>

That would be cos not once has an automated gas pump told me to ask for assistance
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Because gas stations don’t have those stupid scales and give the message “place the item in the bagging area” >

Or "please wait for cashier" so much for not talking to anybody on my high shopping trip. >

This ^ makes me wanna drop everything and leave >

I have just left my purchase and walked out before. More than once. 
The best was when I was doing it and the self checkout only had room for one bag. I had about 3 bags of groceries. So once I filled a bag I took it and put it in my cart which caused the whole machine to alarm and stop. 
Th cashier starts to berate my angrily so I said fuck this shit “literally” and just stormed off. >

As an older guy now. Half my self checkouts get abandoned if things don't work. Just walk out, the company doesn't have much invested in it anyway. >

Doesn't that inconvenience you more by forcing you to run a second errand to get your items? >

better than dealing w crappy self checkouts... spent about 20 minutes dealing with the 'item removed from bagging area' over a bunch of bananas during a post christmas shop with my cousin. and the staff weren't listening at all so it kept going off and they kept on having to fix it >

Plus, you help by making them staff registers, giving job opportunities to those who want part time job while in high school. That also includes people than can work but have limited skills.  
If you are  one of those anyone on welfare who can work should work, no matter the job. You can have people working registers or they'll have to forced to take jobs  calling you selling car warranties.  That choice is your's....
The way I figure it the store can ether pay to staff the registers or pay for the staff to return all the items back to the shelf from me walking out, for failing to staff the store. They've over played their shoplifting is hurting you card despite having far better controls where  crates of items don't just fall off the back of trucks as a normal part of business.  Loss as been on the decrease for decades due to better shipping tracking and inventory controls.
I'm aslo not held hostage to my filled shopping trolley/cart like so many here. That  sunken fallacy keeps them waiting , instead or writing off the loss and going elsewhere. Reward the businesses that staff their stores.
If the manager won't open a register when each has 8-10+ people all with full carts, screw them. After 15-20 minutes in line waiting , I'll help them out by leaving. The Mangers  can loose their bonus for skeleton crewing, by having employees stay longer to return items to the shelves, if more people did this, the employee hours to items sold ratio would change, and they would staff to get the items through registers for the sales, not to be returned to the shelves repetitively to avoid loss numbers.
Besides 
If you hurt your back working for the company bending over putting items in their bags, are they going to cover you for worker's comp for the medical? Plus your lost wage, which will be what  66% of your income  minus the required attorney fee (which is  25-33% ) due to the insanely corrupt & complicated system. Which what was your payrate again, oh yeah  nothing...
Since you are literally working for the company, they need to pay you and that includes their share of the employer taxes. What they hate this and since every self check out is a different employee, and should be counted as such.  For the different employer with X number of employee requirement tiers for benefits. If Business don't like this, they can  reduce their employee numbers by having their own regular paid employees.
Finally as an employee working for the company, by  being forced to do self check out, I want my employee discount. >

Probably because most people don't know full service ever existed. >

I really hate full service though. It feels weird. >

It’s like having a stranger trim your pubes. >

You americans really are weird man >

Yeah, noone in Europe trims their own pubes. >

Straight razor shaving means not having to trim first >

Bruh I’d be afraid of chopping him off accidentally. >

Having had exactly one bad cut with a straight bladein 10 years, let me tell you how hard it is to cut anything off. >

Js that’s exactly one more bad cut than I’ve had in 10 years of trimming my shit so I can’t imagine taking the risk of dismembering my member so haphazardly >

The only thing I dislike about the self checkout is that they try to cram too many into a small space, so I can't get all my stuff on the tiny shelf. 
Otherwise I'm not opposed to the concept. >

Anytime I have more than like 3 bags of groceries, I try to go to a person. I can't bag as good as them and there's no room on the scale. >

Most self-checkouts in Europe I've seen, offer you to take a hand terminal at the entrance. You scan everything you put in the cart. Most put them in bags that are in the cart. At the self-checkout, you scan the QR code on the checkout desk, and pay for the items. You then walk away with the bagged groceries. >

