Do it yourself supermarket checkouts

[Nostradama]

Wow! They are great. I went supermarket shopping the other day and the friend I went with introduced me to the concept. Really handy, since all the check-out lines were long. I guess people were busy buying Easter things. We didn't have too much to check out, so she showed me how to use the do it yourself machines. I managed everything via the touch screen (first time I've ever used one!)

This installation was at the Woodgrove SaveOn. I have no idea how long it's been there--it's probably a month or more since I've been in the store.

Two concerns: How many jobs will this cost? And the debit/credit card swipe machine is sitting there, open and available for someone to do a quick switch so that all my banking information could be going to the wrong place. And that's not uncommon these days.

Does anyone know how many supermarkets in Nanaimo have installed these? I'd read about them in newspapers, but never expected to see them so soon in Nanaimo.

[Smokey©]

They have had them at Home Depot for about a year now. I doubt if the security of our debit cards, credit cards will be misused via these types of machines. This type of checkout is actually safer then handing your card to another person to insert in the swiper.

[Nostradama]

They have had them at Home Depot for about a year now. I doubt if the security of our debit cards, credit cards will be misused via these types of machines. This type of checkout is actually safer then handing your card to another person to insert in the swiper.

about swipe machines that are left unattended. It takes maybe two minutes, I'm told, to make the changes that send your banking info to an unauthorized destination, and there ya go, your bank account's gone. I don't understand what the danger is if I hand my card to another person, I'm right there, and I watch them swipe it and hand it back to me. They do that frequently at SaveOn. And Dave the Delivery Guy from Quality Foods does it all the time, standing with a hand-held swiper when he delivers my groceries. Could you explain it to me? After all, I'm still dragging my sorry rear into the twenty-first century, and I can use all the help I can get, but at least I've been using ATM cards since the '80s when they first hit Nanaimo. I'm trying, but it ain't easy!

[TH2008]

All I know is I got confused at Save-On foods and I had to be rescued by one of the cashiers to show me what I was doing.

--
TH

[Smokey©]

The type of concern you have is valid, however, the type of card swiper you should be aware of is, when you go into a location that they take your card and swipe it below the counter or out of sight. There have also been cases where employees have changed the swiper to be one that collects the information internally then they sell the information. Most major stores will refund you any 'irregular' charges on your card.

The Quality Food people and most others that you deal with on a regular basis are not the problem, it is the out of area locations where the card swiper looks unfamiliar or if the clerk swipes the card out of your eyesight.

I believe the ones at SOF are built into the checkout and cannot be swapped for phony or altered swipers.

Hope this puts you at rest

[Nostradama]

I guess I'm as careful as it's possible to be. And the people who get their hands on my debit card are people I see regularly and know, like the grocery delivery guy, and the pharmacist at the SaveOn. I've known him and most of his staff forever. But I never let the card out of my sight. A server at a local restaurant once asked to take my debit card to a portable swipe machine, which she would then return with, so I could complete payment. Well, that's not gonna happen in my lifetime. Either she was scamming, I figured, or she just didn't know. So I explained it to her--carefully and clearly, but politely. Came home and phoned an ex-student who is an assistant manager there, just to give him a heads-up.

[Nostradama]

All I know is I got confused at Save-On foods and I had to be rescued by one of the cashiers to show me what I was doing.

--
TH

Well, I have to admit I think I wouldn't have made it through without my friend prompting me, altho I found it very easy to understand once she got me going. Sad thing was that I realized, once again, that my vision isn't what it used to be. I'd walked right along the side of that area coming into the store, hadn't even seen it. My peripheral vision is shot. Straight ahead is pretty good, anything to the sides isn't. It just isn't there for me.

[bamboo]

only home depot got that.

walmart is the next place should have self-check out..
most of people just grab couple of stuff and line up is crazy, that's why i gave up shopping in walmart.


when i was down south, Marysville, population like 25k there, middle of nowhere, their walmart has self-check out as well.

although by saying that, when i paid my liquor, cashier will pop up just to check ID, make sure i am 21 years old at least.

actually i would rather trust machine/computer than human being, because we human being can type number wrong and you just sign it without double check.

scanner probably never goes wrong.

[shara]

I like them. They amuse me because I can test myself and see how many produce codes I remember! lol I think they are a bit limiting. Sometimes I want to break up my bill over two cards and I don't know how to do that on them. There is always a cashier loitering around to make sure you don't scam them or to help. My debit card has a chip in it so I don't think it's easy for them to get my info.

[3 of 7]

I flat out refuse to use them.
These things have nothing to do with convenience and everything to do with training the consumer to do the checkout person's job.
If someone comes over to me and asks if I'd like to try them out I politely point out the fact that a world with nobody working in it has no consumers.