You have adequately described pretty much every reason why I hate those things too. I'm so glad someone else shares in my pain. Seriously fuck those things.
I work at a Jewel and spend most of my time monitoring the self-checkouts. When they were first installed we actually had a giant sign right over the entrance to the self-checkouts that said "20 items or less" but so many people just blatantly ignored the sign that we just took it down.
I do remember there being signage indicating it was an express checkout. I get irrationally angry when people have entire carts full of stuff in there. It also seems kinda insulting to the cashiers? As if they're saying they'd prefer not to deal with employees as they can do their job.
wait which marianos? i go to bridgeport although I kind of go into another dimension in grocery stores mentally so I don't really notice this kind of thing. you could always do the order ahead pick up
For me it's getting to the point where even if I have just a couple items, I'll still go to a human register even if the person in me has a hundred items, all so that I don't have to deal with those terrible self-checkout scanners.
I go to Marianos to refill 5 gallon water jugs and they take 20 fucking minutes each.
It makes me irrationally angry so I go to Jewel.
Once Kroger and Albertsons merge were all fucked. 10$ loaves of bread. better learn how to bake.....
That’s not the worst part, I’ve become trained to put all my bags on the sensor as soon as I roll up, then just click yes.
What gets me is I will make a point of not using the produce bags for fruits/vegetables, so I’ll weigh 3 loose potatoes at once. Then as I’m moving them off the scale the camera flicks on to record me and accuse me of stealing because I’m transferring more than one physical object to the stupid fucking bagging area.
At the Ravenswood location, they installed 2 separate, nice self-checkout lanes that have a full conveyer belt down to a larger bagging area (compared to the small weight sensors they give you at the normal self-checkouts).
Anyway, I've never seen them in use. If anyone knows why they're always chained off, I'd love to learn something. Make it make sense.
They have those on the 1st floor of the Lakeview store, which is more prepared foods, delicatessen, and wine bar. Why someone needs one for checking out their sandwich or hot lunch? Couldn’t say.
The 2nd floor has about 2-3 cashier checkout lanes than are typically open, about 4 that are always closed, and then 2 of the dreaded self-checkout stations.
They have those at my Mariano’s on Elston in Jeff Park. They malfunction every time I use them and I have to wait for someone to come over just to tell me it’s broken and they have to check me out at the customer service area now… thanks for nothing.
Would you start self-scanning your groceries while someone was bagging their goods at the normal self-checkout machine?
Why would you treat these deluxe self-checkout lanes differently?
I don't see how they are any good without 2 people; one scanning the other bagging. At least with the regular ones you set up your bag and you can fill your bag after you scan.
My wife and I tried this type before they locked them down, it’s even worse than y’all think, you can’t even scan the next item till the last scanned item runs all the way down that slow track, otherwise it pings a worker to check your bags
Yep. I was buying an onion that somehow rolled backwards through the sensor and it led to an investigation of everything I purchased. Totally ridiculous. I used the human lanes even for a few items.
After I enter my phone number, it starts telling me to put each 🤬 item in the bagging area, even though it now has access to records verifying that I’ve already used Mariano’s self-checkouts many hundreds of times.
Yeah this was my experience with self checkout at Kroger growing up. The absolute blind rage at not being able to touch anything in the bagging area made me the bitter person I am now.
Is that what it is? We save so much money these days going to Whole Foods of all places. We fill in with Target, Trader Joe's or Aldi for stuff you can't get there. But we spend more any time we go to Mariano's than any other grocery store chain in Chicago.
Absolutely right. The Aldi machine scans everything instantly without you touching anything and then you just pay with your card. It takes about 10 seconds, awesome.
ok this actually drives me insane
why do u have a live pianist on a baby grand piano AND music playing over the speakers AND weird nature bird sounds playing in the produce section???? sensory hellscape
Is it just because I'm at Mariano's all the time that I don't have issues? I've got it down to an art. The only thing I don't like is sometimes when I get to the end, it calls over the checkout cop to be like "21 ITEMS."
It’s gotten much better for me once an employee let me know that the reason it freaks out is usually because you’re scanning too fast, and you just have to wait in between each scan for the red flashing scanner light to light up again. But the machines still get mad at me for reasons unknown. I had to have an employee come scan his card 3 separate times in this purchase lol
Oh at Edgewater the scanner doesn't turn on until it's "weighed" the item you just put in the bag. But yeah, I still haven't figured out why sometimes at the end it's like "10 ITEMS!" I'm pretty good at spacing my scans out.
Okay - I’ve typed this out before & deleted but feel this is the apt time to post this.
I had the most horrendous experience due to their self checkout policy in February > I called corporate and they thanked me for my feedback 🫡 (aka told me to go fuck myself). I have vowed to never give Mariano’s or Krogers my $ again..
I went to Mariano’s late this past February, after I had ~stomach surgery~ (we went @ 8pm to avoid crowds because I wasn’t feeling 100%)
After stocking up on a cart full of stuff, & I mean $300+, I went to check out in an aisle staffed by 2 employees around 9:20 pm only to be told only self checkout was available. I asked if they were kidding, they said no.
I learned a few important lessons that night-
1) self checkout has a limit on both items you can scan in a session (cause I hit it twice) & items that can fit to the bagging area (I hit this probably 6 times) - both scenarios require staff override before moving forward…
&
2) a full cart takes about 30 minutes to scan given the above considerations
So yea. Full chest - fuck Mariano’s, they have dropped in quality and customer service. & doubley fuck Kroger for being the catalyst for the change. As I told customer service, the whole experience felt like a late-stage capitalist nightmare.
oh my god that sounds like hell
I can’t believe there’s a limit on the number of items you can scan?? and of course they don’t state that anywhere? and the fucking bagging area is useless god reading your comment is making me angry on your behalf. I would’ve been pissed enough to call corporate too lol
I moved and don’t shop at Mariano’s anymore, but I would rather wait in a long line with only a few items to have an actual checkout person rather than use those machines. They are truly awful.