I think some stores in the US have that. At Sam's club you can scan with your phone as you shop, then just have them scan the QR code as you leave. >

I really like that concept. You only move the groceries ones from the shelves to your home. Otherwise it's shelve -> cart -> (self) checkout -> bags. This way it's shelve -> bag (that's in the cart). >

Well, in the US it’s more like shelf>bag in cart, bag>car, bag in car>house, as most people aren’t within walking distance to their local grocery store. It does cut out the same amount of steps, however. >

Yes but you never hear; "unexpected petrol in the filling area" do you... >

If there really was unexpected petrol in the filling area, or unexpected anything anywhere in a gas station, I'd want to know about it. >

Living in NJ, I wish we could pump our own gas. The funny thing is that when I’m driving one of our work trucks, which is diesel, or riding my motorcycle, it’s expected that I’m going to pump it myself. Most places will let you pump diesel (I’ve heard it’s because it doesn’t ignite with a spark), and I’ve yet to find a gas station that expects to pump for a motorcycle, they always hand you the nozzle, or just yell over and ask if need a hand, or if you’ve got it covered. >

Speaking of motorcycles, my first job was at a full serve.   A pack of H.A. rolled in and pumped theirs, but they reset the counter after every fill.  They blocked me from seeing the numbers on the pumps.  
14 year old me had to pay out of pocket for that shortage, and I’ve held that hot coal of hatred for 44 years. Fuck them and their “club”. >

Yeah fuck them and their "club".
But also fuck your boss and his "business", as well as your country and it's "labor regulations".
Use of Child Labor then trying to hold said Child Laborers financially accountable for routine Shrinkage.
I'm way WAY more offended by this "business" than by the admittedly annoying assholes who stole the product. >

We have labor regulations, that was illegal when it occurred. It’s enforcement that’s the issue. >

Self service used to be 5 to 10 cents a gallon cheaper at the same station.  So if you did the work you got paid.
Not so at a self check out line >

Yeah, but my time saved from self checkout still makes me feel it’s a value. Always lines at the few cashiers available, while plenty of self check out machines sit idle. I nearly never have any issue with the machines, and in the rare event I do, I’m not timid - I’ll wave a person over right away. >

Plot twist: they hire fewer checkers to drive people to the self checkouts. >

I'll only use them if I have like 2 items and there are long lines and I'm in a hurry, otherwise I'm not sitting there scanning 30 items so the corporation can save money and cut jobs. >

I think we should want fewer of these low-paying checkout jobs. You know the corporation isn’t going to pay them a living wage, so why bother trying to keep people employed in those positions? Also, don’t you value your time more? Why stand around in a line and waste your own time when you could just go to a self-checkout and get out of there way quicker. Life is too short to spend waiting in line at a grocery store if you can help it. >

It is only good to eliminate those jobs if the money still gets to the workers. Otherwise you are saving the corporations money, not reducing low paying jobs. >

If they’re employing fewer cashiers, there are fewer low-paying jobs. I think there’s an argument as to whether it’s good to reduce the number of these sorts of jobs, but I don’t understand how employing fewer cashiers wouldn’t be reducing the number of low-paying jobs. >

I don’t have nearly the amount of issues with self-service gas as I often do with self-check out stations. >

Oregon resident, I cant fuckin stand people pumping my gas. It takes forever, in the city because there's too many peiple,the country because they are all slow. You can't pump your own gas. It sucks. >

The worst is when they’re quick to come help when you arrive, but then you sit there for 5min after the pump has clicked off waiting for them to walk over and take the damn nozzle out. 
If they take forever for that, I sometimes get out of my car and pretend I’m about to remove the nozzle myself, and they usually scuttle over REAL quick at that point, angrily reminding me that “it’s not self-serve bro!” What am I going to do, spray it everywhere when I pull the thing out? Drink it? >

I'm Californian and when visiting after driving in, was berated and mocked for being from CA and not knowing I'm not allowed to pump myself. >

