Unstaffed tills were supposed to revolutionise shopping. Now, both retailers and customers are bagging many self-checkout kiosks.

‘It hasn’t delivered’: The spectacular failure of self-checkout technology::Unstaffed tills were supposed to revolutionise shopping. Now, both retailers and customers are bagging many self-checkout kiosks.

  • lovesickoyster@lemmy.worldEnglish
    224·
    11 months ago

    ugh… self checkout here in switzerland works like a dream - it’s not the self checkout idea that’s problematic, it’s the customers.

    • candybrie@lemmy.worldEnglish
      72·
      11 months ago

      Do yours freak out when you put your re-usable bags in the bagging area even when you tell it you’re using 4 of your own bags? Or have two barcodes on packages and if the wrong one scans (either because you aren’t sure which needs to be scanned or because they’re next to each other and you don’t get a gun), you need a cashier to override? Or have weight sensors that are just wrong about how much items should weigh? Or only have enough room for like 2 bags of groceries but it isn’t ok to take any out of the bagging area?

      I don’t think it’s just customers.

      • lovesickoyster@lemmy.worldEnglish
        32·
        11 months ago

        Never really had any problems.

        Do yours freak out when you put your re-usable bags in the bagging area even when you tell it you’re using 4 of your own bags?

        no weight sensors, and where there are, you can put the bags on the platform, wait for like 20 seconds for it to recognize them and continue with the scanning.

        Or have two barcodes on packages and if the wrong one scans (either because you aren’t sure which needs to be scanned or because they’re next to each other and you don’t get a gun), you need a cashier to override?

        never had that happen but this is the store’s problem and I’m guessing doesn’t happen all that often - neither the fault of the machine nor the customer.

        Or have weight sensors that are just wrong about how much items should weigh?

        never experienced that either with the ones that do have weight sensors.

        Or only have enough room for like 2 bags of groceries but it isn’t ok to take any out of the bagging area?

        the ones with weight sensors have like a 1m*1m platform, there’s plenty of room for like 3-4 full bags.

    • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      11 months ago

      Turns out an increasingly advanced society becomes increasingly confusing to your populace when education is disregarded.

    • BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
      712·
      11 months ago

      Ah yes, typical technical folk, blame the user for bad design.

      If your target audience can’t use what you’ve designed, it’s the fault of the designer, not the user.

      I say this as having been in IT for 30+ years now. This argument is always presented by juniors, because their design “couldn’t possibly be wrong, the users are just doing it wrong”.

      UI needs to be intuitive and obvious. Don’t blame the user if you failed at this.

      Edit: Hahahaha the downvotes! Please, send me your resumes, so we know who not to hire! Hahahahaja

      • CADmonkey@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        I don’t know why you are being downvoted, must be a bunch of people wanting to defend a shitty UI.

        Because you’re right, a self checkout shouldn’t require technical knowledge to use.