Sainsburys Smart Shop - shopping with fear and loathing

Ah ! There lies the difference, Thank you Franbern With Sainsbury’s smart shop you use your own mobile phone to scan. That was not made evident in the OPs first post. Otherwise all the same ?

I would not use this smartshop for my weekly Sainsbury shop until they offered me £5 off my shop (early in 2019) for doing so. That was a big enough bribe, and I fell in love with the system.
No longer having to put everything in the basket, queue up at till, take everything out of basket and put on counter, then have to re-pack it in my bags.
Now, I use Alexa at home to make a shopping list which appears on my 'phone. As I scan items they go directly into the appropriate shopping bag (Fridge items in one, heavy items in a second bag. I do have to weigh fresh produce and then scan the print out slip. These go into a third small bag. All I have do at the end is go to the Smartshop (never been any sort of waiting there), and pay for it, then take to my car.
This has cut my shopping time each week by fifty percent, and with the shopping list - I have actually cut the expenditure each week.
I am coming up to 80 years old, but really love all this new technology.
PS: If you take down and scan something, and then change your mind for any reason, it is so easy to press the delete item button, scan again and it is taken off your list.
Once only I have had the random check, and even then the assistant only checked a few items in my bags.
I would not use any supermarket now that did not have this facility

I think that Sainsbury's actively discourage customers. Went today as I was desperate, utterly chaotic at the checkout. Long queues, not all checkouts open. I did the self service till and for a change got through without assistance. However the whole experience is horrible.

I suspect there is no discount for the extra work as they 'expect' you to steal. I think I made the mistake with the coleslaw as I didn't hear the beep (noises off in the shops don't help) and to see the scanner clearly I have to take OFF my glasses. Won't do it again - found being a thief (even accidentally) far too upsetting.

I choose not to use the self scan checkout
I'm doing someone out of a job for one thing
If I am going to do the checkout assistants job then why don't I get a discount on my shopping?
After all I am saving the retailer money?

BlueBelle I think they are losing their jobs or getting them to sign new, controversial contracts.

Someone I know worked at Tesco, not on the tills, and was told she would have to either work full-time or be made redundant.
She chose to leave and have a break, is now retraining and very happy. She was very angry that so many were 'let go' when the man at the top was earning millions.

I think other supermarkets have 'let go' staff.
The staff member at Asda allocated to help shoppers with the new tills says she hated it, hovering around, would much have preferred to be back on a manned (or womanned) till.

I have to agree with *BBbevan on this one.

Well putting your self scanned shopping in your own bags and then paying is call Self Scan in Tesco.

Or possibly they call it Smart Shop, it may depend on the store chain. Anyway, two different systems.

We are talking about two different systems. The Self Scan is the one that's in use in many stores now, even WHS and pound stores: you collect your goods in your trolley and take them to the self-scanner. Then you place the items one by one on a scale as you scan them before placing them into your own bag. Then the amount is rotted up and you pay.

The Smart Scan (with a handheld scanner) is not the same as Self Scan, it's a newer, different system (see my posts above). A store can have both, or neither. The original post was asking about Smart Scan, and the replies have been mainly about Self Scan, which isn't quite the point.

BlueBelle it’s simple to remove something from the scanner you just rescan it and click remove it works.

Call me old-fashioned!
I walk to my neighbourhood store to choose my groceries. I pay and enjoy some brief but pleasant interaction with the person at the till who packs my stuff into boxes. The groceries are delivered later in the day. I empty the boxes and my nice delivery guy returns them to the store.

I always use the self scanning conveyer belt (which have increased in numbers) but I ve never used the self scan hold it gadget thingy as I m always changing my mind and putting things back and I can see me mucking it up
Are people actually losing their jobs or are they doing other things ?

