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1247 points mangoman | 4 comments | 05 Dec 16 14:57 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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Someone1234 ◴[05 Dec 16 15:26 UTC] No.13105907[source]▶
Companies have been discussing "checkout-less" stores since forever, but nobody has been brave enough to do it due to the perceived threat of shoplifting.

And while shoplifting is a legitimate threat, are non-shoplifters going to be turned into shoplifters without a checkout? Are normal shoplifters stopped by checkouts? These are the core questions, and until it is tested nobody will know for sure.

Target is getting awfully close to this. With their Cartwheel app you're meant to scan all your items as you shop (so it auto-applies coupons and discounts); but they haven't taken it to the next logical step and allowed you to provide your Cartwheel output at the checkout for checking out.

I will say that the way Target has implemented smartphone barcode scanning makes me think that there might be a future in all this. It is extremely painless, they just need to stop kicking you out of the scan screen when it finds a discount (i.e. it doesn't kick you out if no discount is found, but does when a discount IS found, that's problematic for efficiency reasons).

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bbrks ◴[05 Dec 16 15:30 UTC] No.13105954[source]▶
In the UK, Tesco have been running a 'Scan as you Shop'[0] thing for a couple of years now. Customers pick up a scanner as they enter, scan their items as they go into their cart, and they have special checkouts which read your scanner.

There's a random chance that your scanner will be audited by a human against the contents of your shopping cart. Usually the first time you use it, then it backs off.

[0] http://www.tesco.com/scan-as-you-shop/

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draw_down ◴[05 Dec 16 15:33 UTC] No.13105999[source]▶
Sounds great if it's not as unbelievably user-hostile as the self checkout machines. Those things are just total crap, every one I've ever tried.
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raverbashing ◴[05 Dec 16 15:39 UTC] No.13106048[source]▶
Once I got the hang of it, I've had almost zero problems with self-checkout machines

It's usually one of two things: a purchase that must be approved (either alcohol or some medicine) or scanning the single item barcode of a multi-item

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1. sqeaky ◴[05 Dec 16 15:47 UTC] No.13106128[source]▶
I think there are bigger problems, like how they implicitly assume everyone is a thief and are will to damage usability for everyone because that assumption.

That stupid scale isn't going to stop any shoplifter, but it does inconvenience me every time.

EDIt - Grammar.

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2. draw_down ◴[05 Dec 16 16:02 UTC] No.13106280[source]▶
Right. They're user-hostile.
3. rhino369 ◴[05 Dec 16 16:52 UTC] No.13106782[source]▶
It's not just to catch thieves, but to catch errors in scanning too. When I was a cashier (this was back in 2004 but these self check outs appear to be running the same UI), about 70% of the time I had override the machine, the person had thought they scanned something but didn't. And it rarely appeared to be an attempt to steal.

I even catch myself doing it. If you are smart you can notice the error, take it out of the bag and rescan and the machine will keep going.

Most people just freeze and wait for help.

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4. sqeaky ◴[05 Dec 16 17:52 UTC] No.13107473[source]▶
That is not when the machine messes up for me. If I just got done scanning the 5th case of some beverage and it needs to be weighed what should I do. The screen provides little hint. Sometimes there is a "remove my bags" button but often its not there. If I try to move goods to my cart it complains and stops the process, I put the stuff I Just scanned directly in my cart I get an error.

If you say that the scale does find honest mistakes (which I doubt, I think you just have dumb shoplifters) and I say the scales are strictly harmful to user experience then it seems these things must have a bad UI until some advance comes along.