Another self-service checkout rant.

I have been VERY ambivalent about self service checkouts. I have ranted about how much slower they are when you are waiting for other people to use them and move on, and I have complained about how annoying it is to use a backpack instead of a plastic bag, and I have done a comparison race between an express lane and a self service lane in the rush hour of the city Coles, and I am getting very cross about a trend to close more checkouts (especially express lanes) and put in more self-service so that I don't even have the option to get a real checkout. I used to notice some of the regular faces at Coles Randwick, and now they are gone.

Well, go with the flow I figured. Until something happened, which has turned me back against self service.

I got cash out with my groceries, and left it in the machine. I have never left an ATM without my cash, it only happened because at the self-service I was grabbing my food and docket and it was too much to multi-task with the vague holiday brain I had last week and remember money as well. You don't get distracted at an ATM, because you are only there for money, and you get the money. But when you are there for food, you can easily forget the money. On the other hand, when you use a checkout chick for food and money, they put the money into your hand.

That was an expensive lesson, which I had to share with all of you to get better value out of.