am i behind the times

brnschoneck

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Feb 22, 2013
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337
Re: am i behind the times

yep a threads a thread its dockside chat right , agrreeed even aldi has cashiers !!!!!
 

RogersJetboat454

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Re: am i behind the times

In the future you will pull something off the shelf, scan it while standing there and place into your cart. As you leave, a computer will scan your entire cart full of items to ensure you have not inadvertently added something.

The future is here...
We have a local grocery store chain called Stop & Shop, and that's one of the optional things you can do there. Grab a cart, and a scanner off the wall of scanners. Scan the items as you toss them into your cart, then go to check out. Never done it my self, and don't know if there's any other grocery stores around the country that uses such a system...

I'm on the fence about self-checkouts. Used them my self, especially when I have only a couple items, and there are long lines at the registers. Can see the benefit there.
BUT... have been equally frustrated by bar codes that won't scan. Scales that won't weigh the item you drop in the bag, and are next commanded by the voice in the box to "Place the item in the bagging area".

Someone mentioned scanning a 4x8 sheet of plywood through the self check out, and I was thinking that my self...
If I had a whole cart full of plywood, or dimensional lumber, wonder if the fine folks at the HD in question would have opened up a register at that point if the register in contractor sales wasn't open?
 

bruceb58

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Re: am i behind the times

The future will be that everything you buy will not need to scan bar codes and you will just run your cart through and your whole cart will get scanned. Of course there will be some types of items that require human intervention.

The reason they put these in the stores is because it helps them make more money one way or another. It's either because there is less labor or people like them enough to go to a store that has them over one that doesn't.

The future of successful businesses is to be more productive with less people. That's the fact! Hiring people just so they can have a job is old news and its not coming back.
 

littlerayray

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Feb 17, 2013
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Re: am i behind the times

well i raise a pint to the dying art of customer service and cashiers.
here is something my grandchildren will refuse to believe.
that we used to have people ring things up through a cash register, and they wont know what a penny is by that time.
who am i kidding there wont even be physical money.
btw thanks for getting us all back on track
 

Jeep Man

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Oct 17, 2008
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Re: am i behind the times

I do not use self check outs. I look at it this way. If you want my money and my business, you will have to put a person in front of me that I expect to serve me, to be the face of your business, and to ask if I found all that I came in for. If someone wants to check themselves out and don't care to have personal service or are in too much of a hurry then let them go ahead. So what!
If you want my business, show me. If you want to keep my business, continue to show me. There's always a guy across the street that will help me if you don't want to anymore.
 
Joined
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Messages
2,906
Re: am i behind the times

The future will be that everything you buy will not need to scan bar codes and you will just run your cart through and your whole cart will get scanned. Of course there will be some types of items that require human intervention.

The reason they put these in the stores is because it helps them make more money one way or another. It's either because there is less labor or people like them enough to go to a store that has them over one that doesn't.

The future of successful businesses is to be more productive with less people. That's the fact! Hiring people just so they can have a job is old news and its not coming back.

dont bet on that just yet. we as people have to go to the limit of what tech does before things change.

Shops introduced self check out to be diffrent and they excepted that saving a consumer a few minutes made the person happy and that was worth the hassle and stock loss.
My local wal***t use to have a couple of nasty old ladys that insisted on checking your reciept before they let you out of the door and im sure that saved wal***t money from lost stock but it also cost them a bunch when people started to refuse to buy certain items that could be classed as personal/private. i refused to buy large items like dog food that i would throw under the cart as that was a guaranteed search. The store changed its ways when profits fell faster than what was made back on stock loss and now im happy.
No one was bothered talking to a machine years ago in fact when i was 17 i liked talking to the machine especially as i was overdrawn on my bank account so it was less personnal than a person. Now i hate machines as its every place i call i get a machine and theres the problem. Phone machines have reached the limit and now you see everyone advertising that they have real staff to talk to.
 

coolbri70

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Re: am i behind the times

i don't do self checkout, unless i'm online buying something. if i go to a store, i will deal with a live person, if not, no deal. they do not sell anything i need that badly. i once boycotted walmart for 5 years, only started going back because a former employer had oil changes done there. at the moment its banks, havn't delt with one since 2007, after they did what they did, and the fees they charge, i can remember when they would practically pay you to open an account with free everything plus interest. bout ready to go sit in the woods and eat berries
 

spyder9179

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Jun 29, 2012
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Re: am i behind the times

I guess the short answer to the OP's question is yes, you are behind the times. But, as evidenced by some of the above posts, and this one too, you aren't by yourself.

