Self checkout lanes were created to make shoppers look like idiots in front of grocery store employees. Its true, I have seen it with my own eyes, self checkout is only psychologically faster, because instead of waiting on a single file line for one cashier they make you wait for 4 different cashiers so you think it may be faster. But it never is, mostly because shoppers are idiots.
I rarely go to self checkout, mostly because any smart shopper knows that trying to figure out self checkout with loose veggies or pay per pound items is next to impossible and always requires the person with the key, the manager, the cool dude who can type really fast and magically figure out any problem with a simple code that forces the register open and gives you a couple of rings.
Then you have the people who want paper but self checkout rarely has paper and therefore you must wait. Then you have women who want to write checks, why don’t men ever write checks? Then you have people who scan the item 15 times b efore they realize the barcode is on the top, idiots, I want to scream.
At least in a normal lane you have someone to make you feel like the line will eventually move. In self checkout you have one person for 4 registers. Self checkout really only does one thing, it saves money for the store while not really letting anyone get through faster.