Getting Rid of Automatic Checkouts

This isn't my idea, but it is a good one. A major supermarket chain has decided to remove its customer-operated automatic checkouts. They have over 100 stores which will have them eliminated. I am fully behind this idea.

They are an example of a complicated system to get the customers to check themselves out of the supermarket. There are some drawbacks, which make them less than desirable. For one thing, there is the bagging system, which expects a certain weight for each product scanned. There is a lag between scanning and bagging,  If you have a cart with 85 items, it can take quite a while to get out. Then there is the constant barrage of repetitive instructions. Scan the next item. Place the item in the bagging area. Unexpected item in the bagging area. Please scan your next item.

A human cashier has certain advantages that come from skill and experience. They can converse. They can press a button and scan 8 items at once. They can tell what your produce is without looking it up in the system. They move fast, and they can help you put your groceries in a bag. And they are skilled at getting your payment.

I have written about automatic checkouts in previous posts. I want them to have different user-selected voices, like a GPS. I want them to have a shut up button for experienced users. But I don't use them, for the simple reason that they are frustrating to deal with. I think they are a stretch for technology, unlike ATM's which anyone can operate because they are limited in their scope. Automated checkstands have too many layers of complication. I will be glad to see them gone.