Supermarket checkouts

In my local store the other night I was queueing behind people with large trollies piled high. I refuse to use the self-serve as I break them and staff have to come anyway.

A staff member who is familiar to me spotted me and said she would help me on the self-serve, which she did whilst we chatted. The only thing I had to do was enter my card, she packed it all well and I think this was the right solution for me at the time.

If I have to use one I often pretend to be useless and get help. It is not right that jobs should be lost and the public be doing their jobs without pay.

If they offered say, 20% discount on the self serve then that would be a fair payment I think.

twiglet77

I always use a hand-held scanner where possible, so I can pack straight into my own bags and don’t have to unload onto the belt. Sometimes it calls for a random check but that’s more than compensated by the time saving over the course of a month.

I much prefer this method of shopping too, it really does cut down the time spent in supermarket queues.

I do like the zapper that you scan as you go, only Tesco have them in our area, but I must admit I have the big shops delivered and only ever go in if I need just a few things , I have done big shops with it in the past but I hate it when the staff come to do a spot check as they disrupt my packing. I don't mind that staff need to authorise items as in ours at least ,during busy times, they have 3/4 staff on these tills. I remember many years ago , going to an out of town store on an Christmas and the queues were horrendous 6 people waiting at each till and about 20 tills open ,everyone had large trolleys full to the top on , a young couple waiting to check out with just two rolls of wrapping paper, unfortunately nobody was in a good mood and they waited a while before they were moved to the front , self service is a dream for those situations.

Septimia

A matter of principle?

I hate self-service checkouts (except for one or two items) as something invariably goes wrong and I have to wait for a member of staff to sort it out!

That’s EXACTLY what I was about to say! I have tried doing self service, really I have, but have never managed it yet without calling someone. Also, an employee at my local Tesco whom I have got to know quite well over the years, told me that management were encouraging self-service so they could cut down on staff! Logical and probably the right thing to do economically, but what a shame it would be not to be able to exchange a few words with the checkout person while my food is being scanned?

I use self scanners and have done since covid . It’s so much easier , just scan and pack into your bag . No unpacking on the conveyor belt and then packing again . You need a staff member for alcohol and painkillers ,
If I’ve a few items I go to the self service machines .
A friend works in Sainsbury’s and she says the till staff are redeployed to picking for online shopping or restocking shelves . So the staff aren’t losing their jobs.

Guess it depends on the customers and perhaps age related our self services are always full and the 2 or 3 check out little used
I much prefer to do it myself

RosiesMaw2

I remember how years ago the queues for the tills stretched all the way to the back of our local and very large Sainsbury’s!
Staff went up and down the queues with mini mince pies and Quality Sreet - it was a great atmosphere!

There was an assistant wandering round our store today offering chocolates to shoppers. I thought it was a nice touch!

I really can't see the point of putting shopping in a trolley, then onto the checkout, then into bags while making polite conversation with someone I don't know (yes I'm a grumpy old woman 😅)
I love self scan shopping, straight in the bags at Tesco yesterday morning, no need to queue for paying. Home by 10am. Husband collecting turkey at village butchers on Monday
Job done
🎄

Self check out last week I had eight separate problems in a regular sort of shop.
It was more than a little annoying.

Nobody was “sailing” through the self service checkouts at our Tesco this morning. People seem to have got so used to them that they seem happy to queue up to use them. The manned checkouts were really quiet and I got through and out before I’d have made it to the front of the self-service queue.

Self-scan checkouts must be a shoplifters Heaven: is it a coincidence that supermarket thieving is on the increase with the corresponding numbers of self-serve locations?

I hate self service and self scan. I’m trying to keep local folk in jobs so ask for staffed checkout. Self service isnt popular where I live thank goodness and is probably due to out aged local population plus there is very little in the way of employment.

We went to a large Tesco early-ish and it wasn’t busy. By 10.30 there were a lot more people there but we queued behind only one couple at the check out. I wasn’t prepared to scan a whole trolley full of groceries. I don’t work there!

We scan our shopping in Tesco. Very easy and easy to pay. Sorted

This thread has just reminded me of an incident in Tesco, Kingston Park, just outside Newcastle - probably 20 odd years ago.
DD1 and I had gone for a few last minute bits and although the queues were horrendous, we were enjoying free Quality Street and banter with others waiting …….. until a couple of ladies tried to push into the queue with enormous overloaded trolleys nearer the tills. There was a near riot/fight and security called. It transpired that the ‘place’ was being held for the other trolleys by a then Newcastle footballer and his wife, with their own trolleys. Words were exchanged - basically we didn’t care who he was, who he played for and his colour was totally irrelevant!
A security guard whisked him away before Police arrived and the incident made the local newspaper.

I went to Aldi this morning for a few everyday items and even early in the morning it was heaving - people with large full trollies. The checkout operators were doing a sterling job and very cheerful. I never use the self checkout at Aldi, but always at Morrisons. Our Sainsbury’s self checkout is an absolute nightmare - small wonder the assistants are grumpy.

I always use self scan, packing my shopping as I go, I’ve got better things to do than queue, I’m afraid.
Even our little Tesco has self scan.

I have used self scan since it came to the local Tesco. I sailed through the self scan checkout yeasterday whilst the manned tills had very long queues, I would never go back to the unloading and packing at the till, it is so slow and tedious in comparison.

I always use self-service checkouts.
It gives me more idea of what I have bought, and how much it costs.
I like playing shops.

I remember how years ago the queues for the tills stretched all the way to the back of our local and very large Sainsbury’s!
Staff went up and down the queues with mini mince pies and Quality Sreet - it was a great atmosphere!

I use both. I find the Aldi self serve ones very quick and efficient but Coles ( similar to Sainsburys) pretty dire and you often have to ask for assistance. Our supermarkets are, on the whole, less crowded than the British ones. I couldn’t cope with crowds all hanging round and pushing each other round the freezing compartments last time I was there, felt like screaming. Probably that is better these days, I would imagine.

I find manned checkouts faster.

By the time the self serve ones have declared there's an unexpected item in checkout area, and it's been sorted, I could have paid for and be packing my goodies away.

We always use Sainsburys Smart Shop, we went this morning, had two large bags full of shopping and just went to check ourselves out, no queueing. The manned tills were quite busy but nothing like years ago when there was no option to self check out and there were queues along all the aisles meaning shoppers had difficulty in reaching what was on the shelves and staff used to give out chocolates to people while they waited to be checked out.

I always use a hand-held scanner where possible, so I can pack straight into my own bags and don’t have to unload onto the belt. Sometimes it calls for a random check but that’s more than compensated by the time saving over the course of a month.

I did four years on the checkouts at Waitrose and always encouraged customers to try self-scan. If fewer checkouts are open it means those staff are deployed on stock replenishment, which makes the customers’ experience better than facing half-empty shelves. There are never enough people to keep transferring goods from the warehouses to the shelves.

Our Morrisons often only has self checkouts operating, and usually some of these have upside down baskets on them meaning they are out if order. Long queues, but no call for extra staff.