my DH saw them at Walmart and said those replace people .. he said not good .. we dont use them .  

its sad the number of people who lost their jobs because of  uscans ..  

 

gayla50:

my DH saw them at Walmart and said those replace people .. he said not good .. so we done use them.  there nothing but a mess most of the time .

That is how I feel. I refuse to use them because of that reason.

Pat:

 Personally I agree with you, besides, I feel awkward using them, and I think our world is becoming far too automated with faceless transactions. I know there are people here who like them and say they're faster and more convenient, though. 

Maybe someone else will chime in; I'd like to hear other thoughts about this.  

 

I'm with you on the loss of jobs and increase of depersonalization.

I've never used one, because, inevitably, I'll have to get someone to help me anyway.

 

bw

I use them frequently at the grocery store I go to most; their system is very user-friendly and I like being able to verify the prices of items as I ring them up.  I haven't had much experience with the ones at WalMart (don't go there a whole lot) and the couple of times I tried to use them, I ended up confused.  Mainly surrounding what to do with items too big to fit on the bagging platform; unless lines are very long, I just go to a cashier.  I used one at Lowe's this morning and it saved me a lot of time; there were lines on all stations open and I was only getting 3 little bags of screws; I used the uscan, paid cash,  and was out the door in about 2 minutes.

 I actually like them, but agree about the loss of jobs. What I can't stand is the canned voice telling me to put the item in the bag one second after I've scanned it. I don't ever have many items, so don't need help bagging.

What I don't like is the impersonal side of them. The cashiers here are mostly friendly and helpful. At Hannaford, there is no self-scan, and their cashiers and baggers are extremely polite, courteous and friendly. At that store, I'd never use self-scan.

Home Depot - they're much quicker than the cashiers. Sometimes it's hard to find a cashier, and at WalMart, you can never find a sales associate to help you out.However, at WalMart, there is always a man in the garden dept. who will carry heavy bags to your car; at Home Depot, never.

I like self-checkouts!  Most of you are mentioning how many min. wage jobs are lost, but think of how many well paying jobs were created to invent/develop/manufacture/install/maintain those machines.   

I don't like them. Our Wal-mart has them, but half the time they don't work. I'd rather use a cashier, I feel like I'm helping them to keep a job.

23456:

I like self-checkouts!  Most of you are mentioning how many min. wage jobs are lost, but think of how many well paying jobs were created to invent/develop/manufacture/install/maintain those machines.   

 

But those jobs are not in my town, not for my kids or neighbors and there aren't nearly as many of those jobs as there would be cashier jobs across the nation without the self checkouts. 

They're not my favorite and I've only ever used them when I've had groceries not to exceed one of those small handheld baskets -- maybe 10 items, usually less.  I've only seen them in one store so far in IN.  In VA they had them at Food Lion and what the voice prompt said and what the screen said were 2 very different things; if you didn't know what you were doing, then the whole computer would crash.  I figured it out, but noticed that most of the time at least 2 of the 3 were "closed" b/c the service reps at the store had no idea how to get them back to working.

Regarding scanning and self bagging, the current issue of Reader's Digest (page17- article) states; Use the self-checkout line at the supermarket. Your impulse buys will drop by 17 to 32 Percent. (Not incidentally, this translates to an annual weight loss of 3.1 pounds for men and 4.1 pounds for women.)

Darlene*