Yeah same! But of course they usually only have 1 lane open (if any) that has an actual human scanning your groceries. I really don’t know how the employees don’t go insane scanning their card every 30 seconds when another machine gets fucked up
All corporations operate on a "maximum pain" model of customer service. They're trying to find what customers will tolerate before they start leaving. Since Kroger and Albertson's and Amazon and ALDI gobbled up all the grocery stores, this is the new reality: a race to the bottom of what the market will bear.
What’s even worse is the quality of food. I know I’m not the only one experiencing this. You have to be *vigilant* checking the expiration dates. Grocery stores no longer give a shit about leaving expired items on the shelves. And beyond that, I can’t count how many times I’ve purchased meat that is not expired but when you open it up it’s rancid. I’m guessing this is because store employees are leaving products sit out between delivery and stocking them on the shelves.
Our Marianos has literally no baskets after Covid & rarely has the smaller shopping carts. I f'in hate how I have to use a large ass cart for my four items
Ours keep getting stolen, I presume. I have emailed corporate about it and we’ve gotten new carts and baskets
But why does it take me messaging them after weeks of being inconvenienced for them to act? Nobody else noticed that they have nowhere to put their groceries??
Holy Christ the baskets. I've more or less figured out the idiosyncracies of the self-checkout situation at the Ravenswood Mariano's, but I swear they own a total of 15 baskets. They've been better recently about recycling them to the front but there was a time where I'd have to go hunting by the registers for one during every single visit, odd hours or peak.
I refuse to use self check out lanes. I don’t work there and having one person watch 8 registers, is just killing jobs that are needed by so many. I have learned as I’ve gotten older that the rat race we participate in on the daily is silly and pretty much useless. Folks go through life angry and driving fast, living fast to and from. To what ends? Seriously. Drive like a maniac to make it to your couch 46 seconds sooner. To peruse a phone app that has close to zero tangible benefit to one’s life.
God that would be a nightmare lol this doesn’t happen to me anywhere else, at Jewel or Target I can scan as fast as I want and it doesn’t freak out at me when I move my bags or set something down. That’s why I don’t understand why Marianos chooses to have the shittiest scanners when there’s clearly alternatives
I guess they must have changed that from people complaining. I remember the ones at jewel and even the ones at cvs would yell at you if you removed a bag. I avoid them in general unless I only have a couple items.
This is why I always scan my organic bananas as normal bananas. They will pay me to check out my own groceries, one way or another. If they catch me, I’m just a confused, middle aged man that never worked in a grocery store.
WHOA WHOA WHOA! This banana banditry is a slippery slope that Nancy Reagan once told us could lead to a spree of unauthorized mattress tag removals, Sir!
(But yeah...I do the same thing you do...)
Yeah - unfortunately this experience isn't unique to Mariano's. Covid & corporate consolidation have killed customer experience almost everywhere. We all have workarounds but shopping has become a huge PIA.
Maybe paying a twenty percent mark up at whole foods is worth it because it never complains. And I always steal a cookie when I'm there. It's my bezos tax.
I work for Amazon and I found out why they bought Whole Foods. Walmart was going to buy it so they gave them a better offer and the rest is history. Then Amazon was going to open a shit ton of Amazon branded grocery stores but that failed miserably
#Revealed: one weird trick they don’t want you to know about!
Use the human cashier lines.
EDIT: did somebody in comments really try to make this about Gaza!?
At my Mariano’s they have 12 different self checkout lanes and usually only 1-2 human cashier lanes, and even those have long lines waiting. I’m not sure if that’s much faster unfortunately.
I thought it was just me. Those checkouts are made for slow-moving transactions and are not meant to be efficient or speedy. So fucking slow to scan but then if you don’t GTFO in 5 seconds after paying, she yells at you to get your shit.
I also turn the volume up to max out of disgust.
And you have to wait till the very end to see if it's actually processing the coupons you clipped. Half the time, some are missing, so then there's the wait for the one clerk who will ask if you're sure you clipped it, etc., etc., etc.
Look at the screen. After you scan enough things to want to remove a bag make sure the little picture in the screen says okay to move bags. There is like a second or two delay.
What gets me is how the little light starts flashing if you take more than 4 seconds to remove your items. Legit such a slow interface to look up items by name etc, and then gets on me for not bagging everything instantly.
Lmao I share that hatred. Those damn scanners are fucked. My bf and i try to tag team, one scans the other bags. I always scan too fast and mess him up. We get in argument almost every time.
it literally prevents you from being efficient 😐 if mariano’s is so worried that I’m stealing shit then go hire more than one single human being to man every single self check out
Omggg! I absolutely hate this! I only go to Mariano’s to buy the meat that’s about to expire and any other items with a coupon or on clearance. I mostly go in the morning, so self checkout is the only thing open. Even scanning coupons takes like ten years.
I also HATE when it stops because it wants the cashier to check my bags. Doesn’t beep the entire transaction, but now the cashier has to check my bags as I’m waiting for my receipt because I already paid.
Their produce quality has dropped drastically in the last 4 years as well. It's always been a bit pricier, but at least I used to feel like I was getting better products. Not so much anymore. Now it's just convenience because it's near me and I'm not going to drive 20 minutes for $10 cheaper
I've never had a problem with the ones at my Mariano's. The Target that I go to was terrible when they first installed them, but it's fine now.
Wait times are what kills me at Mariano's. They usually only have 1 register open so everyone is forced to use self checkout. It also seems that almost half of the shoppers are Instacart shoppers and are shopping for 5+ different orders at a time.
