I don’t know if they’ve shown up in your area yet, but here in San Diego stores are staring to have self-service checkout machines. The newly built Wal-Marts have them here. So do a few of the grocery stores.
The idea is that the store can save some money on cashiers if they let customers check themselves out and pay for their products, the same way banks can save money on tellers if they have ATMs for customers to use. Theoretically, both kinds of machines also benefit the customer by giving him greater convenience and speed since there are now more checkout lanes open for use. (How often have you been in a store where they have ten lanes, only two of which have checkers and are open?)
The problem is that ATMs work but these cussed things don’t.
As y’all know, I have nothing against technology. I’m fer it. I use it all the time. I’m a reg’lar tech-no-phile.
But they ain’t got the bugs worked out of these self-checker machines. Every time I use one it ends up as a frustrating experience. The other day I was at Wal-Mart and decided to complain to the manager about the experience (about the fourth or fifth bad one I’d had with their machines), telling him that the machines were poorly designed and that, although I was supportive of their efforts to introduce them and a technology fan, I would take my business elsewhere if I had to either use such frustratingly designed machines or wait through long lines now that they had fewer checkers.
If enough people tell them things like that, they may fix things.
After leaving the store, I started thinking about what exactly was frustrating about the devices. Basically, they’re too complex, but where does the source of the problem lie? It seemed to me that there are three general sources of the problem:
First, there is the bagging process. When you swipe a product over the scanner the machine directs you to put it in a bag in the bagging area, where an RFID sensor (or something) recognizes that you’ve done so and tells you to scan the next item.
In theory.
In practice what happens is that, for one reason or another, the RFID sensor doesn’t recognize that you’ve put the item in the bag, and you have to interrupt your scanning of the next product to try to convince it that you’ve done what you’re supposed to.
I don’t know what function the bagging process is supposed to fulfill (presumably something to do with making sure you scan all your items and do so only once), but whatever it is, it ain’t essential because they have a "Skip the bagging process" button for folks who are fed up with the whole thing and won’t do it.
Personally, I just put my items in the bagging area without making any effort to actually put them into a bag. I’ll bag them after I’ve got them all scanned, because the processes are just to frustrating to manage simultaneously. (Which is probably why clerks don’t do both at once, too. First they scan your items, then they bag them.)
A second source of needless complexity–and this is a much more serious problem–is the number of sources of information you’re expected to keep track of while you do all this. I counted at least six. You’re suppose to simultaneously juggle:
- Audible instructions in the form of a human-sounding voice from the machine
- Beeps and boops that sound when you scan items or do something wrong
- Printed signs affixed to different parts of the machine
- Instructions on the left hand side of the main touch-screen
- Instructions on the right hand side of the main touch-screen
- Instructions appearing THREE FEET AWAY on the secondary touch-screen where you swipe your payment card
The problem is that you often can’t tell which information source you’re supposed to be paying attention to. You don’t know if you’re supposed to be listening for the voice, for a beep, for a video instruction on a touch-screen, or even which touch-screen you’re supposed to be looking at.
For example, yesterday when I was trying to pay for my items, I swiped my ATM card through the secondary touch-screen’s slot, entered my PIN, and told it that I wanted a certain amount of cash back. I then noticed that the main touch-screen (three feet away) was saying "Authorizing transaction," which to a normal human being means that the machine has all the info it needs and is calling your bank to, y’know, authorize the transaction.
Not!
After waiting and waiting and waiting (during which time the customer behind me in line noted how slow the device was in getting authorization from my bank, figuring it was a modem or line problem), I discovered that the secondary touch-screen (THREE FEET AWAY) was saying "You have asked for $60 in cash back, which will make your total $74.15. Do you wish to approve this amount?"
I’d been waiting all this time and the machine hadn’t even tried to call my bank yet!
I didn’t know that, though, because I was mistakenly paying attention to a separate and erroneous (or at least misleading) source of information coming from the machine.
This really has to change if they want people to use these machines. ATMs work, in part, because they don’t require you to keep track of so many sources of information. They have one touch-screen, and they keep your attention concentrated there or on the slots immediately adjacent to the touch-screen.
They don’t make you hop back and forth needlessly between two different touch-screens, nor do they change-off the way you’re getting information (Am I supposed to be listening for the voice now? Which screen am I supposed to be looking at? Which side of the screen am I supposed to be looking at?)
