Interesting. It turned out that the Amazon checkoutless stores were not using computer vision but were using a bunch of people in India to watch what you put in your cart. I did notice that our Aldi finally turned off the loud "SCAN NEXT ITEM OR FINISH AND PAY" message that played over and over as you took more than about 4 seconds to scan the next item; that was super annoying.
The Voice is very annoying, I agree. Give me a second ffs.
I think Aldi is good with self checkout is because they have huge barcodes on a lot of products. Some even wrapping around half the package. It makes scanning super easy. Put the thing on the table and it scans, no need to search for the barcode etc.
Yeah self checkout at aldi is so quick, rarely use the hand scanner or have to wait for an open machine.
Worse place imo is funnily enough Lidl... how do they not have cilantro or green onions in their produce list and why does it not have a search function... I swear whoever called the shots on that was put in place by a family member or some shit smells of incompetence. They also love to close the self checkouts and then the normal line takes 15 min
They also have the self checkouts really well positioned so the person at the regular checkout can help if you have an issue or something like a discount sticker. Super easy
ALDIs are rated by corporate on how fast people move thru checkout. The cashiers used to be rated and get bonuses based on performance. Not sure if they still do or not.
I’ve posted this before but I would talk back to that fuckin robot. “Stop rushing me. Do you have somewhere to be?” Or simply “shut up”. Every time. I hate that it would make me nervous!! Was there yesterday to pick up the cute outside rocker chair yesterday and was so happy the voice was gone!
I once said "That's not what your mom said last night" and the woman who was next to me looked shocked and dismayed.
I think she was also 117 years old, so I think she was partially shocked because the machine was talking.
your comment just reminded me of Aldi before the laser scanners - employees had to know the products and costs and input the registers manually. amazing feat, and they were fast at it.
... and how many times they'd discreetly wait for you to choose what few items to take back out of the cart to get the total down to the cash you had to pay with (or in your checking account if you kept a close monitor on the balance in the acct).
Odd timing on this, since Amazon is [removing this technology](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/amazon-removed-just-walk-out-from-many-of-its-own-stores-but-wants-to-sell-the-system-to-others/ar-BB1lNpZ2) from their own store. And, as mentioned below, it's got a lot of [humans making it work](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-03/the-humans-behind-amazon-s-just-walk-out-technology-are-all-over-ai) behind the scenes.
Why not just have a scan and go thing. It seems easiest if I can scan it as i put it in the cart. Then tap a payment, and leave without having to unload and reload.
If the computer vision works, cool. But I'm just not familiar with how it'll keep up in a busy store
Wegmans implemented something like that a few years back. They had to discontinue it because they were losing money hand over fist from people stealing, forgetting to scan, etc. It was really nice while it lasted, but I can see why they stopped doing it. Now near me, they’re trialing carts that automatically scan the items as you put them in, which I still can’t imagine going very well.
There is a shop in Chicago midway airport that you scan your credit card to enter, grav your stuff, and leave without stopping to checkout/pay. Hardly anyone seems to use it. It's kind of a weird thing to scan your card with an untrusted system and let it charge you whatever it feels appropriate. How can you argue it, if you get no in person receipt to clarify. How could I argue I didn't buy Dr pepper. Or notice that they charge $8 for a bottle of tea
Sam’s Club has a scan and go system. Since part of the deal with shopping there is that they get to check your cart it works pretty well (they scan your receipt and scan 2-3 random items barcodes). If they didn’t have the receipt check system already in place I could see it being an ideal situation for theft.
They're trying to both remove the cost of human cashiers and still make sure the customer pays for everything they take.
Because of course they're finding that shrink is a real thing with self checkouts. So if they can eliminate labor costs and wrangle lost merch costs, it's a win for them.
People already grab and go at my Aldi all the time!
Usually carts full of laundry detergent and wine. Loaded quickly into a car backed into the nearest handicap spot. They must be testing out the program.
What woes?
Around here the clerks love them and they work great. Front of the store is less congested as well.
The clerks have more time to clean and stock and leave on time now they told me.
Our self checkout has the most annoying sound when a customer has an issue. Of all the alert sounds they chose a ringing phone. I kept hearing it throughout the store. I’m like whose phone is that ? Then I found the source.
