Discussions

I hope this doesn't keep happening. I would have left my stuff there. What ever happened to service?

People need to quit using them..... save jobs ..... don’t let self check outs replace Canadian jobs!!!

Do the self checkouts at shoppers take cash? And how do you buy gift cards? Just scan the bar code or do you have to activate them somehow? I don’t mind using a self checkout for a small order of simple items, but want the option of going to a cashier. I think it’s terrible that a cashier would tell a customer to use the self checkout, what horrible customer service.

at the 18th street store and I hope it never does I will not be giving them my business! I pay cash only! Not at all interested in using self checkouts!!

Customer service, what's that? It's clearly to save them money, it does nothing for the customer. I don't mind 1 or 2 things but I sure will limit what I buy. And when you use a discount card you have to call an employee since they have to swipe it. I find the whole thing so annoying. Does nothing to make me want to shop there. If there's no cashier next time I'll leave my stuff there and walk out. At least its a choice to use them at Walmart.

Don’t self scan gift cards it won’t always register sucks ass to be out that money until hopefully the company will refund the amount.

When people said they would refuse to use ATM’s and self serve gas bars etc, People don’t like change. I like self check outs but also like having a choice. Interesting thing though, it is the future whether we like it or not

I had a similar experience one afternoon at the 18th street location. I did refuse to use self checkout.  
CBC has done a few reports about this very topic.  
 
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5067618

There’s nothing wrong with self checks I use them all the time! I find them faster and they always help you if needed!!

There is a place for self checkouts. Having 4-6 self checkouts vs one cashier you can serve a lot more people when it's a basket of items. I use self all the time cause I don't want to wait 10 minutes in line to hear "How are you today. Airmiles?" This is no different than having the merge lane on 18th. People flair their hands "I won't let them in!" "Change my driving/shopping habits.....preposterous!"

I was sitting by the till as my wife was in the store shopping and I was watching people use the self check out. Can’t believe how many people just threw stuff in the bags without scanning it. I’d like to know what they lose per day . I wonder if they take that in consideration to not having to pay someone to stand there and scan your products.

I am genuinely curious, when did they throw stuff in the bags? Would they leave things in the cart and leave put it in the bag as they walk out the door after the transaction??  
 
I just find it interesting because when I use self checkouts at any store the weight scale often shouts at me that I either “didn’t put the scanned item on the scale ” or “unidentified weight on the scale” meanwhile I just had to move things around because either my leg was pressing against the scale or some bulky items were leaning on something not on the scale or somehow the way things were stacked on the bag rack set it off. I can’t proceed to do anything until I fix the weight discrepancy. Some stores you have to get a clerk to punch in greeting cards manually and you can’t set the card back on the scale without alerting it of additional unregistered weight. (Which the clerk has to come back and clear that alarm). Unless the items are as light as one Kleenex tissue I don’t see how unscanned items can end up on the scale.  
 
Not criticizing your observation , just genuinely confused,  
 
Edited by Seana-T, 2019-05-01 09:21:54

Like the other poster said, when you take items and they don't scan and you put them in the finished area the machine has never let me proceed until the weight of products is correct. Curious how people are not scanning without the machine not saying anything.

I am trying really hard to manage money so don't carry credit or debit cards with me. If I don't have the cash I don't buy it. My own personal way to be aware of that I am spending. There are very few self checkouts that take cash. If I was in this situation I would feel like I was being punished for using cash. I don't think that is fair either.  
I believe that they are affecting the hiring of staff. I believe they are taking jobs away from people who need them.  
I won't use them because it is MY choice not to use them. They are not convenient for me and I probably won't shop at any stores where there is no human cashier to take cash.

the fact that self-checkouts mean possible loss of jobs I'd like to point out something. I have multiple health issues including arthritic knees & fibromyalgia. It pisses me off royally when I have to stand in line behind several someones with carts piled high with items. And when every other checkout has long lineups. Used to be that you could go to the Express checkout but now they too are gone so for people like me (or let's say some poor parent needing just a few things also dealing with a cranky child or someone coming off shift-work or a long work day) it's self checkout. I don't like doing it but on the other hand I don't feel like standing there forever & a day to pay for less than 5 items. I don't know what the solution is except to bring back the "12 items or less lanes".

don't shop there. Like any other adult.

