Is Self Checkout Actually Quicker Than The Cashiers?

We're not sure if you've heard, but the world is getting increasingly automated as of late. Artificial intelligence is on everybody's mind as it's pushed into virtually every aspect of our lives (including making logos and ads for restaurants, which has us losing our appetites), but automation occurs in other, less flashy ways too. Consider the self-checkout line at the supermarket, which replaces a job that could have been done by a human for the sake of efficiency. But is it really that much quicker? On average, not really.

Think for a moment about your experience getting groceries checked out by a cashier versus doing it yourself at self-checkout. With the former, you're just sitting there idly scanning the soda coolers strategically placed by checkout to make you pay extra waiting for the time to come when you bag your groceries. With the latter, you're taking an active role in the process, running the barcode over the scanner several times as the robot voice tells you (with what feels like increasing agitation) to "place your item in the bagging area." The active participation may be why the latter sometimes feels quicker, even though the difference (if there is one) is pretty negligible.

Of course, it's not always a good idea to speak so broadly. There are cases where self-checkout genuinely is the quickest way to get in and out — usually when you don't have very many items to scan in the first place. But if you're doing some shopping for the week (while using these money-saving grocery tricks) you may be scanning for quite a while.

As one Redditor put it, "When I have $100 of groceries in my cart, I'm able to place the items on the belt and run my card information into the ATM while the Cashier scans and packs everything, and I'm out in about 3 minutes. When I have more than $100 of groceries and I go to self-checkout, it takes me forever to grab stuff from my cart, scan each item, and then bag it myself."

The question, then, is why self-checkout is praised as such a customer-friendly innovation when it puts the onus on them to do the job in the first place? You can probably guess the answer already: Because it saves the store money. It would seem any amount of inconvenience, even with an increased risk of shoplifting, is seen as a worthy price to pay for that end.