Booths is getting rid of their self service checkouts.

The upside is that the awkward customer may not return!

In the 'olden days' nobody had to select items off shelves and place them in a basket or trolley, the assistants did all that from the displays. I much prefer the self scan 'guns' for a big shop....select item from display, scan and put in my shopping bag...job done. So much better than selecting item, place in trolley, unpack from trolley and place on conveyer belt, retrieve at end of conveyor belt (after assistant has scanned it) and pack into bag. In the case of Aldi or Lidl, desperately try to keep up with super-speed scanning by assistant to put everything back in trolley to be packed into own bags at customer packing area.....
I do think most shops should provide the choice of manned or self serve checkouts, but there will be occasions when this is not possible. Customers who then decide to abandon their pre-selected goods despite being offered assistance are just being awkward and making life harder for the hard working employees.

It's the management making extra work for hard working employees. They should study what customers actually want rather than blindly follow the technology just because it exists.

Fleurpepper

I went to a shop the other day, and they pretended (I am sure) that all the real tills were out of order, and I had to use self-check. I told the assistant I didn't want to, and she said 'oh don't worry Madam, I shall help you' in such a condescinding manner. I told her I knew exactly what to do, but didn't work for WH Smith, and left my shopping basket and walked out.

I have just read this and my gob is well and truly smacked !
No wonder we encounter ageist insults and "old biddy" memes .
It is not being assertive to be just awkward, it is not making a point, and I cannot believe that WH Smith or whichever Head Office loses a nanoseconds sleep over such childish behaviour!
But the shop assistant whose help was interpreted as condescending (who is to say?) and then had to replace the goods on the customer's behalf.
It makes me cringe.
"The customer is always right" - maybe,
but having a strop should not be the response to one person's opinion of store policy.
As for the whole shebang, I have preferred self-scanning as you go round for years. My bags are packed as I go, my "gun" tells me exactly what I am spending and I am saved the faff of queuing at the checkout, unloading the shopping out of the trolley on to the belt, packing (often) back off the belt into my bags, back into the trolley often in a rush, especially if there is a queue behind me, before paying .
No contest.

Self scanning is so much better - less likely to get mistakes, often quicker, no banal chat, you can refuse a pointless receipt, your things don’t get shoved along etc.

I still use them when I have only a few items. Some shops used to have checkouts for ‘5 items or fewer*’ but I hardly ever saw it enforced, so you’d have someone with 23 items in the queue in front of you.
*though (pedant’s hat on) it was only M&S that correctly put ‘fewer’ - just about everywhere else it was ‘less’.

I have been looking at this thread for a while now and am really a bit puzzled by what appears to me to be a bit of a pointless decision.

We have no “Booths” here in the south , so I can’t really judge the demographics of the shoppers.

However, all our stores have choices. So the traditional checkout, the diy checkout and the thing that you carry around and scan as you go. Then there is click and collect and home delivery. I have made use of all. I really can’t see a problem with any of them tbh.

Agreed, WWM.

I like the self-scanning tills when I only have a few items otherwise I would be waiting in a queue for a traditional till.

Incidentally, Booths are not dispensing with the self-service tills here in Cumbria, at Keswick and Windermere, it's the ones in Lancashire and elsewhere. Not sure why.

argymargy

Self scanning is so much better - less likely to get mistakes, often quicker, no banal chat, you can refuse a pointless receipt, your things don’t get shoved along etc.

There are plenty of mistakes both deliberate and accidental on self scan and handset scanned baskets. We now have a bank of 12 self scans with 2 staff “helping” customers scan without making “mistakes”, it certainly works better than before without dedicated staffing.

Whitewavemark2

I have been looking at this thread for a while now and am really a bit puzzled by what appears to me to be a bit of a pointless decision.

We have no “Booths” here in the south , so I can’t really judge the demographics of the shoppers.

However, all our stores have choices. So the traditional checkout, the diy checkout and the thing that you carry around and scan as you go. Then there is click and collect and home delivery. I have made use of all. I really can’t see a problem with any of them tbh.

However, all our stores have choices. So the traditional checkout, the diy checkout and the thing that you carry around and scan as you go. Then there is click and collect and home delivery. I have made use of all. I really can’t see a problem with any of them tbh.

As you've indicated, there are various options - and I think that's what most of us want - choice. I think it's obvious that people vary in their particular needs and abilities.

The 'problem' is if stores and supermarkets remove those options forcing a one-size-fits-all. And equally those who think that because their preferred method of shopping suits them, it should suit everyone else.

''Dear Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Lid, Aldi, Waitrose, Morrisons, and all other stores that have self checkout.
You are heading towards almost exclusively self-checkout now.
The lady checking receipts at the exit was stopping
everyone.

I didn't choose to participate in that nonsense, I had already

🛒 filled my cart
🛒 emptied my cart
🛒 scanned the items
🛒refilled my cart

and so I just skipped the exit line and left.

I heard her saying "umm - Excuse me " as I kept walking and raised the receipt above my head, leaving the store.

You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place like it used to be.

I'm not interested in proving that I did your job for you.

• If you want me to be a cashier with no training then that's vour problem not mine.

• Keep employing young people and give them job opportunities.

*YOU DON'T PAY ME TO SCAN MY OWN SHOPPING.
YOU DON'T GIVE ME STAFF DISCOUNT FOR WORKING FOR YOU*
Signed ....All of us

These are jobs that are needed to have for young and old''

Posted and shared by many friends recently. 100% agree.

Crikey.

Some people have a thing about being waited on by others and ‘not doing other people’s jobs for them’.

blank respone to a very daft one

BTW, do you do your own cleaning, ironing, gardening - I do.