ATMs also keep together things like where the cash comes out and where your receipt comes out. Those two slots are right next to the (single) touch-screen. But that’s not the way it is with the auto-checker machine. The cash back slot is two feet below the main touch-screen, while the receipt slot is immediately under the secondary touch-screen. The voice has to tell you where to look for these things and then you have to lunge back and forth between them to get your cash and receipt.
The third major problem is that there are simply too many bells and whistles on this sucker. The process is over-built. When you’re in a regular checker lane and you swipe your card, you typically have only to press one of two or three buttons to tell it whether you’re using a credit card, a debit card, or some third kind of card that I don’t have.
Why you even have to do that, I don’t know. I don’t know why the machine can’t identify what kind of card you’re using from the numbers in the magnetic stripe when you swipe it. It certainly knows if you’re using Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or what bank to draw the debited funds from using those numbers. I also don’t know that anybody would get bent out of shape if the machine simply treated all combination debit/credit cards as one or the other. But at least you only have to press one of two or three buttons to get past this step.
Not one of fourteen.
That’s right! You’ve got to pick from more than a dozen payment options on this device! Half of them I didn’t even know what they were, and it was really frustrating trying to simply find the option labeled "Debit Card" amid all the unfamiliar, complex, and colorful icons.
I don’t know who makes these machines, but they need to realize that if you want people to learn to use something like this you have to make it AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE. You cannot build a device that gives you all the options (and more!) that you’d have in a human-checker lane.
So, bright boys, go back to the drawing board and simplify. Strip down the steps the customer needs to perform to the bare minimum. Eliminate the stupid bagging process entirely. Get rid of the secondary touch-screen. Don’t put competing information on two sides of the remaining touch-screen. Eliminate the voice. Centralize all the parts of the machine that the customer has to interact with. Keep his attention focused on a single area of the machine. Don’t give him conflicting signals (like "Authorizing transaction" when, in fact, you’re not authorizing the transaction) from different sources.
Trust me on this one, guys: Less Is More.
Apparently some folks who make these machines have realized this. Mrs. Decent Films tells me that a few years ago in her area they introduced clunky, complex machines like the ones described above–and they didn’t last. People wouldn’t use them. So they vanished, but in the last few months they’ve introduced new, streamlined machines that are much simpler and are a breeze to use.
So there’s hope. And eventually economic survival of the fittest will drive the evil machines above out of the market.
What I find interesting is that you pay the same amount if you do your own groceries as if you go to a clerk. So essentially, the store is outsourcing its services to its own customers. Brilliant! But Insulting!
I do wonder and worry what jobs will be available for teenagers and the nigh-unemployable once these machines are in wide use.
Another problem with these machines is they’re attempting to have their cake and eat it, too. That is, the cameras which try to monitor whether you’re cheating (“Unexpected item in bagging area”). (I’m referring to the grocery store variety of automated checkout here.) You’re constantly being interrupted because the camera cannot translate your movements.
And don’t get me started on automated checkout at Home Depot — just try figuring out how to get your lumber properly scanned.
Thanks for the reminder: I’m going to send letters to both Home Depot and Albertson’s saying the same thing: you have lost me as a customer solely because of these automated checkout machines. And I hope they lose so much revenue from customers leaving that it makes their savings in salaries trivial.
I really like the auto check out machines at Home Depot. They make it quicker and easier to check out. I do miss talking to the cashiers though.
I never use the machines at Albertsons. It is always a disaster.
I think these versions of the self-checkout stands are a transitionary technology. Wal-Mart has stated that they will eventually go to RFID where all you need to do is walk your cart through a scanner (similar to a metal detector) and you are done. I can’t wait for that technology to be mature enough for use.
The ones that they’ve put in Albertsons are pretty good if you’re just buying a couple things, though they can be frustrating at times. “Please put item in bag. Unexpected item in bagging area, please remove. Please put item in bag. Unexpected item in bagging area, please remove.” ad naseum.
Jimmy, I’ve occasionally used the self-checkout machines at my local Kroger, and they are much less maddening than the Wal-Mart ones you describe.
However, due to my being in a wheelchair, it can be difficult for me to get out some items in my cart, so if I have a full cartload, I go to a manned cashier station and let the cashier (or an assistant) fish everything out. 🙂
I’m pretty sure that the “improper bagging” technology is designed to prevent theft. It wants to make sure you don’t scan 12 times your cheapest item for the 12 items you bought. I bet the bypass feature was a usability compromise that the security guys were pretty unhappy about.
