More self checkouts being allocated

Honestly Bukkie, the biggest crime you’re committing by doing that is wasting your own time and effort in filling a trolley, because you’ll only have to go and do the same thing again to get the shopping you need?

I refuse to use them. I have left full trolleys to prove a point. Waitrose always open tills. I always think about a conversation with a lovely checkout man in Tesco a couple of years ago who said an old man told him he came in every day for a few bits rather than get them in one go because it was the only human interaction he got.

I’ve used the scan and shop since covid , it’s so much easier . I shop mostly at Sainsbury’s and you scan your nectar card to get started . If it’s a few items I use the self scanning machines.
Personally I hate queuing , so it suits me.
In my Sainsbury’s the ex till staff are used as pickers for the home deliveries or click and collect.

Yes, if it's alcohol then an an assistant has to come and approve it. Same if you are buying anything like paracetamol, ibuprofen etc.

Missedout

Can someone tell me what happens when you buy alcohol (or any other age-appropiate product) using the scan and shop method. Does a 'colleague' always have to get involved?

If it’s spirits, someone has to come to take the tag off. It asks if you have any items like that.

Not sure about beer etc, I know Sainsburys come and age check, so probably Tesco do as well ?

When in town I occasionally pop into Lidl. They have removed all tills and the girls are really rushed (and rude) if one needs help. IU do as I am partially sighted so usually with bad grace I am helped. I go shopping online, but it is good to see what is on the shelves.

The queue for the self scan is long but does move quickly.

I prefer Waitrose which had to open 4 tills to help the likes of me and many others.

I made a rare trip to sainsburys yesterday and there was only one person on an actual checkout. The rest were self service.

Where it is is quite friendly but it must be really isolating for some people who maybe only speak to that one person on the till iykwim

Can someone tell me what happens when you buy alcohol (or any other age-appropiate product) using the scan and shop method. Does a 'colleague' always have to get involved?

DH and I have just started doing scan and shop at our local Tesco. Prefer it to the self service tills.

Only because we do our weekly shop first thing in the morning, they now only have one manned till open until 9, there’s always a queue, I don’t mind waiting, but I feel guilty about not serving myself.

It’s always the same chap on the till, he’s always pleasant, he says the more people who serve themselves, the fewer staff they’ll be, anyone leaving doesn’t get replaced. He comes in on the bus from another village and he is worried that he will be sent to work at a store many miles away.

Say what you like, it does affect jobs.

Not sure where everyone will be working in time to come.

I have found different supermarket self service machine act differently.
Lidl, machines very sensitive, even a bit of the handle of my shopping bag, if flopped near the glass "Ray" causes it to stop, staff has to be called to restart it , or if you inadvertently hold a checked product to one side, so you can leave a space to put something else in it stops!
M&S and Waitrose you have to angle correctly, same with Sainsburys.
Tbh Tesco seems the best....

I'm sticking to my big shop every fortnight on line with Waitrose, much easier.

I am old enough to remember when my mum sat at the counter and the assistant ran up and down fetching items !

Thanks for explaining that ViceVersa

Provided there are still serviced tills for those who like or need to be served, I can’t see what the problem is. Different systems to suit everyone.

I have used the Waitrose ScanPayGo system for almost 30 years since they trialled it in my local branch, and I love it.

I can’t stand queuing either, but each to their own.

Did people resist self- service supermarkets when they first appeared 🤷🏻‍♀️?

I always use scan and shop, I hate to queue.

Here in Germany, people are notoriously wary of technology. Scan and shop is totally unknown, at least in my part of Germany. Self-service tills are installed in one supermarket but I've not seen anyone use them, although I have in the building supplies store, which also has a couple. Everywhere where I have seen one, there is always a member of staff nearby, constantly seeing to the customers, so I doubt if any jobs are being lost because of them.

Fallingstar

I use self service tills because there are always queues at the other tills and some customers take a long time chatting to the till operator and packing their bags, but I wouldn’t want to see the till operators lose their jobs.
I would also like to know how to use the scan and shop method. Could someone explain this please.

It varies from one store for another, but basically you register for it first (in Tesco, you use your Clubcard), then each time you use it, you sign in, take your scanner and just scan each item as you go and put it directly into your shopping bags. Once you've finished, you go to the checkouts, scan a barcode at the till and then pay for your shopping. It's very simple.

I use self service tills because there are always queues at the other tills and some customers take a long time chatting to the till operator and packing their bags, but I wouldn’t want to see the till operators lose their jobs.
I would also like to know how to use the scan and shop method. Could someone explain this please.

It’s annoying having to continually call the assistant over, to swipe her card.

Scan and shop is useful, but I do have to keep in mind to scan.
Sometimes they do a stop and trolly check, but they must lose £££££££.

Lathyrus3

I’ve never used Scan and shop so enlighten me🙂

How do they stop people slipping in unscanned items or scanning a cheaper and putting in a more expensive one or scanning 100g of cherries say and then just adding a few more?

Not that I’d ever do such things. I still have prickles of conscience over a small wedge of Brie that lurked unseen in the corner of the trolley.

It just seems the possibilities are endless.

They do random basket checks (or trolley checks), so every so often you might get flagged up for one - where an assistant then comes and checks a certain number of items to ensure they've been scanned. Of course there will be people who do play fast and loose with the scan and shop, but I much prefer doing my shopping that way, or using the self service checkouts, even with a trolley load. Much quicker and easier.

I’ve always used scan and shop it’s so much quicker I find standing in a queue difficult and lugging stuff on an off the belt hurts. So for me it’s better also in a local shop self service. It doesn’t suit everyone I understand that.

Is it progress, though? And why should 'progress' be unstoppable? I do prefer manned (or 'womanned') tills. I can work the automated checkouts usually but often have to call for help - as does my tech-oriented husband!

I totally understand why some shoppers need or want to be quick.
I don’t usually need to be and have the luxury of choosing when I go to the supermarket. I think that it is important to keep as many jobs available as possible.
I do end up chatting to others who are queuing and it can be quite entertaining. I can still be quite efficient at loading, packing and paying because I can multitask😂

I’ve never used Scan and shop so enlighten me🙂

How do they stop people slipping in unscanned items or scanning a cheaper and putting in a more expensive one or scanning 100g of cherries say and then just adding a few more?

Not that I’d ever do such things. I still have prickles of conscience over a small wedge of Brie that lurked unseen in the corner of the trolley.

It just seems the possibilities are endless.

I don’t mind scan and shop or self service at all, my only bugbear is that I wish the self service packing areas were bigger, because I’m always struggling to balance things on them because I’ve got too much for the space provided.

When my DH somehow erroniously came home and announced that the supermarket I most often use was going all self service, I immediately told him it would no longer be my main supermarket.

I live in a town where people vote with their feet and actions.