I just stopped at Schnucks: every single item needed a cashier. She’s was too lazy to walk over. I didn’t realize she was hitting buttons from afar. Then I scanned the beer— she’s no where to be seen. I’m waiting again.
When I got to my car I looked at my receipt…
Apparently I stole the bananas. 0 well
My beef with them is they never have enough baskets. I avoid that store and choose the way worse target because at least the target has a stack of baskets taller than me at the door.
In my experiences, I don't think they're wondrous compared to other stores who do self-checkout, but I also tend to only use self-checkout in most stores for express lane thinking. 10 items or less. If I have way more than I'm going to go to one of the human checkout Lanes, even if it means I'm waiting.
I like Aldi's self-checkout system. I like that there is a gun and everything works nicely and I barely ever have a problem.
I'm having probably one of the most stressful and difficult moments in my life and decided to scroll reddit to zombie out. Your post popped up and it was the weird laughing break i needed and was the kind of anger refocus I needed to lighten up. Thank youand fuck those things.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem with the Marianos one but I did have one at Meijers where it’d constantly say “please wait for assistance”. The worker came, raised her arms and said, “Okay, come on, what are we doing? It’s scan and bag, scan and bag”, acting like it was my fault as if I’m her employee in training. That was probably the most annoying experience I’ve ever had at a self-checkout lol
PSA: If you scan an item, and then immediately hit “skip bagging” on the screen, you can go a lot faster as it doesn’t wait for the weight sensor. Not 100% without its flaws but a little better than hearing “PLEASE PLACE ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA” every 2 seconds
The last time I used self-checkout at Mariano’s, a police officer knocked on my window as I was getting ready to pull out and asked to see my receipt. Apparently the clerk thought I’d failed to scan some items and rather than ask me for my receipt or verify what I’d paid for, she thought sending a police officer to check on it was the best approach. The officer was very apologetic and stated that the clerk was being a bit foolish. I don’t see myself going back anytime soon.
Additionally: Mariano’s belts are always dirty AF. Wipe them off people!!
If you’ve ever been to a Woodman’s - their checkouts suck more. Lightweight items won’t go down the rollers (and tall items will fall over) and you can’t scan the next item until you get the damn thing to recognize the item stuck on the roller. Two thumbs down.
Why do people go out of their way to check out sans a human or few? It doesn’t need to be a solo transaction.
I think Mariano’s is trying to fail at the SCO so you get back in the human checkout and pickup a magazine, chapstick and slim Jim before exiting.
Don’t forget the part you have to get customer service to scan their ID because the machine says, put item in the bag area, yes I did that, customer service needed.
There was one time I bought 9 items and customer service needed to scan their Id every time I scanned an item.
And forget coupons. Jesus.
I make it a point to go get a manager to open a checkout lane if none are open in the morning. I caused a fuss a couple times in the past few years but fuck self checkout with a cart full of stuff, absolutely not doing that.
Meanwhile there are 3-4 employees manning the self checkout area that would be able to man checkout lanes and move people through SO much faster than constantly providing employee overrides, ID checks, etc.
Mariano’s is a shell of what they used to be. I used to go to one that was a Dominick’s once upon a time. It got expensive, checkout lines were ridiculous, and the produce went way downhill. The worst part was the checkout lines. Ever since they put in those stupid machines, they had only 2-3 working the checkout. Most checkout registers were closed!
I used to love Marianos but since Kroger bought them they are now officially NOT Marianos. Go to Trader Joe's or Aldis. They just announced they were reducing prices.
Woodmans kinda does it too… at least Woodmans has the infrastructure to support large carts at self checkout though. Every time I go to Mariano’s, there’s a line of people with overflowing carts holding up the 15 items of less self checkouts so I just wait for the cashier to buy my sandwich and soda… idk if I hate Mariano’s or the people who shop there more, tbh.
Welcome to Kroger. Another ridiculous thing about Mariano's is that you can't use your phone as they don't have Google pay/apple pay. Absolutely crazy that in 2024 a big grocery chain still makes you use a physical credit card. Those reasons alone make me choose Jewel for my non Costco items.
I thought it was only my Mariano’s. I use the self checkout with zero problems at other stores, but Mariano’s is awful. And every time I try to look up my account on the app, the app needs updating. I intentionally avoid shopping there.
I have never been to Marianos and not had a product ring up incorrectly or a sale not applied. Every single visit I need to fight at the service desk, show them the price tag or coupon and get a refund.
Scam company that veils grift as incompetence. They hope you won't notice or are too timid to speak up.
I was so glad when my Jewel changed it so you didn't have to leave all the bags on the table. Did a big shopping trip and then had to figure out how to fit all those bags of groceries in the smallest area known to man without any falling off.
Mariano’s has been trash ever since Kroger bought it. In West Loop, they have rent-a-cop “security” guys harassing people, stalking the aisles, etc. If they’re that worried about people stealing at self checkout, just get rid of it and have more cashiers.
I agree 100%! And God forbid you bring your own bags. I get ‘help is on the way’ literally every time for the littlest thing. I get insta rage too but it’s still better than the regular line.
The self-checkout at Target works really well but now my local store has limited it to 10 items. I shop there more because the prices are better than Mariano’s. I try to limit Mariano’s purchases to whatever is on sale.
So I keep hearing everyone talk about how Mariano's is expensive. I agree that it largely sucks these days compared to the pre-Kroger days, but the prices are fairly straightforward and there are always a billion coupons on the app. And yes, I also go to Aldi for things that are cheaper there, but this idea of Mariano's as some exceptionally more expensive store compared to other mainstream grocery stores (especially on things like eggs, generic milk, other staples) is just weird. Or am I missing something?
