The first time I tried the self-check out, I was with my daughter and granddaughter. She showed me how to use it. 5 y/o Katie bagged the groceries. It was not a big order. Looked simple enough.

The next (and last ) time I tried it, I was alone. After placing several items on the belt and having them ring up, I tossed my reusable bags onto the belt. The whole thing stopped and it started telling me to take everything off and start over again. I got flustered and nervous. I didn't know if I took them off if they would ring up twice or what. I was holding up the line. There was no one to help. I didn't know what to do. I kept trying to just keep going and it wouldn't let me. Finally someone came by and got it going correctly. I won't do that again!

Stores won't do it if it's going to lose them money It's not for the consumer's convenience.

We have Stop & Shop here, which offers "gas miles," Every time we shop, we get a certain amount of gas dollars that add up. You can redeem them at a specific Shell station. I go by that station every day, but I don't use it. I noticed that the station down the street where I usually go is usually 5-10 cents less a gallon. Don't think I'd really be saving that much. This station is difficult to pull in and out of due to the flow of traffic where it is located.

The other thing I hate is the stupid plastic cards. supermarkets, CVS, Hallmark, etc. I wrote a story on this once, I was so disgusted with it. It costs money to produce those silly cards. Why not just lower their prices in the first place? That would get my attention and my business much faster than having to carry around these foolish cards. And yes, I know there is an app for my phone now so that I don't have to carry them or hang them from my keychain. But, I don't care to pull out my phone every time either.

I'm sick of gimmicks. If they really want to "help the consumer" they should lower their prices.