Big news from Key Food on Avenue A last night, where workers were hooking up 12 new self-checkout machines ... an EVG reader shared these photos from the store at Fourth Street...
No word yet just how intuitive these new self checkouts will be... and if they will be programmed to comment on your purchases. "There's a reason those are on sale." "Hey, it's your colon." "Hmm, 10 pints of Halo Top?"
In any event, four cashier-assisted lanes will remain — the same number as before. Per the reader, Key Food staff reported mixed feelings about the new machines. Still, Key insiders hope for an improved shopper experience.
Meanwhile, the previous self-checkout systems have been shown the curb...
Perhaps a little karma for shoppers frustrated by being told to scan an item again even though they've already scanned the thing multiple times, or being prompted to remove an item from the bagging area even though they've already scanned the item and placed it in the bagging area... and now you have to wait for customer service to reset the machine and people waiting in line behind you think you're stupid.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Breaking: The self checkouts at Key Food are broken
Breaking: Models invade Key Food, hold melons
Does "saving on store labor productivity" mean that they're going to fire people?
ReplyDeletethe jobs that are gone along with the check out machines they manned — and who could somtimes correct an incorrect price now replaced by machines that pretend to think and don't need humans
ReplyDeletepretty soon it will be hard to find any human employees.
the future baby.
this is the future.
Many stores are installing these self-check out machines (3rd Avenue and 12th Street West Side Market has them). I think people should resist using them, and make nasty comments about them. (1) They are clearly there to replace workers--even if the checkout person is a low paid job, it is a necessary source of income for many people (2) most people have been lulled into the false belief that scanners attached to computers are accurate--they aren't. At least with a human being at the register one can immediately complain about a false / inaccurate scan. Resist. We are being told that these machines will make your shopping experience faster and more efficient. None sense.
ReplyDeleteI detest self-checkout machines, and will always wait for a HUMAN BEING at the checkout line.
ReplyDeleteI just hope that they stop reading aloud what I'm scanning. I feel guilty enough!
ReplyDeleteI would never patronize a store that doesn't have at least some humans at registers. I detest self-checkout.
ReplyDeleteI hate those things and have, in the two years or so since Key put in a bunch of them, been refusing to use them. Not only are they designed to put people out of work and increase greedheads' profit margins, they're just an awful, maddeningly stressful experience. Of course, when Key put in a few, it meant lines for human cashiers were hopelessly backed up, so you were sometimes forced into the automated line.
ReplyDeleteA lot of Key's customers are elderly pensioners. They come to the cashier line clutching a big book of coupons. They've counted out and apportioned every penny and every discount, like Republicans drawing up congressional districts, to maximize the value of every penny. They have to haggle with the human cashiers, who generally exhibit infinite patience, to get all those discounts they're counting on. They're often a little confused and often don't really speak English.
They're probably pretty fucked now. As are the cashiers.
Pensioners that don't speak English?
Deletethere should be 2 of these machines max at places, to help the 10 items or less line flow. Moderate to bigger shop checkouts really benefit from the cashier customer pass, scan, and bag teamwork.
ReplyDeletedown with robot babylon.
@ 11:15 AM
ReplyDeleteStrange comment. Sounded like your second paragraph was strong justification for the self checkouts.
Me, I just hope the new terminals handle NFC.
They put these in at the CVS on Grand Street. Nobody used them. Then they took them out again and brought back the humans. In a few more years, some business school grad will come up with the same bright idea to cut labor costs by using self checkout machines, etc. And so it goes.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine always used to say that if she were expected to ring up and bag her purchase, she should at least be getting minimum wage for it . . .
ReplyDeleteFYI Whole Foods Market--somewhat nearby on Houston between Bowery and Chrystie--is still 100% human checkout.
ReplyDeleteEconomic reality. Laws have consequences. $13.50 minimum wage, soon going to $15- for someone saying welcome to McDonald's?
ReplyDelete@anon 7:42 - They'd be trying to cut labor costs no matter what the minimum wage is.
ReplyDelete