Autorant

[DeathGrip]

Autorant, When you have to deal with automation that doesn't work.

This AM I had the pleasure of making an appointment over the phone. Only after trying to do so online. Good grief. It took about 2 minutes after I got a live operator. The first twenty minutes were wasted trying to get past the next seven days that had no appointment available. The next twenty minutes were spent waiting for the live operator.

Then, I decided to go to W-Mart. I had a full basket and usually will stand in line for a cashier. Today, No cashier. So I went to the self checkout. After messing with that for a few minutes it decided that I couldn't open the plastic bags quick enough and reset. I pressed the reset button and it went nuts. Finally a Sloth came to help and told me it needed to start over. I left over a hundred dollars worth of merchandise sitting in my cart and on the conveyer belt and walked out.

I'd call corporate to complain but I know who's gonna answer.

Artificial intelligence is Genuine stupidity.

 

[steveno]

if the auto check outs at wally world were so simple and trouble free to use they wouldn't have all of the baby sitters standing around making $10 an hour watching over them.

 

[pharmer]

I'm tech challenged. When I need a loaf of bread, a head of Iceberg or a bunch obananas, I first get exact money (or close) snatch, drop in the coins till I get "even money" feed in the paper and go. At least 10X faster than the slushy stop. Joe

 

[H Richard]

I don't seem to have any problem with Sam's club or Home Depot self check out. I haven't had the "pleasure" of using Walmart's yet. They do have a lot of staff hanging around, as I often need the clear to intervene when checking out liquor, to verify I am over 21.

Home Depot I always have to have a clerk, as they give me the 10% Veterans discount on every purchase.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Use it as Lowe’s and Walmart all the time.
Yes, there are a number of helpers lurking the self check at Walmart.
But That’s more indicative of the caliber of the customers than the system.

 

[DeathGrip]

Use it as Lowe’s and Walmart all the time.
Yes, there are a number of helpers lurking the self check at Walmart.
But That’s more indicative of the caliber of the customers than the system.

What caliber for customers?

 

[THE PILGRIM]

cal·i·ber
ˈkaləbər/Submit
noun
1.
the quality of someone's character or the level of someone's ability.
"they could ill afford to lose a man of his caliber"
synonyms: quality, merit, distinction, stature, excellence, preeminence.

 

[BC38]

What caliber for customers?

cal·i·ber
ˈkaləbər/Submit
noun
1.
the quality of someone's character or the level of someone's ability.
"they could ill afford to lose a man of his caliber"
synonyms: quality, merit, distinction, stature, excellence, preeminence.

I think that was a tongue-in-cheek question as a veiled reference to the ever-popular "what caliber for bears" query...

 

[JcMack]

I used to install and repair self check out lanes for a company called National Cash Register. The self checks now are head and shoulders above what they were 15 years ago. They usually come in configurations of 2, 4, 6 or 8 lanes. There's one controller register not capable of customer check out manned by an employee at all times. Not everything is in the stores data base and bar coded so the controller operator must intervene. Thanks to our glue and paint sniffing sleazeballs it takes an over ride to continue the sale if you buy restricted item. There's a lot of customers that are saved the embarrassment of being caught for shop lifting by the watchful eye of the controller operator that reminds them of missed items they forgot to scan. The platform that holds the bags is a scale that weighs the item as it's bagged and the weight/price data base is checked for accuracy for every item. Your better off scanning all your items an placing them on the bagging platform, paying for your items and bagging your stuff after it spits out the receipt. You avoid the "voice" telling you to "item not expected". What pisses me off people with a shopping cart full of stuff using the self checkout lanes. They're meant as quick checks.

 

[GaryS]

It's not the machines that they are watching over for the most part. It's the people stuck in the 1950s that can't figure out simple technology.

I use a auto check out as much as possible. Walmarts is no harder to use than anyone elses. In fact, because each check out stand has a scanner, it's easier than most.

if the auto check outs at wally world were so simple and trouble free to use they wouldn't have all of the baby sitters standing around making $10 an hour watching over them.

 

[handejector]

Autorant

I'm disappointed.
I thought you had invented a way to automatically post a rant without having to login and type.
Just kinda think it into existence.
Think of the time we could save, and how many more rants we would have.
Glorious day!

 

[pawngal]

I like self-checkouts, why? Because I prefer my groceries bagged in a reasonable manor. Frozen together, not with bananas on the ice cream, fridge things together, not bread squeezed between 2 containers of milk, cleaning supplies together, not mixed with fresh fruits & vegetables.

 

[DeathGrip]

It's the people stuck in the 1950s that can't figure out simple technology.

With only two week experience in the '50s you'd think I'd learn by now.

I guess it's my caliber showing again.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I used to install and repair self check out lanes for a company called National Cash Register.

I know many folks from around here that raised families thanks to NCR and their subsidiaries.

The first big music retailer that I worked for was outfitted by NCR. Customer support was outstanding.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I Think that the Auto Check out system is a rip off to the customers. I can phone in my order and they pull the stock and have it waiting for me and even load it in my vehicle at no added charge. But when I pull the stock and check myself out, I have saved them all that labor and still get no discount! Then they have the nerve to be upset when I refuse to give personal information to a machine (This is at Giant Eagle!) The overseers stand around gabbing instead of doing anything! Talk about the caliber of people! Whatever size they are, they're still duds!

Ivan

 

[JcMack]

I know many folks from around here that raised families thanks to NCR and their subsidiaries.

NCR paid me for 35 yrs. I'm living off a pension accrued when times were good. In '73 the domestic part of the company was on the edge of bankruptcy and Ford almost bought them. NCR corporate moved the CEO of NCR Japan to head the US company. He was a cut throat Englishman that closed the Dayton factories and moved everything to parts of the country where labor unions were non existent and and pay was dramatically less. There were bad feelings about NCR in that part of Ohio for decades. Everybody had a relative that was laid off. Fisher body had a big plant in Dayton that did the same thing around the same time. NCR left their corporate training center in Dayton. I spent probably 6 weeks a year there. When you'd go to dinner with someone or have a drink in Dayton, you'd never want to let on you worked for NCR.

 

[pharmer]

NCR corporate moved the CEO of NCR Japan to head the US company closed the Dayton factories and moved everything to parts of the country where labor unions were non existent and and pay was dramatically less. .

They had a big facility just off I4 about 40 miles north of me. It closed probably 25 years ago. Joe

 

[TX-Dennis]

Back when scanners first came out NCR pretty much dominated the field. Those old scanners were super fast, but the server in the back room would always go down at the slightest hint of bad weather. It was okay if just the primary went down. The backup would take over uninterrupted. If they both went down, though, you had a store full of unhappy shoppers who couldn't pay for their stuff. I spent a bunch of anxious times on the phone with the help desk trying to reboot the servers.

Yes, we had battery backup and a backup generator, but those old NCR rack servers were super sensitive to any power fluctuation.

Once we switched over to IBM the scanners were slower, but the server down time was all but eliminated. It's almost unheard of for both the primary and the backup to go down these days.

 

[vonn]

I generally find the one that has operator problems!

 

[brigeton]

I refuse to use self check outs. Every one of them is one cashier job gone. To me each one is a college student or retiree that dosn't have a job.
I have a friend that works at our local walmart and he says they have a lot of theft from the self check outs from people not ringing up items. Hopefully they lose enough money on them to go back to checkout lanes.