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

@AsterixAndPersimmon if you are on holidays you can still scan in all stores in the same chain.

Given staff shortages in many areas of employment, I don't blame supermarkets for going down the route of more self service tills. Though the traditional option of a cashier should always be there.

When I go to Sainsbury’s there’s a split of what people use. Seems pretty well divided to minimise wait times

So maybe shops have just cottoned on to the idea we like different things and as a customer I want self scan and someone else wants to use the staffed check out

Fully agree with that. People just don't like change. My father was a store manager for Redmans (a grocery store chain) back in the 70s. One of my earliest memories of his store was counters all the way around in a U shape with everything either on or in the counters or on shelves behind the counters. There were "stations" around the U shape, ie. butchery was first on the left as you went in, bread/cakes were first on the right.

Customers would ask a shop assistant for what they wanted, or handed over a list, and the shop assistant would get it all for them or ask the butcher/baker to slice/cut as necessary. Nothing was self service. Then I remember it changing to being self service with a few tills by the door (pretty similar to modern layout), and he used to say they had nothing but complaints about people having to get their own stuff from the shelves (just packets/tins/boxes etc - they still had counters for staff to serve fresh fruit & veg, meat & fish, bread & cakes, etc at the back).

I think it took a good couple of years before customers got used to it. They'd still ask for a box of cornflakes at the butchery station or till by the door, even after they'd been told many times that it was self service now. (He knew a lot of the customers personally as most were regulars).

Imagine it's 1960, how would this post go. I'm so fed up of all these self service shops, having to walk round finding everything ourselves on the shelves before unloading it at a checkout. I refuse to do this and I will continue to go to Mr Jones shop and have him serve me over the counter like it should be done.
I am actually old enough to remember accompanying by DM when she went shopping in the 1960's and as well as using the new supermarkets we did indeed buy some things over the counter in Mr Jones' shop.
My preference these days is to use a combination of click and collect for my main shop and scan as you shop on the app for top-ups.

Don't be ridiculous - no-one is "forced" to endure anything, if someone doesn't want to engage in small talk they don't have to. I do however see a lot of young people these days with zero social skills and wonder how on earth they will cope with life. I was shy and quiet myself once, but having to deal with people (at work) soon cured me of that. So many posters on MN seem to think in an ideal world everyone would work from home and never, ever, have to deal with an actual person in any way should they ever leave their homes. Thankfully I'm old enough that should that ever happen I won't be around to see it. In real life I don't know anyone like that, thank goodness!

I'm also old enough to remember going to the grocery shop with my mother, who handed over a list and the man behind the counter collected everything for her. Surely click and collect is just another way of that being done? I'm sure my DM sometimes used to phone the shop with her list and then pick it up, so in actual fact we have gone full circle.

I prefer to wander around the supermarket as I am always seeing new products to try, but I won't use self scan checkouts as I'm not on the payroll so won't do their work.

The 16 year old DD was being forced by her mother to endure interactions for her own good.

"My DD, 16, will always opt for self- serve if there is one in an effort to actively avoid the interaction because it's easier and she remains securely in her comfort zone. Unavoidable interactions in cafes and supermarkets definitely boost her though - I've seen it time and time again."

You know you can just walk up and start scanning, right?

1. scan bread
2. finish & pay
3. no bags

done!

If you choose to tell people about your own personal business, that’s up to you. It’s not ok for a stranger to start asking or commenting on it.

How on earth does a lack of manned tills equate to 'treating your customers with contempt'?

Do you refuse to park your car anywhere with automatic ticket dispensing rather than the manned booths that were once commonplace?

Do you refuse to cross toll-bridges unless they have an operator collecting the toll?

Do you refuse to use ATM's if you can't get into the bank to be served by a teller?

Did you similarly take the hump when the current supermarket self-selection model replaced a man in a brown coat fetching and bagging your items?

Do you turn around and get off buses if they don't have a conductor?

Do you leave the cinema if you are not ushered to your seat, or waited on by staff with a concessions tray at the interval?

Supermarket shopping is a bloody chore as it is. It's a blessing that I no longer have to stand in a queue behind doddery pensioners taking forever to buy a packet of rich tea while they gossip away like fishwives with the checkout operator. Self-service all the way.

If i had a full trolley and there were only manned tills, I'd abandon my shop.

In my supermarket the workers are too slow, chatty and boring to deal with. I scan and pack far better, myself, and without dealing with them.

Self scan is great for people who are neurodivergent or introverted or anti social.

Speed of self or staffed varies if an issue.

I prefer a checkout with staff, a choice of either is the perfect solution.

Loneliness is a killer and for some a small interaction like that may be the only person they speak to.

Believe me she wasn't! If you read carefully I said she always opts for self-scan but if an interaction with a real person is unavoidable - thankfully still the case - she reacts positively.

I get the loneliness aspect, I really do, but there are lots of other ways that lonely people can find someone to talk to, and mostly in more constructive/enjoyable ways, such as clubs and societies, hobbies, coffee mornings, voluntary work, going to the library, having a walk and stopping to chat with others doing the same, sitting on a park bench where others will stop to sit and chat. I think it's really sad that lonely people can't think of other things for their daily chat than go to a shop as there are so many other options out there for better stimulation and where more "real" friendships can develop rather than small talk with random shop workers.

