Life in the shopping 'slow lane' helping aging Japan stay independent

one or two hours every Thursday afternoon

Some places here have first hour every morning for aged or handicapped only. This seems more suited to preference for more often than weekly shopping.

Good idea though

It is quite clear this is not cost effective as a permanent option for most shops, but I sincerely hope it gets popular and more place opt in in having these slow lanes because of this. Different people have different needs and it is much easier for everybody to go along when you can choose to shop as you need, be it as fast as possible or without extra complications even if that means taking longer.

The slow lane service is also useful for kids to learn how to pay themselves.

Nice. Even just making people aware of this issue might make some toe tappers a bit more tolerant!

When I go shopping, I like to have a chat with staff. Being unemployed with nothing better to do, it is one of life’s pleasures.

Sounds terrible but at checkout lines without self pay I always try not to stand behind the old ladies. Takes forever for them to count out every single yen in their coin purse and they don’t use credit or debit.

how abt speed lane say for someone who have purchased 5 goods or so.very common abroad.

Well, they just only show normal and logical behavior. Have you ever used those so-called quick payments , automatic and self checkouts? On average, it’s a horror, inefficient, more time consuming, stressful and so on. Technologically interesting and advanced, yes, but in theory only. In fact you spend even more time than before, especially if you have to refill point accounts beforehand, again by cash, lol, the systems still need checks and interference by humans, and they are even dead, if the internet connection is broken on their payment systems’ side or on your smartphone etc. In addition, firing all the staff having done that manual work before, is not good for the society as a whole. I like IT and new technologies, but please, only apply it to daily life, when it works, not rolling out while in the first and completely insufficient test phases.

Even for people who cannot read Japanese.

Self-check out is not always easy.

I am the customer. Why should I do everything? I appreciate customer service,

especially when it is done properly.

It is nice to see this.

Slow lane.... You mean a regular cashier lane? Jeez, I haven't been to Japan for 2 1/2 years and all the supermarkets are 100% self-checkout now?

Too much demand, slow lane, fast lane. Why don't you grow your own farm or have your own shop or buy bulky other stuff two times a year only?

I would happily use the self-checkout when there's no cashier available. Conbini employees are busy enough as they are.

Not really. I often pay with my phone but I'm the one waiting for the cashier to set it all up - they usually have to press a million buttons and re-enter the price on a separate device before I can finally pay. And some stores only support PayPay which is slow to begin with.

Every store and restaurant where I use PayPay, it takes just one extra button. After scanning the bar code or QR code, the confirmation screen comes up in no more than three seconds.

Automation puts people out of work.

Not only that but it leads to a lack of social interaction.

@NotSo HungOver,

Say what?

The oldies take forever counting out their money,then forgetting to use their store cards,then having to be reminded to use them,then checking their receipts at the bagging area while a huge queue waits for them.

I refuse the self service checkouts in Japan.

Why should I do work at a supermarket and then pay for my goods-no discount there either!

I often find the self-checkout lane is the slow lane.

The biggest cause of hold ups in checkout queues, are caused by people using their phone to pay with. Old folks generally use Cash, and in general they know what they're doing - unlike their younger counterparts fumbling around with Mobile phone payment systems & coupons.

Not really. I often pay with my phone but I'm the one waiting for the cashier to set it all up - they usually have to press a million buttons and re-enter the price on a separate device before I can finally pay. And some stores only support PayPay which is slow to begin with.

I prefer the hybrid checkouts the best : cashier does all the scanning and then puts your basket next to a separate kiosk for you to pay yourself. But only 2 supermarkets in my area do this, and one only supports cash despite being installed just a couple years ago... go figure.