7 Things You Need To Know About Using Self-Checkout

I live in Maryland and my mail grocery store (Giant Food) allows shoppers who have loyalty cards to check out a handheld scanner and use it as you shop to scan your groceries and bag as you go. They call the program “Scan It” and I love it. I can put all my cold items in one bag as I go. I never squish my bread or chips and when I get to the end of my shopping trip one quick click on the scanner allows me to transfer my list to the check out so I can just pay and go with my groceries already all packed up. I wish other stores would do this.

Julie, I want to tell you how much I enjoy your blog and how much I have learned. I admire your hard work and that you like the challenge of finding better, more efficient and greener ways of living. I respect how you shared your story and the courage you showed in the challenges you have overcome.

I would like to add to your blog about self checkouts from another perspective.
I often hear the comments that electronics and technology have taken over our lives. I am in somewhat agreement, yet I do encourage and understand all the benefits we as a society have achieved from the courage and wisdom of those who, like you, make the way for new ideas and products. There was a time a person died from an abscessed tooth and is was more than common for women to die in child birth, and technology and knowledge has changed the world so much for the better.

I think technology is wonderful,when used in keeping with,and remembering the human face of such advances. Many, many, lives have been saved, children are learning that would otherwise not learn, people with no voice are able to communicate through touch boards and these forms of technology create a better live and world for humankind.

But as humans, we have a responsibility to ensure we leave the world a better place for others. Selfcheck is simply corporate for the sake of profit. It is guised in the illusion of creating more time for the consumer, but in reality it is taking the livelihood of many. I have heard, from large stores, that they are hiring more people for selfcheck, and that may be so at the beginning, but as soon as the turn over is complete, that will not be the case.

In many stores the marketing ploy is to have few cashiers, so the lines are long, and then a cashier comes up and says “I can help you use the self checkout.” You are, perhaps, in a hurry, or have a fussy toddler, and viola, it has worked, as the store purposely has decreased te cashiers for this very reason, and you are now part of the corporate greed takeover.

Self checkout needs no holidays, no benefits, no raises, there is only profit. The stores don’t, as of yet, offer a discount for you working for them. and there are so few cashiers, people are forced to use the self check out. The marketing is all very subliminal. I watch the cashiers say to customers “You can use the cheself check out’ I think how difficult that must be, that you are told to help eliminate your own job. Retail workers are already one of the most overworked and underpaid sectors of the workforce, and selfcheck will only exacerbate the situation.

We are seeing malls close, as online shopping surges, we are seeing many jobs that were once part of our society eliminated, think self serve gas stations, but the price of gas is not reflected in lack of attendants and money saved, but the profits are.

We need, as a society, to distinguish when technology is so very beneficial, and when it crosses the line and becomes harmful.

We do, as consumers, have the power. Corporations will NEVER, EVER, stop trying to increase profits or exploit humans, but we have the power to not buy things such as sweat shop products, cheap plastic toys that are part of the food industry, or self check out. If we continue to let humankind ravage the ability of people to work, there will be a greater void between the rich and the poor.

I see you as a leader in innovative ways of being more efficient and productive, but this post,does not speak to that.

I also have affiliates and have to, on occasions, decide that I will not be part of any corporation whose sole purpose is to increase profits at the expense of those who are already on the margins,especially in these difficult times.

Keep up the great work.
Joan

Self checkouts increase the bottom line of the company offering them. Why would you want to work for any company without getting paid or contributing to the loss of someones job just to increase their profits? When the company offers checkouts that limit the items such as an express lane of 15 items or less the lines move quickly if only a few items are needed. If these self checkouts are avoided and lines form at the cashiers the company would need to open more cashiers to serve the customers. I feel we pay enough money to purchase our groceries without having to work for the company for free to get them.

I live in Maryland and my mail grocery store (Giant Food) allows shoppers who have loyalty cards to check out a handheld scanner and use it as you shop to scan your groceries and bag as you go. They call the program “Scan It” and I love it. I can put all my cold items in one bag as I go. I never squish my bread or chips and when I get to the end of my shopping trip one quick click on the scanner allows me to transfer my list to the check out so I can just pay and go with my groceries already all packed up. I wish other stores would do this.

Julie, I want to tell you how much I enjoy your blog and how much I have learned. I admire your hard work and that you like the challenge of finding better, more efficient and greener ways of living. I respect how you shared your story and the courage you showed in the challenges you have overcome.

I would like to add to your blog about self checkouts from another perspective.
I often hear the comments that electronics and technology have taken over our lives. I am in somewhat agreement, yet I do encourage and understand all the benefits we as a society have achieved from the courage and wisdom of those who, like you, make the way for new ideas and products. There was a time a person died from an abscessed tooth and is was more than common for women to die in child birth, and technology and knowledge has changed the world so much for the better.

I think technology is wonderful,when used in keeping with,and remembering the human face of such advances. Many, many, lives have been saved, children are learning that would otherwise not learn, people with no voice are able to communicate through touch boards and these forms of technology create a better live and world for humankind.

But as humans, we have a responsibility to ensure we leave the world a better place for others. Selfcheck is simply corporate for the sake of profit. It is guised in the illusion of creating more time for the consumer, but in reality it is taking the livelihood of many. I have heard, from large stores, that they are hiring more people for selfcheck, and that may be so at the beginning, but as soon as the turn over is complete, that will not be the case.

In many stores the marketing ploy is to have few cashiers, so the lines are long, and then a cashier comes up and says “I can help you use the self checkout.” You are, perhaps, in a hurry, or have a fussy toddler, and viola, it has worked, as the store purposely has decreased te cashiers for this very reason, and you are now part of the corporate greed takeover.

Self checkout needs no holidays, no benefits, no raises, there is only profit. The stores don’t, as of yet, offer a discount for you working for them. and there are so few cashiers, people are forced to use the self check out. The marketing is all very subliminal. I watch the cashiers say to customers “You can use the cheself check out’ I think how difficult that must be, that you are told to help eliminate your own job. Retail workers are already one of the most overworked and underpaid sectors of the workforce, and selfcheck will only exacerbate the situation.

We are seeing malls close, as online shopping surges, we are seeing many jobs that were once part of our society eliminated, think self serve gas stations, but the price of gas is not reflected in lack of attendants and money saved, but the profits are.

We need, as a society, to distinguish when technology is so very beneficial, and when it crosses the line and becomes harmful.

We do, as consumers, have the power. Corporations will NEVER, EVER, stop trying to increase profits or exploit humans, but we have the power to not buy things such as sweat shop products, cheap plastic toys that are part of the food industry, or self check out. If we continue to let humankind ravage the ability of people to work, there will be a greater void between the rich and the poor.

I see you as a leader in innovative ways of being more efficient and productive, but this post,does not speak to that.

I also have affiliates and have to, on occasions, decide that I will not be part of any corporation whose sole purpose is to increase profits at the expense of those who are already on the margins,especially in these difficult times.

Keep up the great work.
Joan

Self checkouts increase the bottom line of the company offering them. Why would you want to work for any company without getting paid or contributing to the loss of someones job just to increase their profits? When the company offers checkouts that limit the items such as an express lane of 15 items or less the lines move quickly if only a few items are needed. If these self checkouts are avoided and lines form at the cashiers the company would need to open more cashiers to serve the customers. I feel we pay enough money to purchase our groceries without having to work for the company for free to get them.