Self Service Checkouts Yay or Nay!

Yay!

Only if I have no more than a couple of items, and the manned (can I say 'manned'?) checkouts are busy.

I like them

I dislike them too HeavenLeigh because invariably I have to call for assistance .

Totally agree with you, HeavenLeigh. Local supermarket has just fitted about 10 of the wretched things, leaving only 4 original ones, always with long queues!

I don’t like them. Making customers do the job of cashiers is a good way of getting rid of staff,

Avoid them like the plague.

I cause chaos every time I try to use them. Where do I put my shopping bag and walking stick? Poked an elderly chap between the legs trying to balance my stick under my arm whilst pressing buttons. I have poor eye sight and find digital screens difficult. Trying to peer at that I managed to knock a carton of strawberries off the platform into the narrow isle and they got trodden on so they has to close the whole section!. This was in M&S where the checkout queues were so long I was told to use the self service.

I use them in B&Q but they always have someone on hand to sort out problems.

Not so keen on self service tills but love smartshop where you scan the items as you shop so are packing as you go along. It's always seemed to me the most absurd waste of time to take items from the shelf, place them in the trolley, take them from the trolley and place on conveyor belt, take them from place beyond conveyor belt and place in own shopping bag now resident in trolley. For those concerned that self service costs jobs, were jobs not lost when you self-selected items to place in your basket or trolley rather than asking an assistant to reach behind for the goods?

I like the people contact at the check out and will carry on using them as long as they exist.

and its not just to do with age - see quite a lot of younger people who chose that option, even waiting longer to do so.

Ive never used one as I dont physically go to the supermarket (no transport/mobility issues). However my nephew uses them often and says he dislikes them except for more than a few items. He builds computers and is obviously good with machines but says they often misbehave.

I appreciate tbem. Only ever have a few items nowadays. Find staff always available to attend to glitches. A yes from me.

I objected to them initially because people lose jobs and we don’t get discount scanning shopping for ourselves. It’s obviously because of artificial intelligence taking over everyday life. However standing behind someone with with a trolly full of food is totally time consuming and irritating.
I admit I gave in I find Aldi self service is very efficient they have large barcodes easy to scan.

I like scan and go so I’m already packed when I get to the till. Before those, or self service tills, there was always a long queues at the manned tills, often held up even longer, by people chatting at the till.
I’d like there to be a choice though. Sainsbury’s near us has 4 manned tills, some self service and some for those using the app. There’s rarely a queue of more than 3 as I pass the manned tills.

Gin if that happens again, you need to say quite clearly that you will need some assistance if they want you to use the self-service till as you have poor eyesight.
My mother-in-law has macular degeneration and it's surprising how many people don't seem to realise her limitations, she has to tell them.

Taking jobs off people. Half the time they go wrong so they need someone there but only one person for a dozen of them so 11 people have lost their jobs.

Mixed. I do prefer a person rather than the very bossy lady in the machines. OTH, if doing a big shop, it’s so much easier to pack as you go along.
So it’s a mixed response from me.

Absolutely yay. Manned checkouts make me anxious.

Its no longer the case that they are taking jobs away from real people is it? There is a widespread shortage of staff at checkout level and I think it solves a problem. However there are the two sorts.
The one which results in the "unexplained item in the bagging area" generally gets a thumbs down from me as it is slow and cumbersome have I placed my bag on the right side? Why didn't an item scan (or twice as recently happened at the Euston M&S ?) I would never use it for more than a couple of items.
But I have used Waitrose's "zapper" gun where you scan and pack into your bags in the trolley as you go round for years and would never go back to the checkout/ belt palaver. I sort my shopping into bags as I go along and also have a useful running total so I know whether or not to treat myself with a cheeky bottle of wine or to hold back as this week's shop is a big one.

I always have used self service since they arrived and prefer them We cannot stay in a time warp we have to move on and get used to different ways of doing things Even at our advanced ages we need to move on and accept that things are not going to stay the same
The self service are easy and efficient and there is always someone on hand to help when they bleep I think fear of new things hold a lot of folks back
The staff who are no longer on the tills seem to have been given other jobs and we do still have the choice for those that don’t like self service so we actually have the best of both worlds at the moment.
I used to love the shops that weighed everything and cut the slice of cheese you wanted and had a chair by the counter and patted the butter and weighed the coffee but long gone

Times have to move, change, sometimes better, sometimes worse, but ever changing, ever moving

No and I’d like to see the figures of the number of any staff who have been moved to lower paid jobs or sacked.

Bluebelle why can’t we stay in a time warp?
I can’t see why we can’t have both. Leave the SSC for those that like them, retain some manned checkouts for those that don’t.
I’m fairly tech savvy but I prefer to interact with a human.

100% yes. I’ve used Waitrose Quick check since 1997 and love it.
It was trialled in our local shop and I was one of the first to use it.
I can’t stand queuing behind people chatting and fumbling to eventually find their wallets and like the efficiency of it.

I worked in the village shop as a school girl, cutting cheese, slicing bacon, weighing out sweets, but progress we must.

I’d much rather work on my spreadsheets thank you very much than scribe 🖋️ in a ledger with black and red ink.