To think this is why the high street is failing?

Yes I'd never bother with a scanner for a trolley load.

Self-serve is fine for a few items, although you don't always know if something is age-restricted and then you have to hang around for ages anyway.

The people who really need to use cash are carers. Most employers do not allow you to use cards.

Some older people really struggle with technology. My parents are in their 80s and have really struggled since banks closed and shops stopped taking cash.

Why? Card payments have been common for at least 30 years, when your parents would have been in their 50s and easily able to adapt.

I understood this gripe regarding the elderly and cash use 20s years ago but credit cards have been common since almost any human alive today has been of an age to use them.

Build more and the price will come down - this has happened consistently whenever serious attempts are made to radically increase the supply of housing (see Auckland, Austin etc….and it was starting to happen in Croyden, until the local nimbys threw tantrums and stopped the building of new flats).

Leaving the supermarkets aside, there are two types of shopping experience.

One is: go in, try to find a member of staff to help you - no chance, walk out in frustration or hang around for ages until someone will deign to help you - I know some places are just massively understaffed so I don't necessarily blame the staff - some prefer to chat but the overwhelming majority are running around like the blue-arsed flies.

Two: you go in, you immediately get accosted by a member of staff, say you are just looking but they follow you round so you walk out out in frustration.

Then you go home and buy online.

Occasionally you might go into a shop which has what you want, a decent number of staff and doesn't hassle or ignore you, but the pleasant, customer friendly, happy medium!

And if it's the pharmacy or post office, getting what you need isn't allowed without a massive queue.

But with scanners you can get stopped while a staff member takes ages to check your whole shop.

I found that self checkouts had glitches in the first couple of years but are now very good.

In supermarkets with scanners I find its much faster & easier for me to scan and bag in an organised way as I go, than to use a manned till.

Most of the retail staff I meet are really great. Fast, efficient, polite and very good at their jobs. You'd maybe meet the odd petulant one, treating you as if they're doing you an enormous favour but, it's not rare to encounter that type anymore.

People don't like to shop with surly, uninterested assistants. I know that some customers can be difficult/obnoxious but why match that behaviour? Whatever the reason for their grievance, the customer isn't there to take the brunt.

On another post you said you were 25. I don’t know whether to excuse your ignorance on the basis of your young age or whether that would be patronising and an insult to all the other mature young people out there.

Some older people really struggle with technology. My parents are in their 80s and have really struggled since banks closed and shops stopped taking cash. It’s super that you manage so well. But there are valid reasons for other people struggling. That includes some of the elderly, disabled people and others with mental health problems. Or even a mum juggling young kids on a bad day.

Modern technology can make some people very anxious. Learn to have some empathy.

In that case, I apologise for misrepresenting you.

Thank you - that's appreciated.

The other problem with making more residential town centres is that even the tiniest studio flats are in the region of 800 - 1000. Which doesn't give a single person much disposable income to patronise businesses nearby after bills. Honestly without a radical change to the economy in general, I can't see things improving because the emphasis is on more and more profit and sod everything else that supports a healthy, relatively content society / community.

I think there are times when you probably should expect to not clock watch.

I've worked for minimum wage in the past and I didn't. Served me well - advanced v, v quickly and now in a fab job, v well paid with lots of flex in that I'm working pretty much a few days a week whenever and wherever I want.

I don't believe in people being taken advantage of but I don't like clock watchers either. Works both ways - I don't like those bosses who can't overlook staff (not me) being late sometimes as long as they do a great job and provide good customer service.

I think it's probably more - apply for a mortgage, manager looks at budget plan and then says this isn't accurate we know you spent x amount in this place and x amount in the other. You are obviously too irresponsible for a mortgage.
Or NHS doctor says you told us you didn't drink, but I see you buy 3 bottles of red at Sainsbos every week. Or you said you'd stick to this diet in order to have surgery, but we know you haven't by tracking your food purchases, so no surgery.

A cashless society can track your every move, people say they have nothing to hide, but most people do, it's not just illegal things that can land you in hot water.

