Self-Checkouts

Cutter's Log - Stardate 2102.12.80
Current Song - Early In The Morning (Gap Band)


I never thought Wal-Mart would cut back in anything.

My Wal-Mart store in Sterling had a very noticible cutback recently. You can only see the change during the late shift - where I shop on nights when I get off work at 1 a.m.

Wal-Mart used to have a single checkout lane open late at night. The lane was the one with all of the cigarettes, so they could be sold all 24 hours. Then they moved it closer to the exit, in one of those 10-items-or-less lanes.

Now they have no manned registers and are going the late-night Tollway method.

I have rarely used a self-checkout lane, mostly because I know that I'm pretty slow at getting things out of the cart and into the bagging area.

What bothered me a lot was the alert: "Unexpected item in baggage area." "Unexpected item in baggage area." "Unexpected item in baggage area." "Unexpected item in baggage area." and so on ...

While I'm trying to get the baggage area problem rectified, there comes the alert: "Do you need more time?"

In trying to not be annoyed by these alerts, I go as calmly as possible without slamming any cans of fruit through the scanning glass and breaking it. I found out that going through an actual checkout lane was less stressful on my patience than "Unexpected item in baggage area."

In this recent trip to Wal-Mart, I had the rare opportunity to use a shopping cart for my items as I couldn't carry these things in my hands.

Ever been to Wal-Mart late at night? That's when all of the stocking is done in the grocery aisles, and you feel like you're invisible.

When I had to get to the self-checkout lane, I had to stop for a moment and think about how to do this. It seemed like a two-person job for my expanded grocery list - I can't imagine a grocery trip for a family of 10 and a self-checkout lane.

So when I put my cart in place, I took each item one-by-one and scanned it and placed it into the bag. Then I took the next item from the cart, scanned it, and put it in the bag.

This timidness when it comes to checkout lanes stems from some bad experiences at Aldi - you know, the store where cart use costs a quarter and you don't even take out the same cart you brought in. The clerks at my Aldi (both the new one and the old one on Avenue G) would literally reach across the counter, quickly scan the items and THROW them into the cart.

By the way, how is it possible to go to Aldi to buy just three things? By doing that you screw up their precious little cart system.

(Side note: "You grew up in Sterling/Rock Falls if" you ran along the Aldi bagging counter as a kid.)

I'm so used to the regular checkout, going back to the days when I would ride my bike to Rock Falls Eagle's as a chore to pick up the token thing(s) for the house. Because of this, I think I'll always have a preference to the regular checkout.