AI Checkouts Made BMO Stadium Worse: Slower Lines, Fewer Choices

BMO Stadium’s shift to AI/camera-based checkout kiosks slowed lines, reduced menu variety, and worsened food quality compared to last year. Even ‘quick’ smart-cooler kiosks were sluggish and error-prone, causing the author to miss parts of the match just to buy water during 87°F heat. The author rejects vendor claims of faster service, arguing human cashiers were quicker and better for fans.

Key Points

• AI/camera-based checkout kiosks replaced multiple staffed lanes, adding 1–2 minutes per purchase and creating long lines in the heat.
• Menu variety was slashed to items easier for computer vision to recognize, reducing quality, choice, and portion sizes.
• ‘Smart’ vending coolers were slow, occasionally mischarged customers, and lacked paper receipts, causing delays and missed game time.
• In hot, crowded conditions, slow access to water became a health and safety concern.
• Vendor claims of dramatically faster checkout and higher profits are contradicted by on-the-ground experience; human cashiers were faster and better.

Sentiment

The Hacker News community strongly agrees with the article's critique. The overwhelming majority of commenters view the AI checkout implementation as a downgrade that prioritizes corporate cost-cutting over customer experience. While a handful of commenters noted positive experiences with similar technology at other venues, the consensus is that this particular deployment — and the broader trend of forcing unnecessary tech on captive audiences — degrades service, reduces choice, and enables overcharging. The tone is frustrated but constructive, with many offering concrete comparisons to better alternatives.

In Agreement

• Tech companies exhibit massive arrogance by assuming their product should be the center of everyone's universe, when the best products are invisible and get out of the way
• Automation that still requires a human staff member to intervene on every transaction is not real automation — it just adds unnecessary technology and makes the process worse
• Traditional staffed checkouts are faster because they pipeline operations: one person loads the conveyor while the clerk scans, whereas self-checkout serializes every step
• Delayed digital receipts with no paper trail enable systematic overcharging because most people never check, and those who do face a frustrating dispute process with no real consequences for the vendor
• Stadiums are captive markets where venues can impose any friction they want since fans have no alternatives — this is hostile software, not just enshittification
• The real purpose of these systems is data harvesting, consumer tracking, and enabling upselling that human employees would refuse to do
• Replacing diverse food options with easily-scannable simple items is a predictable consequence of deploying immature computer vision technology

Opposed

• Amazon's Just Walk Out technology works well at some venues like Lumen Field — just tap a credit card and grab your items with no app required
• Mashgin self-checkout systems work reliably at Circle K convenience stores in some locations, handling large product selections without issues
• The menu simplification was likely a standard captive-market business decision unrelated to AI — these checkout systems handle far larger menus elsewhere
• The article's claims about smaller portions were anecdotal with no photographic evidence comparing 2024 and 2025 food items