Once, in the 1960s, banks sent out credit cards to anyone and everyone, it took time to discover the cheats that followed the mailman around and collected the mailed out credit cards. Preventing cheating requires that most cheats be caught in such a manner that copycats are deterred. Otherwise everyone starts cheating.
The selfcheckouts can take longer than waiting in line, esp if you are behind a person just learning how with a cart of groceries. The selfcheckouts at walmart require you drop merchandise into a sack, including bread and eggs or the termimal will demand that you sack or hit a button that at some rantom time will stop the process until a clerk comes over. My solution is to hit the sensor with my foot or hand.
I expect that some losses are built into the system. The missed jug of milk or candy bar by accident or design. OTOH I doubt that missing a large screen TV will work very well.
Christopher Meisenzahl
· 4 years ago
Good analysis. At the Wal-Marts near me there is one control station for each 4-6 self-checkout registers. This single employee monitors those registers and helps out anyone that needs it. I presume they look out for blatant fraud, and their presence within 20 feet is a likely deterrent as well.
That said, I hate those self-checkout lines, too slow. ;-)
There is a Kroger nearby with self-checkout that weights the product you are scanning and then weighs it again once you put it in the bag, no doubt to prevent customers from bagging items that they did not scan.
JohnDewey
· 4 years ago
Professor Boudreaux, I want to believe in the honesty and trustworthiness of my fellow man. I suspect that 99% of retail customers are honest, and will respond positively to Home Depot's or WalMart's faith in their character. But some will find ways to cheat the system. Even so, I would bet that overall theft will be reduced as more customers use the self-checkout lines. Employee theft probably far exceeds the small amount of theft we can expect from use of the new technology. Reducing the number of workers in a retail store will certainly reduce employee theft.
Michael
· 4 years ago
I don't know that it necessarily says taht people are honest (although I believe most are). I think its more likely consistent with an efficient punishment regime in line with Becker. In other words p(c)>d where p is probability of getting caught, c is the punishment if you are caught, d is the benefit of being dishonest. Presumably the punishment of getting caught is at the very least severe embarassment and more likely getting dragged off in handcuffs. In addition the benefit of stealing is fairly low (stealing a single (or perhaps 2-3) item worth a few dollars). As someone tries to steal more items P increases. I would suspect we will not see too much self-checkout occuring at jewelry stores (where d would be large relative to p(c). In other words, self-checkouts do not show that people are per se honest. Rather they show that stores can do the kind of Beckerian calculation I've outlined.
Slocum
· 4 years ago
All of the self-checkouts I've used have both a human monitor for several stations and a scale for weighing items after they're scanned and put in the bag (or on the bagging shelf) -- so I don't think an unusually high level of trust is required.
BTW, I love self-checkout lanes at most places I used them because I'm out of the store much faster. And usually there's a single line for a group of 4 stations, so if there's one slow, clueless person at one of the stations, it's not a big deal.
Camilo
· 4 years ago
Hmmm...I don't think we're quite ready for self-checkout lanes here in Mexico:
1) Express checkout lanes lasted very little after they were introduced a few years ago. (The fact that this was a recent occurrence is significant in and of itself.) People abused them to no end. There you were, holding a tube of toothpaste and a can of tomato sauce, stuck behind a woman with way more than 10 items. When the cashier would point out the 10 item limit, the customer would through a tantrum. Eventually, every single supermarket chain that experimented with express checkout lanes (even those owned by foreign companies like Wal-Mart) stopped using them; to the detriment of those who could actually read and understand “10 items or less”.
2) Mexico City recently built a “Metro Bus” line that uses electronic pre-paid cards. You put your money in a machine and you get a reusable card with the money you put in it. Not a day goes by that I don’t witness someone begging the guard to let them through because they are “only going one way”. Like that should matter. The guard usually lets them through for free, making the rest of who actually pay, feel like complete fools; which brings me back to the importance that everyone adheres to the rules. Otherwise, they’re worthless.