I’m also pretty sure that (at least at the 2 or 3 places I’ve used it) it is weight based (there is a scale underneath the bag) instead of RFID based. The problem with RFID is that it requires a marginally expensive piece of technology be in every item (something like $0.20, but for a $0.10 bag of Top Ramen you can see why that’s a problem). The weight mechanism doesn’t require any per-item cost, just the setup cost of weighing everything. The downside of weighing the items is that it is not as precise. As an example, you can’t throw your keys, wallet, shopping list or any other non-scanned item in the bag or it’ll mess the whole thing up.
As for the multiple screens, the grocery industry (and it’s extensions) gave up on the integrated cash register a long time ago. If you think about what’s in a normal checkout line, it’s the same jumble of 4 or 5 separate but interfaced devices. All they did was change the software and turn the counter around. The advantage is that they can replace one component (for a technology upgrade, for example) without having to replace the entire cash register. It saves them a lot of money. It’s different than the JCPennies of the world where the credit card scanner along with everythign else is built into the cash register itself. This has a lot of convenience and simplicity advantages like the ones that Jimmy mentioned. I think the grocery industry is going to have to give up on their low cost, unintegrated solutions and take a lession from the JCPennies of the world because simplicity is more important than cost in this case (since they’re saving more money by bypassing the checker).
As for Home Depot… I use their checker-less system whenever I’m buying small items that come in packaging with easily identifiable and scannable items and think it is fast and reasonable. But with how painful it can be with more complicated items, whenever I even browse through the lumber department, I go to a checker!
Wonderful commentary Jimmy! My husband used to work as a checker in high school and so has the process down pretty well (very fast, knows how to swipe each item, knows what to bag with what, etc). He’s resorted to “Skip Bagging” on almost every item, whether it be a stick of deodarant or a box of diapers b/c it just goes much quicker than waiting for the bagging area to recognize the product that was JUST SCANNED is in fact the same product you have put into the bag. What gets me is when the product I scan apparently doesn’t match the weight of the product the bagging area is expecting! How the heck am I supposed to fix that? I can’t help it if you (being the machine) don’t like the weight. Figure it out!
I think the self-check lines are a good idea, especially when you have a few items. But I don’t understand why some people feel they’d be faster than an experienced human checker when they have a huge basketfull of items and have seemingly never used the self check before. Start simple everyone!
Thanks for a good chuckle 🙂
The reason that you have to be able to pick to use a debit card as either credit or debit has to do with what’s going on on the bank’s end.
My bank restricts me to 2 debit card transactions per month, because when you do a debit, the bank bears some nominal charge per transaction.
I can do unlimited credit transactions with my debit card, however, because in that case the MERCHANT bears the nominal charge.
Sheesh!
I totally agree with Kevin’s comment re: outsourcing. If the consumer is expected to do the work a paid checker would normally perform, then why is the consumer not afforded a small discount (say 2%) as an incentive for what I see as a hassle? I’ll bet the grocery worker’s union is none too happy about these self-checkers! I’ve never been a crocery store checker but I have worked retail. If I decide to bypass a physical store & make most of my purchases online, I’m rewarded with a 30% discount & free shipping! I’m not expecting that sort of discount in a grocery store because there’s typically very, very small profit mark-up on food items (not more than 3-5%), but I just don’t see the incentive in doing my own checking. (Besides, standing in line is an opportunity to work on patience!)
How about this: You log on to your local grocer’s web site, order all the items you want from their easily-navigable menus (in your pajamas if you like) and pay for it all online, indicating what day and time you will be there to pick up your order.
When you arrive your groceries are conveniently arranged in boxes or bags, they load you up at the drive-through(after verifying your store ID card) and off you go.
Would that be cool?
I agree with Ken, this most likely wasn’t RFID. RFID has a range of about 20 feet or so. Supposedly the tags were supposed to be getting down to about a nickel, but $.10 to $.20 sounds like the range. With RFID, think I-Pass or whatever coinless tollway system you use.
: I also don’t know that anybody would get bent
: out of shape if the machine simply treated all
: combination debit/credit cards as one or the
: other.
How wrong you are.
