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Original poster

Dear Supermarkets.

113 replies

TattyOne · 04/11/2023 12:15

You are heading towards almost exclusively self-checkout now.
The lady checking receipts at the exit was stopping
everyone.
I didn't choose to participate in that nonsense, I had already
filled my cart
emptied my cart
scanned the items
refilled my cart
and so I just skipped the exit line and left.
I heard her saying "umm - Excuse me " as I kept walking and raised the receipt above my head, leaving the store.
You can either trust me to do self-checkout, or you can put your cashiers back in place like it used to be.
I'm not interested in proving that I did your job for you.
• If you want me to be a cashier with no training then that's vour problem not mine.
• Keep employing young people and give them job opportunities.
YOU DON'T PAY ME TO SCAN MY OWN SHOPPING.
YOU DON'T GIVE ME STAFF DISCOUNT FOR WORKING FOR YOU.
Signed ....All of us
These are jobs that are needed to have for young and old
………………………
Copied and pasted, because I agree 100%.
SPREAD IT AROUND!!!

OP posts:
TeaKitten · 04/11/2023 13:28

AdoraBell · 04/11/2023 13:27

What would they do with DH, he never gets a receipt because of wasting paper/trees. So when he uses his card not his phone there’s nothing to check.

If they are going to check all receipts they’d just set the machines to auto print. But it’s just a copied and pasted load of rubbish anyway.

Musiclover234 · 04/11/2023 13:29

Wow feels like Facebook copy, paste and share.

They had barriers in the self service areas of the supermarkets I went in in Copenhagen I think we had to scan the receipt. I didn’t think much of it it tbh.

Also didn’t sainsburys open those small supermarkets where you downloaded an app and didn’t have to pay as you left? Not sure exactly how it worked.

Aphotoaday · 04/11/2023 13:29

xogossipgirlxo · 04/11/2023 12:18

Never heard of receipts checking at the exit.

Local Morrisons won’t let customers out without scanning receipts.

CameleonAreFightingBack · 04/11/2023 13:29

Self checkout are a pain in the arse fur most people with disability/mobility issues/pain.

eg I can’t easily reach the screen from my wheelchair.
A friend of mine struggles to scan everything due to back pain

Self checkout if you want great.
Removing ALL checkout - nope sorry.

My answer to that is to ask every time fir ‘some help’. I’m not going to exhaust myself for increase profits for shareholders who are already filling their pockets from the CoL crisis….

SeaToSki · 04/11/2023 13:30

Precipice · 04/11/2023 13:13

This sounds dystopian.

If you had multiple cards or were with a partner, how could you make sure it went on the right card?

Show quote history

I have absolutely no idea, maybe if you have more than one, you would need to nominate the one you wanted to use? Luckily I only have one Amazon card

SoRainbowRhythms · 04/11/2023 13:30

Am I in Facebook? Or early 2000's email?

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 04/11/2023 13:31

marshmallowfinder · 04/11/2023 13:12

I work in a supermarket and it absolutely is not taking away jobs. We are always short staffed.

Show quote history

Well it is- because you don’t have check out staff anymore. Maybe your suspermarket didn’t hire enough but if there were tills there would be more jobs.

CrispsandCheeseSandwich · 04/11/2023 13:33

Sparklfairy · 04/11/2023 12:23

My Sainsburys has a machine which blocks your exit from the SC until you've scanned your receipt... so they've managed to get rid of the receipt checkers as well as the checkout staff.

Soon enough there'll be AI robots stacking shelves.

Is this not a rather pointless exercise? All it forces people to do is buy something so they have a receipt. Surely very little theft is people walking through the self-checkout areas with their whole shopping and not paying.

I'd imagine most theft is either
-people grabbing things off the shelves and walking out without going anywhere near the till area, so they wouldn't be affected by this.
-people scanning their shopping but skipping items so they don't pay for everything, but again they wouldn't be caught by this.

CameleonAreFightingBack · 04/11/2023 13:35

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 04/11/2023 13:16

I also work in a supermarket. Generally we like the self serve machines (you would not BELIEVE how many other jobs there are to do in a supermarket apart from man the tills that we are supposed to be doing, usually simultaneously to manning the tills because there aren't enough staff). But self serve is best if you've got only a few items, you don't need to weigh loads of stuff through and you know how they work. My heart sinks when I see a person with a trolley full of stuff trying to put their shopping through when they clearly aren't certain of what they are doing.

There is always a member of staff available - there has to be, legally, for age checking, and you can generally ask to have a manned till opened for you. We'd rather man a till to put your shopping through than have to listen to the "BONG! Please wait for an assistant" fifty million times a day.

I agrée with you.
Self serve with a couple items - great.

A trolley full with your weekly shopping? A nightmare

And why, why should we expect customers to know how to work tills out?? Do we expect that from elderly people too?
I mean I came across an older couple once arguing. They were using the hand held device to scan fir their shopping but somehow the ‘right screen’ had disappear. They couldn’t work out what to do.
I end up stepping in asking if they wanted some help. Palpable relief.

Why do we think that if it works for 70~80% of the population then its good enoug?

(True for many other services btw)

Jux · 04/11/2023 13:35

I'd like to see massive vats of, say, vinegar, to which you bring a refillable bottle. Also rice, grains, etc. Washing up liquids, fabric softeners and so on. Get rid of the glass bottles, plastic bags and have everything refillable. You bring your bottles and bags and STAFF are there to fill them and label them, then you go to the checkout with them.

Sparklfairy · 04/11/2023 13:40

CrispsandCheeseSandwich · 04/11/2023 13:33

Is this not a rather pointless exercise? All it forces people to do is buy something so they have a receipt. Surely very little theft is people walking through the self-checkout areas with their whole shopping and not paying.

