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[Scott5114]

Self-checkouts became a lot less frustrating to me when I had one of the clerks explain the meaning of the red/green light. When the light is red it is weighing the basket and won't scan any items. Most of the time, if you don't touch the machine at all while the red light is on, it won't complain.

I don't know that I know what red/green light you're referring to. Might be a store specific thing?

It's been on every one that I've used. It's not very attention-getting, you have to kind of notice it's there.



On this one, which is similar to the ones Walmart uses around here, it's the row of five red lights above the scanner. (They would turn green when the machine is ready for the next item.)

[JayhawkCO]

Hmmm... this looks pretty close to all of them around me and I don't see anything similar.

[Scott5114]

Might be one of the three lights to the left of the scanner. Keep an eye on it next time you go and see if you notice one of them changing whenever you scan an item. (On the NCR models used around here, you will also often hear an audible click when the light changes color, as the coin acceptor diverter switches into and out of the "reject all coins" position.)

[kphoger]

From looking at various YouTube videos, I think the Kroger (Dillon's) ones may have green lights showing when it's ready, but they don't have red lights showing when it isn't.

[Rothman]

I haven't had a self-checkout machine tell me to put something in the bagging area for quite some time now -- like multiple years.

[Bruce]

I had one do it last night at a QFC (Kroger). And a few days before at Safeway.

[kkt]

But plenty of parking is one of the few advantages the malls actually have!

I went to a mall about a month ago - Alderwood Mall, between Seattle and Everett.  There were some other customers but not many.  The stock in Macy's was in disarray - I was mainly looking for shoes and they just had a big pile of shoeboxes on the tables not in any order by style or size or anything.  The boxes were closed so you'd have to open them or learn the meaning of the pseudo-hoity toity product names to find something you'd want to try on.

I really want to be able to try on clothes and footwear for a good fit.  I don't want to live with something not quite right from Amazon.

[Big John]

I haven't had a self-checkout machine tell me to put something in the bagging area for quite some time now -- like multiple years.

I've had the problem of the bags being hard to open and it would tell me to place the item there when i was trying to open the bag.

[Rothman]

I haven't had a self-checkout machine tell me to put something in the bagging area for quite some time now -- like multiple years.

I've had the problem of the bags being hard to open and it would tell me to place the item there when i was trying to open the bag.

Here in NY, 99% of the time there are no bags, so there is no problem.

Also very happy that our self-checkout places are more evolved than in other states where they still check for placement in the bagging area by weight or whatnot.  Like I said, it used to be that way here; I think stores got sick of paying employees to keep helping customers when they held up the line due to that crap.  Time for other states to make the same realization and get out of living in the '00s!

[dvferyance]

Personally, I still like going to a mall. I just like the experience of going out getting out of the house. It's also a place to hang out with friends or go out on a date. You can't do any of that shopping online. I am not a big fan of shopping online anyways. I have had my identity stolen. I was once sent 2 shirts when I only ordered one I had to pay $9 for the return. I ordered a book that never came. I try avoid shopping online as much as possible.

[JayhawkCO]

Personally, I still like going to a mall. I just like the experience of going out getting out of the house. It's also a place to hang out with friends or go out on a date. You can't do any of that shopping online. I am not a big fan of shopping online anyways. I have had my identity stolen. I was once sent 2 shirts when I only ordered one I had to pay $9 for the return. I ordered a book that never came. I try avoid shopping online as much as possible.

Not only have I not been in a mall in 7-8 years, I haven't "hung out with friends" in a mall in about 25 years.

[triplemultiplex]

Mall trips for us growing up involved a minimum 90 minute drive each way and chewed up an entire day.  I hated them with a passion.  Stores are soooo boring and hate shopping for just about everything.  And the idea of going to a similar store because they might have slightly different stuff at a slightly different price always struck me as completely pointless.  As if one's time isn't worth anything? Hello!

At the mall, I'd resort to sitting around in a bookstore thumbing through the latest Rand Mac and see if there were enough changes to justify buying a new one while everyone else traipsed around looking for their stupid hip shoes or CD's or whatever the hell.  I never go to a store just to "browse" and maybe stumble upon something.  I have something I want/need, I get in, I get it, I get out.  None of this dicking around to see if there's anything "good" on the damn clearance rack.

