"Home Depot Self Checkout" Topic

OK,

Usually a big fan of the self check-out.
Grocery stores, a quick way to zip out…

Wal-Mart (Not to effend, but) the "average" Wally World shopper can't seem to figure them out, so it is even a quicker mover…

BUT, recently when I go to my local HD, it seems that the only "lane" open is the self-check line. Usually not so bad, but doesn't really work when you are buying 2 2"x6"x10' and 2 2"x6"x12', as they tend to be hard to scan. Also, when your are buying light things like outlet covers or nuts and bolts that don't register as being "bagged"

Like I said, usually a fan, but really, really need a person!

If they were to leave that as the only option, I would leave everything on the scanner, ask for the manager, and let him know why he had lost a sale, and a customer.

I also wonder if a person injures themselves while scanning the products out, if they are covered under workers compensation laws, since essentially, they are acting as an "employee" of behlaf of the company during the transaction.

Generally, I dislike the practice, since they are putting people out of work.

What gets me on those is the weight verification in the bagging area – lumber doesn't generally fit into a plastic bag but the machine won't continue unless it feels added weight. For that reason, I usually make sure I get the self-check register nearest to the supervising humanoid.

If someone was truly inspired to shoplift, all it would take is a barcoding program and the UPC codes for similar, but cheaper items. I'm not so hard up that I need to swipe cans of caviar priced as Kitty-D-Lights catfood, but I've seen people lift Mothers Day cards. Someone did that last year, but they were jacking iPods.

Wyatt

I ditto Top Gun Ace. When you use the automated checkout you are not getting a discount or any convienience. What you are doing is costing someone a job. As a matter of priciple I do not use contraptions AND I will go elsewhere if that is the only option.

mjc

DEATH TO THE SELF-CHECKOUT INVENTOR!

And his little dog too. If I wanted to work as a cashier I'd at least get paid for it. I simply will NOT do self-checkout.

And yes, I'm turning into a grumpy old man well before my time.

Well put, E.C.

Is there no voice FOR the self checkout? None? Ok, I'll stand up for them. I think they're great, particularly if you only have a couple of items. It gets to be a bit tiresome for some items but one thing of the things that the local Meijers has done with unusal "difficult" to scan items like produce. They have a coded checklist. Just look up the item on the sheet, punch in the code and number of items and voila it's added to the bill. Home Depot could use a similar system.

Love the self-checkout. I can do it faster than the average idiot who runs the full service lane.

But Home Depot … there's a reason it's consistently ranked as one of the worst run companies in America.

I absolutely freaking hate them. First, I'm just sick of the computerized everything. If I wanted to shop with a computer, I'd have ordered over the internet. If I show up in person, the least the store could too.

Next, when they work, they work great. But, what about when you are buying something big, and they don't have any humans working? I had to buy a 280 pound steel building (work project)from Lowes with no cash register open, except the self checkout. The box is bigger than my reach and won't support its own weight, no human in sight. That was a 45 minute wait.

Next next, the grocery store that is closest to my house never has a real check out lane open. The last seven times, its a 12 year old kid in a coma and the self check outs. So far, the system has locked up on EVERY item I've run through it. No, it isn't just me. It was happening to every person in the three other self check-outs. Last time, 18 items, 28 minutes. The kid had to keep searching for the manager on every fifth or so lock-up.

Next, next , next, what about when none of the given item you need has the right UPC on it, as in, it has three of them on it, but none are the one the store uses for inventorying? I know, just wait for the clerk that has two people in front of you, another employee also needing help, and is answering the phone, as the service desk is also unmanned.

Killing the inventor is too kind. I'm thinking screwdriver in the left eyeball, and then drag them to Texas (a long, long way from here)with it.

Nothing wrong with the self-checkout thing, but with the way the companies use them to cut costs where no costs should be cut (customer service).

Hmmmm….

Do you;
use an ATM?

Pump your own gasoline? (except in New Jersey and Oregon!)

I remember back in the 80's when the grocery store that employeed me got the scanning registers. We ran fewer open registers due to the productivity gains in scanning. As a bagger, it meant I had to work faster as the stuff was coming down the conveyor quicker.

This is just the latest in the little changes we call progress.

The real problem is Home Depot corporate management trying to do more with less. Thats why I shop at Lowes now.

A well-done self-check, when there's also a human lane available for items that need it, is wonderful -- quicker and easier by far. And if it saves some poor schmuck from having to work a cash register, I view that as a public service -- have the folks bemoaning the lost jobs actually talked to the people who hate those jobs passionately?

