So … I know that I was not a big fan of the self-checkout movement. Part of it was my perspective as a courtesy clerk and knowing that if we didn’t need more checkers, my route to promotion was limited. Also, I don’t really trust people and the part where an employee stands around babysitting customers and machines means that the labor savings may not be as great as one might think.
But also. In the state of California. You cannot purchase alcohol through self-checkout machines. I understand this when you think of minors who are buying alcohol. But I was trying to purchase NyQuil. And yes, it says on the bottle 10% alcohol. But I was thinking / hoping that the computer would not think of it as “alcoholic beverage” but “medicine / pharmaceutical” … but alas. So if you ever find yourself trying to buy a bottle of NyQuil and get into the self-checkout line? (in California) get out and go to a regular checkout line.