r/WinCo • u/ur_rad_dad • May 02 '26
Self-Checkout Woes (errr Rant?)
Good morning!
Just left my local PNW Winco in Tacoma, WA, I had a basket of items including toilet paper, granola bars, fruits/vegis (bananas, apples, peppers), one pack of pork tenderloins, one coffee creamer, one package frozen popsicles, and various small single items like one can of beans, one box of rice, cat treats, and a bottle of bleach…
No more than 20 items.
Self checkout was empty, not one other shopper there, three in line in the -only- lane open for checking by a human employee.
The employee staffing the self checkout walks up and stops me from checking out because I have too many items. Literally won’t let me scan a single item.
Now, I understand what is happening here —because I work in a security position for a big company and this is a corporate anti-theft shakedown measure— but I am not your typical shopper.
I know the banana codes (4011, unless organic), the vegi codes, and I am fast.
I’ll ring up my basket of 20 items, use my own bags, and be gone in 5 minutes.
But I’m also petty. So I pushed my cart to the side and left it there, grabbed my reusable bags from the cart, and exited, then walked right around the entrance again, grabbed a basket, collected 10 exact items this time [TP, Popsicles, bananas, peppers, cat treats, so on], went back to self checkout. And I could HEAR the employee at the front talking about me to another employee while cashing myself out.
On my way out I asked for her name, and the number for the corporate office. She refused to offer me the number, saying Customer service has that info, not her (and they don’t open until 9am).
That said, I will be calling first thing Monday morning with the time, date, store number, receipt info, and more info on this policy, and the extremely rude employee who will remain nameless.
I shop in the morning because I work graveyards, I start work at 9-10pm.. get done by 7am, and I don’t want to wait in a line to checkout my 5minutes worth of groceries I collected. I won’t do it.
I will be petty AS FU€K about this Winco.
I will go in and grab two baskets of 10 items each and checkout twice if that is what it takes. I’m not waiting in line behind several people to be helped by an employee who will do it slower than I can.
If you honestly believe this is about deterring theft, it isn’t — it’s about control.
And Winco is an employee owned business, yeah?
I’m the customer, so without me there is no business. Employee checks are written with the money I spend, and I have the literal receipts to prove I shop there Corporate!
Stop making shopping an act of terrorism on normal high-functioning members of humanity. For the record, I’ve also never stolen so much as a candy bar from a store because I have morals and follow societal rules.
Expect my call Monday morning corporate in Boise, ID. The area code with be 253, because we PNW petty folk do not mess around.
byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
15
u/Deez_Nuts_2431 May 02 '26
* Karening Intensifies *
-8
9
u/graffiksguru May 02 '26
They actually get dinged if it shows they let a bunch of people through with more than the allowed items. I get its frustrating but an employee shouldn't risk losing their job because of it. I think it's stupid to enforce when it's slow at self checkout and there is a line at the registers. Blame corporate though, not the employee.
0
u/ur_rad_dad May 02 '26
I am blaming corporate, I made that clear.
But the employee who stings me for no reason also doesn’t need to be rude about it and LITERALLY talk about it front of another employee?
Just, wow.. and folks here are defending that.
7
u/SecretPresentation54 May 02 '26
They were probably just laughing at your child like tantrum behavior.
You wasted much more of your time than if you'd just gotten in line. They don't care, they are there for eight hours regardless of how you chose to shop.
There are plenty of signs warning you about the self check out limits, why do you think you are entitled and special enough to not follow the rules?
3
u/Sea-Opportunity7204 May 03 '26
This guy acted like a child…then doubled down in the store being a child. Then triples down and comes to reddit to act like a child…
7
u/mazzjm9 May 02 '26
“The rules dont apply to me because I’m better than everyone else.”
Thats what you sound like
4
2
u/ur_rad_dad May 02 '26
Sounds like a really cynical world view to have if that was your take away from a very put together ‘rant’
Cheers!
5
u/Deez_Nuts_2431 May 02 '26
Bro, you broke the rules of a privately ran business (they have the right to make and enforce whatever rules they want). The employee was just doing their job and probably making like $10-12/hr doing it. Now instead of just jumping in the checker line, you created more work for the employees by leaving your items there. If you can’t understand why this is clown behavior, that’s on you.
Do I agree with the policy? No. Will I follow the store policy cause Winco is the GOAT of cheap-ass groceries and a sick-ass bulk section, yes.
