Supermarkets & large stores

Doesn’t make the shopping cheaper does it? Now if they offered a discount for self serve that might make it more acceptable.

Local M&S often has no manned tills during the week or occasionally just one which inevitably has a huge queue. Yesterday 11 people queueing for the manned till and nobody at the self service points and nobody moving to them after being invited by a member of staff. I find there's not enough room at the self service tills, you can't unpack your shopping in the order you want to put it in your bags ie with heavier items at the bottom. Also like the personal touch, sometimes the assistant might be the only person I interact with that day face to face.

I don’t use Sainsburys unless I really need to, they are the worse supermarket in my town for self service

I absolutely hate self-serve and refuse to use it. My DH on the other hand, loves it.

Oh McCavity 2….you made me think. I worked for 20 years for a VERY big supermarket chain. When the self-serve first came into shop , we were told to gather around it while the lady showed us all how to use it! At the time I was carrying a 24 ‘outer’ of soup cans …quite heavy but also a clumsy article to carry. She was beaming at us all , and shouted above the melee
“ this machine can do the job of you six ladies put together”…. so I said, as I dumped my 24 cans of soup on the machine
“ can it, we’ll let’s see it put these on the shelf”….to loud laughter. She was not amused ! I retired soon after!

It seems something of a cheek to me that when you buy tagged goods and have to do all the work of checking them out yourself, that, more often than not, some officious assistant comes bustling up to demand you show them an already-put-away till receipt to show you haven’t pinched the item.

If they trust you to do their work, they shouldn’t be be wasting your time or making you look like a potential shoplifter in front of the whole store.

But comments above reveal that the downside of removing staff is a free for all opportunity for theft. Terrible really.

There should definitely be a choice between self-scan and staffed tills. I avoid self scan because I'm not as sharp as I used to be. I invariably get something wrong at a self-service checkout. My real bete noire is the system in Waitrose for using vouchers which involves phones and apps. It's beyond me and apparently other people too judging by the hold-ups at the tills as people faff around checking their phone and waving it under the scanner for each offer. The Luddite in me screams "bring back paper vouchers". Yours truly, Grumpy Old Woman.

IMO self-scan is great for a few items, but for a great big shop - no. Too many things can go wrong, it's all too awkward. And I do feel concerned about jobs being lost. It's nice to get proper service and a chat at the checkout (irritating though I find it when I'm stuck in the queue) is the only bit of company some poor souls get.

Self-serve with grandchildren is a circus! I lost count of how many times I said 'Don't TOUCH anything!' And then I tried to buy a bottle of wine.... It's this sort of thing that makes you feel that things have gone too far in the wrong direction.

I much prefer to self scan. I can’t abide standing there like a lemon waiting for the previous customers to get through.

Ask for a discount on your shopping seeing as you're doing the cashiers job (I know it's not the cashier's fault) but maybe if enough people make a noise, you never know.

GrammaH, I like self service, particularly self scan, especially when I’ve bought clothing. Sending clothes along a not particularly cleaned conveyor belt is not a good idea.
Some people can’t cope with it -my mum for one, and some prefer not to.
As long as there are some manned tills available, the more who prefer self scan or self service, the more space there will be at the manned tills. The problems arise when there aren’t any manned tills or where there isn’t the staff to man them.

Frankly, I'm stunned at the number of GNs who are prepared to wait in a queue for ages just so they feel they've been properly served and aren't being charged for scanning their own groceries. I must admit to a feeling of smugness as I go up to the scanner at M&S, Sainsburys or wherever, run my stuff through in no time and swan out, waving to the losers in the long queues at the staffed check outs. Come on you lot, get a life, it's not that difficult to do and can save a lot of time.

Why do people insist on claiming that they're being made to "do the work themselves"? Do you really enjoy standing there like a lemon while some underpaid bugger scans your stuff and gets RSI as a result? Still, I'm quite glad there are so many of you; it means the self-serve tills in my Co-op are always free.

