Warning: Rant Alert!
This talk of self checkouts has me "triggered" (oh no, am I now a "snowflake"? I hope not):
There is a grocery store less than a mile from my home that shares a name with an Elizabeth Taylor film. I shopped at that store for years despite it always being crowded. The aisles in the store are at least a foot too narrow and they don't help matters by placing "box-outs" in every aisle. But that's not the real problem.
After implementing a regular self checkout system where you scan/weigh every item at the cash register they implemented a new system for "preferred customers". Upon entering the store you go to a kiosk that houses several hand-held scanners. You scan your preferred shopper card on the main unit and one of the hand-held units lights up, that's the unit you should take. As you do your shopping you scan each item. If you have produce or something else that is sold by weight, there are scales with touchscreens and printers throughout the store. You select the specific item from the touchscreen when weighing it, a barcode prints out and you scan the barcode on your hand-held scanner. At the cash register the hand-held scanner and the cash register sync with each other and the register brings up your transaction, you can scan additional items at that time and you are also prompted to check your cart for any items you may have missed.
I soon realized it was more efficient to bag my groceries as I shopped instead of at the checkout; I noticed other shoppers did this, too. I made several purchases this way and, once I got used to it, was pleased with the experience. After a few months of using this method to do my shopping, the cash register screen (instead of proceeding to the payment menu) displayed a message about assistance being needed for my purchase, it told me to wait for an associate who would soon be with me. The clerk told me she needed to perform a "random audit" of my purchase. Okay, I thought, I wondered how they ensured customers were being honest though I know they have RFID chips in big-ticket items, cameras throughout the store and loss prevention associates as well as staff trained to be observant of suspicious activity. The clerk scanned a few of my items and weighed an item that was sold by weight. She told me everything was fine and thanked me for my patience.
Two weeks later I was at the store making another purchase. The cash register screen displayed the same message as before. This time the clerk checked more items than before. I asked if I was being audited because I had already bagged my groceries, I was told that wasn't a problem; this was another "random audit". I pointed out that I was audited the last time I made a purchase and asked if there was something about me that triggered the audit; I was told there wasn't, it was just a coincidence that I was selected "at random" in two consecutive visits.
The next time I went to the store I did about half of my shopping before calling a local carryout to order dinner for myself and my family. I knew that by the time I finished my shopping, drove home and put the groceries away, my carryout order should be ready (it was the weekend and I knew the carryout would be busy). When I went to finish my transaction at the cash register, I received the same message as on my last two trips. A clerk came over and he told me he had to do an audit. I mentioned that I had been audited my last two trips and thought this was excessive; he insisted this was purely "random". He also told me he had to scan all of my items. I asked him to please stop and get his manager. I waited, while other shoppers were behind me wanting to checkout. I waited some more. I walked over to the service desk that was nearby and asked for the manager, explaining what had happened. The woman at the service desk said the manager had already been paged but she was "very busy". Finally the manager approached me. I explained that this would be the third consecutive time that I would be audited and that I had to pick up dinner for my family. The manager insisted if I wanted my groceries I would have to have someone perform the audit. I asked why I had been chosen, but she repeated the claims that the audits were purely "random". I emptied my reusable shopping bags, leaving the groceries on the register and left the store. This was about ten years ago. I have never set foot in that store since.
