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But not only have they stayed popular, but now the Tesco Metro down the road has introduced its own robot assistants.
On the plus side, I find them faster and the queues shorter. On the downside I find juggling with opening the bags and scanning items at the same time a bit of a handful, but that's just a question of technique, I guess.
How long have you guys in the USA had robot assistants in your supermarkets? It's an admirably smart idea.
Perhaps that's an incorrect assumption.
...Sainsburys supermarket in Islington...
<aside>That's my local supermarket! Did you happen to 'accidently' run into someone's ankles with a shopping trolley Saturday last?</aside>
The queues are shorter because the majority of shoppers are still reluctant to use them - and the contraptions are flawed.
You cannot, under normal use, pack your shopping using Sainsbury's own heavy duty bags - a member of staff is required to reset what is effectively a weighing machine with an attitude. Try using the heavy bags and all you hear is that cry: "Unexpected item in the baggage area!"
No, honest, I'm not trying to sneak items into my bags without paying!
After successfully scanning an item and placing it in your bag, too often the same cry goes out: "Unexpected item in the baggage area!"
Stop staring, will you? I said I'm not, repeat, not trying to sneak stuff into my bags without paying for it...!
As it's "unexpected" you presume that the scan of the bar code didn't work - so you scan it again. Get home, check your receipt and invariably you'll find the item was charged for twice...
Robots... They don't pack your bags for you - nor do they carry your shopping out the door. They don't even say "Thank you!" In fact these devices don't help you at all. They just complain, "Unexpected item in the baggage area!" and take your money into the bargain. Technology indeed.
;-)
Syzygy
We have had them here in Ohio for about 3-4 years now. I won't checkout any other way at the grocery store. Before they came one of my all time pet peeves was standing in line waiting for a slow, or worse, chatty-with-friends-in-other-lines checkout people. Now I breeze through and never have to grind my teeth while waiting for the checkout person to finish their conversation with the next checkout person over. :)
Until robots can make my day like that I'm sticking to the human operators.
I won't checkout any other way at the grocery store.
I hate these things! I tried one of these machines once, it took about 20 minutes and three visits from the supervisor, some swearing and a decision never to go near the thing again. Why should I try to pile up all my groceries on a tiny weighing scale when I can go to a checkout, wait 2 minutes, and have a real person scan everything and pack it all for me? These machines just mean that you get no decent service (so the store can save on their employment costs), they are only useful if have nothing but a sandwich to buy, and you have to do all the work yourself.
If the store wants me to pay for my groceries, then the least they can do is supply a person to take the payment. :)
So far, we have three strongly in favour and three strongly against.
I agree with hannamyluv though... It sure is nice to not have to wait behind 10 people listening to Betty the cashier chat it up with Louise the customer about their cats and dogs for 10 minutes.
<edited>Speeling</edit>
They have a few of those automated checkouts here. I won't use them. I prefer the human touch.
If my life is too busy to afford an extra half hour or whatever, then I have a real problem.
If on a smaller trip, without hesitation. I have ben using them for a while and I think the checkout time is greatly reduced.
Take care,
Brian
Any other situation? Don't even notice those lanes.
I don't like to see human beings being replaced with technology.
I worked at a grocery store for a long time, quite a number of years ago. And I'll tell you - IT SUCKS! It's awful to stand there in one place for hours at a time just scanning groceries. It's makes me happy not so many people have to do it, maybe they can do something more challenging and interesting at a store instead.
I don't like to see human beings being replaced with technology.
Trisha got there before me, but I was going to say that when the job is as dull and monotonous as working on a checkout till, it is the human worker who is standing in for their technological equivalent, not the other way around.
Humans are artistic, creative, emotional, sporting, imaginative, funny, inspiring and millions of other things that robots can simulate, but cannot be.
Creating tools which can handle repetitive and simple tasks allows us more time to be human and puts less pressure on us to work in jobs where we have to behave like machines.
There is no loss to the human workforce when jobs such as this are eradicated and replaced by machines.
