My grocery store switched to self-checkout only and I watched a mom struggle for 10 minutes with a coupon

Went to the Kroger on Elm Street last night and there wasn't a single human cashier working. This mom in front of me had two kids screaming and a coupon that wouldn't scan on the machine. She finally gave up and just paid full price. I get that automation saves the company money, but watching real people get frustrated over something a cashier could fix in 2 seconds made me wonder if we're pushing this too fast. Has anyone else seen stores where the machines just make things harder for actual customers?

3 comments

3 Comments

west.casey1mo ago

Are we really supposed to feel sorry for people who can't figure out a touchscreen coupon?

alicemurphy1mo ago

Wait, hold on - "practice more at home"? This isn't some kind of video game skill you grind out in your spare time. We're talking about a mom with a screaming toddler in a grocery store trying to save a few bucks on milk. I can barely operate my coffee maker some mornings and I'm not even wrangling kids. It's wild to me that we've decided being rude and impatient is somehow the moral high ground here. Like yeah, touchscreens are simple once you've used them fifteen times, but what about the old lady who's never seen one before or the dad who forgot his reading glasses? We're all one bad day away from being that person holding up the line.

evaw181mo ago

Wait, don't you think it's actually good that we're making people figure this stuff out themselves? @west.casey has a point, like how hard is it to scan a coupon on a screen. Maybe if that mom practiced more at home she wouldn't have held up the whole line.