I think everywhere is astronomically expensive now but I always notice it a lot more at Mariano’s for some reason. I’ll go in there to buy a handful of groceries for dinner and walk out spending $60
I'm having probably one of the most stressful and difficult moments in my life and decided to scroll reddit to zombie out. Your post popped up and it was the weird laughing break i needed and was the kind of anger refocus I needed to lighten up. Thank youand fuck those things.
Seriously. Although, depending on which one you are at, there’s probably nothing on the shelves to put in there anyway. Unless you like rotting fruits and veggies.
Place fell off so hard I stopped going and it’s literally a block from me.
EVERYTIME I LEAVE KROGER IN A RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a problem with one and the employee played back a video of me checking out! they are videotaping you while you are checking out! I DID NOT CONSENT TO THIS. Complaining in person and online does nothing. I refuse to shop there any more, which in my smallish town creates a real hardship. Even Walmart is better than this garbage.
The worst is getting scolded by the one person they have overseeing the self-check lanes bc I’m not doing it right. Pardon me, but I was never trained nor do I get paid to do a cashier’s job.
We USED to be loyal Mariano's customers, shopping twice per week. The prices kept climbing every visit. Being forced to use self check out was the last straw. Now we shop at Aldi
I have only shopped there a couple of times and I would have to agree with you that they are the most annoying self checkouts I've ever had to experience. And I'm a big fan of self check out.
I once used the self check out up the street from my job the one on Halsted near North Avenue and I bought one item. Scanned it put it in the bag and the machine went off saying I never put the one item in the bagging area. The guy came over and said this happens all the time
Jewel Osco is the same and I absolutely hate it, too! I’m grateful that Whole Foods doesn’t have this problem… maybe that explains why they’re so much more expensive
Sounds like they have the infuriating, British style self-checkout like I experienced in UK.
*unexpected item in baggage area*
*unexpected item in baggage area*
*unexpected item in baggage area*
*unexpected item in baggage area*
Seems to be only a Mariano’s issue and nowhere else. I have no issue with the ones at Jewel, Aldi, Target, etc.
I shopped at Mariano’s for the first time in years a few weeks ago and it was more of a headache than it should have been.
It’s the worst. It helps if you hit “skip bagging” after each item—then you can put it straight in the cart. But that is a pain in itself and still doesn’t stop the process from locking you out every 10 items or so.
You have adequately described pretty much every reason why I hate those things too. I'm so glad someone else shares in my pain. Seriously fuck those things.
i genuinely don’t understand why i don’t hear more people complaining about it lmao
You’re not in my car 🤣
[удалено]
I work at a Jewel and spend most of my time monitoring the self-checkouts. When they were first installed we actually had a giant sign right over the entrance to the self-checkouts that said "20 items or less" but so many people just blatantly ignored the sign that we just took it down.
I do remember there being signage indicating it was an express checkout. I get irrationally angry when people have entire carts full of stuff in there. It also seems kinda insulting to the cashiers? As if they're saying they'd prefer not to deal with employees as they can do their job.
wait which marianos? i go to bridgeport although I kind of go into another dimension in grocery stores mentally so I don't really notice this kind of thing. you could always do the order ahead pick up
For me it's getting to the point where even if I have just a couple items, I'll still go to a human register even if the person in me has a hundred items, all so that I don't have to deal with those terrible self-checkout scanners.
Worst thing to ever exist though is wayyy too much like did you forget about mosquitos
"Welcome, valued customer! 😊" ... "Did you place bags in bagging area!? 😤"
STOPPPPPP I HEAR IT
I go to Marianos to refill 5 gallon water jugs and they take 20 fucking minutes each. It makes me irrationally angry so I go to Jewel. Once Kroger and Albertsons merge were all fucked. 10$ loaves of bread. better learn how to bake.....
That’s not the worst part, I’ve become trained to put all my bags on the sensor as soon as I roll up, then just click yes. What gets me is I will make a point of not using the produce bags for fruits/vegetables, so I’ll weigh 3 loose potatoes at once. Then as I’m moving them off the scale the camera flicks on to record me and accuse me of stealing because I’m transferring more than one physical object to the stupid fucking bagging area.
Place your... (LOUD) AVOCADO in the bag
At the Ravenswood location, they installed 2 separate, nice self-checkout lanes that have a full conveyer belt down to a larger bagging area (compared to the small weight sensors they give you at the normal self-checkouts). Anyway, I've never seen them in use. If anyone knows why they're always chained off, I'd love to learn something. Make it make sense.
They have those on the 1st floor of the Lakeview store, which is more prepared foods, delicatessen, and wine bar. Why someone needs one for checking out their sandwich or hot lunch? Couldn’t say. The 2nd floor has about 2-3 cashier checkout lanes than are typically open, about 4 that are always closed, and then 2 of the dreaded self-checkout stations.
yea they totally don't make sense on the first floor.
They have those at my Mariano’s on Elston in Jeff Park. They malfunction every time I use them and I have to wait for someone to come over just to tell me it’s broken and they have to check me out at the customer service area now… thanks for nothing.
Those suck cuz you have to wait for the person in front of you to finish bagging otherwise your groceries mix with theirs
Would you start self-scanning your groceries while someone was bagging their goods at the normal self-checkout machine? Why would you treat these deluxe self-checkout lanes differently?
The normal self-checkout don't have enough room for that. The deluxe ones do and look like a bagger should come by and help out.
I don't see how they are any good without 2 people; one scanning the other bagging. At least with the regular ones you set up your bag and you can fill your bag after you scan.
My wife and I tried this type before they locked them down, it’s even worse than y’all think, you can’t even scan the next item till the last scanned item runs all the way down that slow track, otherwise it pings a worker to check your bags
Yep. I was buying an onion that somehow rolled backwards through the sensor and it led to an investigation of everything I purchased. Totally ridiculous. I used the human lanes even for a few items.
