No one likes to be assertive. Here’s why everywhere

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You are not alone if you encounter these annoying alarms on the auto checkout machine.

“We are in 2022. Expect self-examination to be flawless. We are not there,” said Sylvan Charleboys, director of the Agri-Food Analysis Laboratory at the University of Dalhousie in Nova Scotia.

Customers are not the only ones who are frustrated by the experience of self-examination. Stores also have challenges.

The machines are expensive to install, often break down and can cause customers to purchase small items. Stores cause more losses and shoplifting than self-checking with cashiers.

Despite the headache, self-examination is on the rise.

A.D. By 2020, 29 percent of food retail transactions were self-checked, compared to 23% last year, according to the latest data from the Food Industry Association FMI.

This begs the question: Why does this often problematic, unpopular technology control retail?

Getting customers to do the job

A.D. In 1986, the introduction of self-regulating machines was part of the long history of shops, from paid employees to paid customers, to Pigley Wigley – the first self-service supermarket – in the early 1900s.

Instead of collecting products for customers, Pigley Wigley allowed consumers to walk the streets, pick up items from the shelf, and pay for the record. To do more work, the model promises to pay lower prices.

At Pigley Wigley, the first self-service supermarket, 1918 consumers.

Self-assessment, however, is primarily designed to reduce the labor costs of stores. The system has reduced cashier’s expenses by 66%; According to the 1988 edition of the Miami Herald.

The first state-of-the-art auto-checkout system, licensed by Florida-based Cherobot and installed in many Craigger stores, is unknown to buyers today.

Their customers inspect their goods and put them on a conveyor belt. A worker on the other end of the belt pulled out the groceries. They then took customers to a central cashier to pay.

The technology was described as a “revolution in the supermarket.” The Los Angeles Times According to a 1987 review, “Automatic testing machines shorten those long cart lines and reduce labor costs in the market so consumers can switch to their own grocery store clerks.

But self-examination did not change the grocery store. Many customers want to do more work to exchange benefits that are completely unclear.

It took ten years. Walmart (WMT) To test self-confirmation. A.D. This trend was widely seen in supermarkets in the early 2000s, and during the fall of 2001, there was intense competition from supermarkets and warehouses to reduce costs.

Walmart He tested himself for the first time in the late 1990's.

“The reason was based on economics, and not on the customer,” Charlebois said. “Customers hate them from the start.”

A.D. A 2003 study by Nelson found that 52% of consumers considered self-checking methods to be “OK” and 16 percent to be “anxious”. Thirty-two percent of consumers call it “great.”

The mixed response has led to some grocery chains, including Costa Rica (Cost)Alberton et al.

Grocery Chain Big Y When it discontinued the service in 2011, it said, “Self-checkout lines will be closed as store staff will need to wait for customers to help with problems with auto codes, coupons, payment issues and many other transactions. Machines.

Walks

Self-examination has had an unintended effect on stores.

According to Christopher Andrews, a sociologist at Dru University and author of “Overworked Consumer: Self-Check, Supermarket and Do It Yourself”, retailers have found that self-regulatory sites are not independent and require regular maintenance and monitoring.

Stores have problems checking themselves, including high levels of theft.

He said that although checkout counters have turned off some traditional cashiers, they still have to create manpower and high-paying IT jobs.

Convincing himself, Andrews added, “He does not give any of his promises.

The biggest headache for store owners, self-confidence leads to more losses due to mistakes or theft than traditional cashiers.

“If you have a retail store where 50% of transactions are self-registered, the loss will be 77% higher than average,” said Adrian Beck, a professor at the University of Leicester in the UK who studies retail losses.

Customers make honest mistakes and deliberately steal self-checking machines.

Some products have multiple barcodes or barcodes that are not properly scanned. Products, including fruits and meat, should be weighed and entered into the system using code. Customers may accidentally type incorrect code. Other times, consumers will not hear a “beep” that will ensure that an item is properly scanned.

“Consumers aren’t very good at scanning reliably,” Beck said. “Why should they be? They are not educated.”

Other customers use the loose controls on self-checkout routes and have developed techniques to steal. Common tactics include not scanning an item, replacing the cheapest (banana) with the most expensive steak, scanning the fake barcodes on their hands, or checking everything correctly and then leaving free of charge.

Stores have tried to limit losses by strengthening self-testing safety features such as weight sensors. But further anti-theft measures could lead to more annoying “unexpected items in the bag space” errors, requiring shopkeepers to intervene.

“There is a delicate balance between security and customer comfort,” Beck said.

He is here to prove himself.

While there are many shortcomings for customers and store owners, the trend is growing.

Walmart (WMT), Kroger (KR) And Dollars total (D.G.) They are currently testing self-checkout shops. Costco and Albertensen self-checked after being removed years ago. Amazon (AMZN) He took a step back with the concept of less expensive Amazon Go stores.

It may be too late for the stores to simply turn their backs on themselves.

Amazon has run non-cash stores. Other retailers are trying to jump on the trend.

Today, stores are offering themselves checks that are faster than traditional cashiers, although there is little evidence to support that. However, because customers are doing the job, instead of waiting in line, they may feel that the experience is moving faster.

Store owners have also seen competitors install self-verification and have decided not to miss it.

“This is a weapon race. If everyone is working on it, you will look stupid if you don’t have it,” said David Diarezo, a former general manager of Dollar General, Wegmans and other retailers. “Once you take it out of the bag, it’s very hard not to deliver it.”

Covided-19 accelerated the spread of self-examination.

At the time of the outbreak, many customers had chosen themselves to avoid close contact with cashiers and wallets. And the challenges of hiring and retaining employees have made stores rely on machines to get customers at the door.

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