This week I have come across a paper by Christina C. Mendat and Christopher B. Mayhorn [1] from the North Carolina State University outlining Human Factors as well as ergonomics in terms of self-checkout registers. Even though the entry discusses the topic within 3 simple pages only I could get more insights and tangible data on the topic that opened new possibilities and perspectives to me. With that being said, I would like to mention that the paper was published in 2007. I’m aware that this was almost twenty years ago. Needless to say, it has to be noted that Self-Checkout Registers gained popularity in American supermarkets, a long time before they did so in Austria.

The most surprising fact that I found out comes from a historic point of view. It turns out that libraries were the first enabler for what we are now referring to as self-checkout registers. It allowed librarians to focus more on e.g. reorganizing the bookshelves instead of making sure the counters are frequently occupied.

Furthermore, the paper discusses the top issues related to self-checkout cash registers, uncovered through a survey. The top two issues are:

• Barcodes and scanning: certain products are more difficult to scan than other products*
• Chain reactions: a lot of the participants mentioned that they have experienced slower customers in front of them, which resulted in them having to wait longer.

*simply judging from what I’ve seen in my personal daily life, there has been a lot of improvement on this topic. Let alone the fact, that certain stores nowadays are known for being so fast, you might not be able to catch up with putting the purchased items into your shopping bag. I’m interested

Planning a research plan & focus groups

While these issues, that have already been uncovered, are of course of relevance, my goal is to uncover more insights, specific to Austrian supermarkets and costumers.

I’m planning on doing first observations in different supermarkets. With the Christmas holidays ahead though, I fear that this might not be as easy, as the stores are sometimes packed to the limit.

Furthermore, I will be using the informal gatherings with friends and family during the holidays to open conversations concerning cash registers. I might already conduct a first survey or focus group (at least to test the first draft of questions).

A few thoughts on accessibility

Additionally, I am planning on having a discussion about this topic with an ambulatory wheelchair user to get a first grasp of her challenges.

Outline of the first research questions/goals:

• What are the biggest obstacles when using a self-checkout register in a supermarket? How does it differentiate between different supermarket chains?
• What needs to be considered in terms of accessibility? What’s the general experience of wheelchair users in a supermarket?
• Did the process of paying via the self-checkout register ever take longer than paying via the typical checkout lane. if yes: how did this inconvenience happen?
• Technology of Scanning **

** this topic is simply interesting for general purposes

References

[1] Mendat, Christina & Mayhorn, Christopher. (2007). An Evaluation of Self-Checkout Systems. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. 51. 1011-1014. 10.1177/154193120705101703.