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When the Senate Tried To Ban Dial Telephones
An anonymous reader writes "With the Senate now looking to have the government block access to websites it deems to be bad (which seems to be called 'censorship' in other countries), it's worth pointing out that the Senate doesn't exactly have a good track record when it comes to deciding what technologies to ban. Back in 1930, some Senators came close to banning the dial telephone, because they felt that it was wrong that they had to do the labor themselves, rather than an operator at the other end."
For me self-checkouts are slower. Simply put: I don't move as fast as the full-time worker does. It takes me about 3 times longer. Also the "scale" often doesn't register when I move my item into the shopping bag.
"Please put your item in your bag."
"I did."
"Please put your item in your bag."
(removes item. Puts back into bag)
"Please put your item in your bag."
"Grrr." (pulls item out of shopping cart and dumps into bag)
"Thank you sir. Please scan next item or press done to continue." ----- Yes that's right. I stole an item. Not my fault the machine doesn't work right. It's the store's fault.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
They tried to make the telephone company put back the non-dial phones IN THE SENATE ITSELF. This is similar to me demanding that the phone company turn off my call display, and Slashdot running the story as "Slashdot user attempts to ban call display!!" No attempt was made to ban them.
ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
This was a resolution. They were only banning their own dial telephones.
My experience has been completely different, though my roommates is similar to yours. When we buy groceries I check us out.
I don't deny there are some bugs but I think the majority of problems come from being an immature technology.
The following are my thoughts on the casual observations of the way my roommate and I check out.
The machine has a very limited margin of error for the timing between scanning and weighing and scanning the next item.
The scale for instance can lag because the initial force of dropping the item in the bag registers more than rest weight. If you scan the next item before the scale stabilizes it throws the thing out of whack and it won't recover until the cashier comes over. In the meantime the software starts to lag and the instructions don't keep up with the customer's actions. This spirals into a very unpleasant experience for the customer.
One solution could be to wait until the end when everything has stabilized to report an error. And then to have an idea of which item it could be that it doesn't understand. It would also help if the stores realized relying on such exacting weights problem cause more shrinkage than people who go in with the intention of shoplifting.
That's my 2 dollars worth anyway.
FEWER staff, not less
Fewer staffers, less staff. (the former being countable)
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
In the UK, ATMs in the walls of banks are generally free to all users, including customers of other banks. ATMs in other places - groceries, pubs, hotels etc - generally charge £1.50 or £1.75 - about $2.00.
Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.