Went to the self-check out lane at the Metro in Liberty Village at 11pm. There is a person who stays on as an inspector of sorts to guide you through and help you with your inevitable mistakes (or attempts to get free stuff). It's one person to about 4 self-checkout stations. We had a lot of items, and there weren't many people, so as novices we decided to have "fun" with the self-checkout.
What ghastly experience! The automated female voice and the weight scale were asynchronous at times, and led to a lot of annoying moments. We missed out on the opportunity to get more savings on our fancy breads, because we didn't tear off and scan the $1.00 off coupon. On top of our self service, we were still charged for all the bags used, and had no discounts for next time for our free scanning and bagging.
So tell me what is the point in self-checkout? If you had one or two items I can see it being faster or even more efficient. However, where are the incentives to serving yourself? No discounts, no coupons, no free bags? As well, I have a sneaking suspicion that Metro will eliminate the express check out person (and other cashiers) until there is only a couple if this proves to be a successful endeavor.
Don't use self-check out unless you like to serve yourself in public places and still get charged for it.