Sainsbury’s try out in one store.

I hate to go through the self service tills - I usually scan wrong, the reduced tickets don't scan and I get fed up of being told to remove item from such and such area. I also enjoy my chats with the checkout staff!
Having said that, our local Asda has hand held scanners that I fancy having a go at - apparently some items scan at a lower price than that shown on the shelf - any way of saving money !
Getting rid of tills is also another way of reducing the number of staff employed of a more senior age - as most of us will be having to work past 60, a reduction in available jobs for our age range is definitely a no no - mind you, Sainsburys are not on any list I have seen that encourage over 50s to work for them !

Like Pamdixon above, I am happy to use self- service checkouts when I have a small number of items, but would be reluctant to pay by phone.
I suspect it will be the shareholders, rather than customers, who will gain from reduced wage costs.
In my local supermarket, the checkout staff are all locals, many are older people and, in the summer holidays and the weeks before Christmas, students. They are part of our community & always ready with a friendly greeting, & would be very much missed.

NotSpaghetti yes of course. I was responding to the comments of one particular poster that appeared to be stereotyping.

We now always use the service whereby you can check out your own shopping with a little machine, pay through your phone and never once have we had to wait. You still get all the coupons and discounts - a great way to shop.

I hate self service checkouts, as invariably something goes wrong and the assistant has to come and help, if they are trying to have less staff on check outs they will cartainly need more at self service check outs and probably when people are paying by phone.

I was in my local Sainsburys about one hour ago. A call had been made for checkout assistants to go to their positions but there were still queues. I went to a self service one and still it needed to have an assistant to let it accept a packet of digestive biscuits. I pay by card but it had difficulty accepting my nectar card too. There need to be a lot more work done on these devices before they can do without assistants to back them up.

I do struggle with self checkout and more often than not have issues and give up. I will only attempt them if I have one or two items. Sainsburys are better than other supermarkets as they do mark which side is the bagging area so less chance of the usual error message.

It is bad enough doing a food shop without having to check out for oneself as well.

I really, really object and won't use them if I can help it? Once we do, the check out staff are out of a job. I like my phone to be a phone, and don't want to use it for banking. Our village has just lost our local store/post office, the news agent, the butcher and a pub. The bus service is very hit and miss. We do have a small Tesco express which is very expensive and they have 2 checkouts and and 2 self service tills which are always breaking down then the lovely staff are harassed and customers fed up! I just worry that when I get older and can't drive or walk anymore Im going to be reliant on internet shopping? That's if im still Compos Mentis enough to understand it, scary thought?

Nope count me out too on this insane idea.

I like using a checkout with a human being at the till.
Self-service is normally a pain, they always have some sort of a blip when I use them!! Making me Grrrrrrr!!!
I'd rather keep someone in a job!

I just think we should be very careful about losing the option to use cash.

I agree Dianehillbilly, I watched it last night and couldn't help but be amused at the length of the queue for the one and only till

Shortlegs was your post addressed to the OP or to all of us who are leaping and hopping about?

I haven't seen the programme but do know that this is happening in other stores so did tend to trust what the OP had said.

I also saw the programme but noted the pilot is in central London, where smartphones are probably used a great deal. I use mine very seldom - just get taxis if I am stranded. Most of my elderly friends do not give me a mobile number, either. I find my android phone slippery and fiddly and not at all easy to use. Also it seems to leak charge even when switched off so I cannot trust it to work anyway as I do not charge it every day as a routine.
I don't see much future for Sainsbury'.s plan unless smartphones are redesigned.

Saw the programme and showed that shoppers found a 'secret' till which seemed to be used a lot with fair length of queues firming. Even the young techy types didn't want to use their phone for paying. Store seemed to be a place where you would buy only a couple of items eg sandwich, fruit not a basketful of stuff even. Didn't get my vote.

My dainsburys has the self scan and I di like it. Pack as I go round and no queue to checkout. Occasional problems and once they had to sekect 3 random items to rescan. If they had to do the whole shop I would point to the nearby seats abd tekl them I would be there whe they finished!!!

I loathe these so-called self service tills. The last time I used one I had to ask for help as it didn't like my small change. If I'd been dishonest I could have paid 50p for a newspaper instead of 70p and it would have been none the wiser. They would have lost money on the transaction.
I prefer to interact with a human being which sadly seems to be going out of fashion.

I’d be so worried about walking out of the store with goods I hadn’t scanned ! My daughter laughs at me when I shop with her and she self scans, but I do just chuck stuff in the trolley without thinking !

Bring it on....I pay nearly everything on my phone and never have a moments bother. Shop online as dont drive and can’t be lugging shopping around the town....been there ...done that ...got the arthritis to prove it! Roll out the technology ...I’m pretty useless with it to start...but always someone to help out and I’m not an idiot so I soon grasp it...as did my old mum who was on her fourth generation mobile when she died at 92. Bet you all use self-service petrol stations dont you?! And bet you kicked up a fuss about that as well.... just a thought.

I use my phone (or more recently my watch) to pay with Apple Pay whereever I can-it's quicker than getting a card out and more secure, as your card number doesn't go to the shop, and no-one can snoop on your pin.

As for technology reducing the number of jobs - nobody cared when Google & the internet generally meant no more work for me as a reference librarian...

Alison KF...get a portable charger ...I’ve had one for ten years...pop it in my bag when I out and it’s only about £15 to buy. The charge in ‘it’ lasts about three months I’ve found. Really useful .

Sainsbury's a grocery store? lol. "Ovwr the pond here) You know what drives me crazy? I want to just buy something without giving my phone number, email, address, birthday, giving up my first born, my bank account, my house, etc!! One you g lady became angry, and most have no idea why they are doing it. I know it's for rewards, advertising and being able to send us adds, and I understand the need to keep business as well as attract new customers. I am a bit mischievous and ask why and then say no I don't want to give any info. I do it all with a smile so it ia fun. Anyway, I digress but we are also heading to self service, but most stores have a choice (for now)

I agree with Pudding123,I'm feeling left behind now.I don't have a fancy phone that does everything,it used to be enough to go online on a computer,I've been doing things that way for years.I have a phone for when I need one while I'm out,but I don't live on a phone like some people do.If my Sainsbury's does this,I will have to go elsewhere,so will a lot of other people.I always go to a cashier.

I am partially sighted and cannot use a smartphone (the icons are too small for me to be able to identify one from another). Happily, there is no Sainbury's in my local town, and even though I occasionally use an Asda in a nearby town, where "self service" tills there are aplenty - I always explain that I need assistance to use these, so they are somewhat self defeating!