There's Always a Formula

[roho]

Much as I try to avoid it, I end up at a Wal-Mart from time to time. Usually this would be the one right next to where I work, or the one close to home. Coincidentally, these are both fairly new stores, built at almost the same time

Comments

[brianblackberry]

They have them at the Super Walmart in Racine, but I do not use them and instead use the cashier, helps them keep their jobs.

[altonwings]

Supposedly it's due to roll out nationwide, but they aren't the only ones. Our local Harris Teater (a supermarket) has 8 of them too--excellent if you're buying just a few items and want to run in/run out.

The down side happens when people (who inevitably think them computers is mighty spooky) try using them, and take 10 times as long as it would have been to stand in line at a cashier.

[roho]

Yeah, the Jewel Osco where we do most of our grocery shopping has 'em. I'll sometimes use them if the other lanes are crowded, and I've just got one or two items, but yes...you run the risk of getting stuck behind some charmingly-befuddled elderly chap repeatedly trying to barcode-scan a lime ;)

[araquan]

The one near me (I can see it from the balcony, seasonally, when the trees' leaves are gone) has about six such registers by each entrance. I never use them. I tried it once and it kept yakking at me for not scanning/massing the items fast enough. And I was not being slow- or any slower than simply finding the damn barcodes on a random pile of items would imply. Eventually it sounded it's little "idiot alert" alarm to drag the minder over- for which I had to wait. This was early in the system's life so maybe they still had some bugs to work out, but... I didn't care for the experience, at all.

I wish I could say that I had noble motivations about keeping the cashiers in their jobs, but the real reason I hate the things is that it I don't see why I should be doing someone else's job, not get paid for it, get criticized for my performance in said job, all for someone who wants to get my money without having to pay for a warm hand to take it.

[roho]

Hee...I've got in arguments with the things, too. Usually something like as follows:
*BEEP* *places item in the bagging area*
"UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA. REMOVE IT!"
*Shift the item off the bagging area*
"ITEM REMOVED FROM BAGGING AREA. REPLACE IT!"
*Replace item in bag*
"UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA. REMOVE IT!"
*Repeat until madness*

[araquan]

Yeah, mine was bitching about masses also- but in my case it was like:
*BEEP* (quarter second delay) PLACE ITEM IN BAGGING AREA. PLACE ITEM IN BAGGING AREA.
*places item in bag- before he can even let go of said item, cometh next...*
UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA. PLEASE WAIT FOR ASSISTANCE.

And I'm like, "Dude, WTF?"

To say nothing of the fact that the one other time I tried using one at Wal-Mart (I was in a rush and out of state) the thing had like three different places where it would take cards, bills, and coins- that weren't particularly close to each other nor terribly well labeled. I wonder if Microsoft designed these things...

[nyuni]

Enough of the stores around here have the things that I've come to develop preferences for certain machines.

The NCR touch screen type used by Wal-Mart and Home Depot are the best and the easiest to use, with a low incidence of random problems.

The Fujitsu system used by many grocery stores around here is like the aforementioned... continuous false "Place item in the bag!" and such. I avoid using these whenever possible because they're such a gigantic pain in the ass.

[gypsypet]

Our harris teeter ones are pretty darn spiffy, but you do have to well-time the placing of items in bags. Oh, and also do not lean any random body part like a knee or anything against the little baggage corral, because then it thinks you have placed non-scanned items in the bag.

We were initially perked to see the non-human check-out counters at our wal-mart, but they soon looked really beat up, they didn't work well EVERY SINGLE TIME we used it (and this was after we had been using them regularly over at HT for at least a year), the sloooooooooooooooooow cashier minder always had to be called over there at least once, and at least once she had to give up and send us over to stand in a long line for a human cashier because no one could get the non-human one to work. I've been extremely unimpressed with the wal-mart ones. But, then again, that only fits with my wal-mart experiences in general.