Which things have you avoided or embraced on the name alone?
Is it shallow, or petty, to decide based on name alone? Yeah, pretty much, but there's probably something, a product or service or site, that the name has made you gloss right over it or jump to it ASAP.
What are some examples that spring to mind for you?
Avoided: Captain Laserhawk - A Blood Dragon Remix. The title is just so ....edgy. I took one look at it and immediatly lost all interest.
Spoiler: Big mistake. Once I did finally try it out, I immediatly binged all 6 episodes and was devastated that there wasn't more. Fair warning tho, the 18+ rating is completely justified.
Embraced: The Owl House. I had no idea what the show was even about, but the name has a nice ring to it so I got curious and gave it a try ... with a similar result as mentioned above (binge it all and be devastated that there isn't more of it)
Semi-related tho not about the name: I refuse to shop in ANY store that has a self-checkout. And by that, I do not mean that I just refuse to use the self-checkout - I will reject the entire store for that sh*tty business decision. You either employ enough actual cashiers or you can go jump in the lake. Yes it is petty and childish, but I still feel it is justified.
I liked them as well, those self checkouts. Use the app from the store, scan what you need, have a total at hand, checkout and leave. That was how it went at the start.
Now it's:
start app
battle with the wifi, as the store requires you yo use their wifi to be able to scan, let alone check out
have a grocery check at checkout (and need to pack it again, as no, they just take out, not repack)
when buying alcohol, have an age check
when buying a crate of beer, wait for the help to get a sticker
checkout
get a receipt even though you're happy to go paperless and set so in the app
get stopped before leaving, as the sticker needs to be put on the crate
leave the self checkout area
get checked if the crate of beer you have has the sticker (even with 1 item in the cart, the crate and the bloody sticker clearly visible)
leave
When you're just going for the crate of beer, you're at least 5x as long busy by jumping trough all hoops at self scan and get treated as shoplifter to boot as well. I'm done with self scan. (especially with the shop closest to home, they lost a customer)
Donât know the English word for it but we bring back bottles (plastic, glass, beer cans) and beer crates for the store who then dispose of them / recycle and we get some money in exchange. Probably why he needs the sticker?
Neither is it here. Youâre lucky in you get 15cts for a bottle. If youâre not in need of the few extra euros, most people I know give the bottles to homeless folks so they can get a bit of cash out of it.
Also, loyalty cards cost money to make, so they discurrage the use of those as well. You can use handscanners from the store itself, but then you'll have to scan the virtual card in the app to be able to start shopping, have a cumbersome scanner and no total for your groceries displayed. WHen you still need the app, why not scan with it.
The sticker seems to be for personel after checkout to see that the crate of beer has been bought and paid for (with the receipt, although legal, not being good enough.
Even though there is a huge distrust, still those self scan isn't been dismantled and replaced by regular checkouts, nah, that would be to logical and you'd have to admit you made a mistake.
No idea about any app/sticker issues. Here you just walk up to the self-checkout, scan your items, then leave. I have one shop with a loyalty card so in that case I scan my barcode (offline) on the self checkout. The only delay is if you mess up the weight on the bags, which tbf takes a bit of getting used to but now it's rare for me, or if buying alcohol and need an age check, but I rarely do that either. I've never had to faff with apps or wifi or stickers.
Yeah, that's what was the situation here as well, until the grocery prizes exploded and customers started to scan a few items and taking the rest without paying. (so yeah, shoplifting made very easy) Especially this store seems to be a target, as it's way out of the regular routes. It looks like they're starting to notice the drawback of the idea.
Where do you get groceries? The only grocery store near me without any self checkout is Trader Joe's, and while I usually shop there first, there's always something I need that they don't carry.
I live in Germany. There are eight different supermarkets within driving distance (less than half an hour), and two smaller markets within walking distance. Two of the big markets have self-checkouts, so I stopped shopping there altogether out of spite.
EDIT: just to visualize the statement, this is one of the cities around these parts (~150k people). Not my actual home as I don't post personal stuff online, but a good representation of the situation.
Everything within the blue area is less than 20 minutes walking distance away from the blue marker in the middle, and every red marker is a supermarket. If someone dislikes a shop for any reason, it is a matter of minutes to find a different one.
I'd love to be able to boycott places with self checkouts as I hate that shit too but I also need to eat and unless I started just eating crisps and sweets from the local newsagents I wouldn't be able to buy any food at all around here :(