In a new stadium in my city you swipe your credit card, pick up food or drink in a little monitored area and walk out with your items. It is an interesting idea but it is also creepy. That's probably what stores will be like eventually -- at least the ones with the resources to implement something that expensive and complex.

As far as self checkout, I don't mind it for small orders or when it is more convenient for me at the grocery store. Unexpected item in bagging is a bad consumer experience, and buying produce/alcohol is also a pain. If I feel like I am going to run into trouble I head for the traditional lines.

I really despise the ones at big box hardware stores that show a video of you checking out. I'm not stealing, don't judge me or make me judge myself with that unflattering angle.

This is probably a difference between countries, but personally I love it here in the Netherlands. I go to the store after work multiple times a week and I have yet to encounter a queue or problem that stalled me longer than 1-2 minutes. Usually I can just directly walk to a self-checkout machine, check out my stuff, pay by holding my debit card (or phone) against the payment terminal, and be on my way. I like it way more than the old way of doing things, because I now have time to properly pack my bag and I don't have to talk to anyone. It's also way more space efficient. There's even the option to take a scanner with you so you can scan while shopping, though I have yet to try that.

Realize that many elite schools are pay to win and these business failures make sense.

I very specifically wait in line to make an actual employee scan my items and bag them. I will go out of my way to make the corporation pay someone to do the job rather than pass the labor on to me the customer. They sure as hell aren't passing on any savings to me, so they can pay a human to check me out.

You do the work for the company and pay them! Fuck self-checkout!!