Efficiency versus?

Shaw's at Porter Square has had their self checkout machines for a couple of years. Those machines were fun to use when they first came out, and they are still somewhat fun to use. However, they are not terribly efficient, at least not from the customer's point of view.

Perhaps for someone with a couple of items, the self checkout might look just as quick as having someone check you out if there isn't a line. Beep. Beep. And you're done. But when your basket has several items in it, it gets slow. Yourself aside, look at the other people in line. Someone will be trying to find the barcode, or trying to figure out why the machine insists that there is an unidentified item in the bagging area. You've probably faced those very same problems yourselves. Then you have to go through 2-3 screens while you try to pay. Because customers don't use the checkout often enough, they always seem to need to pause and read the screen again before pressing the right buttons. And I get the feeling that because the machines talk slowly, people feel obliged to hang around a little longer, or until the machine stops talking, instead of moving on.

I guess there is the one breed of customers who likes to take their own time to read the screen and make sure that every discount was taken. The girl at the checkout counter is usually too fast for you to take that thorough glance at the prices.

All that said, I still like using the self checkout for one reason: it's fun to check things out. I definitely could save a few minutes letting someone else check me out, but I'll be missing out on that little bit of fun. However judging from the flashes of annoyance from people experiencing difficulties at the checkout, I don't think it's all that fun for everyone.