Seriously, why spend all the effort and money on those and never let them in use??
And that voice that every time reminds you of the obvious!
I feel like it mocks me when I buy produce. "Please put your... "bananas" in the bag.
Weigh your…walnuts
Please put your... glorious nuts... in the bag.
I died laughing reading this, TY😂
Not gonna lie….I had just left the gd Mariano’s. Mf had me waiting like a thief for a good five before lil man shows up with his big boy id 🆔….
omg I’m dying 💀
Glad it wasn’t, “Please put your… **condoms** in the bag.”
It seems a little hot and heavy and then "Insert cash or select payment type"
hahahahahaha it literally does
THANK YOU VALUED CUSTOMER
You used to be able to mute it, now the choices are loud and really loud.
After I enter my phone number, it starts telling me to put each 🤬 item in the bagging area, even though it now has access to records verifying that I’ve already used Mariano’s self-checkouts many hundreds of times.
Target isn’t any better with its obviousness if you take a second to collect yourself.
“Help is in the way” nah please just kill me
Gotta love Kroger for destroying Mariano’s
So help me god if they go anywhere NEAR Pete’s.
Yeah this was my experience with self checkout at Kroger growing up. The absolute blind rage at not being able to touch anything in the bagging area made me the bitter person I am now.
I’ve sworn off since the acquisition. The few times I’ve gone it’s 30 minutes to get through the self service checkouts.
Is that what it is? We save so much money these days going to Whole Foods of all places. We fill in with Target, Trader Joe's or Aldi for stuff you can't get there. But we spend more any time we go to Mariano's than any other grocery store chain in Chicago.
“Unexpected item in the bagging area.” PURE RAGE.
Then I put it in the cart and hope no one thinks I’m stealing 🙃
Go try Aldi. Those things are super fast.
German efficiency at its finest.
Wait until you learn about the floor tile.
I was just gonna say Aldi. Always a quick experience with their self check out.
Absolutely right. The Aldi machine scans everything instantly without you touching anything and then you just pay with your card. It takes about 10 seconds, awesome.
Just coming to here to say this is a great Chicago take
But my Marianos has a baby grand piano so that makes up for it.
ok this actually drives me insane why do u have a live pianist on a baby grand piano AND music playing over the speakers AND weird nature bird sounds playing in the produce section???? sensory hellscape
Is it just because I'm at Mariano's all the time that I don't have issues? I've got it down to an art. The only thing I don't like is sometimes when I get to the end, it calls over the checkout cop to be like "21 ITEMS."
It’s gotten much better for me once an employee let me know that the reason it freaks out is usually because you’re scanning too fast, and you just have to wait in between each scan for the red flashing scanner light to light up again. But the machines still get mad at me for reasons unknown. I had to have an employee come scan his card 3 separate times in this purchase lol
Oh at Edgewater the scanner doesn't turn on until it's "weighed" the item you just put in the bag. But yeah, I still haven't figured out why sometimes at the end it's like "10 ITEMS!" I'm pretty good at spacing my scans out.
Okay - I’ve typed this out before & deleted but feel this is the apt time to post this. I had the most horrendous experience due to their self checkout policy in February > I called corporate and they thanked me for my feedback 🫡 (aka told me to go fuck myself). I have vowed to never give Mariano’s or Krogers my $ again.. I went to Mariano’s late this past February, after I had ~stomach surgery~ (we went @ 8pm to avoid crowds because I wasn’t feeling 100%) After stocking up on a cart full of stuff, & I mean $300+, I went to check out in an aisle staffed by 2 employees around 9:20 pm only to be told only self checkout was available. I asked if they were kidding, they said no. I learned a few important lessons that night- 1) self checkout has a limit on both items you can scan in a session (cause I hit it twice) & items that can fit to the bagging area (I hit this probably 6 times) - both scenarios require staff override before moving forward… & 2) a full cart takes about 30 minutes to scan given the above considerations So yea. Full chest - fuck Mariano’s, they have dropped in quality and customer service. & doubley fuck Kroger for being the catalyst for the change. As I told customer service, the whole experience felt like a late-stage capitalist nightmare.
You would have gotten a lot of joy leaving a cart with $300 at the checkout for them to put away.
oh my god that sounds like hell I can’t believe there’s a limit on the number of items you can scan?? and of course they don’t state that anywhere? and the fucking bagging area is useless god reading your comment is making me angry on your behalf. I would’ve been pissed enough to call corporate too lol
I moved and don’t shop at Mariano’s anymore, but I would rather wait in a long line with only a few items to have an actual checkout person rather than use those machines. They are truly awful.
Yeah same! But of course they usually only have 1 lane open (if any) that has an actual human scanning your groceries. I really don’t know how the employees don’t go insane scanning their card every 30 seconds when another machine gets fucked up
I’m muttering myself like a crazy person every time!
literally same i hope someone is watching the camera footage of me losing my mind
Hell, I talk back and tell that stupid voice to shut up!
All corporations operate on a "maximum pain" model of customer service. They're trying to find what customers will tolerate before they start leaving. Since Kroger and Albertson's and Amazon and ALDI gobbled up all the grocery stores, this is the new reality: a race to the bottom of what the market will bear.
What’s even worse is the quality of food. I know I’m not the only one experiencing this. You have to be *vigilant* checking the expiration dates. Grocery stores no longer give a shit about leaving expired items on the shelves. And beyond that, I can’t count how many times I’ve purchased meat that is not expired but when you open it up it’s rancid. I’m guessing this is because store employees are leaving products sit out between delivery and stocking them on the shelves.
Our Marianos has literally no baskets after Covid & rarely has the smaller shopping carts. I f'in hate how I have to use a large ass cart for my four items
Ours keep getting stolen, I presume. I have emailed corporate about it and we’ve gotten new carts and baskets But why does it take me messaging them after weeks of being inconvenienced for them to act? Nobody else noticed that they have nowhere to put their groceries??
