Rant: The self-checkout at my local grocery store is weeding out the careful shoppers

I hit the Fred Meyer on 82nd in Portland last night around 7pm. The self-checkout area was chaos, three machines down and a line of 8 people. I watched like 4 people in a row get flagged for weight errors because the scale has ZERO tolerance now. The cashier told me they turned up the sensitivity because of theft, but now it scans wrong even if your bag is slightly off. Has anyone else noticed their store's self-checkout getting impossible to use without a manager override?

3 comments

3 Comments

mary_west29d ago

Wait, they actually told you they cranked up the sensitivity? That's wild - I figured it was just bad software, not a deliberate thing. My local Safeway has gotten the same way where I have to hold my bag up in the air so the scale doesn't freak out over a loaf of bread. Makes you wonder if they even want people using the machines at all.

markh8529d ago

I read somewhere the stores do it because theft is way up, but it just makes honest people angry.

vera_robinson3629d ago

I counted 6 people using self-checkout at my WinCo last Tuesday and only one needed help with a weight error... feels like maybe it's more of a store to store thing than some big conspiracy. Could also be that those 4 folks you saw just weren't paying attention to where they set their stuff down, I've definitely accidentally set my keys next to a bag and triggered it before.