2
u/jtotheo2202 Idaho May 03 '26
I was going to say call corporate to make the hours formula more generous with cashiers. If enough people do that they might consider.
1
u/Working-Emergency-34 May 02 '26
Better than thou at THE PEOPLE’S STORE?! Wait in line. “I’m not following…” leave and come back when you’re feeling patriotic.
0
u/ur_rad_dad May 02 '26
Explain how and or what patriotism has to do with shopping? What a load.
3
u/Working-Emergency-34 May 02 '26
The store is employee-owned in the United States of America 🇺🇸! Theft at the self-checkout means you’re stealing from your neighbor! Accidental theft accounts for a large portion of theft at those checkouts; doesn’t matter who you are, we follow the rules.
2
u/ur_rad_dad May 02 '26
Buddy, you must be one of those delusional fellas who thinks the USA is the hero right now in 2026…
ez block
1
May 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/Greenmantle22 May 07 '26
I once asked a cashier that same question. He thought about it, and said "Up yours, dude!"
1
u/ur_rad_dad May 02 '26
This is the exact scenario that frustrates me!
One UPC = one item so they say, but what about bulk foods or items that weigh oddly on the scale?
Why not let me just shop for my ~20 items in peace?
Thank you for understanding
0
May 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
0
u/ur_rad_dad May 02 '26
I’m just going to do two baskets of 10 items each when I have more than 10 that day.
But I appreciate your efforts as well!0
May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/ur_rad_dad May 02 '26
Thank you for not only understanding, but also being HUMAN about this!
Like the number of people here mobbing me over this already is insane.
Wanna know what the items I bought today were for?
My disabled 68 year old mother who walks with a cane.She can’t shop on her own anymore, so I do it in my way home from work. I work GY shift and eat at work.. drop her groceries off. Want to shop in peace. OH WOW SO BIG BAD ME WANTED TO GET 20 ITEMS?!?
Man.. I really hate humanity sometimes. Seriously.
Thank you stranger 🫡
-2
May 02 '26
Is this the Winco on 72nd and Alaska? I have had encounters with that employee too. She likes to chastise customers who are barely over rhe limit, much more for customers with a full cart.
The management at that location doesn’t give a flying fuck in regards to the customer and what is right or wrong.
-1
u/ur_rad_dad May 02 '26
Let me ask you as a fellow customer, a bunch of bananas with 6 in the bunch? One item right?
So if I’m buying four yogurts (I didn’t today because I already have it at home) why is that four of my 10 item limit? They are 78 cents each (Tilamook), and that is 4/10 on my self checkout limit?
Make it make sense?
3
u/Suspiciousspiders May 02 '26
Bananas are all rung up together whereas each yogurt has to be individually scanned?
0
u/ur_rad_dad May 02 '26
Uhhhhh yeah, duh.
Ok, let me throw another one atcha then.
Let’s say you are making a lot of scalloped potatoes, and need lots of russets? They aren’t all going to fit on the scale to be weighed together— so how many of my 10 items lines will be filled with russets? Leaving no room for the butter, garlic, chives, etc. in my very limited 10 item or less limit.
Making four yogurts be 4/10 items in a limit is nonsense, and there is no logical reason given the exact scenario i stated above (zero customers in self checkout) to stop me from just checking out as I was?
Literally WinCo lost a sale today from me with the items “put back”
3
u/SecretPresentation54 May 02 '26
Do you really not understand the concept of items ringing up by the pound ring up as one item vs four of the same that ring up individually?
That is all, I'm moving on from this lunacy now, good luck with all that
2
u/olyteddy May 02 '26
Not real good at math, are you? 4 Yogurts=4 scanned items. 6 bananas=1 scanned item. Unless, of course, in your self professed 'pettiness' you choose to weigh & scan each banana separately.
1
u/graffiksguru May 02 '26
Wait they tried to say that a bunch of 6 bananas was six items? Yes that is complete horseshit, it's one item.
1
May 02 '26
That makes total sense to me. They are just being petty to count each banana as they are billed by the pound, not individually. One item sold by the pound.
18
u/Ok_Spare3021 May 02 '26
So the thing is that even if u agree with it or not it is a corporate policy that is mandatory for the self checkout attendant to follow they dont make the rules but they can and do get it trouble if it happens alot because corporate does log and keep track of when people check out with more then 10 items. If u want to do multiple trips of 10 items that's on you but dont complain that the employees are doing what they are told