Self checkout tills are killing the shopping experience

[Stopsnowing]

My first two jobs )as a Saturday girl) was on the tills. I learned to chat with customers and fold their clothes neatly and handle money responsibly. Sometimes they had queries or complaints or would ask me questions when they couldn’t find anyone on the floor.
I am not a massively chatty person and I have a busy full time job. I am not someone whose only social contact is via shopping but dear God how soul destroying is shopping in places with all or mainly self service tills.
it is deathly quiet and there is no interaction with a human except for one harried person trying to whizz around fixing the scanning issues.
marks and Spencer is fully self service now and if you want to be served by a human you have to join the single long refunds queue. Waitrose had two tills open the other day and when the queues built up and a lady asked them to open another till she was directed to the empty self check outs and was told they didn’t have the staff for another till. When I shop in Aldi or Sainsburys they have one or no staffed till. So anyone who is elderly or who needs help has ti stand and wait and that is not easy.
I am now scanning a whole trolley shop. It takes longer than being served and involves a lot mor e reaching down which some people won’t be able to manage.
the Waitrose lady told me “can’t stop progress”. I said” whir about your job?” She said her job wasn’t affected as they were only not replacing leavers as opposed to sacking people so she would be ok. She seemed to miss the point that if she left her job she wouldn’t be able to find another similar one. My children won’t be able to have a Saturday job where they will get their first lessons in customer service. A huge chunk of jobs has gone forever. Another element of customer service is gone (because these till Roles have not been replaced with staff walking the floors (good luck with that). Social interaction reduced. Another step towards the death of the high street.

This piece rang true for me

https://www.theguardian.com/business/commentisfree/2023/aug/02/want-a-glimpse-of-dystopia-visit-the-self-service-checkouts

I'm glad self-service checkouts haven't gone so far in my country (or at least my part of the country), in my town each supermarket has a couple of self-checkouts but the vast majority of people use the normal tills so they open enough as needed and I've never seen someone being directed to the self-service ones. Probably helps that self-service ones can't be used when you're buying anything age-restricted or with a reduced sticker, so people only use them if they're only buying a couple of cartons of milk or similar. They actually reduced the amount of self-service tills in one shop a few years ago. The other big shop in town doesn't have any at all.

I don't use them so I don't go in shops where they're the only option (m&s, large Boots stores).

Another one who prefers self service tills as long as there is prompt assistance if something goes wrong.

Was in M&S recently and sailed past a queue of 20 people patiently waiting for the manned tills to use one of the three unused self service ones.

I've gone back to using the manned tills in Sainsburys for my main weekly shop and found to my surprise that it's quicker than scan as you shop or self scan even though I'm a tech-confident person and don't have difficulties with either. You save so much time as you go round if you just put everything in your trolley instead of having to scan it and then put it in your bag. Then you can sort your things onto the conveyor belt and pack your bags much more efficiently than doing it as you go round or self-scanning. Plus you get a bit of human interaction. The self scan tills are much quieter now so I think others are voting with their feet too, especially since they introduced the thing of having to scan your receipt to get out of the exit barriers, makes you feel very untrusted.

I do self-scan with these hand-hold scanners for years. Fastest way to get out with a grumpy toddler and a grumpy husband who hates queueing at any till.

There is the odd day something doesn't work but it beats the till everytime. I am all packed alreay the way it works for me.

The small machines can be a nightmare but again, it's normally easier. Just don't say you have your own bag. I never scan a full trolley, for these are the scanners.

I hate the chit chat some checkout people do at M&S or the way products are shoved at you at Savers. I don't want another credit card, I am not interested in any special offers.

And even my 80+ year old PIL can operate them with no problems.

I don't get this. All Aldi tills are manned here, maths and Spencers have several manned tills and all other supermarkets have at least 4. It's not as bad as you are making out

A lot of those self service tills don't like my large Seasalt jute bag, especially if I have something else already in it so I don't use them, I guess you are meant to have and empty plastic carrier to use them. They should be able to tare any bag for use

I love self service checkouts. It’s faster and even better if the store has quick check.

@MintJulia sounds like operator error as we don’t have any of those problems at my local Waitrose Home Counties branch where the customer base skews older. They’re very easy to use.

Where I live there hasn't been a reduction in supermarket staff, they've just moved from the checkouts to picking online orders.