I rarely get them right. Invariably something goes wrong. I have put my bag in the wrong place or something was too light to be recognised or just didn't scan properly. And Heaven help you if you are buying alcohol or medicines or something as sharp as a potato peeler. I will sometimes try if I have only one or two items but I would never risk a full trolley. I have noticed that our local Asda, which is second from where i work, doesn't have any manned checkouts until 8.30 so we don't have the choice. I have also heard that some stores ask to check your receipt as you leave. If they won't check your purchases out for you then they should trust you to do it honestly

I've never done supermarket home delivery. I just wouldn't trust anyone else to choose my shopping for me - talking about fresh/chilled items here. I've been known to rake through every packet of something in the chiller cabinet before I find one I like the look of.

Kathmaggie, my 8 granddaughter said the same , I’ll do it next time’ grandma’😂

Before the pandemic I used to go to town at the same time every week by special bus and got to know an assistant in Sainsburys quite well and have a chat whilst at the till. She would help me put my shopping in my shopping trolley.
The same experience in Lidl.

These self serving tills don’t like me - always have unexpected items in the baggage area. My 4 year old GD said last week “you’re not very good at this are you G’ma “

Germanshepherdsmum

I have regular supermarket deliveries and also use small local shops. I’m done with shopping in supermarkets.

I am too except for M&S and I certainly make their bells ring unintentionally of course.
One open till, I was pointed towards the self-service, side shelf not big enough for bags so I lifted one off and all the bells went off, then it asked if I had used my own bags and again would not accept my answer and the bells again. I asked an assistant for help she spoke to me as if I was a two-year-old so I spoke back and said they need better instructions and a bigger area to keep the bags on once you have filled them.
She tutted at me as if I was a moron so I told her I would like it reported and while she was at it could she report the broken machine on the only till open. It has been broken for months and rarely works, you always have to put your number in manually.
If you didn't feel your age before you went in you certainly do coming out.

Nannafirework, they don’t like me either. I can bring it to a halt with my first items. If I have fewer than five items I use the tobacco/ return counter.
I’ve had a Sainsbury’s delivery weekly since April 2020 but decided to try our local branch (five minutes away) only to discover only two manned checkout and many self serve. I decided to stick to deliveries in future. Also thought I’d try their smart price self scanning app. but all of the price reduced items were non existent 😀
I have to say I’ve been very fortunate with deliveries only three unsuitable substitutions in three years.

I like self scan myself, but my elderly parents find it extremely confusing. I hate the fact that no-one thinks of the generation who grew up during the war when they get rid of banks/manned tills/etc, etc.

I went to a Sainsbury’s and no cashier on checkout - I refused to put a large trolley of food through self serve and demanded a cashier- eventually they found one. Dreadful - they didn’t like it - what’s happening to service - non existent

I think you are being unreasonable, but that is just my opinion.

Self-serve cash desks are a boon, as there is never a queue, and they always seem to have the correct prices coded in - which although the cash-desks with assistants are using the same bar codes for some reason is not the case there.

I would genuinely prefer shop assistants to be on the shop floor able to assist one to find things, as it seems to have become fashionable to stick stuff anywhere instead of having a logical progression of wares on shelves.

For instance, why should salt be as far away as possible from sugar, corn-flour, flour, vinegar etc?

And as supermarkets have floor to 6ft high shelves, I appreciate there being some 5' 9" assistant at hand to lift things down from the top shelves, as I am 5' 1" and the day is fast approaching where I will need help getting up again if I have to lift something off the bottom shelf!

I shop at Lidl (in Belgium). There was a self-scan area with 4 automatic check-outs. There were so many hickups, fails and mistakes they needed to have a live person on standby permanently. Now the selfscan area is gone, two extra cashregisters added. Sometimes only one or two cashiers needed, but if there is too much of a queue they open an extra register. Everybody happy 🤩