Here in San Antonio, and I assume our friends there in Austin as well, we have H.E.B Groceries. In the middle of the check out lines, there are 4-8 (depending on the store) "Self check out" lanes. You just scan your stuff and pay. No it appears as if McDonald's has started testing something similar. While this MAY increase the chances of you getting your correct order, it still seems to me to be another way to reduce the workforce. I remember the first time I saw one of the self-service lanes at K-Mart. I had grumbled something about "just another excuse to lay people off" and one of the check out workers smiled and said "No, just another way to provide you with quality customer service"... Brainwashed

no way. the self-serve pay lines are fucking awesome. no wait whatsoever. so you keep waiting in line to pay a real human. meanwhile, im in and out of kmart or home depot that much sooner. because i don't know about you, but the likes of kmart and home depot are generally hell holes, especially on a saturday or sunday...the less time in those places the better.

and how would that make the employee brainwashed? i would guess long checkout lines to be in the top 3 in the list of complaints places like kmart. self serve lines can ease that problem, no?

self-pay gas stations are a problem for you too? you still pay for full service at a gas station?

HEB is too... I usually use the self service lanes. I still can't help think about the fact that one person can do the same work as 8 now...

Patrick, would you mind not attacking everything I post? Chill out, homie. Take a Prozak or something....

if i took a prozac id annihilate your posts. and Im perfectly chill. i ask the questions i ask not as an "attack". you continually start these threads then get defensive when few side with you. its not my fault you continually make no sense. if you dont want to account for what you say then dont say anything.

I don't know about you guys, but in my experience the self-check lanes at the grocery store move slower than the regular ones because it seems most people (at least the ones in front me of) are technological retards who can't figure out how to scan anything and then take waaaaayy too long to bag their groceries at the end. (I think it's rude to start checking out while they've still got their goods at the end of the belt -- and if they're not paying attention, they could easily take your stuff.) I don't know about brainwashing employees...it seems that that line could be something they're forced to say by management, whether they want to or not.

"in front me of"??? What the hell was that?

usually the self-checkout lines have no one in them. the technology actually scares some people off, in my experience. otherwise spider i would agree with you. if there's people in those line, i'll get in the regular line. BUT, they could ehance service by allowing the store to keep the same, or perhaps even less checkers on the clock, while increasing the number of available checkout isles, this moving more people through the checkout. no?

You know what I don't get? Why does every Target I have ever been in have something like 20 checkout lines when no more than 4 are ever open? Ever? Why even build them?

I used to work at Wal*Mart. They had us say the "Wal-Mart Cheer" every morning, and learn little slogans like CHANT (Customers Have A Name Too) and I can't remember what the ones about items under the basket, but anyway... And at AT&T we WERE brainwashed We had to memorize certain lines word for word "Are you currently using AT&T for all of your long distance calling? Great, we appreciate that". Have you ever called a customer service line and the person who answers sounds like s/he is a half heart beat away from death as they rattle off the opening line "Thank you for calling Company Name, this is Rep Name, how may I provide you with excellent service today"?

all the time. Some fun walmart stuff: http://www.walmartvswomen.com/faq.html

d00d. WalMart and AT&T telephone service? Those jobs (barring illegal immigrant farm labor, sweatshop sewing or slave prostitution) are two of the most brainwashing type job environments in existence. You've seen the worst.

something else to consider. how many jobs has wal mart or the like created? when you say reduction in manpower, i dont think of it that way. i think of it as a natural evolution in the free market. if they didnt evolve, perhaps they could end up loosing out, this costing all the jobs in any given store. yeah, you may not have a checker's salary to deal with, but you perhaps now have to hire specialized technicans service the new technology. further, its entirely possible these types of stores have no intention of cutting checker jobs. Or if they do, it could reduce overhead, thus reducing you bill in the checkout line. Did you consider all the angles?

kewl. spunky's arguing for labor and patrick's pushing the free market. Whip out the marshmallows, it's time for Ragnarok!

heeee i was waiting for someone to pull out the ice skates.

we don't have self-serve cashes here. How do people not just walk out with stuff? i say bring it on, not that it will help the public move faster. As a former (and sometimes, current!) retail cashier, anything that keeps customers the hell away from a cashier is GREAT. Lets all work together to make cashier jobs a thing of the past. Less casher jobs = Less alcoholism. Maybe now the goddamn cattle with learn what a barcode is for and why we need them. I can only pray.

i meant WILL learn. not with. from the article: "It's all done with pictures. It's very easy for the customer to use." see? SEE??? They should get a bunch of monkies, not the smart sign language monkies but honestly retarded monkies to test it. If they can use it properly, consumers may be able to grasp it. Then, and ONLY then will they know it works for people. i know they'll still find a way to fuck that up too. They're going to have people trying to talk into the fucking keypad. Just you watch. Then they'll fuck up their own order and change and still blame the employees.

