Comment by bsder
2 days ago
> It's interesting how American cultural expectations of forced social interaction may be having the effect of promoting automated systems as a reaction.
That's not it. The issue is that it is FAR easier for me to interact with automation than some completely incompetent service worker.
Yes, I get it. The service jobs pay so poorly that nobody competent wants to work them. However, at the end of the day, I simply want to accomplish my task and get going. For example, if you're drunk or stoned off your ass, to pick a totally random (not) example, you're probably in my way.
Because of general levels of incompetence, automated systems are quite often better than most service workers I'm interacting with. Additionally, the service worker probably is limited to the same authority as me ie. totally unable to help because they are completely stuck with the same shitty web interface to solve my problem as I am.
Gotta disagree here. Running a checkout lane isn't exactly rocket science, and as such the vast majority of the experiences I have in staffed checkout lanes are neutral to good.
When using automated checkout on the other hand, if I even so much as move the wrong way, the system stops and makes me wait for a staff member who is busy dealing with 6 other red-flashing checkouts. When they finally make it over to me, I'm forced to sit and watch a video from 3 angles of me not shoplifting. Accidentally scanned some alcohol instead of waiting until the end? Scanning is halted again until they get a chance to make their way over to me. Using my own bags, but guess the wrong number up front and need to add one later? STOP THIEF!
Recently our local Aldi removed all but one staffed register and replaced the rest with automated. This is absolutely baffling to me--the cashiers at Aldi don't make small talk, they're trained for speed! It's fun to watch while I'm bagging up my groceries, because the staffed register is consistently crushing carts at 3x the rate of any of the self checkouts.
Automated checkouts are consistently worse, and it's not even close. I guess the one benefit they have is that they make small talk with the single person managing 14 self checkouts easier--you already have in common your frustration with the self checkout system.
I hate checkout machines that require a billion taps on the screen for basic vegetables or fruit. Just give me the keyboard immediately and let me type the first 3 letters or something.
unrelated but we got new checkout machines that used computer vision to guess what fruits are on the scale. It gives 5 guesses on top of the screen, and usual UI on the bottom, allowing shortcut so fast when it guesses correctly, that it feels like a future.
All my friends are convinced that "computer vision" on this thing is just color-based. I kinda think they are right, and we could have had that for decades
> if I even so much as move the wrong way, the system stops and makes me wait for a staff member who is busy dealing with 6 other red-flashing checkouts.
This is completely the fault of the store.
This is on irritating display with the HEB grocery stores in Texas. Go to a standard HEB and self-checkout has exactly the failures you are talking about. Go to a Central Market HEB (the upscale, Whole Foods-like version) and the self-checkouts don't do ANY of those irritating things (alcohol being the exception).
Funny that.
> The issue is that it is FAR easier for me to interact with automation than some completely incompetent service worker
You are comparing good automation with incompetent service worker. It's obvious what the conclusion would be.
> You are comparing good automation with incompetent service worker. It's obvious what the conclusion would be.
Sure. But the problem is that I so rarely interact with a competent service worker nowadays that even poor automation sadly wins the comparison most of the time.