The gas pump self serve usually works without much delay. Checking items at the grocery store can be painfully slow. Also, my experience is there is usually some problem that requires a human to intervene, adding to the frustration. And then one has to bag the items, so for a large shop, it is a PITA. >

Full service seemed nice in bad weather- and yes, once upon a time they’d check the oil too, or wash your windows while the tank filled.
But it was slow. There might be one attendant for six cars, so you’d frequently be left hanging waiting to pay. And once upon a time paying with a credit card meant taking your card back to the office to “run” it, then they’d come back for your signature- perhaps a ten-minute ordeal start to finish. And you’d look at how easy it was and just wish you could do it yourself and get going.
Like ATMs, grocery self-checkout was a blessing at first because so few people used them. You could wait 25 minutes in line for a cashier, or just check yourself out right now.
Now most self-checkouts seem to have a line, too, so sone of the magic is gone. >

Don't get me wrong, I like self checkout. But when they first came out it was so bad and buggy as hell. >

That's why it's nice to live in a rural area. You guys beta test everything for us >

Probably because self-service gas stations generally function properly >

Self serve gas station works and I know someone won't spill or put the wrong gas in but a self checkout takes 3 scans to finally register the item and randomly stops working when the bagging area scale detects a fly landing on it. >

Most of the stores I go to have long since disabled the scale. It was a bad design choice by paranoid idiots. If the scanner doesn't work well, its usually because it needs to be cleaned, which means your store is gross. I changed stores for this reason early on. Market 32 would leave all the scanner glass FILTHY.  
Also the idea that a thief would put the items they haven't paid for on the scale is hilarious. They would just leave them in the cart, or their pockets, or in their pants, or anywhere that isn't going to instantly give away the fact that they are stealing . >

Self service has pumps don’t constantly ask me to go get the person behind the counter to type in a pin so I can buy my single item cause I didn’t put it in the bagging area fast enough >

Never heard about self-service gas stations, probably US thing and where I live there is nothing worse than someone pumping your gas and then going to a STORE to pay and spend 2 mins refusing expensive crap they want to sell you, dude I paid $8 for gas do you think I have money left to spend on overpriced washer fluid !? >

Self checkout is amazing. Anyone that says otherwise probably just can't scan items correctly. It's so much faster. The only legitimate "concern" is now there's fewer wage slaves being abused by the company. >

Yeah if there's a choice between self or someone else doing it, I always go to self. It's extremely fast and easy, and while I have no issue conversing with the workers, usually the line in front of me is taking forever having conversation or issues with the worker, or the whole process is just slower than I would like. I love taking care of it myself at my pace. >

I prefer self-checkout when it works. Unfortunately, too often I'm going about my business scanning items and suddenly the machine freezes after I've placed a scanned item in my bag and sounds the alert, "Unexpected item in bagging area. Please wait for assistance." Then I have to wait for an employee to use their ID or a code to unlock it and let me continue.
Or sometimes I'll weigh a piece of produce and look up the correct item on the touch-screen to add it, but before I can do that myself, an employee will interrupt and insist on doing it themselves, usually slower that I would if they had just let me continue. 
And then there's the accidental double-scan, and I can't remove the accidentally scanned item myself, so I again have to wait for an employee to come and do it.  There's issues with checkout no matter if I'm doing ityself or if someone else is.  That's why I now opt for pickup and delivery as long as my order doesn't contain perishable meat or produce. >

Your store needs to fix its machines. >

I mean, I've yet to see a self-checkout that doesn't require an employee to remove a double scanned item. So not entirely invalid. >

I'm in Europe, but I did this just yesterday. Accidentally double-scanned an item, all I had to do was click the button to remove an item, then scan it again. Removed one of the two identical products in the cart. >

Yeah, haven't really seen that here in the US. I want to say it's due to an inherent distrust of customers, but I don't know the specifics as to why the majority of stores with self check out don't allow that easy QOL option. >