Home Depot, on the other hand, has ascended past Walmart to the very top of my list of "Only shop there if there's an emergency and absolutely NO other option" establishments. Crappy products, crappy service, really really crappy products (yes, I know I mentioned that twice).

JJW-T.C.H.

At HD the cashier who runs the self check out is supposed to scan those pieces of lumber for you. BUT the damn machine still wants them in the checkout area. So you have to put one end on the machine and lean it against something. what a pain. I do love self checkout at the grocery store.

Lets see crappy products, when they sell the same stuff is it crappy in both stores?

I love them. I can zip through in record time. The machine actually is too slow for me or I could go through faster. I usually yell at the machine to 'Move it!' and it also gets the person/cashier attention. Then when I try to scan a large item they move to my machine because they think I'll 'go off' or make a scene. Works every time. :)

Cant stand Home Depot, so I cant speak for self checkout. But the Lowe's by me always has a Human at the self scan, and I don't recall ever being there and them not having the regular lanes open, and I find myself there at super odd times, normally 5 minutes before closing.

The HD in my area the self scan is broken, scans wrong or the person who is suppose to monitor it is either gone or clueless. That about sums up my HD experience.

There is a human by the self-scan at Home Depot as well, but it is typically the only "manned" checkout (except for the contractor line), so it gets backed up.

They do have a lookup feature for things like lumber, but the functionality does not work as well as in the Grocery store.

Having worked for 5 years at KMart apprehending shoplifters, I can think of only one thing whenever I see those lanes: "I don't have to hide anything in my pockets anymore!"
I don't think much of the Blanche duBois ("I have always relied on the kindness of strangers.") school of Loss Prevention.

I try not to use those things. They only put MORE people on unemployment. Enough is enough!

Put me in the "never use the !@[&*+ category." I don't agree that all change is "progress." It's usually just change.

OFM -- I am sure that the beancounters have done an analysis of the whole procedure that says that enough people are honest to not have to worry about it.

Trust me on this. The bean counters never heard of Loss Prevention, and if they have, the term is anathema to them. Their sole joy in life is frustrating our efforts.

It always seems I am buying PVC from the self checkout line at Home Depot when a HUGE family comes up to buy a single lightbulb and they all have to crowd around the screen. Previously I was lowering my 10 foot pipe to scan it and now they've trapped it against their machine or managed to spread out so there is no other place for the other end to go. I so want to "three stooges" them at moments like that.

Menards.

Only DIY store to shop.

Dan

Thank you Dr. Perv! It is important to remember that each of these self checkout lines was someone's job!

John Adkins

I no longer visit Home Depot because of their self-checkouts. They eliminated all the cashier positions except the contractor line. Even though I used to spend $500-2000 per month there, the manager told me I was not allowed to use it. Haven't spent a dime there since.

Previously I was lowering my 10 foot pipe…

HeyNow! You must be a BIIIIG hit with the ladies…

Until I receive a discount for my using one, I refuse to use self check-out.

Think about it. You are doing the work of what should and normally would be a paid employee. What do you get in return? Nothing. You're saving the store money on labor. In effect, you are an unpaid temporary employee.

Yet you pay the same for the goods you're buying as the guy over there in the full-service lane.

A couple of months ago I was at HD and after my transaction the machine over-paid my change return by about some $95.00. I returned the money as I always do when a homo sapiens cashier does that. But I must admit to some internal debate over whether that was the right course. I actually wondered if the store wasn't "asking for it" by replacing people with machines. My final turn in the moneyl argument was that the person who would otherwise be actually clerking would probably somehow get docked for the machine's screw-up.

Then again maybe she pocketed the money instead of returning it?

When I buy an item at a store. Part of the cost is to pay for employees. So if you use the self check out lane. you are ripping yourself off! hahahahaa. When I'm in line and an employee tells me the self check out lane is open. I ask them what kind of discount do I get for doing it myself. When they tell me none, then I tell them I'll use the employee I'm paying for then. thank you.

I hate self checkout lanes and don't use them. To be honest, it looks like a way to avoid hiring a few poor girls/women to stand there and check us out.

I believe it is wrong to use them, so I do not.

"Unexpected in checkout tray. Please remove item and try again." <remove item>
"Please place item in checkout tray before proceeding." <replace just removed item>
"Unexpected in checkout tray. Please remove item and try again." <remove item>
"Please place item in checkout tray before proceeding." <replace just removed item>
"Unexpected in checkout tray. Please remove item and try again." <remove item>
"Please place item in checkout tray before proceeding." <replace just removed item>
"Please stop beating self checkout station." <ignore plea>
<repeat till stopped or satisified>

Ahh, but the robot checkout stil has employees.
They are the "deleted" ones who were rejecetd for use in the Cybermen project.