Self-Checkout Lane

So what’s the consensus on self-checkout lanes at the supermarket? Do we love them? Hate them? Indifferent?

I know a lot of people hate self-checkout but I like it to the point where I don’t want to shop at a supermarket that doesn’t have it. There can be some annoying problems, like when I get a “remove items” message when I didn’t place anything on the scale, but mostly it’s efficient. The lines are shorter and I can bag my own groceries in peace.

I had an annoying experience at the Acme near us last week. Normally I go to Shoprite to do my weekly shopping because it’s cheaper and on the way home from work. I ended up at Acme because I was already in the shopping center and figured it was easier to go there. It was like a symphony of inconvenience.

I stopped going there because that particular Acme seemed unusually expensive. I’d buy chicken or something and it was a few dollars more expensive for no reason compared to the same brand elsewhere. Plus it’s one of those small supermarkets and it never has everything I need. I think I was missing four things last week. It wasn’t exotic stuff either — they only had beef canned food for cats instead of the chicken and I usually buy some of each. So it wasn’t the end of the world but it was annoying.

This store had removed all the self-checkouts, which was a deal-breaker for me. Last week when I went, there were about four express lanes open and only one regular lane. I had about 19 items so I had to go in the regular lane. It wasn’t the cashier’s fault that nobody could help her but it didn’t help that it was a laughy, chatty experience in line while my meat was starting to spoil. They sent someone over to help the cashier but she was just bagging groceries. I can bag my own and she would have been better off opening another lane.

I was close to leaving my cart in an aisle and driving out of my way to Shoprite. It would have been quicker. Thank you for listening to my riveting story.