That's a real pity. Could be different regulatory requirements as well I suppose.
For example I've been to stores here where clerks can remotely approve you for purchasing tobacco or alcohol, they don't have to walk over to bring you past the ID check.
Of course stores have a requirement to not sell 18+ products to minors, though not entirely sure exactly what requirements they're under. Presumably a visual check to determine age is good enough, at least so long as the clerk determines no doubt as to legal age. With that said I do believe they're obligated to check ID if they're in doubt, in which case they'd have to walk over, check ID and then approve the self-checkout to proceed. >

In Oregon we complain that there are no self-service gas stations.
And I love self check out. >

I remember reading about that once. Something like you guys and New Jersey IIRC are the only two states where full service stations exist. >

They don't just exist. They're mandatory. >

I remember reading a thread way back of Oregon people freaking out at the concept of pumping their own gas, like how dangerous it would be, and people from most of the US were laughing at them.
Though it makes sense. It's seemed to them that only someone who is trained to do it can do it. >

i have never seen a self-service gas station in my life
must be a 'murica thing >

I love self-checkout. I hate that grocery stores are slowly transitioning to majority self-checkout set-up because the lines are now much longer for me now. :P >

I prefer self checkout unless I have a huge amount of items, and the times I travel through areas with full service gas stations I hate it. I think it was Oregon I was driving through that people aren’t supposed to gas their own cars. I don’t want to wait for some stranger to be touching my car and taking my card. My wife liked the idea, I hated it. >

I don’t get carded for gas. I have never felt obligated to tip a cashier.  As someone mentioned, no scale or codes to look up for gas.  Typically no coupons or other complexities when getting gas. It is a very straight forward process with out bagging. To me, pumping gas is damn near vending machine simple. >

I hate when I'm at the self checkout and a vegatable that needs to be weighed gets scanned accidentally because of a useless barcode. I then have to wait for the customer service rep to approach me and advise me on how to properly key in the vegatables code (not doing that) and what it's code is (not going to remember). >

Don't worry, we complained a lot during the late 80s and early 90s when self serve took over and full service started to disappear.  
Complaints such as "Why are we paying the same price (in many situations more) for gas when we have to pump it ourselves?" >

It's like 1 minute of work to insert cc, unscrew gas cap, insert nozzle, couple minutes of standing there.  I just don't get it >

Most people used cash back then. It was annoying to go inside when you used to be able to pay at the pump (like now).
Gas stations make their money on the convenience store aspect, so they had a bit of a golden era there until CC pump payments became more ubiquitous >

I'd say that's because self-service gas ststions work reasonably well and are not annoying while self-checkouts are naggy and frustrating. "Put the item in the bagging area." "IT'S THERE YOU STUPID PIECE OF S***" >

I remember them being kinda annoying with that when they first rolled out at the Wal-Mart here, but they seem to have really refined the process to be quick and painless over the years. >

Here in Germany they are still quite uncommon but in the few stores that have the machines they really work well, too. Also, there's no bagging-nagging with a scale at all, you can just put the things into your backpack or whatever. I was in the UK a few times
in 2022, and the machines there are really annoying in comparison. Especially at the Tesco stores an employee was constantly busy fixing things. >

You obviously don’t live in Oregon, where self-service gas only recently became a thing. >

The PetroCan station that used to be at Kingston & Woodbine in Toronto was full service in the 90s.  If you went on a Saturday, they also gave you a Saturday Toronto Star free with a fill up. 
Also, I never get into an argument with a self-serve gas pump over, "put the item in the bag", it's in the bag, "put the item in the bag", it's in the fucking bag, "put the item in the bag", go fuck yourself.  And self-serve gas stations still take cash if that's how I want to pay. >

Kinda incomparable ain't it?
One takes like 5 actions and is easy as pie
and the other takes a frantic 176 actions including waiting while the overseer comes over to unlock the system when you've inevitably bungled it >

I really don't think self checkout is that difficult. >

Judging by a lot of the comments on this post, we're in the minority lol. People seem to have a lot of issues with them. >

