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?

I think you’ve described the perfect shopping environment. Eerily quiet where nobody talks to you… sounds like bliss

I don't mind about the chit chat particularly but I loathe loathe loathe self service as no matter what I do i always seem to end up having to wait for an assistant to override it. It infuriates me and I always use a manned till if I possibly can. I find them much slower unless literally just buying milk.

I would avoid doing big shops in places with no manned tills.

My local aldi has a mix of self service tills and normal tills. I always use the normal tills as the self service tend to self destruct when I use em 😂😂😂

The fewer people I have to speak to in a supermarket the better.

We get most things delivered and if I pop into the store I always use the app to scan as I go. I hate small talk, I hate waiting for them to scan, I get annoyed at other customers being slow.

For me this is progress. I can't say I've noticed it being quieter. Our local sainsburys have massively reduced the cashiers and its not affected me one bit.

I like them but then I do always opt for a machine over a person as I don't have to speak to it 😂

I hate self check outs, but because it’s not my job - it’s a service that should be provided. Mostly have delivered now, doing it myself just pisses me off. My local Matalan has gone self service, and you are expected to sort out the hangers, scan, d’étager and pack your own stuff! Vowed never to go again after missing a security tag and DH had to take off with a hacksaw

I do talk to the automated tills. Well actually usually yell abuse at the - I am scanning it you fool or no there isn’t an unscanned item in my bag or take my bloody money !

It’s not necessarily about losing staff or replacing jobs, it’s about freeing staff up to do other tasks like stacking shelves. If people are employed to just sit on check outs all day, during the quiet periods there’s often very little need for tills to be open constantly. I think having a mixture is the ideal scenario.

I avoid certain lidl stores because they only have manned checkouts because it takes so long! I assume Aldi are the same. I've gone in and only wanted 1 item but often get stuck behind someone who's buying the whole shop and can't ask to cut in front because they've already started. I'm stood there like a numpty thinking I could have been in and out in minutes had I gone to sainsburys for example and used their self check out! When you're use to self service tills, manned ones are soooo slow!

I love the scan and pack ones as you go around too. Much quicker! I have a very vocal job so quiet is lovely outside of it!

I bloody hate self service! It’s too much like hard work and I resent it.

Checkouts are not places to chat. You’re holding everyone else up when you make inane pointless chatter.

much prefer self service much faster but less rushing from the person behind you.

There aren’t any self service tills at the Aldis I use, and hopefully won’t be any - they’re hiring people, which is good. I do wish they had more staff on checkout, the queues are ridiculous sometimes. I dislike the self serve tills at Woolworths and Coles because as well as the employment questions, they are pains to use. I only use them if I only have one or two items.

Yes this!!! Every bloody time!

I actually prefer not talking to a cashier. In and out , no waiting, no inane dialogue.

The people I feel for a the elderly and isolated for whom it was probably their one conversation of the day.

Must have had a special aldi nobody talks at our supermarkets in our city I go to. Heads down on phones and a silent queue.

Seems to take me twice as long.

Yes OP it is sad, though most people are glued to their phones anyway.

Scan and shop all the way for me. I just want to get shopping done ASAP with no inane chat from a cashier.

@trythisforsize
You're absolutely right about the robotic, creepy lack of human interaction, even if it is something as ordinary and everyday as shopping. It's not like we expect fireworks but I miss the random unexpected laughs and stories too.
My mum once gave me strict instructions to buy 12 bottles of prune juice that only a certain supermarket stocked as she was irrationally fearful that they would sell out. Needless to say, when I unloaded them all on the conveyor belt the cashier and people queuing behind me had a hell of a lot more to say than a self service till.

And that's another issue - staff stacking shelves in the middle of the day! I swear every time I go to get something there is a staff member there. At one supermarket they are stacking shelves, at another packing customers' shopping, and always right in front of me so I have to wait to get my own stuff. It drives me mad.

As for tills being open constantly, I'm not in the UK but they seem to have a handle on when they need staff on checkouts. One supermarket however, never has enough staff on the tills - and that's the one with the most self-scanners. It's the staff standing around the self-scanners I feel sorry for, they are the ones just standing around doing very little for most of the time.

Rarely have I seen anyone being held up at a checkout by chatting. Most people are able to talk and work at the same time.

Honestly, there are some completely joyless people on MN.

I avoid Aldi due to the huge queues, I'd be glad of self checkouts

My Aldi have started having non work related conversations with their colleagues in the store using their headsets, which I find quite disconcerting & rude! So they're scanning my shopping talking about all sorts.

You do realise you can chat and scan/pack at the same time?

I have anxiety over the self service machines, start to sweat when I've got to use one I haven't tried before. Though the self service tea coffee machines in restaurants are even more anxiety inducing.