Trader Joes has officially climbed to the top of my "favorite grocery store list" in the state of Iowa. I'm also pretty sure I've only been to Trader Joe's once or twice in my life, as there are only two of them in this state but I will definitely be going out of my way to shop at them, when possible. The two Trader Joe's in Iowa are located in Coralville and Des Moines. Even if I'm not a frequent shopper at Trader Joe's, this is a grocery store company that's doing something right.

Do you hate self checkouts? If you don't, than you won't agree with anything I say going forward but I hate having to checkout and bag my own groceries when I'm done grocery shopping. It's not that I'm not capable of doing it, it's just annoying to have to do. Now, if I buy 2 or 3 items, then it's not so bad. You're in and you're out. I will say there is nothing worse than spending $150-$200 on groceries and then having to unload, scan, and bag them all by yourself.

This is why I have decided Trader Joe's is my new favorite grocery store. Self checkouts aren't coming to Trade Joe's anytime soon. According to KCRG, Trader Joes president, Jon Basalone, said the rumor of Trader Joes installing self check stations was "as false as false can be."

I want to say thank you to Jon as I am someone who is anti self checkout. It can be a clunky process to scan all of your items, if something goes wrong everyone stares at you, and everyone hates the person who has a ton of things in their cart. I'd rather just have an employee scan my stuff and not have to worry about making sure everything is scanned or have the horror of having to call someone over to help when the machine isn't cooperating.

"Please place item in the bagging area. Please place item in the bagging area. Please wait for assistance. Please wait for assistance." I'm getting irritated and having anxiety just thinking about that voice...

According to KCRG, Jon has had difficulties at self checkouts and he chooses to believe in people over the machines.

Are Self Checkout Lanes Faster?

Are self checkout lanes faster than cashiers? In some instances I would say yes but there has to be more errors at a self checkout station than with a real human employee...right?

According to Ixtenso, "The paradox with self-checkouts is that the shopping experience feels faster and more efficient than with traditional checkouts, even though the actual time at the self-checkout takes a bit longer."

Self checkouts supposedly make shoppers feel like they are constantly in motion, which leads to the feeling of the shopping experience to be faster. Even though the experience may feel faster for shoppers, the self checkouts actually take longer than waiting in line behind someone who is using a person to scan their groceries.

In my opinion, these mega sized grocery store chains need to get back to having real humans run their checkout lanes. This might be easier said than done, which I do understand. You can't just decide to magically find employees but the less we can use self checkouts, I think the better off the grocery stores will be.

According to CNN, self checkouts can lead to customers purchasing fewer items and stores experience more shoplifting. Hiring actual humans to run the checkouts would not only be good for potential shoppers, it would also be good for the stores bottom line.

I support Jon and I support Trader Joe's for believing in people to get the job done.