I am moving my bank accounts to a bank which has chosen to keep a local office, with real people, where you can speak to someone, if necessary the Manager- for advice.

Booth, and other businesses, are beginning to realise many people want to have real human contact for our transactions- they know there is commercial advantage for them too.

Yes, in response to a daft question, I do all my own cleaning, ironing and gardening. What exactly is the relevance of that? Does such virtue mean that I should expect to be waited on in shops? I bank online but as we are ‘wealth customers’ telephone assistance is available should it be required. Your new bank may have a local office now but there is no guarantee that it will continue to do so because it simply isn’t commercially viable if only a handful of customers darken its doors.

Rosie51
I do think most shops should provide the choice of manned or self serve checkouts, but there will be occasions when this is not possible.
Customers who then decide to abandon their pre-selected goods despite being offered assistance are just being awkward and making life harder for the hard working employees.

Agreed. A choice would be good, as there is in our nearest Sainsbury’s, but then there will be people who strop about having to queue longer because some folk, enjoying the benefit of a choice that differs from theirs, get through more quickly.
Dumping your stuff for someone else to replace just reflects badly on the manners of the dumper. Shop assistants are used to bad mannered customers. They shouldn’t have to be, but it’s all in the working life of a shop assistant.
Saying that 100%of the people you have contact with agree with you proves nothing. Especially when you read all the differing opinions on here who were obviously not part of the 100% who were asked.

Fleurpepper

''Dear Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Lid, Aldi, Waitrose, Morrisons, and all other stores that have self checkout.
You are heading towards almost exclusively self-checkout now.
The lady checking receipts at the exit was stopping
everyone.

I didn't choose to participate in that nonsense, I had already

🛒 filled my cart
🛒 emptied my cart
🛒 scanned the items
🛒refilled my cart

and so I just skipped the exit line and left.

I heard her saying "umm - Excuse me " as I kept walking and raised the receipt above my head, leaving the store.

You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place like it used to be.

I'm not interested in proving that I did your job for you.

• If you want me to be a cashier with no training then that's vour problem not mine.

• Keep employing young people and give them job opportunities.

*YOU DON'T PAY ME TO SCAN MY OWN SHOPPING.
YOU DON'T GIVE ME STAFF DISCOUNT FOR WORKING FOR YOU*
Signed ....All of us

These are jobs that are needed to have for young and old''

Posted and shared by many friends recently. 100% agree.

Oh FGS!

Does that make anybody some sort of rebel? Is anybody impressed by a few GOWs having a strop?
FYI Waitrose (and others) have self scanning “guns” rather than self service tills where you have to scan each item at the end of your shopping. Extremely practical, user friendly and efficient for the shopper.

And what have my gardening, ironing or cleaning got to do with anything?
MYOB.

Whitewavemark2

I have been looking at this thread for a while now and am really a bit puzzled by what appears to me to be a bit of a pointless decision.

We have no “Booths” here in the south , so I can’t really judge the demographics of the shoppers.

However, all our stores have choices. So the traditional checkout, the diy checkout and the thing that you carry around and scan as you go. Then there is click and collect and home delivery. I have made use of all. I really can’t see a problem with any of them tbh.

The problem arose when we went to a huge ASDA and all the checkouts had become self-service so there was no choice for those who prefer to have their items scanned by a cashier.
There was much grumbling and fumbling amongst the customers, who were of mixed age groups. The staff were on hand, hovering at the end of each checkout to help.

It all seemed pointless and worrying for the staff too, as they knew they would probably be made redundant.

I've not been back there since so cannot give an update.

It's (almost) a pleasure to shop in Australia where the cashiers not only scan your shopping, they pack it for you too 🙂

Fleurpepper

BTW, do you do your own cleaning, ironing, gardening - I do.

I am moving my bank accounts to a bank which has chosen to keep a local office, with real people, where you can speak to someone, if necessary the Manager- for advice.

Booth, and other businesses, are beginning to realise many people want to have real human contact for our transactions- they know there is commercial advantage for them too.

I do all my own cleaning, ironing and gardening.

Not if I can hep it!!!
😃

help

I need a secretary to type my posts for me too.

Germanshepherdsmum

Some people have a thing about being waited on by others and ‘not doing other people’s jobs for them’.

This comment is the reason why I mentionned I do indeed to my own cleaning, ironing, gardening, etc.

And of course I did not write the text I quoted- there is a wide movement against self-check only. It is not about whether you or I 'like them' or find them convenient or not. It is about choice, and about being forced to use self-check as all wo/manned tills are either closed or gone.

As Aveline and others have said, it is about CHOICE and not being forced into self-check.

This very thread demonstrates very well that some businesses are listening to customers, and are now returning to what many customers want. Same for banks- I have seen many posters and TV adverts recently about some banks making the point that they will not close local branches and will keep human staff available for advice and service. Bravo Booth, for listening. Others will follow, I am sure.

If you prefer self-check- fair enough. As long as the choice is there.

On the day, I was waiting for a train and expected to pay at till, as per normal. Just didn't have time to replace items as train due- I explained that and was very polite.

My 16 year old Granddaughter will not use self service tills or use a card/phone to pay. She must have listened to her old Granny for once.

It's not enough to complain here. I've complained directly to management at our local M&S as well as by email to head office complaints dept. As I'm an annoying pensioner with time on my hands I've also spent time encouraging other customers to do the same. As a result three staffed tills have been kept. More will open as Christmas approaches. Jobs kept or created and customers happy to have the choice maintained.