I don't feel like checking out is any faster than it used to be. They replace 10 human checkout lanes with maybe 15 self-checkout lanes and 2 human checkout. Maybe the self-checkout is a cheaper so they can have more, but people are so much slower on those that it doesn't win in the end. Dunno if the store is even really incentivized to make checkout fast, given that they sell high-margin stuff in the lines.

Maybe one advantage is it finally stops customers from asking to pay half with a check and half with cash for a $2 item in certain places. There's an entire Walgreens I avoid because that's happened 3 times already.

My local grocery store replaced about half the human checkout lanes with 3-per-lane self-checkout, and about 90% of the time I go shopping I don't have any line to wait for. The problem arises when they try to do a 1:1 (or nearly so) replacement.

self-checkout (at least in Hungary) is just clunky compared to the regular conveyor belt and chute setup, so no wonder the pros with the pro gear are faster :)