As far as not stealing from the self-service check outs, after you scan something, the tray you put it on is a scale. Also, there is a motion dector above the scanner, and a scanner that checks under the cart. There is a "dollar eater" and a check reader, and a credit/debit card machine at the station. Yes, I did think about the higher tech jobs. With the RFID thing Wal-Mart is working on, and the networking neeeds for these self service stations, and the wireless check stands that are coming out using encryption, it means more work for me. I am not thinking about just me. Think those 40 something year olds will go learn a new skill? If so, why have been working at a super market or k-mart?

Because funding was slashed for continuing education programs?

An answer to why there are so many checkout lanes when they only keep 4 open or so: Christmas shoppers. They use them all and it's not enough during "the season." I don't shop in December. Not much in November either. I doubt stealing is any easier with the automated checkouts. It's already super easy. Try it. It's fun. It's even easier with really big items. Ask a helpful employee to help you carry it to your car. I know someone who works at KMart. He says they didn't lay anyone off at his store when they put in the self-serve lanes. Since so many people have trouble with them, there are always a couple people hovering near the machines and offering to help you with them.

Plus, you can fit four machines in the space one normal checkout lane takes, so combine that with the fact that except for Xmas, they never have all the checkout lanes manned, you get no layoffs. Although Spunky's concern reminds me of the 1913 strike in the mining region of the UP. The miners were opposed to the "one-man machine" (a new drill), which would break up the old system of two-men teams.

"Because funding was slashed for continuing education programs?" Buddy, I was working for $10 an hour when I went to night school for network engineering. The difference is between looking for a hand out and finding a way to do it. I am glad to hear about your fried who did not get laid off. To bad about ALL the K-Mart employees here in San Antonio. They ALL got laid off.

That damn free market system! We should chuck it all!

i haven't paid a human for gas in like 3 years. Sometimes i even aviod stations where i would have to do so, and drive a few extra blocks just to get a bank card-reader pump. It's funny how that's not even fast enough for some people, and they have to get the special keychain to wave at the pump sensor so it automatically charges your credit card, and they save precious seconds by not having to push any buttons.

The K-mart in Chandler where I live closed down,I have to go to Tempe now to go to K-mart.But you know what they have screaming deals now, I find myself going out of my way to shop for things I don't really need just cause it's such a deal.

Kmart filed for bankruptcy spunk.they closed stores nationwide. that had nothing to do with the automated checkout servers. "Think those 40 something year olds will go learn a new skill?" we have a little quote around the office, as it suits many independent bookstores we deal (used to deal) with. "independents do not have a god given right to exist; they will only survive if they are special and shockingly good at what they do. you'll only win this battle if you are damn good at something and provide the consumer with something different. IF YOU DON'T LIKE CHANGE, YOU'LL LIKE IRRELAVENCE EVEN LESS!" in particular that last part. mmm yeah.

I can't believe what some of those women were told while working at Wal*Mart. That's appalling.

i think some mcdonald's and such were having trouble finding people to work because no one wants to work that kind of job anymore everything is an evolution and people need to adapt. our generation, if any, should see that very clearly. i have worked quite a few lower pay, lower skill jobs. while i would like to say that those people i worked with were good, hard-working and intelligent, i can't. sure a few of them were, most on their way to other jobs. and, here i go- the rest were- yes, lazy, unmotivated, i would even go so far as to say, crazy, and somewhat stupid. there. i said it.

what was my point? i dunno maybe that i do not mourn for those jobs the world is too fast for some people. too fast for me sometimes. that is a little sad.

what the fuck is that?

"t's funny how that's not even fast enough for some people, and they have to get the special keychain to wave at the pump sensor" I've got one of those. It's kewl. I like it because you don't have to carry any money. And the idea of not having to punch buttons is good when it's 105 degrees in the shade with 90% humidity...

or have your hands smell all gas-like now if they can just teleport the gas into your tank

Patrick, I think that's a fucked up clone of David Bowie.

like Jacko and Christina A. someone should stop lying to that thing.

I was channel flipping this morning and ran into that exact same image on the today show......Everyone look at the new and SERIOUSLY underweight Celine Dion. I also have to unfortunately say that was the WORST live performance I have ever seen of her, and she looked like this skinny pole that would just topple over whenever she tried to dance, to boot. It was horrifying. I had the joy of working at McDonalds once. I was preggers with Hayley and no one wanted to hire a pregnant teenager looking person (I looked like I was 15 even though I was 20). Most of the people I worked with were college students trying to earn enough to make ends meet. Their minds were on school so they wanted a rather easy, and often fexible job. There were a couple of older ladies who worked there for like 10 years. Just to do something. I didn't really run into but one or two of the lazy idiots. But then again, it isn't a job that most people want.