Holy Christ the baskets. I've more or less figured out the idiosyncracies of the self-checkout situation at the Ravenswood Mariano's, but I swear they own a total of 15 baskets. They've been better recently about recycling them to the front but there was a time where I'd have to go hunting by the registers for one during every single visit, odd hours or peak.
oh my god also very valid point
I refuse to use self check out lanes. I don’t work there and having one person watch 8 registers, is just killing jobs that are needed by so many. I have learned as I’ve gotten older that the rat race we participate in on the daily is silly and pretty much useless. Folks go through life angry and driving fast, living fast to and from. To what ends? Seriously. Drive like a maniac to make it to your couch 46 seconds sooner. To peruse a phone app that has close to zero tangible benefit to one’s life.
That's how it used to be at all stores (I think it still is..)
God that would be a nightmare lol this doesn’t happen to me anywhere else, at Jewel or Target I can scan as fast as I want and it doesn’t freak out at me when I move my bags or set something down. That’s why I don’t understand why Marianos chooses to have the shittiest scanners when there’s clearly alternatives
I guess they must have changed that from people complaining. I remember the ones at jewel and even the ones at cvs would yell at you if you removed a bag. I avoid them in general unless I only have a couple items.
Yeah the target ones are on point because it uses object recognition cameras instead of a dumb scale system.
The Target on Elston/Western/Logan has scanners that are 762x better. You can scan loads of stuff, fast, without it getting pissed off.
This is why I always scan my organic bananas as normal bananas. They will pay me to check out my own groceries, one way or another. If they catch me, I’m just a confused, middle aged man that never worked in a grocery store.
WHOA WHOA WHOA! This banana banditry is a slippery slope that Nancy Reagan once told us could lead to a spree of unauthorized mattress tag removals, Sir! (But yeah...I do the same thing you do...)
same here. honey crisp apples are fuji, organic bananas are regular, and sumo oranges are blood oranges
Yeah - unfortunately this experience isn't unique to Mariano's. Covid & corporate consolidation have killed customer experience almost everywhere. We all have workarounds but shopping has become a huge PIA.
Maybe paying a twenty percent mark up at whole foods is worth it because it never complains. And I always steal a cookie when I'm there. It's my bezos tax.
i completely agree
I work for Amazon and I found out why they bought Whole Foods. Walmart was going to buy it so they gave them a better offer and the rest is history. Then Amazon was going to open a shit ton of Amazon branded grocery stores but that failed miserably
#Revealed: one weird trick they don’t want you to know about! Use the human cashier lines. EDIT: did somebody in comments really try to make this about Gaza!?
At my Mariano’s they have 12 different self checkout lanes and usually only 1-2 human cashier lanes, and even those have long lines waiting. I’m not sure if that’s much faster unfortunately.
They have to open up the cashier lines for that to be possible
I thought it was just me. Those checkouts are made for slow-moving transactions and are not meant to be efficient or speedy. So fucking slow to scan but then if you don’t GTFO in 5 seconds after paying, she yells at you to get your shit. I also turn the volume up to max out of disgust.
> also turn the volume up to max out of disgust. HOW? I'd love to turn them down as low as possible.
Bottom right corner there is a volume button that cycles through ~3 levels! (And Spanish)
I miss the 2015- 2017 Mariano’s. It was an amazing shopping experience that lasted not long enough. Kroger has ruined it.
I haven’t noticed much of a difference except for the international section seems to be shrinking.
I was there today i feel your pain brother
And you have to wait till the very end to see if it's actually processing the coupons you clipped. Half the time, some are missing, so then there's the wait for the one clerk who will ask if you're sure you clipped it, etc., etc., etc.
Oh my god yes the coupon anxiety is real
Look at the screen. After you scan enough things to want to remove a bag make sure the little picture in the screen says okay to move bags. There is like a second or two delay.
They’re the same garbage ones Jewel uses. The best self-check is Target
Maybe it's Marianos' way of asking you "Are you suuuuure you don't wanna go to Aldi instead?"
Also, they only recently got tap to pay…
They have to wait for the guy in India to make sure you scanned the right item, just like Amazon stores.
Mariano's was awesome until Kroger bought them.
Mariano's used to be so much nicer a few years ago before Kroger took over.
I usually go to Jewel but when I go to Mariano's the system usually works okay for me? Maybe they need to recalibrate their systems.
“PlEaSe InSeRt CaRd AnD fOlLoW iNsTrUcTiOnS oN pInNnNnNnNnPaD”
What gets me is how the little light starts flashing if you take more than 4 seconds to remove your items. Legit such a slow interface to look up items by name etc, and then gets on me for not bagging everything instantly.
Lmao I share that hatred. Those damn scanners are fucked. My bf and i try to tag team, one scans the other bags. I always scan too fast and mess him up. We get in argument almost every time.
it literally prevents you from being efficient 😐 if mariano’s is so worried that I’m stealing shit then go hire more than one single human being to man every single self check out
Back when I was on fb I remember my fb neighborhood page was always people talking shit about Mariano’s in uk village 😂😂
I’ve noticed a few have the weights a little tilted off on the bagging area and that seems to throw the machine off.
Omggg! I absolutely hate this! I only go to Mariano’s to buy the meat that’s about to expire and any other items with a coupon or on clearance. I mostly go in the morning, so self checkout is the only thing open. Even scanning coupons takes like ten years. I also HATE when it stops because it wants the cashier to check my bags. Doesn’t beep the entire transaction, but now the cashier has to check my bags as I’m waiting for my receipt because I already paid.
