.
Even when told there is a vacant spot at self service refusal to it is politely given with the add on I'd rather queue and keep that teller in a worthwhile job.

 

[Value Collector]

@Knobby22 we refuse to use the self service checkouts no matter where we shop, supermarkets, that very large hardware outlet etc.
Even when told there is a vacant spot at self service refusal to it is politely given with the add on I'd rather queue and keep that teller in a worthwhile job.

it might be a more worth while job for that cashier at the very large hardware outlet to be freed up so they can help people find weed killer or particular screw they are looking for.

As I mentioned to Knobby, Coles and woolies haven't reduced staff levels because of self checkout, they just serve customers in different ways, eg picking online orders etc.

But at the end of the day, with an ageing population and a shrinking workforce, finding ways to use the labour market more effectively is a good idea, and always has been, we are at the stage we need to ban nail guns to raise employment.

 

[Craton]

LOL!
Any Aussie worth his or her salt will know how to scam the any system.

Re. self checkouts, shrinkage, labour and customer interaction. Old news but from 11 Mar 2024 Business Think UNSW

Is self-checkout a failed experiment for retailers?​

Excerpts (highlights are mine).

Love it or hate it, he said, self-checkout is here to stay. “For retailers, it’s a combination of cutting labour and adding flexibility,” he said. “It’s not to make checkout more efficient. They are basically transferring the labour to the customer.”

The ubiquity has come with a new problem: shrink. Defined as inventory loss due to theft and other factors, shrink at self-checkout is rising because automation makes it easier for shoplifters to help themselves. A survey last year by LendingTree found that 15 per cent of self-checkout users admitted to stealing, and 44 per cent planned to do it again. Even a majority of the 21 per cent who admitted to taking an item accidentally didn’t correct the mistake.


Sophisticated monitoring systems aren’t stopping thieves, who have learned to get around both the cameras, the sensitive scales, and the overworked attendant. One self-described “self-checkout swiper” wrote a blog on techniques to steal from supermarkets, including keying in product numbers for cheaper items, scanning products with the barcode facing up or covered, scanning fake barcodes, and using bulky items to obscure the view of smaller, expensive items.

The shrink rate from self-checkout is estimated between 3.5 per cent and 4 per cent, compared with a rate of less than 1 per cent for cashiers. It’s so significant that supermarket chain Wegmans announced in 2022 that it would stop self-checkout because of unspecified losses from shoplifting. “It’s facilitating errors and, in some cases, the steal,” Gallino said. “In some cases, it’s an unintended steal, but you’re now creating an inventory information problem. Now, there is additional noise in the system. It’s hard to replenish and to know what is in the store.”

One very salient point:

Gallino pointed out another important consideration for retailers using self-checkout: They are missing perhaps the only chance to gather valuable feedback from the customer in real time. When a sales associate asks, “Did you find everything you needed today?” the answer helps store managers know what they are doing right and wrong.

“It’s an opportunity to get quick and accurate information,” Gallino said. “That contact point can be critical, and you’re losing that completely.”

 

[Value Collector]

LOL!
Any Aussie worth his or her salt will know how to scam the any system.

Re. self checkouts, shrinkage, labour and customer interaction. Old news but from 11 Mar 2024 Business Think UNSW

Is self-checkout a failed experiment for retailers?​

Excerpts (highlights are mine).






One very salient point:

Well I for one much prefer the self check out, and I am also pretty sure that shop lifters existed prior to the self check out lane, I don't think the cashiers are the great line of defence against shoplifting that people think.

All that article really points out is that 15% of people are dirt bags, but we already know that because they are probably the same people that don't put their trolley away, litter and bang car doors into other cars, those 15% will probably steal regardless.

But, yeah for me the self check out is much preferred, I don't see the value of having a cashier scan my goods, I also hate small talk, its bad enough having to cut my hair once a month and answer questions from a barber that have nothing to do with them carrying out their duties.

 

[divs4ever]

I also hate small talk, its bad enough having to cut my hair once a month and answer questions from a barber that have nothing to do with him carrying out their duties.

going bald will solve that issue for you

won't help the economy though

 

[farmerge]

going bald will solve that issue for you

won't help the economy though

@divs4ever though going/being bald seems to be the new. Plenty of snow-white nuts (heads) they stand out as just having suffered a razor job done on them.

 

[colly601]

@Knobby22 we refuse to use the self service checkouts no matter where we shop, supermarkets, that very large hardware outlet etc.
Even when told there is a vacant spot at self service refusal to it is politely given with the add on I'd rather queue and keep that teller in a worthwhile job.