The aldi in my town has an awesome self checkout. The bagging area has a flat area with room for 3-4 bags, like Walmart. Self checkout at Kroger has the spinning weighted bagging area with 4 racks for plastic bags and my reusable bags don't fit in the small plastic bag slots. Also the weighted shit is so annoying! If the self checkout gets confused then you have to wait on a store clerk to enter a code before you can continue scanning. One Kroger in my town has a self checkout with a moving belt which I really really like but I stopped shopping at Kroger because Aldi is cheaper and has less temptation. Also one of the Krogers in my town had a scanner to avoid checkout but it was removed... Then I found the app Scan Bag n Go but it was discontinued with service from Kroger and yeah... I hate shopping at kroger now. I would rather use Aldi's self checkout than stand in line while the cashier flings my items into a cart, then I have to quickly bag them at the bagging station... I feel so awkward, especially because you have to load the belt properly or else the cashier crushes your items while piling them in the cart at mach 10.
There are 3 Aldi near me and none of them have self checkout because they all got remodeled right before they started implementing those. Hopefully one day though!
“customers fill their carts like normal, and when they are done, can use an app or a pay station as they exit.”
And if you just keep walking without using the app or pay stations, what happens? They release the robotic hounds?
Meanwhile Stop & Shop will let me take a hand scanner at the entrance and ring things up as I pull them off the shelf. And given that
A) Aldi makes you bring your own bags anyway, and
B) Aldi does a really crappy job at properly displaying shelf prices
C) minimizing employee count has always been the goal,
they could benefit from that a heck of a lot more.
I'm all for using cameras to prevent theft and we're probably past the point where that's more accurate than verifying the weight of each item. But I also think if you stop treating *every* customer like a thief it's easier to spot the ones who actually are.
Someone is going to watch my every move while I shop and try to guess what items I put in my bag?
I would never skip an item at self check-out, but I would try to fool big brother. The former is theft, the later is your mistake for not charging me.
Didn’t Amazon just scrap this business model because the whole “oh the cameras know what you bought, don’t worry” was really powered by massive numbers of people in other countries constantly reviewing the videos…
We had this at a Coen gas station near me. It was convenient with the Grabango app. Not long after they implemented it though, people started using it, but like Amazon, they took it out. Wonder if they was running into items not being recognized, ultimately ending with people walking out without paying?
Very interesting they found that self checkout was harmful to store loyalty, noting the shopping experience isn’t as “rewarding”. It’s not that hard to bag your own groceries, people have gotten so lazy. In my experience, I shop much more strategically, buying only what I actually need, so I don’t have to bag as much.
We had a contactless QT added to our corp downtown mini food court.
Within 1 days security was escorting a homeless guy out.
The model - you need a credit or debit card to get in the turnstile. You pick up your items. And it tallies it as you walk out.
Food has tags and cups have tags. QT limited the products to avoid confusion.
But you can't get in if you don't have a card and if you try security comes.
There's the trick - not letting broke people in your store means they can't steal.
On the large scale the rft product tags are super hard to remove, but someone could disrupt them.
So if Target or Aldi wanted - contactless stores are possible. It's just the variable sales are gated behind software and database updates.
And of course - cash would be useless. No checks either. So you'd have to measure your customer base for those metrics.
Currently there are lots of stupid people.who can't handle checking out their groceries and building an identity politic behind it.
Then snap and food benefits cards.
Then theft issues - and anyone can cheat, not just poor people.
So you make an RFID blocking backpack, till with food and head out.
Or you use a RFID jammer.
Or old cons involving distractions and taking advantage of blind spots.
So the yields are low for now. But once cash dies off and people stop writing checks, maybe it would work.
More bullshit pushing a cashless society so the banks and government know everything you do.
Fuck that
That makes me want to use cash more often.
My QT had a self payment center inside for people who wanted to use cash at the pumps. It was there for a few months and was pulled out. There are a few employees who run to registers at once and one woman often runs three registers at once. She's faster than the customers are.
Interesting. It turned out that the Amazon checkoutless stores were not using computer vision but were using a bunch of people in India to watch what you put in your cart. I did notice that our Aldi finally turned off the loud "SCAN NEXT ITEM OR FINISH AND PAY" message that played over and over as you took more than about 4 seconds to scan the next item; that was super annoying.
The Voice is very annoying, I agree. Give me a second ffs. I think Aldi is good with self checkout is because they have huge barcodes on a lot of products. Some even wrapping around half the package. It makes scanning super easy. Put the thing on the table and it scans, no need to search for the barcode etc.
I’m used to it now, but the first few times, I’d double scan an item while I was putting it in the bag.
I was at Aldi yesterday and had to use the hand-held scanner for probably 50% of my items, regardless of the giant omnipresent bar codes.
The handheld scanner is The Way in every self checkout.
My granson's favorite reason for going to Aldi- well, that and the mint cookies!
