The difference between European countries and America is becoming so stark. Anyone reading or watching global news has to see how backwards this country is and that it’s only getting worse.
Can you imagine an American grocery store chain letting its cashiers sit down?
I wouldn’t mind if they passed the savings on to the consumer… But they won’t.
Seriously, there are a lot of things to hate but self-checkout is not one of them. Not having to interact with humans, being able to make sure everything is scanned correctly yourself, and being able to scan at your own pace is great. The only problem is when they don’t have enough self-checkouts. Sure beats having a one or two conventional checkout open out of the 25 or so they have in the store. I would prefer they pass the savings on to the consumer, but that’s the only fault I can find with self-checkout, well, that and the stupid weight sensor but more and more stores aren’t requiring that stupid “place item in bagging area” thing anymore.
If I’m paying the same costs for things… Why wouldn’t I want someone who’s better at scanning the shit than I am to do the job? Why do I want to fumble with knowing the vegetable codes? Or waiting 8 minutes for an employee to come over when the scanner freaks out because the 3 oz item isn’t in the bag… even though it’s definitely in the fucking bag. I also have to wonder if theft goes up considerable with more self-checkouts in play. That means that costs can actually go up over time… no?
They can be an okay experience… But a lot of times they’re not.
The Fred Meyer (Kroger) in my neighborhood has 4-5 armed and body armored security guards stationed at the entrance and exits. They ask to check your receipts at the exit and search all your bags.
Its actually illegal to force someone to stop since its not a private club like Costco, so you can just tell them no and keep walking. Thats not well known though so you have stormtroopers checking old ladies papers and searching all their belongings.
Oregon allows off duty officers to moonlight as armed guards so a lot of them are cops from various departments. During the 2020 protests there were a few Federal Protective Service agents patrolling the store.