If self checkout lanes were used here, everyone would try to abuse them. One way or another, we would find a way of making them a headache with everyone. That’s the thing with third-worlders: we can’t handle efficiency.
Camilo
· 4 years ago
Hmmm...I don't think we're quite ready for self-checkout lanes here in Mexico:
1) Express checkout lanes lasted very little after they were introduced a few years ago. (The fact that this was a recent occurrence is significant in and of itself.) People abused them to no end. There you were, holding a tube of toothpaste and a can of tomato sauce, stuck behind a woman with way more than 10 items. When the cashier would point out the 10 item limit, the customer would through a tantrum. Eventually, every single supermarket chain that experimented with express checkout lanes (even those owned by foreign companies like Wal-Mart) stopped using them; to the detriment of those who could actually read and understand “10 items or less”.
2) Mexico City recently built a “Metro Bus” line that uses electronic pre-paid cards. You put your money in a machine and you get a reusable card with the money you put in it. Not a day goes by that I don’t witness someone begging the guard to let them through because they are “only going one way”. Like that should matter. The guard usually lets them through for free, making the rest of who actually pay, feel like complete fools; which brings me back to the importance that everyone adheres to the rules. Otherwise, they’re worthless.
If self checkout lanes were used here, everyone would try to abuse them. One way or another, we would find a way of making them a headache for everyone. That’s the thing with third-worlders: we can’t handle efficiency.
mjrmjr
· 4 years ago
If there was one single line for a whole bunch of self checkout stations that would be absolutely the greatest thing that a retail chain ever did. I can't understand why no store does that. At least, none in Northern Virginia.
In theory I like them, and I'll use them when there's no line but invariably if I get behind a few people in line to use one the person in front of me ends up being totally clueless and it takes them forever. Are these people surprised by their incompetence? Does it look easy to them? Most people who can't use computers are basically aware of their incompetence. Why are self-checkouts different?
Confession. For about six months my local Giant had a bug where my favorite flavor of ice cream rang up as "$0.99 general merchandise" instead of the three dollars and change it should have cost. I made sure that whenever I bought it I used a self checkout lane so that no human would catch this error. Dishonest? Yes. Do they price stuff like this into their cost of doing business? I suppose they do. I'm surprised this discount, so to speak, lasted as long as it did. Shouldn't an electronic inventory system catch something like this fairly quickly?
Stretch
· 4 years ago
It's been a number of years since I used a self-checkout line. I love them in theory, but there's a lot of work to be done for them to really work right.
First, there's a learning curve. It takes a couple of times to learn how to use one properly and efficiently unlike, for example, a self-service gas pump. Because of this whenever there are more than a few people in line, it can take quite awhile especially when someone needs human help. When I first encountered one in a NYC KMart, most of the people in the line were there because it was something different and new, not to save time necessarily.
Secondly, if there are little to no lines at the manned registers it's much quicker to use them. If there are very long lines, there are usually more than the normal amount of people at the self-checkout who don't know what they're doing. It seems that the automated checkouts are really only worthwhile when there is a moderate amount of traffic, just enough to make manned lines a hassel without forcing that hassel to the machines.
Third, they seem oddly designed requiring people to weigh items and such. Why not just label every item in the store with an electronic price tag? When you go up to the machine, you put everything you're buying into a bag in the middle of the reader, it computes the price for everything at once and you swipe your card; as simple as using the gas-pump computer. Any item that you don't pay for will sound the alarm upon leaving the store. Such technology could also be used to speed up manned lines, since the cashier would no longer have to ring up each item individually. Maybe that's too expensive right now, but if so it should only be a matter of time before we can do it.
Noah Yetter
· 4 years ago
FWIW, Giant has the best self-checkout lanes. They use a laser-scanner on the conveyor belt that senses when an item passes instead of a weight sensor under a sack. It also separates the scanning process from the bagging process which helps move things along faster.
