from Hacker News

Walmart Gives Up Replacing Store Cashiers with Machines

by shubidubi on 5/17/18, 5:40 PM with 12 comments

• by obsurveyor on 5/17/18, 6:30 PM

  I think this article is a bit misleading. According to the original article[1], they're not getting rid of the self checkout lanes, they're getting rid of "Mobile Scan & Go" which is using a mobile app to scan and checkout.

  [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-15/-leery-cu...

• by dleslie on 5/17/18, 6:26 PM

  I dislike self-checkout; it's not simply because most times I use such systems there seems to be an issue that requires attention from a staff member, but because there exists a human checkout line then there also exists a line that involves less work for me.

  When my kids are in tow, as is often the case at the grocer, then having someone do the work of scanning and bagging is enormously convenient. At the self-checkout I'm juggling the timer in the software that grows impatient when I pause, the line-up of humans behind me that do the same, the kids I brought with, and the process of scanning and bagging.

  Even without my kids, why wouldn't I opt for the convenience of having a human do some work for me?

• by SHOwnsYou on 5/17/18, 5:59 PM

  I love the Walmart checkout machines. They suffered initially from poor software. The update made in the last 4 months or so is 100x better.

  I see two frequent problems.

  The first is people with a full cart of items. Without the lazy susan of bags, scanning and bagging takes a long time. Not to mention checkers presumably have some training regarding grouping like items and other tricks of the trade Walmart has gleaned over the billions of transactions in their history.

  The second is people that are not confident using the software - I hate to generalize, but usually it's older people. Someone unfamiliar or inefficient with the software can slow down the customer flow significantly, even if their cart size is small.

  I love it not only because as a millennial that works in software, using the self check and adapting to unfamiliar situations comes easier to me, but also I rarely check out with more than 5-10 items because I go shopping 3-5 times per week rather than once per week.

• by parliament32 on 5/17/18, 8:32 PM

  Note that his article isn't about self checkouts, it's about "Mobile Scan and Go" which was some sort of "use your phone to scan your items as you shop" scheme.

• by happycube on 5/17/18, 8:30 PM

  ... instead, they will resume replacing two store cashiers with one store cashier to increase profits.

• by Digory on 5/18/18, 2:17 AM

  I’ve heard nothing but raves for scan and go at Sams Club. I wonder if they’ll keep it for the warehouse clubs?