Wal-Mart tried, a few years ago, to force everyone who had a debit card that was also a Visa/MasterCard to use it as a debit card rather than as a credit card proxy. Why? Simple: Interchange (i.e. the amount the merchant pays to the card companies) is drastically higher for credit cards than it is for debit cards. (In large part, that’s because debit cards have better protection from fraud because a PIN needs to be typed in.) As you might guess, Visa and MasterCard were none-too-pleased about this decision by America’s biggest retailer, and they claimed handling dual cards this way was in violation of their merchant agreement, which says that if you take MasterCard and Visa’s credit cards, you have to take their debit cards. Wal-Mart countersued, saying that MC and Visa were a de facto monopoly and shouldn’t be allowed to force bundling of its products in that manner (similar to the U.S. v. Microsoft case).
A bit on the results here:
http://www.spotlightonfinance.org/2004/January/legislative-story2.htm
I’ve had, for the most part, the opposite experience. For the past three years, more grocery stores in my area (and Home Depot) are providing this self-checkout feature. I only have to press the screen to start scanning, press the screen to pay now, and then select credit card. Meanwhile, I scan each item individually and place it in a bag. Occasionally, I’ll have to press an extra button to take care of bulk items, such as vegetables. Very fast, very easy. There is always a cashier observing the self-checkouts and can quickly help.
I agree that the user interface can be better. Cash over here, credit cards go there, receipt farther away, screen on the right, etc. And I wish I could scan items faster, without having to do each item individually. The checkouts in my area are based on mass of each item (as Ken C. mentioned), so my trick is to use a grocery cart and grab items as I’m scanning and place them in a bag. If you place your basket on the “input” scale, then you can’t pick up the next item as you place the other item on the “bag scale”.
I don’t think any vendor is using RFID, yet.
As far as Home Depot is concerned, the bagging area is a scale. The “unexpected item” screen is caused by the scale changing by more than the system allows for.
I use the Home Depot self checkout whenever I have a few small items that are clearly bar-coded. For large, heavy items and all lumber, I use checkers.
I’ve test diven Albertson’s and Kroger’s self checkout systems. Albertson’s system is less than refined than Krogers’. Both are OK for small purchases that do not include fruits and vegitables (looking up produce codes are a pain) and alcohol.
Ken is correct, the purpose of the bagging area is usually to register the weight of the item and corroborate it with the specs of the item that was scanned.
BTW, if you can get past the unfair labor practices, predatory pricing, illegal working conditions and poor wage and benefits practice of Wal-Mart, but it’s the self-checkout aisles that would drive you away, you need to examine yourself abit more.
Jimmy,
The system measures the weight of your purchases in the bagging portion of the system. You need to scan the heavier items first. When scanning lighter items, try to ‘bump’ the scale when putting them into the bagging area. And make sure each item is truly scanned before putting them in the bagging area.
We use those machines at our local Kroger. It took a little while to get the hang of them and some new users still need hand holding on them, but I will walk by cashiers to scan things myself cuz I’m faster and the cashiers always have at least one person I have to wait for. At Krogers, the machines work well. At Home Depot, I’ll usually walk past vacant uScans to find a real person to check out with. It is always better with a live person even if I have to wait in line for them.
My mother simply refuses to use a self checkout and she makes sure to mention it to the cashier.
I, on the other hand, love them. I hate talking to people but I love talking to machines.
“If you are calling about XYZ, press 1.” Thank God, a machine!
In AZ we have Fry’s Food and Drug instead of Kroger (same store, I believe) and their checkouts were pretty good when last I used one (about a year or so ago). They were not too precise on the bagging part, though. It just cared that something touched the bagging tray ‘at the right time’ rather than ‘at the right weight’. It beeped angrily at me when I tried to bag things too quickly but later, when I learned the trick, I could get by with just tapping the tray with my hand, whether I was buying a packet of gravy mix or a gallon of ice cream.
I haven’t had much trouble with the machines, personally. I expect they will become simpler as time goes on, but I still prefer them to standing in long lines, and most of the time I get through without a hitch.
It’s really nice if you’re buying something embarrasing and you don’t want the cashier or the bagger thinking, “I wonder why he needs THIS.”
Hey, maybe I’m buying it for my wife or some relative whom I’ve kindly taken into my home — did you ever think of that, Mr. or Ms. Cashier and Bag Person? Maybe I’m so selfless that I’ll go to the store just to buy this and make her happy, regardless of any questions it might raise. But, nooooo, you assume it’s for me and that I’m concealing some embarrassing secret. I can tell by the look in your eye.
