I use the automated cashiers at my supermarket all the time. Those things are mega-glitchy and require a full-time worker present at all times running from machine to machine to clear up some issue with a customer. A recent unpleasant development is shortchanging. A sign of times to come.
Even though they require human supervision, one terminal supervisor and 4 kiosks can probably handle the workload of 3 human cashiers.
Technology is taking leaps ahead. If you had a computer and a perfect operator you can eliminate 10 usual manual workers, But there is also a drawback of it that its not human and posses very limited intel so if programmed to do frauds it will do no matter what comes in its way.
I spent most of my career automating people out of jobs. If the job is mindless it can be automated. Which is a surprisingly higher percent than you might think
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% I prefer human checkers; + not all items scan well , even with a human.At least a human can slam-jam a number in, call a manager; no machine can do that Thanks and amen
Essentially if you're not using "people skills", (i.e. sales, management, marketing, creative trades, etc) or physically doing things that bots can't do (ie construction trades) you are a candidate to lose your job to automation. One day in the not too distant future, you won't even have to scan. I think you will just fill up your cart, and as you walk out they will send you an email with your receipt and a total.
They put these in at a new McDonald's that just popped up down the street from me in downtown SF. They look cool but were a real pain to use. It was difficult to get your order in and took about 3 times as long to complete the process than using a real person. The order system wasn't streamlined and kind of clunky. And forget about getting a customized order (no tomatoes or hold the pickles) b/c the system wasn't set up for that. In my opinion, the success of these kiosks boil down to the interface and operation system. I prefer most self checkout machines at grocery stores because they are easy to use and much faster, but at places like others have mentioned such as Home Depot where the kiosk never work and you always need a real person to supervise you forget about it.