Self-checkout lines should be for small orders only

Was at the Kroger on Elm Street yesterday and watched a lady with two full carts try to scan everything herself. She held up the whole line for 12 minutes because the machine wouldn't read a barcode on a watermelon. I get that stores want to save money on cashiers, but letting people with huge orders clog the self-checkout is just bad planning. Why not put a 15 item limit on those machines?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamiekim14d ago

The one at my local Safeway last week, some guy was scanning like 50 things and the machine just froze. He got so mad he started smacking the screen. Took the poor worker 15 minutes to reset it. Self-checkout is for people who grab 5 things not a whole week of groceries.

burns.fiona14d ago

Oh man that's so frustrating for everyone involved! I feel like this is part of a bigger problem where stores push self-checkout to save money on staff but then don't bother making the machines work right for bigger orders. It's like they want us to do their job for free but the tech can't handle it. I've noticed people get really stressed and angry at those machines because they're not designed for the way people actually shop. Most folks do a big weekly haul not just a few things, especially with everyone trying to save time. The whole system feels like it was built for a perfect world that doesn't exist in real life.