Checkouts in supermarket

It's pretty grim trying to shop "behind" several people with hand held scanners - especially if they have children with them or don'thave any "buying autonomy".

I spent an extra long time trying to shop behind three men and two women with these gadgets one Sunday morning.
One man spoke loudly into his phone as he shopped - describing the items he was selecting or reading ingredients or comparing things down the phone - (I have never shopped before with so many people using scanners before)
I only went in for maybe ten things as usually I shop online - but I couldn't get past them as they all blocked the aisles with the trolley (and those with children allowed the children to do the scanning and then they always seemed to check it too).

I'm pretty sure I would have let my children enjoy the scanning if it had been around in "my day"- but if they are getting a lot of log-jams because of it then they do need wider aisles!

*Note to self - never shop on Sunday mornings!

RosiesMaw2

Mt61

I like Lidl , served 5 by the time Sainsbury’s have served first customer- I asked the girl serving was she on peace work- she no idea what I talking about 🤣

I’m not surprised - I wondered
(Give piece a chance?)

I assume as this was a verbal comment not written down on a piece of paper and handed over. The two differently spelled words sound the same.

In order to correct somebody's spelling you have to have understood what was intended, so correction is entirely unnecessary.

My wife works in Waitrose, multitasking Checkout, Cafe, Replen, they are very tight staffed she is doing 2 extra shifts this week. There also seems to be supply issues, some items are in short supply especially Mondays.

Customers have the choice of scanned, self checkout or tills, the self checkouts are very popular and always busy, there is also an express till for a few items.

When I’ve been there if there is a long queue an extra till is opened, my own grumble is the discount offers, to get them you have scroll through your phone app to redeem them, a slower system would be impossible to devise, that slows down checkout a lot

* superfluous 'as' in my comment before Rosie'sMaw2 feels the need for a grammatical correction

not only choice of checkouts, choice of shop! I won`t use self scan! or whatever it is called... many of us at our local Morrisons, a smallish supermarket... we just queue! and complain,, not too badly complaining, we laugh about it.. choice!

I seem to be very much in the minority here, but I almost always use the self-checkout whenever I can.

I hate self check out for lots of reasons. As with many, I will continue to use manned checkouts ( am I 'allowed' to say that!) We need to be more sociable and interactive. I don't like the alternative.

All these self checkouts, online banking etc doing people out of jobs
No job security its just such a shame.

I’m happy to use self scan too rather than queue at a manned checkout, until you get a check which is random apparently.

Are Waitrose going to pay you for doing the checkout assistant's job? I stood in a queue the other day to pay for four items, was approached by an assistant who suggested I go to the self- checkout. I told him "No I am not paid for that". He was not amused.

I’m happy to do self checkout at Waitrose. I’ve got it down to a fine art and I can pack as I go along.

Sorry but I am just not using self scan tills on principle! Push comes to shop, I leave the goods behind in the basket. The least I expect in a shop is to be served! Until I am offered holiday pay and tea breaks I am not having it.
I do understand that the cost of wages keeps increasing and this is one way of cutting back on staff but with the amount of shoplifting through items not scanned, I can’t see that it will save money and it puts customers backs up. I have already vetoed Sainsbury and use Booths and Aldi. Although Aldi do have self scan, you always have a choice and they open up a till for you.
I did have a retail business for over forty years and customer service is the most important thing as far as I am concerned.

Shopping in Marks in a hurry this week, I was unhappy that the one manned till had a long queue. I went to the lad on the self service tills and just told him to do the scanning for me as I did not know how and there was nowhere to park my walking stick! The easiest shop yet, I might try it again.

I like scan and go personally, but I’m totally with you on having choice Cambia.
Sadly, so many things we do now have taken jobs from people e.g.
ATMs,
conductors on buses,
guards on trains,
paying by card instead of going to a cashier in the bank to draw money out.

Even the home delivery of groceries, which has created a few jobs for pickers, is only practicable because they use scan and go to load up the boxes.

But if I didn’t use those things, my life would be difficult.

My particular battle, despite the fact that I mostly pay by card, is to maintain our choice to use cash. That’s one of the rare reasons for choosing a manned till, so the cashier can save me going to the bank-which in its turn leads to the loss of banking jobs.

My granddaughter took me shopping with her and showed me how to use the self service. Well! What a palaver. I hadn't realised my handbag was getting in the way so kept getting beeped. I usually do big shops on line - no problem AND I get it unpacked for me too. However I do like going to the little Coop shop for bits and bobs and there's no problem there except for a pleasant natter.

I was in my local Asda yesterday the queue for each of the two staffed check-outs was horrendous and backing up down the narrow aisles making it difficult to get anything off the shelves. I decided to used the self check-out and the queue to get on one was also pretty awful. At one stage there were five people with loaded trollies waiting ahead of me and another five queuing behind. It gave me the chance to observe the people using the tills - one man was scanning at snail"s pace as he was busy talking on his phone, others were waiting patiently for a staff member to verify their purchases etc. Nobody seemed to have their card ready for payment and also had to find their phone in order to scan a barcode to top up their Asda Cashpot. It made me want to scream!
Knowing that there was a large queue of people waiting after I'd paid l shoved everything back into the trolley and wheeled it to a quiet corner to load into bags. I wondered why others didn't think to do the same knowing so many others were waiting to get on a till
Rant over.

I can't bear these do it yourself tills. My husband is o.k. with them. When I shop alone, if I am steered towards the self-service tills, I very politely ask one of the staff who are there to help to actually come and guide me through the whole system as I live in fear of making a mistake. They are always very good about it, but, I much prefer having a proper check out with a proper person on it.
In M&S some months ago, a young male assistant looked at our overflowing trolley and said come over to these self service tills. I said "We'd rather not thank you." He was quite insistent in a polite way and assured us that he would watch us. By now I had gone just beyond my patience level, I said "You will not watch me, you will check my shopping through for me. We do not spend this amount of money to do your job for you". He checked it through for me.

Same here with M&S and Waitrose. Even on a busy Sat am there was only 1 manned check out and a very long queue in my local M&S food hall.
I did read online yesterday that some supermarkets are introducing new self service points with more space to stop people grumbling that there's not enough space if buying more than half a dozen items.

I absolutely refuse to self checkout Id rather leave my shopping behind

I was in tesco this morning. They seem to have reinstated the tills with cashiers. This is Lisburn Northern Ireland.

I prefer self service checkouts as long there is a member of staff to sort any problems. Much better than waiting in a long queue behind someone dithering about in front of you and telling their life story to the cashier. Self service for me every time.

Don't shop at the weekend........... busiest time.

I find it less time consuming and more convenient to get my groceries delivered. It is usually the same delivery Person who brings everything through to the kitchen and helps me unpack. I have never received any bizarre substitutes and am very happy with the service. Walking around a supermarket not finding what I want and unable to reach things on high shelves (no staff to help) is my biggest nightmare! Shall continue with home deliveries and stay indoors in the warm.

The local Waitrose had half the tills open today, and the self service area is very busy, with one demented assistant trying to sort out problems. Sainsbury's has now closed even more checkouts and extended the self service tills. Aldi has done the same - doubtlessly all moving towards having no checkouts at all, which will be cheaper than employing staff, even when factoring in the cost of the shoplifting potential with self service.

David49 The system has recently changed, and the offers can be selected in the app before you do your shopping, and they are now automatically deducted from your bill.
If you change your mind whilst you are shopping you can reselect.