I don’t see what the problem is either. What’s so hard about scanning a bar code, putting stuff in a bag and swiping your card? Maybe where I get groceries the setup is better and easier to use.
Edit: Thanks for the replies. I get it now. My Wal-Mart doesn’t have the weighing baggage area or any other annoying crap y’all talked about. It’s literally you go to the kiosk and start scanning things and bagging things and press a few buttons to pay at the end. It’s not fussy. Occasionally I have trouble with it weighing produce and a few times I’ve accidentally rang things up twice but on the whole it’s pretty efficient. Target is the same. >

Codes that don't scan. 
Systems that constantly complain about extra items in the bagging area. 
Marked down items that ring up at full price. 
They just aren't reliable yet. >


Codes that don't scan.
Systems that constantly complain about extra items in the bagging area.
Marked down items that ring up at full price.

Other than the bagging area one, I experience the other two issues all the time at regular checkout lanes, too. If I buy a clearance item at a store, there's a 50% chance I will have to ask the cashier to stop and have someone check the price, which means waiting for them to page another employee to walk over to the section, prove the price was real, unlock the manager override, enter the discount, relock, and then return control to the cashier. I have waited for 10-15 minutes for a price check before. >

well if you have staff there checking if you key in correctly every time you fill in gas. they'll probably complaint too.
rather then self checkout, better have automated buying. like you key in stuff you want to buy, and take 'em at the checkout there the staff help make sure your items are correct before you pay,
or if you want to keep the shopping experience, let every customer has a bracelet and items with rfid, if an item enter customers trolley or basket, it's added to the shopping list and removed when it's out of the trolley or basket any item outside of basket is not counted.
since the supermarket can't seem to trust customers >


or if you want to keep the shopping experience, let every customer has a bracelet and items with rfid, if an item enter customers trolley or basket, it's added to the shopping list and removed when it's out of the trolley or basket any item outside of basket is not counted.

In the UK and other European countries, you scan as you go. Pick up a handheld scanner at the entrance of the shop (or in some you can use your phone as a scanner, which is one less thing to carry), scan things as you place them in your bags, then you leave the scanner at an automated checkout at the exit and pay. Everything's already packed perfectly and it takes no time. >

This is up and coming in the US as well. I have a Stop & Shop near me that does this, it’s great! >

I know what full service is from watching old TV, but before that I assumed it existed because of the "Self-Serve" advertised on all the pumps >

For most people they don't remember full service gas stations. It's just the way it's always been for them. They still have them in Mexico. I was there recently and stopped for gas I jumped out and my niece stopped me telling me that they are full service. Well they pump the gas for you. No one checked the oil or tire pressure. On a side note I remember not being able to buy anything other than food on Sundays. >

So, in Mexico we have full service. I would definitely complain about self service. >

You've obviously never driven in Oregon. Every 8 years or so we vote against self service gas. When I lived in Washington I drove to Oregon for my gas and it was usually cheaper than self service in Washington. >

There's some states in the US where they hate self service gas because it was introduced recently. >

I freaking love self checkout. I was a grocery cashier in my younger days, and had so many customers who wanted to tell me exactly how to do my job, how their coupons are supposed to work, how to bag things, like I didn't do this all day everyday. Plus the impatience if there was any delay in anything. My level of smug enjoyment about people having no clue how to ring up their own groceries is beyond measure, even though it's been about twenty years now. >

That’s because there isn’t a employee-operated gas pump that fills your tank 3x faster. If there was, and there was only one for every 20 slower self service pumps, people would absolutely complain.
I don’t care how overbearing it may seem, I want to see legislation that requires a traditional checkout lane with a cashier for every self-checkout lane. Only got three cashiers today? Well you only get to turn on three self-checkouts. Is that becoming a problem for your business? Then hire more cashiers. Struggling to hire cashiers? Offer higher pay. >

I love self checkouts when they work properly. When they don't throw a hissy fit if an item weighs 1 gramercy more or less than expected. When it doesn't refuse to recognise items you've scanned. Etc. Etc.
None of these are problems you encounter at petrol stations.