Given the distances involved, I can count on one hand the number of times I was even the company of friends at a mall and even then it was a bore.  Instead of twiddling my thumbs while my dad's looking at pants, I'm twiddling my thumbs while my friend is looking at CD's at Sam Goody or whatever the music store was.  I will go on a five mile hike through the woods in at the drop of a hat, but make me walk back and forth through a goddamn mall and I'm ready to kill myself.

[kphoger]

For me, it was the other way.  I grew up in Atwood, KS.  Going to the mall was a part of the family's occasional trips to Denver, CO—3½ hours one way, and generally an overnight stay in a hotel.  Far from being boring, that trip was the only opportunity to shop for CDs, department store clothes, presents, books, all sorts of things.  We'd spend a few hours there.

[Rothman]

Heh.  Country folk all up in here.  Even in Albany, the people from the hinterlands consider the mall a destination.  Interesting how you can spot who traveled a while and is cherishing their time there.

A date in a mall...I suppose my wife and I have seen a few movies at the mall recently.

[wanderer2575]

I haven't had a self-checkout machine tell me to put something in the bagging area for quite some time now -- like multiple years.

I think it's programmed by item (randomly?).  At my local Kroger, there are certain items that, when I buy them, always trigger a "put item in bagging area" announcement each time I scan them.  Which is a real hoot when I'm buying a dozen of that item.

[Scott5114]

All of the self-checkouts I've used around here have been NCR models. I suppose it shouldn't be much of a surprise that other vendors don't provide that feedback in the same way, if at all.

I've noticed that NCR self-checkouts with the wireless scanner gun often implicitly assume that the item you're scanning with them is remaining in the cart, and thus do not prompt to weigh them (and the light stays green). If one has only a few items, it's simple to rapid-fire scan everything, pay, then bag.

[kernals12]

The Netherlands got what they consider the first American-style megamall just last year, the Westfield Mall of the Netherlands (yes, it's got an English name), near The Hague. It has been absolutely mobbed and has caused a traffic nightmare, with experts saying they should set up a park and ride facility.

And Westfield says there's a market for 2 more such malls.


I'd guess the next one should be in Utrecht, especially if the plan to widen the A27 to 14 lanes goes through.

[Rothman]

The Netherlands got what they consider the first American-style megamall just last year, the Westfield Mall of the Netherlands (yes, it's got an English name), near The Hague. It has been absolutely mobbed and has caused a traffic nightmare, with experts saying they should set up a park and ride facility.

And Westfield says there's a market for 2 more such malls.


I'd guess the next one should be in Utrecht, especially if the plan to widen the A27 to 14 lanes goes through.

At last, Europe will deteriorate into American suburban hell.  This was our plan since the Marshall Plan to take over...

[kernals12]

The Netherlands got what they consider the first American-style megamall just last year, the Westfield Mall of the Netherlands (yes, it's got an English name), near The Hague. It has been absolutely mobbed and has caused a traffic nightmare, with experts saying they should set up a park and ride facility.

And Westfield says there's a market for 2 more such malls.


I'd guess the next one should be in Utrecht, especially if the plan to widen the A27 to 14 lanes goes through.

At last, Europe will deteriorate into American suburban hell.  This was our plan since the Marshall Plan to take over...

Don't you mean the Marshalls Plan? 

[roadman65]

Well Amazon is a worldwide market.  Any mall overseas is also prone for their competition.

I think we can Factor in Amazon as the killer of retail stores.

[Brandon]

The Netherlands got what they consider the first American-style megamall just last year, the Westfield Mall of the Netherlands (yes, it's got an English name), near The Hague. It has been absolutely mobbed and has caused a traffic nightmare, with experts saying they should set up a park and ride facility.

And Westfield says there's a market for 2 more such malls.


I'd guess the next one should be in Utrecht, especially if the plan to widen the A27 to 14 lanes goes through.

At last, Europe will deteriorate into American suburban hell.  This was our plan since the Marshall Plan to take over...

Don't you mean the Marshalls Plan? 

No, the Marshall Field Plan.