Self Checkouts - Fair Comment?

[bricol]

The other side of this, of course, is that working a till can be an absolute soul killer.

As a sweeping generalisation people are awful, retail customers in particular.

And when it comes to retail customers at tills? Powered by stupidity.

That does bring back memories of operating tills, or supervising people operating tills for THF30 plus years ago . . . the public are mostly rude, inconsiderate, ill-organised, brain dead, illiterate, incomprehensible pillocks.

So as I've said before, if you want to stand out and get better service, be polite, smile, "please, thank-you”, know your pump number, have your card/pennies ready, and fill your flippin’ Aldi trolley as fast as they chuck it through so you don’t annoy them and us in the queue behind you as you exercise your right to be as slow as possible and not follow the rules to flippin’ pack on the shelf . . .

 

[LewisT]

I like self service, normally only buy a handful of things when i shop so get through quicker.

 

[ukracer]

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

I asked where I collect the payment from for doing the cashiers job today...lol

 

[ukracer]

It's following the American model where you register your credit/debit card on entering the store, take a trolley with a scanner attached and as you select your item it's automatically recorded. As you leave the area where the checkouts would have been your card is charged and the only person you see is a security guard who is alerted if something in the basket isn't charged and then stops you.

It's here already although in a scaled down version, Costco still have checkouts but you're stopped at the exit point where a guard asks to see your till receipt and counts the items in the trolley against those on the till printout.

As I said, I have seen the future and you may not like it. Presumably all these supermarkets will have BIG standby generators [diesel, of course.....] to power everything in the event of a power cut/outage.

Anyone remember Wolfie Smith?

"Citizen" Smith.

 

[ukracer]

I had to use a self service till recently, I had to wait for one of the store assistants to do it for me though, a checkout is so much easier to use.

That's the problem with Aldi.
20 bottles of coke holds everybody up....and the discounted items require an assistant. ??

 

[Ubique]

I got used to the self-checkout during Covid, wouldn't go back to queuing behind someone with a howling child in a trolley and / or some senile old f@rt unloading their six items with all the speed of an attacking slug - then wanting a discussion with anyone that'll nod & smile... Then you get your shopping judged and commented on by the barcode-swiper...
Quite happy to use self-checkout with the occasional 20-30 second wait for someone to 'approve' items. There's no scanning of receipts (nor mandatory printing of one) on exit, but there is the 'shop & scan' where you essentially scan as you go as you pack, so all you have to do is pre-register a payment method (I think - don't use it).
I mainly shop around 0730-0800 on a Saturday but even the 1300 shop I have to do when I'm working on a Saturday isn't too onerous - other than having to work my way through unattended offspring to get to the shelves.

 

[Erie Fred]

That does bring back memories of operating tills, or supervising people operating tills for THF30 plus years ago . . . the public are mostly rude, inconsiderate, ill-organised, brain dead, illiterate, incomprehensible pillocks.

So as I've said before, if you want to stand out and get better service, be polite, smile, "please, thank-you”, know your pump number, have your card/pennies ready, and fill your flippin’ Aldi trolley as fast as they chuck it through so you don’t annoy them and us in the queue behind you as you exercise your right to be as slow as possible and not follow the rules to flippin’ pack on the shelf . . .

I shop Aldi's every week.....I know the people there, I arrange the belt a certain way.'
1. send the box down first (I like the flat shallow veggie ones) so it goes into the cart. Why buy awkward bags, when they give you boxes for free ?
2. send down the big heavy stuff first, so teller doesn't need to think when putting in the cart.
3. multiple items ? group them so they see it, and scan the first one, bang the multiple button. They like this.
4. multiples grouped allow you to quickly check the receipt as well (did I pay for 6 or 7 cans ?)
5. most tellers will actually place my stuff in the box, and even arrange them nicely for me, for which I thank them profusely.

So I flow thru quickly, it's enjoyable working with the teller, and I don't need to stop at the bagging benches, roll right on by.

