How do self checkouts at stores save money?

[Chuck Wintle]

They are testing technology using RFID tags where your entire cart is automatically scanned using RFID tags on each product. No need to even unload the cart. I have no idea how they deal with produce or how they stop folks who remove the tags.

I have heard walmart is experimenting with this idea but have not seen any of the new carts. pretty soon every thing will have an RFID tag, even people.

[Chuck Wintle]

I've noticed that younger generations seem to have no issues using self checkouts while older generations have a devil of a time with them. Young generations have used computers their entire lives so they are used to dealing with computers.

I'm not convinced self checkouts really lower costs. Most grocery stores have four to six self checkouts manned by one cashier. These same grocery stores often had only one express lane open before self checkout. The cost to repair the new registers probably exceeds $100 an hour when they break. I think that self check attracts shoppers who like the ease of checkout. I will choose a grocery store with a self checkout over one without them.

in an ideal world the self-checkout will lower costs for the store and improve the bottom line for the store. Getting rid of employees is a way to do this easily. Eventually the buying public will become trained to do the work of checking out except that he/she is donating the labor. Probably in the past when grocery stores were owned and managed by families they actually cared about the customer and the employee. Today's MBA is trained to see only dollars and cents.

[Joe Angrisani]

.....Eventually the buying public will become trained to do the work of checking out except that he/she is donating the labor.....

We've been doing it for years at restaurants. Do you self-checkout haters avoid restaurants because the customer is paying for some of the labor while the business owner skirts along with half-priced wages? How loud would you bitch if you had to give the supermarket checker a 50 cent "tip" so that the store owner could reduce his out-of-pocket labor cost.

[Brian Elfert]

in an ideal world the self-checkout will lower costs for the store and improve the bottom line for the store. Getting rid of employees is a way to do this easily. Eventually the buying public will become trained to do the work of checking out except that he/she is donating the labor. Probably in the past when grocery stores were owned and managed by families they actually cared about the customer and the employee. Today's MBA is trained to see only dollars and cents.

For me, self checkouts are all about convenience. I can get out of the store faster than waiting in line for a human cashier.

Technology has eliminated millions and millions of jobs over the years. My employer used to have hundreds of people doing a job that maybe two dozen people with computers do today. We also have 30 highly paid employees taking care of those computers. Those 30 jobs didn't exist back when we had the hundreds of employees doing the work before computers.