Self Checkouts - Fair Comment?

[Mick Annick]

Our local supermarket has self scan checkouts but I’ve only once seen them in operation. Shopping bags go on the conveyor first followed by your shopping, then the fun starts…

If you buy the local paper the woman (they’re all women at this shop) will pick it up and scan the headlines, no matter how many she‘s already put through that day. Then the analysis of what you’ve bought - ‘oh, diced beef - are you making bourguignon tonight?, that will be lovely’, or ‘that’s lot of biscuits, are you off to see your parents in the UK?’. Once all of that is done the printer will start spewing out all of the special offer vouchers for the next week, a quick chat about our grandson (they only see him once a year but don’t forget) and then you’re allowed to leave.

 

[Kram]

Didnt read all the posts but some shops now have a barrier after the self checkouts, and you have to scan a reciept to get out. I dont generally take a reciept for low value, unimportant purchases. The first time I asked nicely for them to open it and to be told, you need your reciept, I replied "no I dont" as I pushed through it and left.

 

[AdventuresInMetal]

I have a background in IT and very capable with pretty much any electronics or anything in technical in nature, But I flat out refuse to use the self checkouts, I had one very pushy manager trying to get me to use it in Asda once and I was adament that I wasn't moving, so I ended up saying "Do you hate her? (refering to the young girl at the checkout about to start serving me) and she says no why? whats that got to do with anything? "Then why are you trying to do her out of a job?" and this manager just went off in a huff and started throwing things about. The girl at the checkout laughs and says youve just made my day, nobody likes her.

Another time, a member of staff litrally trying to drag me out of line to a self checkout in I think it was Wilkos if i remember rightly? anyway she shows me how to use it all and it was pretty obvious to me already that id didn't take cash, puts all my stuff through it, and then when it came time to pay i took all the £2 coins i had in my pocket and said ok now where do I put these? and she was like oh, you have to pay by card, it doesn't take coins. I'm like oh great so youve taken me out of the que and forced me to use a machine that i didn't want to use in the first place and now I can't pay with actual money? I don't have any cards on me!

Then she has to push me to the front of the que behind me where i would of long been served by now and ran all my items through it again. I pushed for a discount for wasting my time and they did.

 

[Kram]

B&Q near us has gone over to self-service tills only, and the tills have cameras pointing directly at you. Quite disconcerting, and intrusive, so not going there again.

Common on all self checkouts, only some have the screen showing your face. You can move to the side, but there will be another camera pointing there too. I frequently wear a face mask or neck tube covering for checkouts.

 

[AdventuresInMetal]

You should never use the self checkouts in B&Q! The staff at the checkouts at ours are great! you go in and buy a whole kitchen on a couple of trolleys and go through the checkout and you get onto the job and think that was a lot cheaper then I thought it would be, and then realise they havn't scanned the 3 lengths of worktop and the hob!

 

[Eric the chicken]

You should never use the self checkouts in B&Q! The staff at the checkouts at ours are great! you go in and buy a whole kitchen on a couple of trolleys and go through the checkout and you get onto the job and think that was a lot cheaper then I thought it would be, and then realise they havn't scanned the 3 lengths of worktop and the hob!

You went straight back, of course!

 

[skotl]

I read the below on a social networking platform and thought it worthy of sharing on here. Please note, it is not my wording, but a simple copy and paste, I saw little point in changing anything and it did say "Spread it Around"
Personally I agree with the content entirely - its all very worrying.

Dear Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Aldi, Waitrose, Morrisons, and all other stores that have self checkout.
You are heading towards almost exclusively self-checkout now.
The lady checking receipts at the exit was stopping everyone.
I didn't choose to participate in that nonsense, I had already

filled my cart

emptied my cart

scanned the items

refilled my cart
and so I just skipped the exit line and left.
I heard her saying "umm - Excuse me “ as I kept walking and raised the receipt above my head, leaving the store.
You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place like it used to be.
• I'm not interested in proving that I did your job for you.
• If you want me to be a cashier with no training then that's your problem not mine.
• Keep employing young people and give them job opportunities.
YOU DON'T PAY ME TO SCAN MY OWN SHOPPING.
YOU DON’T GIVE ME STAFF DISCOUNT FOR WORKING FOR YOU.
Signed ......All of us
These are jobs that are needed to have for young and old …..
Copied and pasted, because I agree 100%.
SPREAD IT AROUND

Hmmmm.... i don't know - just because decisions are made at head office I don't see why this means people need to behave like RichardHeads to people working in the store.

Send all the letters you want (not that it will do any good) but making a miserable person's job even harder is doing nothing but make the original author think he's a big guy (or guyess).

 

[redlig]

I travel all over the US on a regular basis, and I've not yet seen anything like this?

