That is somewhat heartless considering that there are people with certain medical infirmities who are helped by the chckout operator (some who also pack) and those people of all ages who do not easily adapt to technology owing to problems of cognitive understanding, who still want to live a somewhat normal life.
Seconded.
Agreed, I hate self-checkouts because they are irritating, cumbersome, confusing & slow but they work for some people, that’s fine. It’s not about technology per se, it’s about its implementation. I was once in the machine room of the - then - largest supercomputer in the UK for which I had been responsible for design & implementation and someone asked me a question about his mobile phone. I said something like “I haven’t a clue, sorry, but ask me anything you want about this supercomputer and I’m sure I’ll be able to give you an answer.” And, no, mobile phones did not interfere with the computers.
Is that something once said years ago in hospitals about their electronic equipment?
Sainsbury's had scales in the produce area that automatically work out what the item is using a camera. As I use scan as you go round I weigh on those scales.
I believe the problem always was that nobody with credentials could be found who would say that there was absolutely no chance of this happening, although it seemed highly unlikely, and therefore the "voice of caution" said "just in case" because of course the "just in case" could mean that someone died. Our computer was not so critical, so we took the balance of probabilities.
My bold - Well that is a rather patronising generalisation.
I did notice things like HiFi picked up interference from mobile phones when a call was in process or other odd times (probably periodically when the mobile calls out to see which cell sites are in range and let the cell site or network locate it).
I'm sure a supermarket (Sainsbury's maybe?) has recently signed a deal to trial an image recognition system on the self checkouts to try and reduce erroneous bagging approvals and approximate age so that approval isn't needed for restricted purchases if it thinks you're old enough.
A recent visit to a Glasgow hospital revealed prohibition signs outside ICU requiring mobiles to be turned off or left outside the Dept in lockers. Let’s not forget that ‘Ward Phones’ were outsourced to private firms who supplied bedside entertainment systems. Staff were meant to police the use of mobiles to prevent ‘revenue leakage’ from the contractor who took a cut of incoming call revenue and sold 24hr ‘passes’ to make calls.
Agreed.
This is a thought I have had.
I too want to be in and out of a supermarket as quickly as possible which is exactly why I don't use self service checkouts for anything other than the smallest of shops (ie small enough I can use a small basket and fill no more than a couple of bags). No chance of 'unexpected item in bagging area' messages with a manned checkout.
That'll be another of those schemes where the AI probably turns out to be a room full of people in the third world staring at a video feed all day.
I used scan as you go round in Safeway in 1995. Its not particularly modern. Safeway only scrapped it when the rechargable batteries reached end of life and they didn't feel it was worth investing in new ones. But other stores then started offering it with more modern handsets in the 2000s, pre-dating self-checkouts in many areas.
The Amazon Go wasn't exactly that, they just verify the errors, but it was about 700 of every thousand needing human moderation. Its more likely with the age verification that if it can't produce a conclusive answer then it calls a human over in store.
and this is why many stores now have the one-way gates at the entrance and need to scan the receipt to exit.
Really, didn't realise it'd been around that long?
At my local hospital, mobile phones don't work in A&E and ICU. Not sure if it is due to the building construction or if they have deliberately put jammers in.
The orignal Safeway system in the early 90s even had special Greenbox crates for customers to pack directly into.
Waitrose don't have a remote control for the self-checkouts either. Tesco definitly does, especially in the Express stores
Are there any figures anywhere which show the number of supermarket employees made redundant as a direct result of self-checkouts being installed? My local supermarkets always seem to be advertising for home delivery drivers and staff to pick the home delivery/click & collect orders, so it doesn't seem like employment opportunities are in short supply.
Shoplifting was very much a thing before self-checkouts were, and is still very much a thing today in shops which don't have self-checkouts. To attempt to correlate the two is nonsense.
It's not uncommon for such comments, - usually directed at those who don't/can't use electronic payments or tickets and want what is convenient to themselves mandated for all. Soch comments are worthless and consequently ignored by most others.
Do you have evidence of this?
I didn't claim or even imply that there was a connection. Try somebody else.
Well said. In addition to the reasons you list, there are the obvious ones like waiting for alcohol and pharmaceutical products to be 'approved', and security devices to be removed where necessary, now expanding to a significant number of products. Also, as a subscriber to two print newspapers with paper vouchers to exchange, the procedure at self-checkouts can be frustrating, particularly at Sainsbury's which now never seems to allow it without staff intervention, often done by a clueless individual. So, if I've got more than half a dozen items and unless the staffed checkout queues are long I tend to use those.
Ah, Safeway. I remember their introduction in the late 1960s and the one opposite Bromley South Station which happened to be about 300 yards from the family home, and also opposite an equally large (for the era) Tesco. They were definitely a cut above the quality of Tesco and carried much more of what were then quite exotic foodstuffs like avacado pears. I always much preferred them to the competition and was, on the whole, sad to see them go.