Isn't it exactly why people go to places like the Women's Institute sessions, your village horticultural or art club, salsa dancing or yoga sessions, etc etc? My mother wasn't a particularly "social" person, but she went to OAP line dancing sessions once she retired and joined the local amateur dramatic society (not to sing/act, but to help with the admin/backstage work etc) - basically hobbies that got her out of the house and gave her a sense of purpose.

I can't think of anything more depressing than thinking I have to go out to the local shop to buy a loaf of bread just for the "pleasure" of a minute of small talk with a shop assistant that I may or may not ever see again!

I get the loneliness aspect, I really do, but there are lots of other ways that lonely people can find someone to talk to, and mostly in more constructive/enjoyable ways, such as clubs and societies, hobbies, coffee mornings, voluntary work, going to the library, having a walk and stopping to chat with others doing the same, sitting on a park bench where others will stop to sit and chat.

This, in itself, shows you have no idea what loneliness means.
Do you realise that some older people only speak to someone about once very 1~2 weeks? And that person is often the person at the supermarket checkout….

IF and only IF that chain is available where you are! Eg there is no tesco where MIL lives. I only use Tesco at home. Using the hand held self scan machine at Sainsbury’s means registering with them.

I mean, I’m well aware that I can use those hand held self scanning machines at other shops!! I’m aware because I can’t really do a shop Wo them - in a wheelchair and finding it very hard to use the self scan tills….

I had this same argument with a poster on a thread some time ago. It's all very well saying lonely people can just go out and find someone to talk to, but it isn't always as easy as you might think. Some people have no way of getting to these various clubs, societies, etc., they might not be mobile enough to go for a walk or do voluntary work. Getting their groceries may well be their only time away from the house and they do that because it is necessary.

Quite the opposite. I've known quite a few people in that position, but they have a choice to find other things to do. I genuinely don't believe many at all actually "want to" do things like the church coffee mornings, and would run for the hills to do something more exciting, but they do it because they'd otherwise be lonely.

One of my neighbours goes to the library every 2 to 3 days - she openly admits she's not that bothered about reading the books, it's mostly to get her out of the house, a purpose to get smartly dressed, etc., gives her an aim to motivate herself to finish reading a book so she can take it back and get another. When she's there, she may meet someone else she occasionally sees at the library for a chat, and has got friendly with a couple of the library assistants, it's also opened up more acquaintances she can chat to if she meets them on the street. That's a lot more fulfilling for her than an "it's raining again" small talk with a random shop assistant.

I've been there myself as a teenager, very lonely and depressed, suicidal at times, no friends (horrendous bullying at school), and I'd go out to, say, buy a record or pair of trainers, just for something to do, maybe a friendly chat, etc., and I'd without fail come back more depressed than ever. It was forcing myself to make "proper" friends, through hobbies & voluntary work, that got me through those dark days.

I've been there myself as a teenager, very lonely and depressed, suicidal at times, no friends (horrendous bullying at school), and I'd go out to, say, buy a record or pair of trainers, just for something to do, maybe a friendly chat, etc., and I'd without fail come back more depressed than ever. It was forcing myself to make "proper" friends, through hobbies & voluntary work, that got me through those dark days.

Surely you can see the difference between a teenager and an elderly person? A teenager is far more able to get out and about than an older person, many of whom don't have transport of their own, and various ailments which stop them from going out.

Self scan is great for people who are neurodivergent or introverted or anti social.

I’m not sure if this list is meant to be the whole list or just thoughts on some groups - and not all of those mentioned will like self scan anyway

I’m none of those things and much prefer self scan. It’s easy. I scan as a I go, it’s already in the bag at the end, upload and pay.

buy a loaf of bread just for the "pleasure" of a minute of small talk with a shop assistant that I may or may not ever see again!
Why do people keep talking about cashiers as if they are randoms beamed in from Mars? Many of the staff at my mid-sized supermarket have been there for decades.

MN is a funny old place. On the one hand it goes on and on about community. But on the other hand it won't talk to cashiers in the local shop. We are definitely not a hive mind!

There are at least three in my local shop that I chat to. Sometimes for a while if the place is quiet. Even during lockdown they made time for people.

It was forcing myself to make "proper" friends, through hobbies & voluntary work, that got me through those dark days.

To that poster - that worked for you.

That's a lot more fulfilling for her than an "it's raining again" small talk with a random shop assistant

It's not what you talk about - it's the fact that you're talking to someone who's showing a bit of human interest in you. Conversation doesn't have to be deep and meaningful to be meaningful.

I've just done a lovely big shop at sainsburys, queued at the only staffed checkout, chatted to an elderly bloke in the queue (found out about new houses being built), knew the cashier from 30 years ago and paid cash. Retro 😊.

It's not just the elderly that struggle to wait around for help at the self-checkouts, disabled people struggle also. They might have more than one disability or impairment which means that whilst they can do one thing in a supermarket, they might not be able to manage a machine..especially when there might be technical issues. A machine can't help you so you may have to flag an assistant down multiple times. Self scanning involves more than simply grabbing items off a shelf. I remember seeing one lady who couldn't use her fingers to tap the screen when required (fruit and veg) or twist certain items that wouldn't scan without dropping
stuff..some people were tutting and huffing.
I don't know.. guess people need freedom of choice to enable those less able to still enjoy the shopping experience.