"or have your hands smell all gas-like " guh? you still have to pump the gas

touching anything at a gas station, be it buttons or the pump, you get gas hands. like i said, if you could teleport the fuel....

i love that smell.

i do to. just not on my hands.

this is going to sound wierd, but around here, what the hell...... The smell of fuel has always made me NEED to take a shit. Kind of like the sound of water makes me NEED to take a leak

You like that smell, you should visit Minot, ND sometime. Oh My God, the smell of Jet Fuel permeates all over the base, and drifts into town. Especially in the mornings when they are warming up the B-52's for training exercises. Funny I never really smelled the fuel with the B-2's... There is always at least one running at all times.

The smell of gasoline makes you need to take a shit? That is odd. Did you travel a lot when you were a kid or something? also, doesn't jet fuel smell different than the gasoline we use in our vehicles?

im unsure about jet fuel, but fuel for a cessna type plane smells totally different than auto fuel.

Jet fuel does not smell anything like auto fuel

well you implied that above.

my point exactly, thank you Patrick

does it stil smell good though?

naw. not like gasoline. airplane fuel has more kerosene in the mix, as i understand, thus a weird taint to it. you're in the great white north....know the smell of chainsaws? thats a bit different because its a mixture of oil and gas, i think. airplane fuel is similar. whenever id fly with step-grandpa, after stopping in Indiana to refuel, for the longest while the interior of the plane had the fuel funk, on top of the already musty old vinyl smell of the 70s era plane.

that's the smell. Kerosene. I think prop planes and jet planes burn the same fuel.

Hello All!!! It s SMC back from the dead!!! Hi J Did you try to email me something??? It had a virus or my comp thought it did.........I read that you missed me Watcher if you are still around..well at least my pay phone story...It still continues 3 years later.........moved and they got the number... We are beginning to think it is my Xs new wife..Is that weird or what........I dont even have contact with my X...The caller talks now.......If anyone is interested I will update the rest of the soap Opera...When The Phone Rings..HAHA happy days everyone!! :)

Hey Smc this is still going on? What the hell are they saying?Speaking of hell are you still in Tempe? Is it hot enough or what? I always get a rash on my ass in the summer.

This is sad!! On the comp. on a friday nite........Anyways... J did you email me something?? It was from a Janny??????? Well we moved ,new # (not in our name even) and she got my cell phone # and the home #..So it has to be someone that knows me and dislikes me for whaever reason.. My X fiances wife started emailing my best freind!!! Weird she didnt even know her...and she continues too.. My friend just writes back cause we can pinpoint her whereabouts to some degree........Its such a long story...People think its her and that she is jealous cuz of my twins etc.. I dont get it she persued James for like 2 years until she got him...I havent talked or seen him in 3 years. what can she be harrasing me for...Soposedly she may have a chemical imbalance...Would you stalk yourhusbands X girlfreind??? It doent make sence...

yes employees are losing hours now and so there goes medical benefits as well.We are hiring 10 people a week just to handle the turnover and all these part-timers only make 1/2 of my hourly wage,the theft is also rising,the dependability stinks.Yeah more jobs are being created to raise the census of the employed,I do not see this as good because it is costing people work hours.The technology is great but not at the cost of the employee

whoa, it was a year today that i said that "goddamn cattle" thing up there. And i still think of it every time i'm in WalMart or McDonalds. I can't wait for a self-ordering McDonalds. I could watch people try to use it all day. This town got it's first self-scan checkout a few weeks ago, in the new grocery store. I haven't used it yet, I'm rather loyal to one grocery store. If someone was doing a documentary on "The Problem With Free Market Economy", they could use the closest major intersection to my house as an example. Since WalMart has now decided that they're a grocery store (hate hate), this one single intersection has 4 huge grocery stores. One on each corner FOR REAL. Not medium sized ones, 2 regual sized ones, 2 HUGE ones, one is a "superstore". And if you consider the Dominion across from my house (2 blocks away) that makes 5. There is absolutely no need for this. 5 fucking grocery stores within a 3-6 minute walk of each other. The whole town only has a population of 140,000. There are many other stores and fruit markets located throughout town. People from other towns don't come in here to shop. Fuck common sense, let's just build shit!

It use to be like that here 10 years ago,now some of the grocery stores are large drug chains like Walgreens.Just a thought,every time you self-scan yourself at the checkout,your putting somebody out of a job,don't do it.

I love Wal-Mart and I refuse to feel bad about it!

okay, maybe just a little bad. but not too bad!!

We got a self-scan K-Mart a while back... they they ripped all those stupid things out and went back to the old way. . I hated the stupid voice that would try to talk you through the process. It was loud, too, so everyone knew when you fucked it up. .

how come sometimes you use a period to seperate your paragraphs, and sometimes you don't?