Companies only want to shift to self checkout because they think they'll make more money.

It's all about profit.

I was fooled, I thought it was going to be better for me. And it was for awhile, because I can check myself out faster than the average employee.

However, the average customer sucks at checking themselves out. So the line for self checkout sucks. Stores use scales to make sure you're scanning the right number of things, but that means that I have to put everything down on a tray, and then put it back in my cart after.

Worst of all, I check out so fast that I regularly get stopped because I guess I look like a thief. No, I didn't steal anything, I just don't want to waste any more of my precious time in this depressing fluorescent establishment.

This is the store policy making the experience suck.

Random checks at Kaufland (European supermarket chain) only require the employee to visually inspect your cart to see if you scanned everything and they only need to rescan like four items, to verify the employee actually took the time to check instead of just waving you through, so it's all very fast.

Also, all employees can clear restricted items, so that's fast too. My only gripe is that alcohol-free beer also triggers the age verification, but that's a minor issue.

I love the hand scanners since thanks to them wonky scales and weight limits are a thing of the past. They really make checkout faster, as long as the store isn't using them in a boneheaded way.