While I was there at Shoppers a lady was helping someone use self check !

I was told by the self-check 'helper lady' at Walmart, that there has been a lot of theft, which is why now we have to answer whether we WILL scan each item before it will begin, and also before we pay, we have to say (yes or no) whether all items were scanned. So apparently, stealing was very real!

My husband and I stopped there to pick up a few items and when we got to the checkouts they were all closed. Sign to use self checkouts. You CANNOT pay cash at these checkouts so until you can, I will do as we did and leave my items on the counter and go to the next store.  
Perhaps I will go but a loaf of bread and leave my my coins on the counter for it and walk out......It is not theft if I pay!!!  
 
I also think that these stores should be giving customers a discount at the till for doing their jobs for them.  
 
Edited by NoSoup4U, 2019-05-01 15:16:31

Service is a thing of the past now. It doesn't seem to matter if you are willing to pay for it or not..... It is no longer an option.  
 
Edited by NoSoup4U, 2019-05-01 15:24:30

Service isn't gone, higher profits for the corporations is just being prioritized over it.

I talked with the store today.  
My understanding is that there is to be at minimum one associate at the front all the time. That associate is to first ask if you're paying by debit or cash and offer to help with the self checkout... but using the til is absolutely an option for anyone that would like to. There's no effort to force use of self checkouts and are no plans for there to be one.

I was in Alberta and almost all gas stations were prepay. Sucks if you want to pay by cash and fill your tank. There is such a small percent that use cash honestly I don't think it would hurt business to go cashless. I have had more cashiers screw up giving me change then an automated checker.

People are funny....they’ll complain about a self checkout taking jobs but yet they’ll drive a vehicle that they put gas into themselves instead of a gas jockey, eat at a buffet restaurant where they serve themselves instead of a server and pay for the meal with cash they took out from an ATM instead of the bank teller.....  
 
Times are a changin’....we can either adapt or get left behind

Welcome to the future. They will be the norm in 5 to 10 years. Not to mention other big changes involving shopping and payment technology (anyone see the Amazon Grocery store?). You can put off having to deal with the reality of this automation until it's extremely uncomfortable, or you can embrace the future.  
 
Jobs is a good metric to be taking into consideration. However, boycotts of self-service terminals are the wrong way to go about it. Whether or not this turns into net job losses at the retail level (I've seen mixed messages even in past threads on this site!), automation job losses is a whole other topic that MUST be dealt with. Retail is just one industry on the cusp of big changes. Focusing all energy on it is just turning a blind eye to something a whole lot bigger.  
 
Rather than fruitlessly fighting the inevitable, one should focus on the next step. If cashiers and tellers are going out, what is going to come next?  
So far, the openings have mostly been centred in the gig economy (apps). Which is generally NOT a step up. And also a great reason to focus the conversation on where this goes NOW, instead of waiting until it's too late.  
 
I use self-checkouts. I have no issues with them (unless I have cash, anyhow). My only real quibble is in how the stores choose to lay them out.  
 
Co-op = Excellent  
 
Shoppers East = Terrible (if there is a lineup at the corresponding till)  
 
Walmart = Excellent  
 
Superstore = Terrible (they NEED some form of crowd control, because the line can be ridiculous)

I know superstore used to be that way, but now you are not required to put it on the bagging area in order to proceed. Much better in my opinion.

has always been replacing human labour. Been happening for thousands of years.

3 ways, have something in both hands and scan one put both in the bag at the same time . 2nd way bag of scanned items and put the bag in the cart and add to it with other items not scanned. 3rd cover up unscanned item with bags.

I'll use the self checkouts, but I feel guilty for doing it, LOL. Seriously, it is the begining of the end of hundreds of thousands of jobs and I don't like contributing to that prospect. I also don't like the fact that in many, if not most stores, the self-checkouts don't accept cash. I like cash! I also think that we may be very sorry someday that we digitized everything, went paperless, cashless. There have already been days when the networks have gone down. We survived, but I'd hate to think what would happen if they were down for several weeks.  
 
I'm old enough to remember when the banks introduced the first ATMs. They told us that it would cut costs, as they wouldn't need as many tellers. Funny, since then we have seen the introduction of bank service fees for almost every transaction you can imagine. As for the employee, my guess is that the store tells them to try to get the customers to use the self-checkouts.