Oddly enough, Wal-mart has the worst. The weight sensors just don't work reliably enough to complete a checkout smoothly.
All Comments
Once, in the 1960s, banks sent out credit cards to anyone and everyone, it took time to discover the cheats that followed the mailman around and collected the mailed out credit cards. Preventing cheating requires that most cheats be caught in such a manner that copycats are deterred. Otherwise everyone starts cheating.
The selfcheckouts can take longer than waiting in line, esp if you are behind a person just learning how with a cart of groceries. The selfcheckouts at walmart require you drop merchandise into a sack, including bread and eggs or the termimal will demand that you sack or hit a button that at some rantom time will stop the process until a clerk comes over. My solution is to hit the sensor with my foot or hand.
I expect that some losses are built into the system. The missed jug of milk or candy bar by accident or design. OTOH I doubt that missing a large screen TV will work very well.
Good analysis. At the Wal-Marts near me there is one control station for each 4-6 self-checkout registers. This single employee monitors those registers and helps out anyone that needs it. I presume they look out for blatant fraud, and their presence within 20 feet is a likely deterrent as well.
That said, I hate those self-checkout lines, too slow. ;-)
Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/</p>
There is a Kroger nearby with self-checkout that weights the product you are scanning and then weighs it again once you put it in the bag, no doubt to prevent customers from bagging items that they did not scan.
Professor Boudreaux, I want to believe in the honesty and trustworthiness of my fellow man. I suspect that 99% of retail customers are honest, and will respond positively to Home Depot's or WalMart's faith in their character. But some will find ways to cheat the system. Even so, I would bet that overall theft will be reduced as more customers use the self-checkout lines. Employee theft probably far exceeds the small amount of theft we can expect from use of the new technology. Reducing the number of workers in a retail store will certainly reduce employee theft.
I don't know that it necessarily says taht people are honest (although I believe most are). I think its more likely consistent with an efficient punishment regime in line with Becker. In other words p(c)>d where p is probability of getting caught, c is the punishment if you are caught, d is the benefit of being dishonest. Presumably the punishment of getting caught is at the very least severe embarassment and more likely getting dragged off in handcuffs. In addition the benefit of stealing is fairly low (stealing a single (or perhaps 2-3) item worth a few dollars). As someone tries to steal more items P increases. I would suspect we will not see too much self-checkout occuring at jewelry stores (where d would be large relative to p(c). In other words, self-checkouts do not show that people are per se honest. Rather they show that stores can do the kind of Beckerian calculation I've outlined.
All of the self-checkouts I've used have both a human monitor for several stations and a scale for weighing items after they're scanned and put in the bag (or on the bagging shelf) -- so I don't think an unusually high level of trust is required.
BTW, I love self-checkout lanes at most places I used them because I'm out of the store much faster. And usually there's a single line for a group of 4 stations, so if there's one slow, clueless person at one of the stations, it's not a big deal.
Hmmm...I don't think we're quite ready for self-checkout lanes here in Mexico:
1) Express checkout lanes lasted very little after they were introduced a few years ago. (The fact that this was a recent occurrence is significant in and of itself.) People abused them to no end. There you were, holding a tube of toothpaste and a can of tomato sauce, stuck behind a woman with way more than 10 items. When the cashier would point out the 10 item limit, the customer would through a tantrum. Eventually, every single supermarket chain that experimented with express checkout lanes (even those owned by foreign companies like Wal-Mart) stopped using them; to the detriment of those who could actually read and understand “10 items or less”.
2) Mexico City recently built a “Metro Bus” line that uses electronic pre-paid cards. You put your money in a machine and you get a reusable card with the money you put in it. Not a day goes by that I don’t witness someone begging the guard to let them through because they are “only going one way”. Like that should matter. The guard usually lets them through for free, making the rest of who actually pay, feel like complete fools; which brings me back to the importance that everyone adheres to the rules. Otherwise, they’re worthless.