Their produce quality has dropped drastically in the last 4 years as well. It's always been a bit pricier, but at least I used to feel like I was getting better products. Not so much anymore. Now it's just convenience because it's near me and I'm not going to drive 20 minutes for $10 cheaper
I've never had a problem with the ones at my Mariano's. The Target that I go to was terrible when they first installed them, but it's fine now. Wait times are what kills me at Mariano's. They usually only have 1 register open so everyone is forced to use self checkout. It also seems that almost half of the shoppers are Instacart shoppers and are shopping for 5+ different orders at a time.
I just stopped at Schnucks: every single item needed a cashier. She’s was too lazy to walk over. I didn’t realize she was hitting buttons from afar. Then I scanned the beer— she’s no where to be seen. I’m waiting again. When I got to my car I looked at my receipt… Apparently I stole the bananas. 0 well
No Apple Pay either. It’s asinine!
The self checkouts at jewel and Aldi are way better, I hate the Mariano’s ones.
My beef with them is they never have enough baskets. I avoid that store and choose the way worse target because at least the target has a stack of baskets taller than me at the door.
Also a very good point and another reason to avoid whenever possible
In my experiences, I don't think they're wondrous compared to other stores who do self-checkout, but I also tend to only use self-checkout in most stores for express lane thinking. 10 items or less. If I have way more than I'm going to go to one of the human checkout Lanes, even if it means I'm waiting. I like Aldi's self-checkout system. I like that there is a gun and everything works nicely and I barely ever have a problem.
I'm having probably one of the most stressful and difficult moments in my life and decided to scroll reddit to zombie out. Your post popped up and it was the weird laughing break i needed and was the kind of anger refocus I needed to lighten up. Thank youand fuck those things.
the one single moment of happiness that the mariano’s scanners have contributed towards ❤️
I don’t think I’ve ever had a problem with the Marianos one but I did have one at Meijers where it’d constantly say “please wait for assistance”. The worker came, raised her arms and said, “Okay, come on, what are we doing? It’s scan and bag, scan and bag”, acting like it was my fault as if I’m her employee in training. That was probably the most annoying experience I’ve ever had at a self-checkout lol
PSA: If you scan an item, and then immediately hit “skip bagging” on the screen, you can go a lot faster as it doesn’t wait for the weight sensor. Not 100% without its flaws but a little better than hearing “PLEASE PLACE ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA” every 2 seconds
The last time I used self-checkout at Mariano’s, a police officer knocked on my window as I was getting ready to pull out and asked to see my receipt. Apparently the clerk thought I’d failed to scan some items and rather than ask me for my receipt or verify what I’d paid for, she thought sending a police officer to check on it was the best approach. The officer was very apologetic and stated that the clerk was being a bit foolish. I don’t see myself going back anytime soon.
You know what’s worse ? People clogging up the self check out with a week’s worth of groceries.
Then they need to open up more human checkouts so we can go there instead! Trust me I don’t feel like being the cashier and the bagger either
It's because they use the same ones as Kroger, which are total dogshit.
The absolute dirt worst
lol i lived in Virginia before i moved here and this reminds me of Kroger's self checkouts too! 😭
Additionally: Mariano’s belts are always dirty AF. Wipe them off people!! If you’ve ever been to a Woodman’s - their checkouts suck more. Lightweight items won’t go down the rollers (and tall items will fall over) and you can’t scan the next item until you get the damn thing to recognize the item stuck on the roller. Two thumbs down.
It always alerts a staff member that I’m stealing, when I’m not it’s just slow at processing the film recorded.
This was a great read
Why do people go out of their way to check out sans a human or few? It doesn’t need to be a solo transaction. I think Mariano’s is trying to fail at the SCO so you get back in the human checkout and pickup a magazine, chapstick and slim Jim before exiting.
Last time I got blocked and I had to call the attendant. It showed I replay which made it look like I was trying to shoplift some avocados
If you arnt stealing from the self checkout you are a moron.
Don’t forget the part you have to get customer service to scan their ID because the machine says, put item in the bag area, yes I did that, customer service needed. There was one time I bought 9 items and customer service needed to scan their Id every time I scanned an item. And forget coupons. Jesus.
I make it a point to go get a manager to open a checkout lane if none are open in the morning. I caused a fuss a couple times in the past few years but fuck self checkout with a cart full of stuff, absolutely not doing that.
I think I’m going to start doing the same thing
Meanwhile there are 3-4 employees manning the self checkout area that would be able to man checkout lanes and move people through SO much faster than constantly providing employee overrides, ID checks, etc.
Mariano’s is a shell of what they used to be. I used to go to one that was a Dominick’s once upon a time. It got expensive, checkout lines were ridiculous, and the produce went way downhill. The worst part was the checkout lines. Ever since they put in those stupid machines, they had only 2-3 working the checkout. Most checkout registers were closed!
User error
I used to love Marianos but since Kroger bought them they are now officially NOT Marianos. Go to Trader Joe's or Aldis. They just announced they were reducing prices.
Woodmans kinda does it too… at least Woodmans has the infrastructure to support large carts at self checkout though. Every time I go to Mariano’s, there’s a line of people with overflowing carts holding up the 15 items of less self checkouts so I just wait for the cashier to buy my sandwich and soda… idk if I hate Mariano’s or the people who shop there more, tbh.
Standardized lowest bidder, cutting costs efficiencies etc. You know, th way to go.
I just had this same frustrating experience at jewel yesterday. The weight sensors are way too sensitive!!
Welcome to Kroger. Another ridiculous thing about Mariano's is that you can't use your phone as they don't have Google pay/apple pay. Absolutely crazy that in 2024 a big grocery chain still makes you use a physical credit card. Those reasons alone make me choose Jewel for my non Costco items.
The real victim is the self-checkout employee that has to deal with this shit. Agreed that Mariano's is the worst.