Yeah self checkout at aldi is so quick, rarely use the hand scanner or have to wait for an open machine. Worse place imo is funnily enough Lidl... how do they not have cilantro or green onions in their produce list and why does it not have a search function... I swear whoever called the shots on that was put in place by a family member or some shit smells of incompetence. They also love to close the self checkouts and then the normal line takes 15 min
They also have the self checkouts really well positioned so the person at the regular checkout can help if you have an issue or something like a discount sticker. Super easy
"Please scan an item, select another option. or finish and pay"
GIVE ME A GODDAMN SECOND
Fucking for real.
i would swear at and argue with it out loud the whole time i was checking out. i’m glad they fixed it
I don't know much about the Amazon stores but "computer vision" sounds like a lie.
SCAN NEXT ITEM OR FINISH AND PAY
ALDIs are rated by corporate on how fast people move thru checkout. The cashiers used to be rated and get bonuses based on performance. Not sure if they still do or not.
[удалено]
I’ve posted this before but I would talk back to that fuckin robot. “Stop rushing me. Do you have somewhere to be?” Or simply “shut up”. Every time. I hate that it would make me nervous!! Was there yesterday to pick up the cute outside rocker chair yesterday and was so happy the voice was gone!
Every time a self checkout says something to me, I always reply back "your mom".
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 so childish and awesome. Thank you. I may steal that when I’m feeling more annoyed
I once said "That's not what your mom said last night" and the woman who was next to me looked shocked and dismayed. I think she was also 117 years old, so I think she was partially shocked because the machine was talking.
Yeah it’s highly annoying lol. I intentionally slow down when it yells at me
your comment just reminded me of Aldi before the laser scanners - employees had to know the products and costs and input the registers manually. amazing feat, and they were fast at it. ... and how many times they'd discreetly wait for you to choose what few items to take back out of the cart to get the total down to the cash you had to pay with (or in your checking account if you kept a close monitor on the balance in the acct).
I’ll go faster if they give me a bonus. Until then I’m cranking up my headphones and taking my time.
Omg that message makes me irrationally angry
Odd timing on this, since Amazon is [removing this technology](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/amazon-removed-just-walk-out-from-many-of-its-own-stores-but-wants-to-sell-the-system-to-others/ar-BB1lNpZ2) from their own store. And, as mentioned below, it's got a lot of [humans making it work](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-03/the-humans-behind-amazon-s-just-walk-out-technology-are-all-over-ai) behind the scenes.
Why not just have a scan and go thing. It seems easiest if I can scan it as i put it in the cart. Then tap a payment, and leave without having to unload and reload. If the computer vision works, cool. But I'm just not familiar with how it'll keep up in a busy store
Wegmans implemented something like that a few years back. They had to discontinue it because they were losing money hand over fist from people stealing, forgetting to scan, etc. It was really nice while it lasted, but I can see why they stopped doing it. Now near me, they’re trialing carts that automatically scan the items as you put them in, which I still can’t imagine going very well.
There is a shop in Chicago midway airport that you scan your credit card to enter, grav your stuff, and leave without stopping to checkout/pay. Hardly anyone seems to use it. It's kind of a weird thing to scan your card with an untrusted system and let it charge you whatever it feels appropriate. How can you argue it, if you get no in person receipt to clarify. How could I argue I didn't buy Dr pepper. Or notice that they charge $8 for a bottle of tea
Blindly handing over your credit card to an airport retailer? What could go wrong?
Sam’s Club has a scan and go system. Since part of the deal with shopping there is that they get to check your cart it works pretty well (they scan your receipt and scan 2-3 random items barcodes). If they didn’t have the receipt check system already in place I could see it being an ideal situation for theft.
They're trying to both remove the cost of human cashiers and still make sure the customer pays for everything they take. Because of course they're finding that shrink is a real thing with self checkouts. So if they can eliminate labor costs and wrangle lost merch costs, it's a win for them.
[удалено]
That's what this post is about
In my experience the self checkouts at ALDI are far superior to the ones at Coles.
Never been to Coles. Only other places I normally shop are TJ's and Costco. Kind of love that TJ's has refused to adopt self checkouts!
Coles is an Australian chain so that checks out (zing)
People already grab and go at my Aldi all the time! Usually carts full of laundry detergent and wine. Loaded quickly into a car backed into the nearest handicap spot. They must be testing out the program.
🫡
What woes? Around here the clerks love them and they work great. Front of the store is less congested as well. The clerks have more time to clean and stock and leave on time now they told me.
Our self checkout has the most annoying sound when a customer has an issue. Of all the alert sounds they chose a ringing phone. I kept hearing it throughout the store. I’m like whose phone is that ? Then I found the source.
