[hackan]

I love self-checkout, honestly. Machines need to improve, but still. There's a store here where u simply DROP all items in the self-checkout basket, and it automatically computes everything! I suspect it uses NFC or similar, but it works, and its wonderful, simply drop everything in! And wait, there's more: did I say drop everything in? I meant, the bag you are using to hold everything? just put it in that basket, insert your CC and it's done. You don't get easier than that... So yes, let's keep self-checkout, and focus on improving it!

[Gigachad]

It seems that in general, the US lags behind in retail technology.

In Australia, close to all supermarkets are majority if not entirely self checkout. Even a lot of retail brands like hardware stores and clothing stores are self checkout.

The ones like Uniqlo where you just drop the items in and it instantly scans them all are incredibly nice to use.

[shric]

The ones in Australia aren't perfect though. I use Coles and Woolworths mostly in the Sydney CBD:

- bad touch screens that lag.

- even more lag when you're trying to pay.

- frequent (about 60% of visits) requirement for staff because it disagrees that I've put something in the bagging area, or some other reason

- unnecessary and slow modal dialogs about rewards programmes, receipt etc. I wish there was just a "leave me alone and let me pay by card" button that just lets me tap and pay.

I still use them most of the time because there is almost never a queue, but if the human checkout lines are empty or almost empty I'll use them instead, it's much faster.

[govg]

Data point of just 1, but even in a small college town in the Midwest US, 50% or more counters at the grocery stores I've visited have been self checkout. Some places are almost entirely self checkout, to the point where if you need assistance it's hard to find an actual person employed by the store.

[vintermann]

On a trip to a sparsely populated part of Norway I hadn't been to before, I ran into my first unstaffed grocery store. You checked in with a bank card (they did that thing with reserving a 0.50 transcation) and it was self-service in there. Presumably someone would be in from time to time to restock the shelves.

[didntcheck]

I've used a few libraries that work like that, probably going back 10 or more years now. I was a little incredulous the first time - "You mean I really just plonk down a pile of books and press 'loan'? No individually placing each one spine-first in a tag-deactivator?"

I guess until recently it was only practical to implement with tags that were going to be reused, but is now feasible with disposable ones

[bombcar]

Our library has self checkout and no anti-theft, but it still uses barcodes.

No doubt if they were rolling out a system today they’d use RFID instead, but the absolute massive inertia from millions of barcodes books throughout the system must be huge.

[_heimdall]

That sure is a lot of single use NFC tags though.

These kinds of convenience features are almost never aligned with the strong passion many today have for reducing waste and helping lower our environmental impact.

[aceki]

RFID tags are already used for inventory management for some items/retailers. A system like this can just piggyback on the existing tags.

[imtringued]

We nowadays have disposable smart labels with integrated screens.

Look up ynvisible

[devilbunny]

I'm sure that's great, but it's a bit impractical for groceries. Even the relatively small cost of an NFC tag is going to be a real problem given how thin most groceries' margins are (and how cheap small amounts of food can be, even now).

But groceries are one of the best examples of where this would be a big time-saver.

I will say that I really do prefer self-check in convenience stores, where a big purchase is three or four items. But for groceries... it's too much if you're actually doing a big shopping day.

[filcuk]

For larger shopping, I like to use the scanning gun. I get that it's used to track me, but the fact is I get to track the price, pack items as I go and just pay on the way out.

[jareklupinski]

> Even the relatively small cost of an NFC tag is going to be a real problem given how thin most groceries' margins are (and how cheap small amounts of food can be, even now).

something that's been worrying me: how long until grocery stores stop keeping fresh fruit and vegetables because it just isn't worth it anymore?

or has produce always been a loss-leader to get people buying other things in the store...

maybe just put NFC tags on the milk and butter, and let people walk out with as many oranges as they can carry?

[matthewdgreen]

When I started looking at RFID tech in 2004, the disposable tags cost maybe $.50-$1 but general consensus was the costs would follow a Moore’s law like trajectory, halving every 2-3 years until they were on even the cheapest items. And yet here we are 20 years later and I don’t see RFID checkout systems very often at all. Are the tags still really expensive? Or is it the extra cost of attaching them to packaging?

[Shinchy]

Not seen it on groceries, but I know Uniqlo use this same method and it's fantastic.

[guappa]

Want to buy this vegetable? Now try to find it among these 300 icons of vegetables! Enjoy!

[krastanov]

Or just type the name of the vegetable or just copy the 4-digit code on the sticker attached to the vegetable. At least in the US there is no problem with buying vegetables in self-checkout.

[atvcatole]

Some stores here in Norway uses computer vision to identify the produce, I tried it out last summer and it successfully identified ~9/10 with the rutabaga being the one it didn't manage, but the touch keyboard was responsive and easy to use for that one.

For things with more than one option (e.g. organic/non-organic lemons) it would show the 1-4 products it though was relevant and I just had to click the touch monitor on the correct one.

[Reason077]

> ”DROP all items in the self-checkout basket, and it automatically computes everything!”

Yeah, I’ve seen this in a few clothing stores (Uniqlo, H&M, Zara). UHF RFIDs embedded in the tags.

It’s more for the store’s benefit than anything (makes stock takes very easy, for example!), but the neat self checkout is a nice side-benefit.

[a1o]

It's Uniqlo and it works because clothes have no metal or body of water or something else that could interfere with the RFID.

[Gigachad]

The items are also all high enough margin to cover the extra tag cost. Isn’t going to work for supermarkets.

[JohnFen]

> I love self-checkout, honestly.

Not me. I really loathe it a lot, unless I'm buying just a single item and I'm in a hurry.

Increasingly, the self-checkout lines tend to be the really long ones anyway, so using them isn't even any faster. Just more work.

[Symbiote]

Uniqlo's system was discussed here in December: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38715111