Everyone needs to subconsciously have this mindset of yours as it's needed now more than ever, AI is on its way to take even the jobs that required others years of learning and experience to obtain, there are graphic designers with many years of experience who were laid off, some high power needs to stick it up to those corps, It hasn't even been that long since AI got popular and they are already out of line, audaciously so

 

[Craton]

Well I for one much prefer the self check out, and I am also pretty sure that shop lifters existed prior to the self check out lane, I don't think the cashiers are the great line of defence against shoplifting that people think.

All that article really points out is that 15% of people are dirt bags, but we already know that because they are probably the same people that don't put their trolley away, litter and bang car doors into other cars, those 15% will probably steal regardless.

But, yeah for me the self check out is much preferred, I don't see the value of having a cashier scan my goods, I also hate small talk, its bad enough having to cut my hair once a month and answer questions from a barber that have nothing to do with them carrying out their duties.

If that's all you took out of that article, that 15% of us are dirt bags, fine. Keep going right ahead on being an unpaid employee, oops, I mean a free labour customer.

As to small talk. Costs nothing to be polite and from my experience, small talk can lead to bigger things like e.g., life long friendships.

 

[farmerge]

If that's all you took out of that article, that 15% of us are dirt bags, fine. Keep going right ahead on being an unpaid employee, oops, I mean a free labour customer.

As to small talk. Costs nothing to be polite and from my experience, small talk can lead to bigger things like e.g., life long friendships.

As someone who enjoys a "talk" I find it easy to natter to anyone who is on a till. or the person at the front door who is there is guide you through the maize of aisles to find what one is looking for.
Totally agree with @Craton being polite and a few words costs nothing.
Perhaps the nerds of this world find that beyond their scope, which I find kind of sad.
I say to them, get out into the real world and try conversing with a stranger who is only doing their job, and you may even get a bit of satisfaction from doing that.

 

[Value Collector]

If that's all you took out of that article, that 15% of us are dirt bags, fine. Keep going right ahead on being an unpaid employee, oops, I mean a free labour customer.

As to small talk. Costs nothing to be polite and from my experience, small talk can lead to bigger things like e.g., life long friendships.

When you go to the petrol station do you resent pumping your own fuel? Because that used to be the job of a fuel station attendant, actually that was my first job out of high school.

I am always polite, but I don’t like chatting to strangers more than I have to about the weather, I find the conversations in “single serve friendships” draining. If I am in the mood for a chat I chat to people in my life.

 

[JohnDe]

As someone who enjoys a "talk" I find it easy to natter to anyone who is on a till. or the person at the front door who is there is guide you through the maize of aisles to find what one is looking for.
Totally agree with @Craton being polite and a few words costs nothing.
Perhaps the nerds of this world find that beyond their scope, which I find kind of sad.
I say to them, get out into the real world and try conversing with a stranger who is only doing their job, and you may even get a bit of satisfaction from doing that.

Sadly, more and more people in society have become selfish. Too selfish to be involved in a conversation that could help make somebody's day or keep someone in a job. They have lost the ability to look someone in the eye without judgement, judgment of their job, their intellect, their place in society. Conversation is only for their friendship base, or on social media sites where they can hide behind a keyboard.

The strange thing is that those selfish people are usually the ones that scream loudest about unfairness.

AI will probably speed up the process of job losses in certain industries, and human to human communication will suffer. That's life, I'm not worried because it is still many years away and I'll fight it to the end.

I always go through the checkout with a person on the other end with a job, I pay cash as much as possible, I say hello to everyone.

 

[farmerge]

Sadly, more and more people in society have become selfish. Too selfish to be involved in a conversation that could help make somebody's day or keep someone in a job. They have lost the ability to look someone in the eye without judgement, judgment of their job, their intellect, their place in society. Conversation is only for their friendship base, or on social media sites where they can hide behind a keyboard.

The strange thing is that those selfish people are usually the ones that scream loudest about unfairness.

AI will probably speed up the process of job losses in certain industries, and human to human communication will suffer. That's life, I'm not worried because it is still many years away and I'll fight it to the end.

I always go through the checkout with a person on the other end with a job, I pay cash as much as possible, I say hello to everyone.

@JohnDe We are not a dying breed fortunately

 

[divs4ever]

@JohnDe We are not a dying breed fortunately

i like to say a few words , so i get a feel of employee morale ( as i most likely hold shares in that company , or am likely to buy shares in the future )

if it is a small ( unlisted )business a general opinion on the economy may be useful as well ( highlight a particular sector )