I personally love self service checkouts, even though they can be temperamental bastards. I didn't particularly enjoy having to tell the operator about my weekend, or whatever conversation starter they were going with that day, knowing they couldn't actually care less what I say.

I never use a plastic bag. I just put the items on the packing scale and when I paid I put it in my existing bag.

But I may only have a handful of items and it doesn't take long, a full trolley would be a nightmare but I use the hand-scanner for those.

Add Wilko to that list

I don’t mind doing a basket for self checkout but a whole trolley full is a bit much and time consuming and frustrating and it seems every second item is ‘error in bagging area please wait for assistance’
I feel like I deserve the staff discount

@Porridgeislife No, apparently, the till requires you to have a bag of a weight within set limits (or something of equal weight to fool the sensor), and that item has to remain on the bagging area until payment is made or it assumes something is being removed illicitly and calls an attendant.

It simply doesn't cater for someone with no bag. Which it a pretty huge oversight.

I changed supermarkets just so I can scan things myself meaning I have to never interact with anyone when in the shop. I have no time nor inclination for smalltalk with people I do not know so I grab my trolley, open my bags, scan as I go, pay and leave. Clearly I am in a minority.

I work in an office.

Years ago we had low level jobs for school leavers - this involved simple tasks to get new starters into the work. We now only employ graduates - all the low level work is don’t by computers.

I'm not in the UK, but the only places I've seen with self checkouts are supermarkets, and I refuse to use them. If other stores have only self checkouts in the future then I will be shopping elsewhere, or online (not from them).

@User165753 , they don’t like my bags either even when empty - heavy cotton ones with wide strap handles that don’t dig into my shoulder.

Hmm, it sounds like the Waitrose self checkouts probably wouldn't accept my large Waitrose green canvas shopping bag which is sold by them for the Waitrose shop. I might try and see what happens, I usually have the Waitrose bag, Seasalt jute and M&S shopping cool bag for packing so I will see what happens.

I like self-service at my local co-op where I’m only ever buying a handful of items from a basket.

My local Waitrose has changed to self-service only, except at very busy times, and it’s so stressful. The set up doesn’t work if you have a trolley full of stuff as there’s no where to put the trolley, without getting in peoples way, and not enough room for the stuff you’re buying. I end up piling it in a huge heap on the bag shelf and then, inevitably, it all starts falling all over the place.

I use an M & S at a train station and all the tills are self checkout. In the evening the assistants are having to assist probably half the customers as lots of people are buying alcohol and tourists unfamiliar with the tills. And if you want to use cash you have to go to the one round the corner and then walk back round to get their attention to approve your purchase. I work as a cashier in a different type of shop and I would hate to do this role just directing people to the next till and running from till to till to solve problems/ approve purchases with little actual interaction with the customers. I only go there if I've plenty of time before the train but you see people really impatient, barely even acknowledging the staff.

My local Tesco does not open any tills until 8:30am, before that it is all self scan. Also, half the self scan tills only take card and often the people paying in cash don't push people on past them and just stand there. You then have that awkward thing of asking them as they may not have spotted the free machine.

I do prefer to pay via a manned till but that option is becoming rarer.

I first came across these tills in France twelve years ago, so it’s not just the UK

They were rubbish there, too.

I can’t stand self scan tills. It takes me much longer as I never seem to be able to scan the items first (or second or third!) time and there always seems to be some sort of problem.
For a quick basket shop I will tolerate them but for a full shop I’d rather wait and be served at the checkout.
I shop in aldi anyway so there’s minimal chat. I nearly cried when they replaced 2 of the checkouts with self service ones.

I love Sainsbury's scan and shop....why fill a trolley only to unpack it onto a conveyor belt and then repack it?

It obviously depends on the area. I like having a choice and fortunately where I am there is usually plenty.

I do a big weekly shop at Tesco for which I always use a manned checkout. There are usually 5 or 6 checkouts open at the same time.
I usually choose the queue with a particular member of staff. She is very friendly to all her customers and we have a good chat.

I don't do self scan as I find it often takes me longer. It also annoys me when other shoppers block access to the shelves (or sometimes the whole aisle) while they stand there scanning.

If I do a quick top-up shop (either Tesco or M&S) for only a few items I usually use a self-service till.