Has anyone else noticed how deathly quiet and depressing . . .

[trythisforsize]

supermarkets become when they change over to self service tills?

My aldi used to be really lively and chatty but 2 weeks ago they installed 10 self service checkouts and only one normal checkout left. . Now it's like a morgue. I hate going there. I stopped going to a local sainsbury's due to this.
Shopping in silence makes me feel depressed, self conscious and generally crap.

I'm going to shop elsewhere where it's mainly proper checkouts.

The way shopping has gone is sad isn't it?

It's not new
...

Click and collect might be good for you OP. You can have a chat with the person who wheels your shopping out and waits while you pack it in the car. At least my Tesco is like this. Sainsbury tend to wheel it out and bugger off.

I had a lovely chat this morning collecting my groceries.

Then I had to pop into the store later this evening. I asked a member of staff where something was and ended up putting the world to rights and agreeing on how we would arrange the store if we were in charge.

The place where I do feel machines are misplaced is libraries. Fine if you want to use them to check your books in and out obviously, but I know of staff who are told to encourage even the most reluctant user to use them rather than talk to the staff and be served by them.

At our Aldi the self service tills are so loud! A sound when you can then a confirmation sound when it's weighed the item, 10 tills pinging away is no way like a morgue. Yours may be different but ours sounds busier than usual

Also with library machines I can never remember what date to take books back now they don't get stamped.

Mind, our library isn't open much now and seems to be mostly a coffee shop and play area when it is open, so i guess it doesn't matter much 😕

A friendly face and a little inane chat in a shop maybe the only interaction with others an elderly person has , I do know what it’s like to be stressed , short of time, busy etc, but if we’re lucky we get to be older and for some that can be a lonely existence, shame if our present society neglects to acknowledge this .

My Aldis used to have super fast real person check outs. Now they only have one and they don’t even open all the self checkouts creating a queue (they don’t even staff the self checkouts sufficiently) plus using an self check out for a big shop takes longer

I never understand why people say that chatting to a sales assistant might be the only interaction an elderly person gets.
If someone can get to a supermarket then surely they can get to a coffee morning/bingo group/craft club/book club/sit down aerobics club.... I would have thought meeting friends at a coffee morning is more interesting than chatting to someone working on a checkout.

Its been years since I've been to Asda! Tesco's has always been very helpful especially as I've a daughter with Autism so the staff have been so helpful when I'm trying to pack by engaging with her too. Nothing like trying to wave away trying to get a staff members attention lol.

You don't know many elderly people do you? It's not as easy as you seem to think for some of them.

Those self service tills never have have enough space, I usually have a big trolley full so it would be a pain (I do use them for smaller amounts though).

As long as provisions are made for disabled customers, I would be ok with self-serve and self-scan only, especially if it kept prices lower (don’t know if that’s the case though).

@teaandtoastwithmarmite YABU for having a username that makes me hungry every time I see it!

And everyone else with a food related username. I'm glad applepieandcustard seems to have disappeared.

@magicthree as I said - if a person can manage to get to a supermarket then surely they can get to a group at local church hall/community centre or wherever.
My mother in law and my mum (both in their 80s, both non drivers) have busy busy social lives at their "old lady groups" as I call them and they are friends with loads of other regulars at these groups (2 completely different towns, so 2 completely different set of social groups).
Honest question - why is it not easy for someone if they can manage to get to a supermarket?

Hate self service, especially when half the time it doesn't even work!

I'm not a fan of self checkout but supermarkets have the same noise level?

I work in a supermarket.

You do realise when you are chatting there are people waiting to be served right ?

…and do you realise that many people I serve are elderly or lonely and I may be the only person that has interacted with them that day? So please have some patience. Be kind.

Adding self service points does not mean sacking staff. It means redeploying them into other, sometimes more productive work.

No it doesn’t. Many of my Colleagues have lost hours due to replacing manned tills with more self scan tills. Lots can’t do shelf stacking roles, as they are not physically able.

I am ‘lucky’ because I am fit and able, so I am now expected to do the work of multiple people for the same wage.

Get your head out of your arse and get your facts straight before you post about things you know nothing about.

Shopping in silence makes me feel depressed, self conscious and generally crap.

but the grocery store is not a social club and those are unreasonable expectations. you need to visit with friends or family if you feel depressed about shopping alone. It’s not the shop’s responsibility to alleviate loneliness unfortunately. also small talk is not effective in alleviating loneliness, staff are showing a fake surface interest in you - there is no depth to the relationship.

So what other sometimes more productive work have the (at least 18) cashiers at my local Aldi been redeployed to do?

The likely truth is not all 18 are still in employment - some may have left and not been replaced. The others are likely to work on a revolving part time basis - they’re not all working at the same time.

Back of house tasks are investigating internal/external issues, HR processes, recruitment processes, payroll, unloading deliveries, sorting online customer orders, stock take, attending meetings, health and safety or other mandatory training

I am not lonely, I am not depressed about shopping alone. I find the atmosphere of the soulless supermarkets depressing. I have a very busy family and social life, I don't go to a supermarket to alleviate loneliness. I am merely saying that they are turning into lifeless empty quiet places. I will stop going to places that feel weird and quiet and go to the local corner shop instead.

Our local Aldi cashiers were not fake and superficial - how rude and dismissive of you. They were people with lives and humour and had worked there for many years. The self checkouts arrived in one weekend. One week there were 8 checkouts, 3 days later there were 10 self service tills and 1 open checkout. The cashiers didn't just leave and not be replaced. they left all during one weekend.

It's a small Aldi - they don't do orders and there aren't doing all that 'behind the scenes' stuff you talk about. They have a general manager, a deputy and 4 stockists.

"You do realise when you are chatting there are people waiting to be served right ?"

And you do realise that in some supermarkets, the people on checkout are encouraged to speak to customers? It's not like someone is always propped up at the bottom of the packing area finishing up their deep story about old auntie Ethel to a worker at the till while they're both ignoring a massive queue... The talking is while things are being scanned and packed, by the time the cashier says the payment has gone through, it's a quick 'thanks, have a good day, bye'

I'm as antisocial as you get but a little quip over an item I'm buying from the cashier is quite nice. I was buying Mould Remover last week and the lady at the till told me she'd got the same one that I was buying and to be sure to open the window wide, laughing, she said 'it's good stuff but it'll choke you!'... She was right and it was a positive small connection we had for a brief moment. Imagine going to work doing tedious, repetitive movements and having it frowned upon should you speak to anyone for a mere moment 😐

There were articles popping up everywhere a few months ago about a Dutch supermarket that introduced slow checkouts specifically for people to have a chat. It looked like it was really successful.

What's deathly quiet and depressing to some is lovely and peaceful to others. I could never be bothered with chit chat and I like how self service tills go at my pace so I'm not rushing to pack. Although generally I get everything delivered now so I only go into stores a few times a month.

They’ve just installed them in my local Aldi.

I would use them if I had a basket of 10 items or so. But was a bit pissed off that no normal tills were open when I had a full trolley - I had to ask for someone to open a till. I shop for me and also take my mum’s shopping to her. The cashier asked “did you not fancy trying our new tills?”. Erm, no, I’m not scanning a full trolley myself thanks (I wasn’t that rude, but it’s what my mind was thinking!)

Love it, too.

Also i prefer to pack the bags properly, myself.

Same here!

The quieter, the better!