I agree that where more people live centrally (and where that’s possible) shops are better. I do also think that massively improved public transport is essential and really lacking outside of London. In my city most people I know drive to the out of town shopping centres, but that’s a disaster for anyone who can’t drive because there are several things you just can’t get anymore in the city centre ( RIP Wilko).
Having lived in the US one thing that struck me and hard was how many small towns had totally deserted and boarded up high street, because Walmart or whatever had opened a huge store outside town and everyone just went there.
It would be great if we could save our towns here, so sad to see them decay.

Self service is good for a few items. Cashiers though can scan a trolleyfull far quicker than I can. And if I scan I invariably have to get approval for an age restricted item as well which takes time.

@NamechangeRugby It would take a LOT of money to repurpose City Centres for residential. We have a lot of apartments in our City Centre already, but also pubs, restaurants and clubs. The only people who want to live there are students or people into partying. You would have to close clubs and pubs down and restaurants that provide bottomless brunches/lots of alcohol, and move them out. You would need to provide new housing, places to park, access to primary schools at least, grocery shops and parks. It would be very expensive.

I use cloth totes, I've given up and gone back to using the manned checkout, it's quicker than waiting for one person to verify the bags of nearly everyone. At least to be fair to Tesco, there is a good choice of checkouts and hand held scanners. The M&S self service checkouts are are just awful.

We need to repurpose so much of our town & city centres from commercial to domestic. It will be expensive, but much, much less expensive long term than building on green field sites, further destroying biodiversity & having everyone spread out. We need clever repurposement & design, really focusing on how to encourage building the social fabric of society, great for families, great for young singles, great for older people so that housing stock is more flexible and used to its utmost. Not only functional, but a joy to live in - efficient & clever use of space, with an emphasis on light - using the best of the world's cities for inspiration. A long term investment suitable for pension funds. We have exceptional architects & designers, this is not where to stint, the bottle neck will be in not enough builders trade/plumbers/electricians etc... Joined up thinking would be to really support apprenticeships - instead of the incredibly uninspiring 'not beautiful' benchmark, build all over the green belt before we even make a start.

As for shops, I quite like the speed and anonymity of self checkout, but I am so glad we have a great local butcher, fish monger, confess I should also support green grocer, but in our part of the world there just isn't the turnover to keep fruit & veg fresh outside the supermarket - although the supermarket range is getting so narrow and heavily plastic wrapped that I can see a local independent might begin to do better.

Wow. Fid you strain yourself with that stretch?

I take fold up bags on my key ring as we’re not supposed to use carrier bags. So NOT having my bag checked. Knew there was a reason I don’t go to Tesco.

As for self-service - not sure how much money this saves stores, once you have factored in the increase in security staff and the increase in shoplifting. But the problem is that stores have now invested heavily in this equipment - it’s a sunk cost and I guess they feel like they kind of have to make it work!

@Topseyt123 some jobs always disappear for ever. But the point is that shops still have to meet disability discrimination laws. I see our ASDA now have pay by card only petrol pumps but still have a buzzer in case anyone disabled needs petrol and needs help. But there is no one there. I have zero problem with mainly tech and some staff for those who do need staff help.

Those of us who struggle with emerging tech now are the same people who kept up with changing tech 50 years ago. Wait till you've had more than half a century of changing tech and see how you feel about the world. Changing tech isn't new.

Town centers struggle in the UK in part because in British cities, so few people live in the center of town, compared to many other countries. The standard British city has been developed based on the idea that almost everyone lives in a house in the suburbs and has to drive in to town. Trying to provide public transport doesn’t work well, as there is not enough density at the center of the city. Trying to let everyone drive into the center of town and park doesn’t work well either, as it makes for a horrible car-dominated environment that nobody wants to experience, and there simply isn’t enough space - no city center is ever going to be able to compete with out-of-town-retail in terms of being able to offer huge roads and miles of cheap/free parking, so trying to make city centers driver-friendly is always going to be a losing battle.

The UK needs to go gangbusters with building lots of housing in town centers, as it would both address the housing shortage while also creating city centers that are lively regardless of whether suburbanites choose to come into town or not.