I personally never use them. If memory serves, I've only been through one once, and that was more of the wife's doing than mine, I just stood back and watched. It is true what a couple of previous posts lamented: Customer service is a lost and dead art (I normally would've said dying, but that sucker's been flatlining for years.)

You'll find a lone bright spot here are there: a really good waiter or waitress for example, but those cases are becoming more and more rare.
 

Limited-Time

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Re: am i behind the times

It would be interesting to know the ages of the posters and their stance on the self checkout. I'd bet the majority of those resisting are older. I myself use them whenever its the fastest option for cheeking out. BTW 53.
 

ezmobee

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Re: am i behind the times

I'm only 35 and I friggin' hate self checkouts. "Please place the item in the bag." I placed the item in the bag. "Please place the item in the bag." I DID!! "Please place the item in the bag." OMG :facepalm: They take longer than a cashier assuming there's only 1 or 2 people in line ahead of you. I have also been to a Home Depot once when the only open register was the self checkouts. I was pretty irritated by that.
 

southkogs

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Re: am i behind the times

It would be interesting to know the ages of the posters and their stance on the self checkout. I'd bet the majority of those resisting are older. I myself use them whenever its the fastest option for cheeking out. BTW 53.
I have found when I have one or two items, and there isn't anyone else using the self-serve, that I can get out faster that way. After that, it can be a real toss up - use the gizmo that can't figure out that you already put the item in the bag, or use the lane where the 20-something cashier can't subtract 37? from a dollar without an X-Box to help 'em out.

I'm 43, and I get just as frustrated with the checkout people as I do with the checkout machines.
 

britisher

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Feb 23, 2012
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Re: am i behind the times

I suppose this thread helps keep idle hands busy on cold and wet days! It's the present and the future guys. Get over it and move on. You don't pay with coconuts, you pay with cash or my god this new fangled stuff called credit and debit cards. One poster complained about self checkout and then admitted buying online (self checkout)???? Self checkouts are no more error prone than the checkout. No longer do items have the little price stickers on, that other new fangled doo hickie called a scanner does it. It runs off one of those PC things, which like any PC is garbage in, garbage out. So if the price has been entered in wrong, it will show at the register as wrong. How many time have you seen an item on the shelf for x amount, got to the register and it showed Y amount. K Mart and Sears are legendary for that. No-one is behind the times, just 'resistant to change'. But if we didn't embrace change, we would have no internet and NO forum to be having this debate on!! Have a great day and watch out for those evil motor cars that plough the streets these days!
 

ezmobee

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Re: am i behind the times

I suppose there is some "you kids get off my lawn" kinda attitude in this thread. However, I think having a cart full of $1k worth of building materials and being expected to use the self checkout.......is a tad ridiculous.
 

bruceb58

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Re: am i behind the times

I suppose there is some "you kids get off my lawn" kinda attitude in this thread. However, I think having a cart full of $1k worth of building materials and being expected to use the self checkout.......is a tad ridiculous.
Agreed but this thread has gone way beyond that. Just a bunch of old hens cackling now. The scanner portion is no different than what the cashier has. The only time I had a problem with the "not in bag", the override button on the touch screen gets rid of that.
 

Tyme2fish

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Feb 19, 2002
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Re: am i behind the times

My opinion is that since I'm doing the work of a cashier I should get the employee discount.
 

DayCruiser

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Sep 24, 2004
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Re: am i behind the times

I wouldn't have demanded a discount. I would have called for the manager so he or she could open up a register. HD always has a cashier here.
Coming back and rubbing it in to the manager...Somebody needs to cut back on the caffeine LOL
 

delbellboy

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Aug 24, 2010
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Re: am i behind the times

Does anyone remember when you did not get out of your car to fill up with gas? you could even get your oil checked and filled. Self serve gas stations were a scam to keep prices lower. all of us old enough to remember full service knows how long self serve keeps prices down. Whether we like it or not, full service gas left for good. As will many other talking heads that service us now.
 

MTboatguy

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Re: am i behind the times

Actually in the state of Oregon, you can't pump your own gas, it is against the law, and guess what gas is really no more expensive than in those states that have self service!
 
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