A decent checker usually has the codes for produce memorized, and are much faster than someone looking them up once a week or so. However, I have had some extremely bad checkers that I know I could self checkout faster than. Don't get me started on a bad sacker.
That also makes me think about just how slow the self checkout systems are. The constant yelling out the price of the items I just scanned for confirmation just takes too long. I have to wait for it to stop to proceed. Also, how many times are the systems getting confused about whether you actually put the item in the bagging area or not requiring an attendant to be notified? UGH! </rant> The UI/UX people really need to fix this.
My local grocer has normal lanes with separate lines, express lanes with 6 checkers but a global queue, and the self checkout with a global queue. It seems like it is the family shoppers doing one huge weekly store trip in the normal lanes. Everyone else is looking to avoid them in the other two options.
Self-checkout situation is weird. Since there are no impulse-buying shelves in the checkout area, the store doesn't really benefit from people hanging around the machines. Which leads me to the conclusion that the piss-poor self-checkout UX, where you have to wait on the machine and can't really become a power user over time, must be either cluelessness of the manufacturers, or sabotage.
That also makes me think about just how slow the self checkout systems are. The constant yelling out the price of the items I just scanned for confirmation just takes too long. I have to wait for it to stop to proceed. Also, how many times are the systems getting confused about whether you actually put the item in the bagging area or not requiring an attendant to be notified? UGH! </rant> The UI/UX people really need to fix this.
My local grocer has normal lanes with separate lines, express lanes with 6 checkers but a global queue, and the self checkout with a global queue. It seems like it is the family shoppers doing one huge weekly store trip in the normal lanes. Everyone else is looking to avoid them in the other two options.