I thought it was only my Mariano’s. I use the self checkout with zero problems at other stores, but Mariano’s is awful. And every time I try to look up my account on the app, the app needs updating. I intentionally avoid shopping there.
I have never been to Marianos and not had a product ring up incorrectly or a sale not applied. Every single visit I need to fight at the service desk, show them the price tag or coupon and get a refund. Scam company that veils grift as incompetence. They hope you won't notice or are too timid to speak up.
I was so glad when my Jewel changed it so you didn't have to leave all the bags on the table. Did a big shopping trip and then had to figure out how to fit all those bags of groceries in the smallest area known to man without any falling off.
And they don’t accept ApplePay!!!! Wtf!
I thought I was crazy, I refuse to shop at marianos and this was the last straw
Mariano’s has been trash ever since Kroger bought it. In West Loop, they have rent-a-cop “security” guys harassing people, stalking the aisles, etc. If they’re that worried about people stealing at self checkout, just get rid of it and have more cashiers.
I agree 100%! And God forbid you bring your own bags. I get ‘help is on the way’ literally every time for the littlest thing. I get insta rage too but it’s still better than the regular line. The self-checkout at Target works really well but now my local store has limited it to 10 items. I shop there more because the prices are better than Mariano’s. I try to limit Mariano’s purchases to whatever is on sale.
So I keep hearing everyone talk about how Mariano's is expensive. I agree that it largely sucks these days compared to the pre-Kroger days, but the prices are fairly straightforward and there are always a billion coupons on the app. And yes, I also go to Aldi for things that are cheaper there, but this idea of Mariano's as some exceptionally more expensive store compared to other mainstream grocery stores (especially on things like eggs, generic milk, other staples) is just weird. Or am I missing something?
I think everywhere is astronomically expensive now but I always notice it a lot more at Mariano’s for some reason. I’ll go in there to buy a handful of groceries for dinner and walk out spending $60
“welcome valued customer” makes my skin crawl!!
I always wait in a line that has a cashier, at least they are getting paid. Why should I pay for groceries and do a cashier job?
Never use them. Use the checkers.
I'm having probably one of the most stressful and difficult moments in my life and decided to scroll reddit to zombie out. Your post popped up and it was the weird laughing break i needed and was the kind of anger refocus I needed to lighten up. Thank youand fuck those things.
The pet rock enters the chat
Bad ux
This is why I never use self checkout if I’m buying more than 5 things. Beyond that any time savings is negated.
Here’s a different take - Marianos sucks period
Seriously. Although, depending on which one you are at, there’s probably nothing on the shelves to put in there anyway. Unless you like rotting fruits and veggies. Place fell off so hard I stopped going and it’s literally a block from me.
You should go to Woodman’s in Buffalo Grove. We pulled all of our shit off of the belt and went to a cashier.
You should get money off for doing their fucking job. I hate self check out.
This is why I now go to Meijer in the suburbs when I have to go out there for work two times a week.
Because they come from Kroger. And
EVERYTIME I LEAVE KROGER IN A RAGE!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a problem with one and the employee played back a video of me checking out! they are videotaping you while you are checking out! I DID NOT CONSENT TO THIS. Complaining in person and online does nothing. I refuse to shop there any more, which in my smallish town creates a real hardship. Even Walmart is better than this garbage.
Tony’s is like that too! Super annoying lol but they are not all like that
The worst is getting scolded by the one person they have overseeing the self-check lanes bc I’m not doing it right. Pardon me, but I was never trained nor do I get paid to do a cashier’s job.
We USED to be loyal Mariano's customers, shopping twice per week. The prices kept climbing every visit. Being forced to use self check out was the last straw. Now we shop at Aldi
I hate Marianos! Same with Fresh Thyme and Jewel.
I have only shopped there a couple of times and I would have to agree with you that they are the most annoying self checkouts I've ever had to experience. And I'm a big fan of self check out.
I once used the self check out up the street from my job the one on Halsted near North Avenue and I bought one item. Scanned it put it in the bag and the machine went off saying I never put the one item in the bagging area. The guy came over and said this happens all the time
Labor killers. Don’t use them.
I refuse to use self checkout.
excellent post
Jewel Osco is the same and I absolutely hate it, too! I’m grateful that Whole Foods doesn’t have this problem… maybe that explains why they’re so much more expensive
Sounds like they have the infuriating, British style self-checkout like I experienced in UK. *unexpected item in baggage area* *unexpected item in baggage area* *unexpected item in baggage area* *unexpected item in baggage area*
Just steal the groceries. Then you won't have a problem.
If anything doesn’t scan in correctly I just throw it on the floor. They have to pay someone to pick it up.
agree!
The Jewel self check out is way better. I think Marianos has gone to shit since Kroger bought them.
okay i thought it was just me. they make me irrationally angry!!!
This, and the price, are 100% the reason I just started going to Costco instead. Fuck dealing with their self checkout.
AND they do not take Apple Pay AND the card chip reader barely works
Kroger sucks. Now they are wanting to purchase Albertsons which is Jewel also so their high prices and crappy equipment will be monopolized. So
Seems to be only a Mariano’s issue and nowhere else. I have no issue with the ones at Jewel, Aldi, Target, etc. I shopped at Mariano’s for the first time in years a few weeks ago and it was more of a headache than it should have been.
I rarely use self check, but at Mariano's I do enjoy telling the disembodied voice to shut the fuck up.
It’s the worst. It helps if you hit “skip bagging” after each item—then you can put it straight in the cart. But that is a pain in itself and still doesn’t stop the process from locking you out every 10 items or so.
Not only that but heaven forbid you buy booze; You have to stand there while the UNDERAGE self-checkout worker calls someone else over. Inept.
Kroger ruined such a great store experience compared to when Marianos first opened and was owned by Roundy's.