I'd imagine most theft is either
-people grabbing things off the shelves and walking out without going anywhere near the till area, so they wouldn't be affected by this.
-people scanning their shopping but skipping items so they don't pay for everything, but again they wouldn't be caught by this.

Show quote history

I must admit that it occurred to me that simply having a receipt wasn't proof I didn't steal. At least a human checker can cross reference that receipt with what's in my bags - the machine can't know if someone is carrying 10 items but the receipt only says they paid for 1.

I wonder if some head office employee is tasked with working out the savings of not having to pay the machine minimum wage, vs the losses of the fact it can't do the job as effectively as a human...

Oldermum84 · 04/11/2023 13:41

I scan as I shop. Straight into the bags. So easy.

Old style shopping of putting all the items in a trolley, then putting them on a conveyor belt, then putting them into the bags in the trolley now seems like madness to me.

If you want to do it then it's up to you. But there's no need to be rude to the person wanting to check your receipt. They are just doing a job, I thought you wanted them to have jobs?

Jux · 04/11/2023 13:42

@Precipice presumably your Amazon account is set up to determine which account or card pays for things. As poster speaks of an Amazon credit card I imagine it goes via that.

SoupDragon · 04/11/2023 13:42

who are all these people who lurrrve self scanning and really never want to speak to another human being in a shop ever again?

me. Although it's not about not speaking to another human being. I use the scan as you shop option though and have done wherever possible since they introduced it in my local Waitrose about 20 years ago.

LakeTiticaca · 04/11/2023 13:43

Oh Christ not this again. Self scans have been around for donkeys years and all of a sudden people have started complaining about them.
Get a grip and get a life 😡

TheThingIsYeah · 04/11/2023 13:43

xogossipgirlxo · 04/11/2023 12:18

Never heard of receipts checking at the exit.

There's a Tesco Express in The City that spits out a separate barcode receipt with the shopping receipt. You scan that at the exit barrier to open it. Of course, not 10 feet away is the entrance barrier that is nearly always open due to the constant stream of people coming in. Any light-fingered oik is not going to give a shit about a quaint little barcode when you can just exit unhindered via the entrance barrier.

Employing overly "friendly" staff positioned at the entrance handing out baskets would be much more effective and cheaper in the long run.

Loubelle70 · 04/11/2023 13:45

marshmallowfinder · 04/11/2023 13:12

I work in a supermarket and it absolutely is not taking away jobs. We are always short staffed.

Show quote history

Could you explain why it isnt taking away jobs please?
Also short staffed maybe because wages are poor...or maybe because staff arent 'needed' if AI is used?

margotrose · 04/11/2023 13:45

Hmmmm……who are all these people who lurrrve self scanning and really never want to speak to another human being in a shop ever again?

Me. It's much quicker to self-scan than to faff about in a queue.

maximist · 04/11/2023 13:53

Hmmmm……who are all these people who lurrrve self scanning and really never want to speak to another human being in a shop ever again?

Me! I love scan and go, it's so easy to quickly scan stuff and pack it as I go round, then spend less than a minute paying without having to get it all out again and pack it as the cashier shoots it at me. Plus I can see how much I'm spending as I shop. Love it.

Jux · 04/11/2023 13:54

DH loves the manned tills. The staff at our local Tesco all seem to know him and they have a good old chat/gossip while stuff's being scanned and he pays. I like the self checkout because I love gadgets and tech and it's all like magic which I find enormous fun. I live in Science Fiction Land, none of this stuff existed when I was young - I still remember the excitement when mum got her first bit of plastic - it wasn't even a cash card, it just proved that her cheque was good, that was all. All this stuff these days is stuff I only started to read about when I was 10ish and on. Communicators, money held on plastic, books on a machine that turned a page at a touch, etc.

It's all amazing and wonderful.

dylanschicken · 04/11/2023 13:56

xogossipgirlxo · 04/11/2023 12:18

Never heard of receipts checking at the exit.

Neither and I until I read a smokier thread a few weeks back.

OP keep your copy and paste nonsense for Facebook

PabloandGustheGreySquirrels · 04/11/2023 14:00

At M&S if you use the app to do Scan & Shop you can scan as you go round the shop (put shopping directly into bags as you pick them off the shelves), then use Apple Pay to pay and then walk out. You don't even need to head to any tills. Not sure I dare! I'll probably be accused of stealing

dylanschicken · 04/11/2023 14:03

PabloandGustheGreySquirrels · 04/11/2023 14:00

At M&S if you use the app to do Scan & Shop you can scan as you go round the shop (put shopping directly into bags as you pick them off the shelves), then use Apple Pay to pay and then walk out. You don't even need to head to any tills. Not sure I dare! I'll probably be accused of stealing

I use it all the time and if it's over £45 you have to use the till to check out.

Happinessislikeabutterfly · 04/11/2023 14:06

Self service for a few items - fine.

For a basket and more full of shopping - agree with you OP.

6pm peak time - The Sainsbury’s near me no tills open, self serve all full. I ask them to open one as I had loads of shopping. Interestingly as soon as it was opened - they had a queue.

I was even asked the other month if I would like help using the self scan by a manager!! I think I’m more than capable but I was happy to queue as I had a full basket and the rest!! Instead of the two staff (one a manager) opening another till they went off chatting away!! The issue is the customer is really not coming first anymore in many places.

If I’m honest I hate the self serve, they are quite temperamental at times. Also there is plenty of staff for in store collections I note - another income driver.

HorseySurprise · 04/11/2023 14:16

I have tried scan and shop three times at my local Tesco. Each time at the checkout the member of staff checked and rescanned every single item - took me twice as long. I must look untrustworthy. I don't bother now. I just queue up at the old-style till. Occasionally I use the self scan unless the queues for them are particularly massive.

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