Really, isn’t it nicer to avoid all that?
So, just what are you buying, Bill?
There are two different grocery stores that I go to on a regular basis, both of which have self checkers.
One, which is more compact in screens, and bags etc. I use almost every time I go to the store. There is a clerk observing the 4 stations, which are even divided into 2 (with the bags on a lazy susan for larger orders and 2 with just three stations of bags. I’ve never had any problem there. I do make sure that any fresh fruits and veggies have labels on them, so I can just punch in the number.
The other appears to be the more traditional style of check out, drove me crazy (until I swore nevermore). You actually had to put your items on the moving belt after scanning, and they had to go a specific distance. Try scanning a snow shovel. Also, help was not very close and not very competent.
I love the machines myself (never used the Home Depot ones – just Albertsons and Fred Meyer (owned by Kroger)).
The first few times they were frustrating, but I got used to them. The people near where I live seem to dislike them, as there are sometimes lines for the checker and none for the self-check. Quick in and out for me.
I use the checker if I have more than a few things, however.
Oh, so Fred Meyer (formerly Smitty’s in AZ) is Kroger.
Fry’s sells the Kroger brand as well.
I couldn’t agree more with your assess ment Jimmy and if I find out that there is braile on those machines I’m going to laugh because I couldn’t work those things to save my life. I more or less have to go to a regular checker and have to use cash when I pay for purchases because swipping the card and writing on the screen are a tad hard for me. But I’ve seen my parents try to use the machines in places like Walmart and wow are they frustratint. Plus, the checkers and managers aren’t even around to help you if you get screwed up about something. I’m considering Simon delivers this year, haheh! That that grocery stores!
I almost always use the self-checker at walmart and the one grocery store in the area that has the self-checker.
Part of it is comfort with the device. Even a new human checker is slower at the checkout (ever notice how they put the n00bs in the 12 or less lane, and it takes you the same amt of time as standing behind the lady with the 67 items?) because he’s not familiar with all the different things he has to do, and where they’re located. Whenever Im at a place with a new one, I only use it if I have one or two items, I’m not in a rush, and the place isn’t full. This way I can learn how to use it in peace. Once i’m “trained up,” i just swipe away
You’re right, the walmart one doesn’t sense the weight of what you’re putting in the bagging area. I kind of have it down to a system tho. I open the bags before I start scanning and toss it in there. And the stuff that I suspect might be too small to get picked up by the weight censor, I just hit the “skip bagging” button right away. I”m an automatic checker ninja.
But what I really do not like are the stupid LCD TV screens they installed on each checkout line at my local Albertson’s. I wonder just how much I’d save on creamy dill havarti if they wouldn’t have put those in every store!
I don’t mind grocery shopping, really, but if I want entertainment at a SafeWay, I’ll point at the tabloids showing aliens visiting President Bush & laugh!
And no one mentions that loss of jobs these stupid things create? They allow predatory captitalists like Walmart to further make a profit without helping the real purpose of the economy…living a human life. They can offer cheaper prices drive out more local businesses and offer less jobs. Sounds horrible to me
The purpose of machines is to reduce the amount of human labor needed. We could create a whole lot more construction jobs by doing away with construction machinery, but buildings would be even more expensive than they are now.
Unfortunately, it’s a reality of life that, if your job involves doing something that can be more efficiently done by a machine, it’s time to learn a new trade.
I feel a bit odd about the whole self-checkout movement. I do enjoy technology, and use it all the time, even in ways that others generally avoid. IVRs don’t bother me (in fact, I prefer them over an outsourced call center from India, for example), and in general, consider technological advances to be quite delightful.
HOWEVER . . .
The frustration I’ve had with these Rube Goldberg contraptions have pushed me over the edge!
I don’t like a mechanized LOUD voice insinuating that I’m attempting to steal something. “Place the item back in the bag, etc.” I had incorrectly assumed that a full bag could be placed [bagged] back into my now empty shopping cart! Plus the contradictory placards, instructions and verbiage are overly confusing.
Oddly enough, I DO NOT care about not getting a discount, because I am offered the possibility of faster check-out. But what I do mind is the displaced worker that these machines will usher in.
