{"id":654,"date":"2007-09-20T22:33:07","date_gmt":"2007-09-21T02:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/?p=654"},"modified":"2007-09-20T22:39:44","modified_gmt":"2007-09-21T02:39:44","slug":"monkey-wrench-the-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/2007\/09\/monkey-wrench-the-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Monkey wrench the system"},"content":{"rendered":"

An ill wind blows through RetailTown and it’s bringing with it more bad user interface design than you can possibly imagine. Yes, the dreaded self-check kiosk has multiplied in that pod-like fashion so common to bad ideas initiated by bottom-line oriented MBAs. Not only do we have them in grocery stores and Home Depot but now they’ve started to appear in drug stores<\/acronym> making the buying vitamins, shampoo, and tampons experience that much more deadly.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure what bothers me more about self-check kiosks the bad user interface design or the encroachment on my shopping experience that they represent. Let’s start with the user interface design.<\/p>\n

I’ve written about some of the design flaws of the kiosks<\/a> at the grocery store but lately I’ve been taking a hard look at how I’m forced to interact with the machine. Assuming I start my transaction by scanning my items, I’m forced to interact with a touch-screen monitor, probably about a 13incher, if I want to buy anything that requires weighing. This touch-screen is where I enter my alternate id number<\/acronym> for my discount card if I have one. The touch-screen is also where I tell the machine how I’m going to pay. And here is where it gets really stupid.<\/p>\n

In order to pay for my purchase I have to do a minimum of three steps:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Via the touch-screen: tell the machine I want to ‘finish & pay’<\/li>\n
  2. Via the touch-screen: tell the machine what method of payment I want to use.<\/li>\n
  3. Via the cash acceptance slots (one for bills, one for coins): insert my money in a specific order (coins first).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    These three steps assume that you’re 1) paying cash, and 2) have exact change. You add the fourth step of getting change if the amount you put in isn’t exactly your total. If you want to pay by credit card the process is even worse: you’re forced to interact with not one, not two, but three separate interfaces two of which require you to give the machine redundant information. Assuming you want to use a credit card<\/acronym> the process goes like this:<\/p>\n

    Interface #1 (Touch Screen)<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Tell the machine I want to ‘finish & pay’<\/li>\n
    2. Tell the machine what method of payment I want to use (credit)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Interface #2 (Swipe Terminal)<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Swipe the card<\/li>\n
      2. Tell the machine what method of payment I’m using (debit or credit)<\/li>\n
      3. Tell the machine that I’m willing to pay the total by hitting the green ‘OK’ button<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Interface #3 (Signature Pad)<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Sign my name<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Back to Interface #1 (Touch Screen)<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Tell the machine I have interacted with the swipe terminal and the signature pad by hitting ‘finish & pay’ a second time<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Setting aside the user interface problem, there is the other issue: how business is using its customers as free labor. Yes, they’re playing off the “saved time” perception. We all know that doesn’t really work. These things malfunction so often you’re probably better off waiting for an actual checker in an actual line. And you can’t really blame business for trying to increase profits. They are, after all, in it for the money. No, more insidious is the marketing of increasing their bottom line.<\/p>\n

            Bloom<\/a> is a grocery store chain that is spreading like kudzu north from the Carolinas. Since they’re strictly regional at this point their advertising hasn’t spread across the country. Be thankful. Be very, very thankful for the marketing geniuses at Bloom have committed two unpardonable sins: they’ve recycled a Partridge Family<\/a> song for their jingle, and they’ve attempted to make fluffing the corporate bottom line fun.<\/p>\n

            Bloom’s advertisements consist of employees decked out in khakis and corporate polo shirts dancing around the store singing about the joys of shopping at Bloom, how you’ll leave happy because of all the great choices and products (Hello world, there’s a song that we’re singing\/Come on shop<\/strong> happy<\/em>). Annoying at best until they got to this most recent round of ads which don’t just imply that it’s more convenient to use the self-check out kiosk. Oh no, they outright say that it’s fun.<\/p>\n

            So not only have you removed a level of service but now I’m supposed to be happy about having to do your work for you? I’m supposed to enjoy not getting even the least little bit of human interaction in my spending and consumption process? Next thing they’ll be telling us is that it’s good exercise to cut the products out of the plastic wrapped palettes that are lying around the store because they won’t hire enough stockers.<\/p>\n

            To subvert the seven step, redundified process that is paying for your purchase with a credit card at a self-check kiosk instead of signing my name this week I wrote on the signature pad: This process is stupid.<\/p>\n

            They approved the transaction anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            An ill wind blows through RetailTown and it’s bringing with it more bad user interface design than you can possibly imagine. Yes, the dreaded self-check kiosk has multiplied in that pod-like fashion so common to bad ideas initiated by bottom-line oriented MBAs. Not only do we have them in grocery stores and Home Depot but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-654","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-thoughts","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homemaderavioli.com\/woodstock\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}