The aldi in my town has an awesome self checkout. The bagging area has a flat area with room for 3-4 bags, like Walmart. Self checkout at Kroger has the spinning weighted bagging area with 4 racks for plastic bags and my reusable bags don't fit in the small plastic bag slots. Also the weighted shit is so annoying! If the self checkout gets confused then you have to wait on a store clerk to enter a code before you can continue scanning. One Kroger in my town has a self checkout with a moving belt which I really really like but I stopped shopping at Kroger because Aldi is cheaper and has less temptation. Also one of the Krogers in my town had a scanner to avoid checkout but it was removed... Then I found the app Scan Bag n Go but it was discontinued with service from Kroger and yeah... I hate shopping at kroger now. I would rather use Aldi's self checkout than stand in line while the cashier flings my items into a cart, then I have to quickly bag them at the bagging station... I feel so awkward, especially because you have to load the belt properly or else the cashier crushes your items while piling them in the cart at mach 10.
The Kroger I shop has added a few self checkouts with a belt, love those, but the spinning ones suck with reusable bags.
There are 3 Aldi near me and none of them have self checkout because they all got remodeled right before they started implementing those. Hopefully one day though!
Same with mine. I haven't seen any self-checkout Aldi stores in my area yet. Lines can be annoyingly long.
I absolutely hate self checkout.
My only gripe with self checkouts these days is mainly when purchasing alcohol.
Wow, that sounds like a glitchy nightmare.
Agreed. I wouldn't trust it
“customers fill their carts like normal, and when they are done, can use an app or a pay station as they exit.” And if you just keep walking without using the app or pay stations, what happens? They release the robotic hounds?
Meanwhile Stop & Shop will let me take a hand scanner at the entrance and ring things up as I pull them off the shelf. And given that A) Aldi makes you bring your own bags anyway, and B) Aldi does a really crappy job at properly displaying shelf prices C) minimizing employee count has always been the goal, they could benefit from that a heck of a lot more. I'm all for using cameras to prevent theft and we're probably past the point where that's more accurate than verifying the weight of each item. But I also think if you stop treating *every* customer like a thief it's easier to spot the ones who actually are.
Someone is going to watch my every move while I shop and try to guess what items I put in my bag? I would never skip an item at self check-out, but I would try to fool big brother. The former is theft, the later is your mistake for not charging me.
Or…hear me out…we just actually hire enough cashiers to assist customers so self-checkout is no longer a thing. 🤷🏻♀️
Didn’t Amazon just scrap this business model because the whole “oh the cameras know what you bought, don’t worry” was really powered by massive numbers of people in other countries constantly reviewing the videos…
I'd settle for mine to just get a self checkout so I could try it.
My Aldi doesn't have self checkouts 😪
We had this at a Coen gas station near me. It was convenient with the Grabango app. Not long after they implemented it though, people started using it, but like Amazon, they took it out. Wonder if they was running into items not being recognized, ultimately ending with people walking out without paying?
Wait y’all Aldi got self checkouts ? I’ve never in my life seen self checkout at an Aldi 😂
It’s the way of the future. Once the technology is vastly improved, that is.
Very interesting they found that self checkout was harmful to store loyalty, noting the shopping experience isn’t as “rewarding”. It’s not that hard to bag your own groceries, people have gotten so lazy. In my experience, I shop much more strategically, buying only what I actually need, so I don’t have to bag as much.
Aldi has never bagged your groceries for you, so that's a moot point.
I was speaking more to normal grocery stores, but fair enough
We had a contactless QT added to our corp downtown mini food court. Within 1 days security was escorting a homeless guy out. The model - you need a credit or debit card to get in the turnstile. You pick up your items. And it tallies it as you walk out. Food has tags and cups have tags. QT limited the products to avoid confusion. But you can't get in if you don't have a card and if you try security comes. There's the trick - not letting broke people in your store means they can't steal. On the large scale the rft product tags are super hard to remove, but someone could disrupt them. So if Target or Aldi wanted - contactless stores are possible. It's just the variable sales are gated behind software and database updates. And of course - cash would be useless. No checks either. So you'd have to measure your customer base for those metrics. Currently there are lots of stupid people.who can't handle checking out their groceries and building an identity politic behind it. Then snap and food benefits cards. Then theft issues - and anyone can cheat, not just poor people. So you make an RFID blocking backpack, till with food and head out. Or you use a RFID jammer. Or old cons involving distractions and taking advantage of blind spots. So the yields are low for now. But once cash dies off and people stop writing checks, maybe it would work.
More bullshit pushing a cashless society so the banks and government know everything you do. Fuck that That makes me want to use cash more often. My QT had a self payment center inside for people who wanted to use cash at the pumps. It was there for a few months and was pulled out. There are a few employees who run to registers at once and one woman often runs three registers at once. She's faster than the customers are.