New self checkouts at Home Depot

[cjd]

This evening I went to Home Depot for something and noticed they've gotten new self checkouts. The new units are not like the old self contained metal units. They appear to be a regular formica countertop with a 19" or so Dell touchscreen monitor. The bagging area does not appear to be weighted, just a regular bag rack. I was very confused at first because I couldn't find the scanner, and then I realized all it has is a handheld scanner with a trigger. I didn't really care for the setup as much as the old units.

Another thing I noticed is while there are still four stations, there wasn't an attendant podium at the center of them. I looked quickly but it seems to be off to the side somewhere.

Strangely, Lowes in my area only has two self checkout stations as far as I am aware. Rarely are they available to use. Anyone else have this?

[storewanderer]

This evening I went to Home Depot for something and noticed they've gotten new self checkouts. The new units are not like the old self contained metal units. They appear to be a regular formica countertop with a 19" or so Dell touchscreen monitor. The bagging area does not appear to be weighted, just a regular bag rack. I was very confused at first because I couldn't find the scanner, and then I realized all it has is a handheld scanner with a trigger. I didn't really care for the setup as much as the old units.

Another thing I noticed is while there are still four stations, there wasn't an attendant podium at the center of them. I looked quickly but it seems to be off to the side somewhere.

Strangely, Lowes in my area only has two self checkout stations as far as I am aware. Rarely are they available to use. Anyone else have this?

One Home Depot here has those new units as well. They basically function like a standard register. I found it confusing the placement of the screen, scanner, pinpad, and bags. Also the receipt printer. Everything seemed to not be in the order in which I would use it.

Lowe's routinely has only self checkout open in Reno (and only one of the 4 units accepts cash) at the front door, even during the daytime. The local store manager and the district manager think this is a perfectly acceptable practice. If you go to garden or lumber which has a register in the back corner there are cashiers at all times thanks to the old Eagle drive through lumber yard store design. They appear to dislike this set up because it drives up their labor costs. The result is punishing the customer who pays at the front checkout and having a very stressed out employee trying to tend to the self checkouts with people buying many large objects.

[Super S]

Haven't seen the new self checkouts at Home Depot in my area yet.

As for Lowe's, they surprisingly had three regular checkstands open when I was there last. For a long time, they didn't even staff the garden center or lumber end with cashiers at various times and self checkout was the only option. It is real interesting with a low staffing level and watching somebody try to drag a piece of plywood over a self checkout scanner...with no attendant in sight....

[klkla]

I'm surprised that the new self-scan set up is getting bad reviews. I like the hand held scanner much better. The entire process was faster and less stressful for me.

[storewanderer]

I'm surprised that the new self-scan set up is getting bad reviews. I like the hand held scanner much better. The entire process was faster and less stressful for me.

I would agree the wireless hand held scanner works much better than the bolted down scanner, for the various large object items sold at Home Depot (except maybe during flu season...).

[Alpha8472]

I first saw these new self checkout machines in December of last year.

The old NCR machines were the ones that supposedly were hacked and led to the Home Depot breaches.

These new Dell machines are not designed to deal with shoplifting or people who do not ring up all of their items. My local Home Depot does not turn these on at night to reduce losses.

Self checkout at home improvement stores is such a pain. The items are huge and trying to ring up these lumber and other bulk items requires help from an employee. It just wastes time and frustrates the employee at self checkout.

[storewanderer]

I first saw these new self checkout machines in December of last year.

The old NCR machines were the ones that supposedly were hacked and led to the Home Depot breaches.

These new Dell machines are not designed to deal with shoplifting or people who do not ring up all of their items. My local Home Depot does not turn these on at night to reduce losses.

Self checkout at home improvement stores is such a pain. The items are huge and trying to ring up these lumber and other bulk items requires help from an employee. It just wastes time and frustrates the employee at self checkout.

I really have no idea why home improvement stores push self checkout the way they do. It just does not make sense for numerous items in the format.

This new Home Depot system is supposed to make it easier to handle large items with the wireless handheld scanner. But how does one ensure that all items are being rung up? It is really like an honor system. Given the dollars involved with these items, that seems like a potentially very costly honor system. Maybe they have some really good security monitoring the self checkout areas from the cameras...?

When I go to Lowes, the place seems so understaffed that it is like their attitude is as if the front end does not exist and is not an area that requires staffing. When I go to Home Depot, there are almost always multiple employees at the front end just standing around talking or looking bored.

[cjd]

It reminds me back a number of years ago all the way back to 2006 checking out at Home Depot. We were buying some things for a remodel and when I scanned a 6 foot piece of baseboard the machine kept saying to "please bag the item". There was no "I don't want to bag this item" option then, so I just tapped it on the bottom of the bag and it accepted it. lol

I had noticed though, that in the last few years there were a lot fewer errors of "unexpected item in bagging area" or "please place item in bag".

I agree for large items the handheld scanner makes more sense. I just think it will take getting used to vs the counter mounted scanner. The layout of these checkouts really makes it easier to just scan items and leave them in the cart, which really seems like it will lead to unscanned items, either intentional or not. The older style checkouts made flowing from cart to scanner to bag much easier.

I have never seen a Lowes or Home Depot with unmanned garden center checkouts. I think this would lead to a lot of frustration, as I don't see anyone bringing everything from there inside the store to pay at the main checkout.

[Super S]

It reminds me back a number of years ago all the way back to 2006 checking out at Home Depot. We were buying some things for a remodel and when I scanned a 6 foot piece of baseboard the machine kept saying to "please bag the item". There was no "I don't want to bag this item" option then, so I just tapped it on the bottom of the bag and it accepted it. lol

I had noticed though, that in the last few years there were a lot fewer errors of "unexpected item in bagging area" or "please place item in bag".

I agree for large items the handheld scanner makes more sense. I just think it will take getting used to vs the counter mounted scanner. The layout of these checkouts really makes it easier to just scan items and leave them in the cart, which really seems like it will lead to unscanned items, either intentional or not. The older style checkouts made flowing from cart to scanner to bag much easier.

I have never seen a Lowes or Home Depot with unmanned garden center checkouts. I think this would lead to a lot of frustration, as I don't see anyone bringing everything from there inside the store to pay at the main checkout.

The garden center checkouts at Lowe's and Home Depot are only open when the gates are open. After summer, they tend to sometimes only have these gates open on the weekends. As for the lumber end, I have seen several instances at Lowe's where the checkouts are closed, yet the lumber desk is staffed but apparently not by anybody that can operate a register. And the door at that end is not locked or anything.

[cjd]

The garden center checkouts at Lowe's and Home Depot are only open when the gates are open. After summer, they tend to sometimes only have these gates open on the weekends. As for the lumber end, I have seen several instances at Lowe's where the checkouts are closed, yet the lumber desk is staffed but apparently not by anybody that can operate a register. And the door at that end is not locked or anything.

Ah I see. That makes sense, because here in FL the garden center gates are open year round. In other places there wouldn't likely be people buying plants or garden/yard items in other times of the year. So it's likely a regional difference that I didn't think about.

The garden center entrances here I believe are only closed after a certain time of evening, similar to how Walmart closes secondary entrances at 9PM. This discourages theft and likely Lowes or HD don't have anyone working those departments in the evening anyway.