High school kids need jobs besides telemarketing and flipping burgers. And we all know that they need practice in how to count back change (but that’s a post for another day).
But what I do mind is the displaced worker that these machines will usher in.
High school kids need jobs besides telemarketing and flipping burgers. And we all know that they need practice in how to count back change (but that’s a post for another day).
From that perspective, grocery stores might do away with scanning machines, going back to large manuals that listed all of the product prices in the event that there was no tag on the product. This would create many labor hours, in terms of putting price tags on every item in the store and in looking up items when the tag wasn’t there. Grocery stores could create even more hours by having the workers write the prices on the tags by hand, rather than using one of those job-killing price-tag guns.
Stores can also go back to money boxes in lieu of cash registers, having cashiers manually add up prices. This is sure to create lots of work. There may be more mistakes made, but stores can hire three or four cashiers at each checkout counter to double-check the totals until they can reach a consensus. Yes, lines will be longer and prices will be higher, but there will be more jobs.
For that matter, let’s get rid of grocery carts. Instead, stores can hire enough workers to manually carry all of a customers groceries. No baskets, either — those just reduce labor. And these grocery carriers shouldn’t just carry items to the checkout counter or even to the customer’s trunk, but all the way to the customer’s house — cars are just machines that destroy jobs.
In all seriousness, for stores to refrain from becoming more efficient is to have them artificially keep prices higher than they need to be, which also hurts those who have the least money to spend. Stores also have an obligation to stockholders to maximize profits as best they can. Being less efficient also means that customers have to spend more time in the stores — time that could be spent with their families or on other worthy endeavors.
The good news is that when automation reduces the need for labor in one area, someone often finds an alternative use for that labor. The labor producers (i.e. workers) also have a role in this, determining what there abilities are, what new skills they could learn to make themselves more marketable and who is most likely to pay for their labor.
Luv the Home Depot ones. Here’s a tip…bring a 10 year old. 🙂 Keeps her busy, she gets to learn tech and you get out much quicker. 🙂
I’ve found the machines to be glitchy but workable. The trick is to ignore the computer voice and just start swiping your groceries. The little “boop!” sound that the scanner makes usually cuts off the computer voice as it’s trying to advise you to “please scan your Bonus Card now.”
ALWAYS ignore the computer voice when it asks you to “please scan the last item again.” I’ve found out the hard way that you’ll end up paying for twice as many Cup O’ Noodles as you’re actually carrying.
Final tip: If you’re buying beer, go to a live cashier. It takes at least ten minutes to get someone to check your ID at a self-checkout.
I’m torn about those U-scanners. I’m all for technology and frankly, it’s all about control. People who scan and bag their own groceries feel like they can get out faster than waiting for a person to do it for them.
Three quibbles that no one has mentioned yet:
1) Some of those sensors for bagging are SO sensitive that if you even push your leg against it on accident and the weight doesn’t match, then the machine crabs out and doesn’t work until a cashier can shut off the “Danger, Will Robinson!” screen.
2) If you do decide to get cash money out from the debit function, the machine will notify everyone within 30 feet “Don’t forget to take your cash!” As in, “Hey everybody, make sure to mug this nice lady when you walk out of the store, won’t you?”
3) My sister was using one of these U-scans in downtown Flint and she had a person walk right by her, scan his own item on HER tab and then walked right out of the store. He was stopped by no one – no security person, no cashier. She was very upset that this guy was able to steal an item without paying for it and fortunately, the cashier supervising the automated check-out did take the item off her bill, but it was a hassle.
OK, enough complaints about the tech. Overall I do like them and since I do most of my shopping in non-peak hours, I’m forced to use them at my grocer while I’m shopping.
I don’t know what you consider a tech-no-phile, but I think the graphical user interfaces of the self checkout machines are very well designed. A 5 year old with a $10 bill or credit card could use it, even if she didn’t speak english (as it works in spanish also). I don’t know if Walmart is more advanced here in Iowa than it is anywhere else….but I doubt it. The only poorly designed thing about the proceedure is the fact that you don’t have to scan anything to desensor it. The pad that you set your items on is the desensoring pad. You could, theoretically, buy a pack of gum and then set a dvd player down on the sensor with the gum and get away scotch free with a dvd player for $1. (Just in case your wondering, you have to buy the pack of gum because the desensoring pad also is a scale and can tell when you place an item on it)