If self checkout lanes were used here, everyone would try to abuse them. One way or another, we would find a way of making them a headache with everyone. That’s the thing with third-worlders: we can’t handle efficiency.
Hmmm...I don't think we're quite ready for self-checkout lanes here in Mexico:
1) Express checkout lanes lasted very little after they were introduced a few years ago. (The fact that this was a recent occurrence is significant in and of itself.) People abused them to no end. There you were, holding a tube of toothpaste and a can of tomato sauce, stuck behind a woman with way more than 10 items. When the cashier would point out the 10 item limit, the customer would through a tantrum. Eventually, every single supermarket chain that experimented with express checkout lanes (even those owned by foreign companies like Wal-Mart) stopped using them; to the detriment of those who could actually read and understand “10 items or less”.
2) Mexico City recently built a “Metro Bus” line that uses electronic pre-paid cards. You put your money in a machine and you get a reusable card with the money you put in it. Not a day goes by that I don’t witness someone begging the guard to let them through because they are “only going one way”. Like that should matter. The guard usually lets them through for free, making the rest of who actually pay, feel like complete fools; which brings me back to the importance that everyone adheres to the rules. Otherwise, they’re worthless.
If self checkout lanes were used here, everyone would try to abuse them. One way or another, we would find a way of making them a headache for everyone. That’s the thing with third-worlders: we can’t handle efficiency.
If there was one single line for a whole bunch of self checkout stations that would be absolutely the greatest thing that a retail chain ever did. I can't understand why no store does that. At least, none in Northern Virginia.
In theory I like them, and I'll use them when there's no line but invariably if I get behind a few people in line to use one the person in front of me ends up being totally clueless and it takes them forever. Are these people surprised by their incompetence? Does it look easy to them? Most people who can't use computers are basically aware of their incompetence. Why are self-checkouts different?
Confession. For about six months my local Giant had a bug where my favorite flavor of ice cream rang up as "$0.99 general merchandise" instead of the three dollars and change it should have cost. I made sure that whenever I bought it I used a self checkout lane so that no human would catch this error. Dishonest? Yes. Do they price stuff like this into their cost of doing business? I suppose they do. I'm surprised this discount, so to speak, lasted as long as it did. Shouldn't an electronic inventory system catch something like this fairly quickly?
It's been a number of years since I used a self-checkout line. I love them in theory, but there's a lot of work to be done for them to really work right.
First, there's a learning curve. It takes a couple of times to learn how to use one properly and efficiently unlike, for example, a self-service gas pump. Because of this whenever there are more than a few people in line, it can take quite awhile especially when someone needs human help. When I first encountered one in a NYC KMart, most of the people in the line were there because it was something different and new, not to save time necessarily.
Secondly, if there are little to no lines at the manned registers it's much quicker to use them. If there are very long lines, there are usually more than the normal amount of people at the self-checkout who don't know what they're doing. It seems that the automated checkouts are really only worthwhile when there is a moderate amount of traffic, just enough to make manned lines a hassel without forcing that hassel to the machines.
Third, they seem oddly designed requiring people to weigh items and such. Why not just label every item in the store with an electronic price tag? When you go up to the machine, you put everything you're buying into a bag in the middle of the reader, it computes the price for everything at once and you swipe your card; as simple as using the gas-pump computer. Any item that you don't pay for will sound the alarm upon leaving the store. Such technology could also be used to speed up manned lines, since the cashier would no longer have to ring up each item individually. Maybe that's too expensive right now, but if so it should only be a matter of time before we can do it.
FWIW, Giant has the best self-checkout lanes. They use a laser-scanner on the conveyor belt that senses when an item passes instead of a weight sensor under a sack. It also separates the scanning process from the bagging process which helps move things along faster.
Oddly enough, Wal-mart has the worst. The weight sensors just don't work reliably enough to complete a checkout smoothly.