this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
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My only critique of self checkout is, when the machine has an error, or if I'm buying alcohol, I have to wait 5 minutes for someone to come fix the problem because there's 10 self checkout kiosks, but only one employee tending them.
That and if your buying more than 20 items and it's a scale.you know after about half a cart it's going to start bitching at you.
"Please place item in bagging area. UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA!!!"
Please wait for assistance. meanwhile our cashier is busy helping terminal one be allowed buy floor stocked nasal decongestant, terminal three is waiting to be authorized to buy a lighter, and the person at terminal four can't figure out the pad is asking them for their loyalty number and has a coupon they'd like to use.
I just don't use self checkout when buying alcohol or big carts since it's too cramped. At least at all the stores I've been to the attendant is always available so I never have to wait if something goes wrong. Maybe it depends on how tech savvy the area you're in is?
Over here in Germany you can prove your age with your girocard, your bank knows whether you're over 16/18 and relaying that information is good enough in the eyes of the law.
There are pretty strict alcohol laws in the US compared to a lot of countries, I couldn't see this system working here because people would argue teens or whoever would use their parents card or ID. The drinking age being 21 here makes it different I think, there aren't so many under 18 that would really want to drink that would abuse the system, but since you have to be 21 to buy alcohol there are plenty of people in the 16-20 range that would take advantage I'm sure.
I think the age check requires a PIN, noone but the owner of the card is supposed to have it. Dunno whether the check shows up on the transaction history it probably should.
Germany is actually kinda strict about age checks, it's the reason why not a single porn site is hosted here they'd all need that level of age auth. OTOH it's also understood that kids will find ways to circumvent things and that's also fine because you can't stop them anyway, if they do so sensibly you can ignore it and if they're not being sensible you can whip out the good ole "I'm not mad, I'm disappointed", either way they learned something about responsibility. Learning to keep your parents on a need-to-know basis is a rite of passage.
That sounds like a very reasonable way to view it haha, plenty of parents do view the things their kids do in that way and teach them to be sensible, I was lucky to be raised that that way. Many parents here are not that reasonable though and will use as much force as they can to keep their kids from doing things they don't want them to, and are happy to use the law to help with that, one way by supporting strict enforcement of drinking and drug laws. From the last stats I remember seeing the US actually has worse rates of alcoholism and alcohol related illness than Germany also!