this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2025
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It’s irritating for sure. They’ve been around for long enough that 95% of shoppers should know how to use them.
I remember before these things came out. It would typically take forever to get through the line to have a cashier ring you up. There was always an old person in front of you that wanted to pay via check, which slowed the line down even more. How about the guy using his 2-way, on speaker, in front of you? That fucking chirp going on and on. What’s that? Someone wants to buy a lotto ticket, which means the cashier has to go to another counter to get the ticket and come back. Next, the soccer mom has 20 coupons she wants to use, half of which are expired or are for a different store. It was so much fun!
I much prefer the self checkouts. I can get through those within a few minutes. It sucks that those cashier jobs have mostly been eliminated. But that’s the price of progress I suppose.
Losing local jobs and making the customer do their own service, while their salary goes to the corp executives, yeah “progress” indeed.
Try going to an Aldi checkout line.
I'm far happier waiting in line with how absurdly fast they train and empower their cashiers to be then I ever have been at Kroger or Walmart. By now all the cashiers recognize me too because they're paid well enough to reduce churn like that, and I don't even get ID checked for alcohol most of the time.
It's a breath of fresh air after being forced to wait in line for self checkout at any store where everyone is slow. Even myself, and even you, because the machines don't let you go fast because they don't trust you or I. It just feels faster because you're doing something the whole time.
Self checkout isnt automation, its YOU doing the job instead of an employee.
I don’t follow that argument. Am I really doing actual work? Spending 5-10 minutes scanning some items and then paying?
Is this some sort of “principle of the matter” thing? Because it seems like one of those arguments for arguments sake.
If you went to a cashier, you still have to put your items on the conveyer belt. The only thing the cashier is doing is scanning the items and placing them in bags. Most people pay by card, which again is something that you do yourself.
I don’t buy the whole “YOU doing the job” nonsense.
What part of it is automated though? Im not trying to make a point about whats better, self checkout or cashier, only saying all the tasks are still done by humans.
Perhaps I worded that wrongly.