I once asked a cashier in Germany if she thought self-checkouts would take away her job. She said she liked them because there's enough to do anyway and they take away the boring task of cashier-ing.
Though there is always a person standing next to the self-checkouts helping people if something is not working or they need to approve alcohol. They always seem pretty bored just standing around.
Self serve gas was actually lower priced than full service back when the transition was happening, so there was actually a reason to do the work yourself.
If it had been the same price, only I have to do the work of pumping it, damn straight I would have felt the same.
In retrospect it was a bad deal because once full service went away entirely, so did the price difference, so I'm smarter now and wouldn't use self checkout even if they gave a discount.
I've driven through Oregon before back when you weren't allowed to pump your own gas and it felt ridiculous and inconvenient waiting for an employee to come pump gas for you. But maybe that's just because I'm accustomed to self serve.
For groceries it's nice to have the option to do self checkout. If I have a small number of items then self checkout is faster/easier. If I have a large number of items then going through the line with the cashier is faster/easier.
I like them because it makes my bagging more efficient. At the lanes, if I'm getting a decent amount of groceries, I usually end up bagging for a while after I've paid and feel like a dick because I'm in the way of the people getting rung up behind me.
At self checkouts, I take it out of the cart, scan, then stick it right in the bag. Even better if they don't have the stupid weighing thing that assumes I'm trying to steal shit if they don't micromanage every item going into my bag.
Also, in this case, management is telling workers to not make fun of people who don't want to use self checkouts.
That's an option at some stores in the US. I believe Walmart has that option for Walmart+ members, and I know Sam's Club has the option available in their app for all members.
With self checkout I can literally get in and out the grocery store in like 10-30 minutes where 98% of the time is me choosing products instead of waiting 5-15 minutes in the cashier lane waiting for old people to put their shit on the rolling thing
However, you're increasing the client turnover, doing the cashier's work and not getting a single discount for it. All of this while prices for groceries keep increasing.
This. I don't even go in the store unless I just need a few things now or meat. In and out. If I'm getting a lot of stuff I'm making an order and picking it up. How's that for job creation they do the shopping for me. I've been toying with even getting it delivered. Those large stores have tons of work to do like keeping it stocked up and trucks unloaded and what not, cooking, cleaning and some even have a place to get your car serviced. Hell maybe there would even be someone to help with electronics for once.. I get it though sometimes you just want the full shopping experience. Staff it accordingly if lots of people like a cashier. We can have the best of both worlds people