Self - checkout machine just dumb sometimes
By kingparker
@kingparker (9673)
United States
March 5, 2012 3:31pm CST
After work today, we drove straight to Wal - mart do some shopping on super glue; some towels for the bathroom; and some batteries etc.... When I come to the line of self - checkout, I scanned the first item, which is a tube of super glue, required a Wal - mart authorized staff to provided approval on it. I just don't understand why, but I have to call a service staff came over, and she punch in some combination number in the computer to authorize it. Then after I scanned the second item, the machine told me some unexpected item is the bag, which was just the super glue in it. The error message keep on flashing, and it just drove me crazy. I had to call the staff again to fix that problem; which she has no idea too. Then she has to called her supervisor over and stop it. Then she told me to do everything over again. Although the self - checkout machines are convenient to most customers, if I have a choice, I rather go for human operating machine.
5 people like this
10 responses
@inertia4 (27961)
• United States
8 Mar 12
I like the self check out feature at some store. I agree that they are not all working well either. And I think they need to be perfected more before they are widely used. And also have more security for the stores. I know myself, if I encountered a problem like that I would probably through everything I shopped for all over the place and leave the store. I have no patients when it comes to things like that.
@alberello (4752)
• Italy
6 Mar 12
I must tell you that in Italy (my country) this type of technology, department stores, is still in its infancy. There are still some stores that enable this type of auto-calculation of price the specific products, but to have this equipment, you often have the social-card of the company, which I do not possess to any supermarket. From what you've described in your review, it would seem that even in your country, this computerized system, it should still be somewhat developed.
1 person likes this
@lilaclady (28207)
• Australia
5 Mar 12
I personally won't use use those self serve things, I think it is just doing people out of work, as far as the glue is concerned I guess it is because of the kids that sniff glue, here in Australia a lot of these sorts of things plus spray paints are in locked cabinets...
@maezee (41997)
• United States
6 Mar 12
Yes, they can be SUPER frustrating sometimes! The only problem is that when you are at Wal-Mart, while there are about 300 people working, there are usually only 2 or 3 registers open, meaning that it takes FOREVER to get checked out. *sigh*. Either way you're pretty much SOL.
1 person likes this
@mariab2000 (740)
• Canada
6 Mar 12
We have these in the walmart here too and I never use them as there is always something wrong that happens when I use them and I find it takes longer to use them then with a cashier. Maybe some people might find it convenient but it is not something that I am used to yet and I don't like to try it either...
1 person likes this
@kcwheeler (23)
• Canada
6 Mar 12
I can not stand self checkout. "Please place the item back in the bag," and "Please wait for an attendant" are two of the most irritating messages.
One time I was at my grocery store, just buying a couple of things, so I decided to go through self checkout. My bananas had no sticker, and there was an attendant right there, so I asked her for the code. She offered to show me how to look it up, and I said no, that I knew but it was just easier if she gave me the code. She looked at me with disgust and said "What is the point of self checkout then?" I looked back at her and said "Well then what is the point of you being here? I guess your job isn't necessary either" She gave me the code after that!
@rapunzelcat (271)
• United States
6 Mar 12
Those things are so annoying, I only use them when the cash register lines are really long and I'm in a hurry, not that it ends up saving me much time! That's if they're open at all, that's right, at our Walmart, lots of times, they're closed.
My biggest peeve about those things is that whenever I use one I always seem to have a bunch of things that hardly weigh anything and it keeps telling me to bag the item even though I already have! Grrr!
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
5 Mar 12
I have had similar problems and I refuse to use those machines. I'd rather keep a person employed than a machine. To me it also takes longer to check out in one of those machines than a person unless you only have ONE ITEM than a person.
I'm sure the superglue is a flagged item that you have to be a certain age to buy. You know teenagers use so many everyday products to get "stupid" with the stores try to safe guard things to save their hide if it was used in an inappropriate manner.
@Masihi (4413)
• Canada
5 Mar 12
I agree, those are a pain in the butt, and I'm no computer fan either. We have them in some of our grocery stores. Hubby uses them but I always go to a human cashier because I want to avoid any kind of mistake and computer glitch like you mentioned above. That's the sole reason why I never ventured in that area in the first place. With my luck something ALWAYS happens wrong!
1 person likes this
@lindaharding627 (1442)
• United States
5 Mar 12
Just the other day I used a self checkout and ran into several different problems. It required special permission for Nyquil so I had to wait on a checkout person to come over. She punched in the code and I rang it up. Then the stupid machine tried to ring up my coat and bleeped at me because I was in the grocery store and obviously the coat was already paid for. I decided to ring up three items of the same value on the same card. The first two rang up but the third would not and the cashier told me that the checkout locks your card if you have the same amount used three times in the same day even if you are getting three different products that cost the same.
