Gordon wrote on Mar 9
th, 2022 at 1:43pm:
Here's my review of 3 supermarkets and their self checkout systems.
Woolies
There are 3 prompts you have to clear before you can even start scanning, do you have a bag, do you have a loyalty card, are you paying by card.
Once scanning the system is reasonable, but a little glitchy and slow. I think there' an extra annoying prompt at the end that slows you down.
Coles
There are no prompts to begin with and you can just start scanning unless the person before you walked away without pressing yes or no to print a receipt. Once scanning it's about the same as Woolies in speed, has the occasional glitch and the occasional hangup when it doesn't know you put something in the bagging area. It has the loyalty card prompt at the end and also asks if you want to print a receipt as I mentioned earlier.
Coles also has a self scanner with a conveyor belt, they're newer machines and are really fast and easy to use.
Aldi
Not many Aldi shops have self scanners, but the times I've used them they are really fast. No prompts to get going at the beginning or end so that's good. The system is really fast, probably because they're newer and they have less inventory to deal with.
One annoying thing is, after you scan something, the time it gives you to put the item in the bagging area is really short and you get an voice prompt, 'please put your item in the bagging area'. I go fast enough so it doesn't happen often but I can hear a constant repetition of it from the machines around me which is bloody annoying.
From worst to best.
Woolies
Coles normal machine
Aldi
Coles with the conveyor belt
Hope this helps.
I like the technology behind the systems and I've enjoyed watching it improve and in some cases get worse.
The local woolies has changed their deli barcodes to small ~1cm square QR codes that are a bitch to scan.
I also like being able to split my shop as I choose, to maximise the fuel vouchers.
That said, this is where my fascination for them ends.
It's just another cog in the job losses to automation, and our Government has framed any discussion about what to do about it as socialism and their supporters simply parrot it.
They'll complain about it, as they do on here, but they'll direct their anger to big tech or some conspiracy, as they've been told to, and the problem will not be addressed until it's too late and it will cost many times more to fix, if it ever can be at that point.