Using self-service supermarket checkouts requires concentration with no room for daydreaming, a great activity for keeping the brain active. Photo: dolgachov.
Ageing friends love to share how they are warding off dementia with crosswords and Wordle, but I’ve found my own puddle of youth.
It entails jumping on my supermarket’s self-service checkout machines at least three times a week to keep those brain cells firing.
I know some people will sound off about these machines “taking people’s jobs” but we live in a capitalist society where some jobs become redundant and new ones are created as part of the economic cycle.
And often, you’ll find many of those people who have allegedly lost their jobs are now relegated to combing the supermarket shelves to fill food containers for online shoppers.
I prefer to look at it through a different and more positive lens on how these self-serve checkouts can enrich our supermarket experience.
Gone are the days of standing in line for what felt like hours as somebody in front slowly unpacked enough food from their trolley to feed a small nation – and then discovered they’d brought the wrong card for payment.
Or somebody who is just about to pay when they realise they’ve forgotten an item and have to run back, leaving the people behind seething as they can almost hear their chocolate Magnums and peas starting to defrost.
Those days are gone for me and I actually look forward to grocery shopping now that I’m in charge of my own till.
A slight drawback is you can’t do big shops because the system has been designed to move people through quickly with restricted packing surfaces.
I cheat a little by piling the goods into towers before I bag them. It’s great for cans but not so much for things like a cauliflower or a bunch of celery.
So far the towers haven’t collapsed, but that’s part of the challenge which makes this such a fun mind game.
The aim is to get through a shop without calling over a supervisor for a glitch I can’t work out.
It’s not all sunshine and lollipops. In fact, it’s a job self-servers take on with some trepidation because it requires concentration with no room for daydreaming.
Early in my self-serve career, when deep in thought, I walked out with a whole shop without completing the payment section.
I had a nagging feeling when I got home that I hadn’t paid and my bank balance confirmed the embarrassing truth.
Luckily, I realised before the store did because somehow I don’t think a “sorry, I forgot” excuse would go down that well in court.
I quickly fessed up, paid my bill and I sheepishly returned to my till without recriminations.
That was a while ago but I wouldn’t get through the exit if I made that mistake today.
Shoplifting in supermarkets amounts to billions each year and self-serve checkouts account for a good deal of that figure.
The larger supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths have responded and now have more security measures in place than an airport.
Some goods like meat trays are so susceptible to theft that they come with a security tag that will squeal like a pig if you try any funny stuff.
That upgrade was apparent during my last visit when despite my best efforts the machine froze before I could pay.
The supervisor strode over in that “not you again” manner but softened when she saw the culprit was an empty shopping bag in the corner of my trolley.
The self-serve check-outs don’t just scan the items now, they photograph the landscape around the shopper!
Terrifying indeed, but it beats crosswords and Wordle every day of the week.