All I do is walk in, select the items I want, place in the hand basket/trolley, select the till, self-service or otherwise, that has the shortest queue/moving the fastest, pay, usually with cash, make polite conversation with till operator/supervisor/receipt checker and walk out . . .

Walk into a big US supermarket, there is usually a long double line of stagger check-outs, all with people operating them at busy times, with a much smaller number of self-service checkouts.

If everyone was so concerned about workers losing their jobs to self-service check-outs, they'd still be using the mom & pop stores / corner shops . . .

I think that the loss of someone else's job isn't at the top of the list . A lot of the older generation dislike and fear change especially when money and privacy are concerned. To be confronted by yet another set of confusing requirements that will possibly only be encountered occasionally is bad enough but then in the next shop it 's inevitably going to be different again. Typical example is the credit card . Do I push it into the machine and enter pin no. or swipe it ? So simple until you realise there are subtle differences in the machines themselves and inevitably no obvious visible instructions. So having got it wrong a few times and appeared a numpty the excitement of using this wonderful new tech wears off. One can only guess that the introduction of fast tills is not done for the benefit of the customer but the 'bottom line' and helps keep the price of goods at a reasonable level. Difficult to type the last bit with my tongue firmly in my cheek.

 

[Ubique]

I don't see too many whining about home delivery though? In the main it works well - both my sons use it, aside from 'bananas instead of beans', there's very little to complain about, well from them anyway. - I suppose it also repurposes some or all of the checkout staff into personal shoppers. The guy that used to be on the fish counter until they closed it, is now a personal shopper and seems just as happy as when we were discussing Sea Bass vs. Swordfish at 0745 on a Saturday morning...

 

[ukracer]

I just came from Aldi where I used the self checkout. I only had about five items and had to call the assistant twice as it didn't like my shopping bag rucksack in the bagging area and didn't think I looked 25 for the wine.

You are the prefect person to use self checkouts....but even then it was not flawless. Its the way they are all trying to go self checkout I hate. I am happy to use them at times...time and a place but I am damned if I am taking all my shoipping out to prove I have paid for it. arrest me if you think I have stolen something or realise "THE COMPANY" wanted to save money.....either way we pay.

 

[Robotstar5]

If you buy the local paper the woman (they’re all women at this shop) will pick it up and scan the headlines, no matter how many she‘s already put through that day. Then the analysis of what you’ve bought - ‘oh, diced beef - are you making bourguignon tonight?, that will be lovely’, or ‘that’s lot of biscuits, are you off to see your parents in the UK?’. Once all of that is done the printer will start spewing out all of the special offer vouchers for the next week, a quick chat about our grandson (they only see him once a year but don’t forget) and then you’re allowed to leave.

I had that in Asda with a dozen packs of their basics Ginger nut biscuits, checkout girl said "someone likes ginger biscuits" yes I said, the horse, she gave me a funny look

 

[Ubique]

At least she didn't say Ginger nuts....

 

[Richiew]

"That's a lot of alcohol. Are you having a party?"


"Erm..."

 

[DanZac]

It's strange how we've almost gone full circle with shopping.

A few years ago (my grandparents time), it was common practice to send your shopping list to the grocer, butcher, etc and then your shopping would be delivered to the house by the young lad on his bike.

Here we are 100 years later and with home shopping we're almost back at the same place again except the lad on his bike has been swapped for a man in a van.

 

[cheb]

It's strange how we've almost gone full circle with shopping.

A few years ago (my grandparents time), it was common practice to send your shopping list to the grocer, butcher, etc and then your shopping would be delivered to the house by the young lad on his bike.

Here we are 100 years later and with home shopping we're almost back at the same place again except the lad on his bike has been swapped for a man in a van.

And we're still not happy.

 

[Eric the chicken]

And we're still not happy.

Ah, well as quoted in at least a couple of songs ' Happiness is just an illusion' !

 

[cheb]

Lunchtime doubly so.

 

[brightspark]

i wont use self service . lady came to me and said il show you how to use it . no point im not and guess why . because it does folk out of a job and guess what your job may be next to go because of it

 

[Guineafowl]

"That's a lot of alcohol. Are you having a party?"


"Erm..."

I got scolded once by a checkout lady (old mother hen type) for just stuffing everything in the bags as it came. Heavy things on top of the bread, etc. Never saw it as a problem, except when shopping with the wife, who also scolds me for same.

Having waited behind plenty of old farts methodically and very slowly arranging things, i’d rather not impose that on others and make a quick getaway.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

B&Q near us has gone over to self-service tills only, and the tills have cameras pointing directly at you. Quite disconcerting, and intrusive, so not going there again.

My local one did as well.

Lasted 2 weeks.