And if there is a hold up when I'm placing my stuff on the belt (and a nice young lady standing behind me)....I'll
pull out my tape measure and slightly move the cans/boxes around.
When they look at me, I say "The fungshway (sp) of the belt" and we both laugh.

It doesn't have to be a chore.....

 

[8ob]

I have got used to the idea, only any good on a basket full of gear though. It does save getting stuck behind those that fill up two trolleys, you know the ones that carry rather a lot of weight and that normally have four kids in tow for something to constantly scream at.

Bob

 

[bricol]

For bulk buys - hand them one can of beans and tell 'em you've got 20 . . .

Aldi - scan the one you hand them, hit "x20" . . next. . .

Home Bargains - scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them . . . pull the till print out a bit to manually count how many have been scanned . . . scan the one you gave them . . .

You . . . do you keep stum . . . or hand them another can?

 

[Kayos]

As a family of four, our weekly shop is quite big, we use Morrisons as we try and buy as much stuff fresh and cook from scratch where possible

Only once did they ask us to use a self checkout, but after 3/4 of the trolley it stopped working due to too much weight

We only ever use a checkout with a member of staff, they recently removed the self checkouts with conveyors so no way out weeks shopping could be done at one now

 

[Cobbler]

We walked out of the Shurdington Morrisons, leaving a basket of groceries behind. As usual, items wouldn’t go through, I called over to the assistant who ignored us, called again & said ”put the light on if you need assistance” & went over to help someone else. The trouble was, the light didn’t work & without the light he wouldn’t help, so we just abandoned the lot & walked out.

 

[Erie Fred]

For bulk buys - hand them one can of beans and tell 'em you've got 20 . . .

Aldi - scan the one you hand them, hit "x20" . . next. . .

Home Bargains - scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them, scan the one you gave them . . . pull the till print out a bit to manually count how many have been scanned . . . scan the one you gave them . . .

You . . . do you keep stum . . . or hand them another can?

Our Aldi's doesn't allow you to do that, have to wand/wave each item, god forbid you get a double hit, need to stop, and call for help.

 

[pedrobedro]

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.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

if you want to stand out and get better service, be polite, smile, "please, thank-you”,

When asked the standard "how are you", my usual reply is "I'm very well, but more importantly, how are you?"
Never fails to get a laugh and a good response/attitude.

 

[MoreWellie]

Just to be controversial
We always use the scan as you shop in sainsburys and happily put the produce directly in to our own bags already in the trolley. At least you can pack everything logically as it is one thing at a time.
It is very rare you have to wait for a payment point to come available
Yes there are delays. Assistant please confirm I am over 18, please do a mini rescan (my wife says I look shifty in shops ) once they did a full rescan and apart from the delay that is their problem not mine
the scan receipt to get out seems a bit daft but I suppose it stops people walking straight through without paying

I should admit to having fights with self scan checkouts that cannot cope with you already having stuff in your shopping bag from other shops. Happily there are usually staff around to override this and it helps keep them employed

 

[bourbon]

I don't/won't self scan. If asked, I point at my name badge. I do this all day for a wage, I'm sure as hell not doing it for free!

 

[MysterG]

the public are mostly rude, inconsiderate, ill-organised, brain dead, illiterate, incomprehensible pillocks.

The problem is these days the same can be said of many people behind the tills ...
I have no problem using self checkouts, or scanning stuff as I shop ..... generally for me it is quicker, more efficient and I don't have to converse with someone who has no interest in their job.

 

[Eric the chicken]

The problem is these days the same can be said of many people behind the tills ...
I have no problem using self checkouts, or scanning stuff as I shop ..... generally for me it is quicker, more efficient and I don't have to converse with someone who has no interest in their job.

To be fair I wouldn't have any interest in any job where I had to have any contact with the 'Great British Public'

 

[bourbon]

surprisingly enough, I'm still enjoying talking to the public after 10 months there. Helps to be surrounded by tools I suppose. Best is when people know what they want, but not what it's called, that can be hilarious.

 

[voipio]

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.