I tried smart shop for the first time yesterday using the app on my mobile phone. It was useless as I couldn’t get a signal. I mentioned this to the assistant on the till and she was surprised as they have installed signal boosters all around the store. I commented well I’ll just keep people in jobs instead and she replied she needs her wages ?.
I hate self scan and usually avoid it but the novelty of smart shop lured me in. Probably won’t bother again particularly as the security guard started following me after faffing with my phone. All for 6 apples!

I also normally prefer to use a manned till as I see it as protecting people’s employment (not to mention human contact). I accept that online shopping does involve other people essentially working, though I would think not as many, and has many other advantages for many customers, and that ‘smart shopping’ technology requires development and maintenance. That said, our local Tesco has steadily increased the number of self scan tills and reduced the number of manned tills. One assistant manages 8-10 tills.
I also worry about the “Do you want a receipt?” which I am increasingly asked when paying (including in supermarkets). Surely in combination with the use of own bags, shoplifting must be increasingly difficult to identify/control? I asked a security man yesterday what would happen if I’d said no to the receipt and he’d stopped me, how would I prove what I had bought and paid for, especially if I had used cash. His response, with a broad smile “ I’d never stop you. You don’t look like a shoplifter.” Don’t even start me on that conversation. He said he ALWAYS gets a receipt when shopping...

grannyticktock as BBbevan says there is no difference it’s exactly the same as self scan.

Self scanning doesn’t reduce jobs it increases them . Supermarkets still have manned tills in addition to the self / smart scan technology. The technology has to be designed, developed, manufactured, installed, maintained , cleaned , supervised ... it isn’t there by magic !

So, we go to the supermarket, scan in the prices and pack as we go.

At the airport- at least at the check-in for Ryanair in Manchester- we weigh our suitcases, scan the bar code on the ticket and attach the printed label to the handle, then take the case to the conveyor belt, lift it on and press the button to send the luggage on its way.

How many jobs are we covering?

grannyticktock surely that is the same as Self scan. You take a device when you enter the shop ( Tescos). Scan each item as you go round and place it in your own bag. Then pay at the end. I can't see the difference. Not that it matters as I haven't got a Sainsburys near me. Sadly

JenniferEccles I am more worried about inadvertent shop lifting. I doubt whether I could do a shop using a scanner without forgetting to scan at least one item. The bigger the shop, the more I would miss. I would need to insist on emptying my bags and having a re-scan done on every shop.

I do not want to shop online. Although I am methodical and plan menus and have a shopping list, I will still do last minute substitutions, mainly when choosing fruit and vegetables, I make last minute decisisons on what I will have or, like today swap sprouts for white cabbage because white cabbage was remaindered so much cheaper. If some key ingredient for a planned dish is not available, I will replan my menus in my head and buy the ingredients for the new meal that has suddenly appeared on the plan. So if there are no aubergins, as happened last week, the substitute was a pizza, as I couldn't make the dish I had planned.

And to Jennifereccles: yes I bet they do lose more to cheating, but probably calculate that they can afford a certain degree of extra loss. They do spot-checks, though, in which they take some random items from your bag and check they've been scanned.

Tabitha, no, smart shop is different. You take a hand-held gadget when you enter the store. As you take each item off the shelf, you scan it and put it into your own shopping bag as you walk round. When you are done, you go to the till and simply hand in the scanner gadget and pay (by any means you choose). It means you don't have to unload your trolley and then pack it all up again, because your packing is done as you walk round the shop.

Surely there is enormous potential for people to effectively shop lift by not scanning every single item?

I guess we all indirectly pay for that though as that possibility would be built into the price.

We can be certain the stores themselves wouldn’t be out of pocket though.

I am not usually in a desperate hurry to finish shopping so I am prepared to wait a short while at the till.

My local Waitrose is a very friendly place and the staff get to know the regular customers.

It’s a pleasant place to shop.

How will people cope when there are no more tills and everything is self-scan? I prefer to order online anyway for most things so won't notice the difference.

Even if I only have a couple of items, I am prepared to stand in a queue of people, to be served by a real person. I will not put anything through the self service till.