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.
I just find it almost impossible to believe that you regularly buy vegetables or other bulk goods via checkout and have few or no problems.
How about that bar code label on the spinach/parsley/cilantro? It's paper and it gets watered regularly so it is not uncommon for it to be illegible, even to the expert parser, the human.
Those stickers do fall off.
Is every brussel sprout going to have a sticker? Jalapenos? Okra? Mushrooms? Cherry tomatoes? Now according to the industrial/minimize human costs imperative you buy a prepacked batch, and in that batch are stinkers hidden below the visible top layer. Onions have dry skins that occasionally shed... whoops there goes your sticker.
Let's talk about lentils. Obvs they're going to be batched "for you" now, and how big a batch do you need? How about 3 lbs, if we're following along with the Costco Walmart paradigm. I mean you're all happy with your 3 gals. of Walmart dill pickles for $3, yes? No more does the pantry maintain a steady less than a 1 lb inventory each of a dozen different legumes for you... well who does their own cooking these days, that's what door dash is for!
And now for that "oh just look it up on helpful screen!" Except for at least a half dozen times the screen, either via the picture section or the "type the name" option, does not have the item in its inventory. For instance Pasilla/Poblano and Anaheim/Cubano chiles (names not precise anywhere) are often not present in the system. In our stores there is a small section containing up to half a dozen specialty types of tomatoes. You know, the ones that potentially have flavor. Since these inventories change more rapidly than the straight industrial space ship foods, I know those are at risk of not being in the system. Contrast to at the checkout line the checker either knows the name or takes my word for it, and occasionally just asks me the price and we're good to go. At the automated checkout, I just pick something close as presented (but cheaper, oh yes) and I move on to the next indicated item. Maybe I enjoy the frisson of being an industrially nudged criminal... it's certainly novel.
All this said, for some reason where I live, in suburban Atlanta, the automated checkouts are quite a bit more popular than the human checkers, so there's typically a 10 deep line for the automation, and maybe 2 deep occasionally but usually less for the humans. That's a no brainer.
I do not know what to tell you, I have never had any of the problems you list (I live in the Northeast, but I doubt that matters). Apple-sized things have little stickers, smaller things are batched with a barcode, and when somehow these fail, typing the name (or synonym) takes less than 10 seconds.
Indeed, you just start typing and usually 3 letters is enough to click something at the screen.
Of course, this depends greatly in the buyer being... honorable, so I can understand if it doesn't work in many places.
Your thoughts are limited by the environment you live in and your imagination.
In other countries eg brussel sprouts, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc are weighed by the consumer at the vegetable section.
- Next to the specialty tomatoes there is a label that says the name, price and _number_ for the specialty tomatoes
- Pick an individual tomato or put multiple in a small plastic/paper bag from next to the tomatos
- Put the tomatoes on a scale right next to them
- Enter the _number_ from the label, no need to search for or type anything complex
- Get a sticker with the price + barcode
- Put the sticker where ever is reasonable (on the tomato or on the bag or where ever, no one cares where you put it)
- In self checkout scan the sticker
Or even better, use a system where you are carrying a scanner when pickig stuff from shelves and at self checkout you only have to pay, since you have already scanned everything.
Ha! Even the checkers at my grocery store have problems with vegetables. Always a big lurch while menus are gone through and labels squinted at. Maybe a manager called.
Ok I buy Swiss Chard and persimmons and so on, the usual teenage checker has never seen them before, so maybe I'm having more trouble than most.
I believe the GP is referring to price look-up codes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_look-up_code). These are often applied via sticker to the produce, as shown in the Wiki images. Every self-checkout system I have used has allowed me to directly type in the PLU for produce, which is what a human cashier would normally do as well.
Additionally, my personal experience with things like this is that human cashiers aren't any better than me at looking up produce in the absence of a PLU code. In fact, I'm generally better because I know what I picked up (or intended to pick up), so I just look for the right name.
it's 4021 apple, because it has a sticker. So you try to scan tiny barcode (if one is present, you can see it on bananas) but if it's missing or dirty, you enter 4-digit PLU by hand. It's very simple and fast:
but yeah, if your store has no number stickers and multiple types of apples I can imagine self-checkout being a major pain. (I can think of a few ways to make this easier -- like provide a roll of stickers next to each variety so customer can attach them to the bag themselves -- but I've never seen this implemented)
at that point, is it really stealing to just make your best guess? are they going to detain you because you input an apple that is $0.04c cheaper than the real one?
How about that bar code label on the spinach/parsley/cilantro? It's paper and it gets watered regularly so it is not uncommon for it to be illegible, even to the expert parser, the human.
Those stickers do fall off.
Is every brussel sprout going to have a sticker? Jalapenos? Okra? Mushrooms? Cherry tomatoes? Now according to the industrial/minimize human costs imperative you buy a prepacked batch, and in that batch are stinkers hidden below the visible top layer. Onions have dry skins that occasionally shed... whoops there goes your sticker.
Let's talk about lentils. Obvs they're going to be batched "for you" now, and how big a batch do you need? How about 3 lbs, if we're following along with the Costco Walmart paradigm. I mean you're all happy with your 3 gals. of Walmart dill pickles for $3, yes? No more does the pantry maintain a steady less than a 1 lb inventory each of a dozen different legumes for you... well who does their own cooking these days, that's what door dash is for!
And now for that "oh just look it up on helpful screen!" Except for at least a half dozen times the screen, either via the picture section or the "type the name" option, does not have the item in its inventory. For instance Pasilla/Poblano and Anaheim/Cubano chiles (names not precise anywhere) are often not present in the system. In our stores there is a small section containing up to half a dozen specialty types of tomatoes. You know, the ones that potentially have flavor. Since these inventories change more rapidly than the straight industrial space ship foods, I know those are at risk of not being in the system. Contrast to at the checkout line the checker either knows the name or takes my word for it, and occasionally just asks me the price and we're good to go. At the automated checkout, I just pick something close as presented (but cheaper, oh yes) and I move on to the next indicated item. Maybe I enjoy the frisson of being an industrially nudged criminal... it's certainly novel.
All this said, for some reason where I live, in suburban Atlanta, the automated checkouts are quite a bit more popular than the human checkers, so there's typically a 10 deep line for the automation, and maybe 2 deep occasionally but usually less for the humans. That's a no brainer.