Some Walmart employees say customers are getting hostile at self-checkout — and they blame anti-theft tech::When Walmart's anti-theft self-checkout tech alerts an employee of a missed scan, it can cause some uncomfortable situations.

  • Clegko@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Switching from single use plastic to multi-use plastic has greatly increased carbon emissions of production. You also have to reuse the new plastic bags over 100 times for them to break even, emissions wise. (https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/04/30/plastic-paper-cotton-bags/)

    I agree with you that canvas bags are better overall, but IMO we should move back to paper. It's WAY easier to reuse paper products, gardeners love the paper bags, and they break down quickly even if they are littered somewhere. There are some tradeoffs, such as transportation costs being higher because they are thicker than single use bags, but if you compare paper to multi-use bags, it's a fairly moot point.

    Also, I'd still rather someone bag my shit for me. I've had so many things broken or otherwise damaged by the cashier haphazardly tossing my stuff into the cart just so I can walk 5 foot and take 10 minutes to pack my own stuff. Personal preference, but it should be given as an option imo.

    • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Multi use plastic bags are a moronic half measure agreed. What some places are doing is using paper for disposable bags and selling actually long term re-usable bags for a little more like a 2-5 bucks a bag mostly.

      • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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        1 year ago

        Yeah the idea that people buying a dozen polyester bags made of substantially more plastic that still gets thrown away by people on average is not great. Our fast scramble approach to solving issues is often awful like that though. Look at the waste that the turn from plastic straws caused all because of a school report about turtles.

      • qfjp@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        Bring your own bags => cashiers toss stuff into cart and break things, because you have to bag your own stuff.

        Cashiers bag stuff => less things break, because stuff is bagged then put in the cart.

        • lud@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Here, everything goes out on a belt where you have to bag it yourself. The cashier never touches your cart or items apart from scanning them.

          Costco recently came to my country and it feels so incredibly weird to wait for someone to first unpack your stuff and for someone else to scan it, and then someone else packs it again.

          I am not sure how to put it, but I almost feel humiliating in a way.

          It's also pretty common in grocery stores to walk around with a handheld scanner which you dock when done so you can pay. The great thing about this is that you bag your stuff while shopping and when you pay, it's already bagged.

          • balisada@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Yeah. Piling stuff on another belt so we can bag it ourselves is the norm here as well. I find it fascinating that I will simply pile everything into a haphazard pile on my side of the cashier, but when the cashier scans it, he/she usually piles it up into a very nice and tidy organized group.

          • AdamHenry@discuss.tchncs.de
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            1 year ago

            What country is this if you don't mind me asking. If uncomfortable with answering , no pronlem. Also, they have hand scanners for everyone?

            • lud@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Yes, anyone that is a (free) store Member can use the scanners.

              Note that not every store has those, only bigger grocery stores do.

          • qfjp@lemmy.one
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            1 year ago

            I see, that explains the confusion.

            Costco recently came to my country and it feels so incredibly weird to wait for someone to first unpack your stuff and for someone else to scan it, and then someone else packs it again.

            I'm in the states, but I still kind of feel weird having them do this. That said, they're much faster at it than me and lines are always huge, so they probably prefer it this way.

      • Clegko@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Sorry, I wasn't clear. In the olden times, a bagger (or the cashier) nicely packed the stuff into bags making sure not to break shit. All the stores around me now just yeet shit back into the cart after scanning it with no regard to what it lands on or if it breaks.