this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
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In Brazil I only see more and more places adopting it, does not seem a failure
Same in Europe, it seems a success.
I feel like this is a symptom of the writers saying, "What would make a good headline?" And not "Would this headline be misleading?"
Business owners are told it will save them money, they're told that everyone in the "first world" is doing it, and they're told that customers love it.
All lies. But business owners routinely make foolish decisions in hopes of trimming costs by a few percentage points, only to discover they've been fucked sideways by slick marketing teams and smooth talking salesmen.
Which translates into the customer paying less, assuming you have proper competition where the customer can choose the store next door (all shopping centres in my city have that - two competing stores that sell exactly the same products - so they have to compete on price).
A lot of customers do love it. The ones that don't can still use regular checkout. Or just ask for help at the self checkout.
It's really not that hard, scan barcode, put in bag. Occasionally put an item on the scales and select from tomato or red apple on the touch screen. What's difficult about that?
That's never how this works. Business profits go up long before customers see any kind of discount.
You get discounts when there's a surplus of something, and the purpose of these self-check-out kiosks isn't to create a surplus of grocery stock but to conserve and transform labor costs.
I've never seen a customer's eyes light up with joy upon seeing a self-checkout aisle. Customers enjoy shorter lines, but when everything is self-check out you're still all in the same line. And self-check out is slower, so you're often stuck in a longer line.
The one upside of self-checkout is that you don't need staff to operate the machine, so if you're doing a quick in-and-out handful of items purchase during a slow day, it can be faster than waiting in the one line that has everyone in the store backed up behind it. But, again, that's because stores want to conserve on labor. Not because there's some fundamental benefit to self-swipe. If all the aisles were fully staffed all the time, there would be no discernible benefit to self-swipe.