On Mar 11, 2011, at 9:45 AM, Lawrence Sica wrote: > > On Mar 11, 2011, at 11:01 AM, Roger Howard wrote: > >> >> On Mar 11, 2011, at 7:23 AM, Arno Hautala wrote: >> >>> On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 04:57, Rodti MacLeary <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>> Is that in some way analogous to putting an 'unexpected item' in his >>>> 'bagging area'? >>>> >>>> That's a British supermarket joke, appreciate it may have limited use here. >>> >>> At first I thought it was an airline joke. And, at least in New >>> England, we have the same automated checkout lines. I cannot hit the >>> mute button fast enough. >> >> We've got them here too, and they painfully demonstrate how important good >> UI can be, and how bad UI in an automated system seems sure to cost more >> than just doing things the old fashioned way. >> >> I was at a grocery store in LA last week, in a hip neighborhood with mostly >> young iPhone toting customers. There were 2 regular checkstands open - this >> was at about 7pm, when the store was packed - and a massive line for the 4 >> automated checkouts. There were 3 checkers *and* a security guard helping >> out in the automated line, and it was taking longer to get through than in >> the long lines of the old-school checkout lines. I saw two people forget to >> take their change; one of the machines crashed while I was in line, causing >> panic amongst the people who were randomly queued up in its general >> direction; and mine compulsively refused to scan a perfectly fine looking >> barcode, despite about 10 attempts, but did it perfectly the second the >> checker came over. > > For all my love of tech, I hate this kind of automation that removes the > human component from various bits. It's like those stupid phone systems you > talk to. At least I know how to bypass those and get straight to a person.
In some cases I prefer it a lot - I'm working on my house and am at HomeDepot and Lowes several times a week. The checkers are stumped, half the time, with the products I'm buying, so it takes me way less time to ring myself up than watch them slowly look through a code book to figure out how to charge me for that one stainless steel bolt. But at a grocery store, particularly one with produce, it's almost always worse than just having a professional checker with the code book memorized; I did that myself when I was 13-16 and I knew every code for every product in our little store within a couple weeks, no scanner needed. I love personal customer support - I have found the best plumber, electrician, etc, in my area, and they take care of me. I even drive my boat an hour away for service because they guy is unquestionably honest. But most retailers aren't like that anymore - their staff doesn't know shit about their products (ever been to Frys? or even a typical mega-bookstore) so I'll take self-help where I can get it. -R _______________________________________________ Osx-nutters mailing list [email protected] http://lists.tit-wank.com/mailman/listinfo/osx-nutters
