Following the lead of other IKEAs, including the recently-opened branch in West Sacramento, our very own IKEA down in Renton has received self-checkout stations as part of its recent remodeling and expansion.

I managed to completely miss the scan-it-yourself stations on a recent trip, but there they were when I returned a few days later (just can’t keep me away from those Swedish Meatballs in the cafeteria.) Just like similar stations at other stores with bulky items such as Home Depot, IKEA gives you both a surface scanner for small items as well as a scanner on a cord for those 13-foot couches you think will fit in your Mini.

Two items of note: first, there’s no easy “QUANTITY” setting for when you buy dozens of the same item at the same time, as I am wont to do. And second, what’s up with the COIN slot here? Is anyone really driving down to Renton to convert rolls of dimes into a loveseat?

As is usually the case with these stations, whether at Home Depot or QFC, I found my experience highly dependent on who was in line in front of me. If there’s a clear spot at one of the stations, I can go through with my engineered-wood coffee tables in under a minute. But god forbid that you get stuck behind other customers who wouldn’t know a barcode from a tribal tattoo: you’ll wait forever as people experiment with the code reader in four dimensions of time and space, trying futilely to register a sale. Hence the paradox of self-checkout: it can sometimes be faster to go in a line with a real checker, who’s at least trained to scan the items for his or her job.