Well done Booths

[dnac]

For putting staff back on tills. At last, the return of the human shop assistant. Other stores take note.

I much prefer self service. Also it's a myth that shops use fewer staff because of then.

I thought the main reason for them removing self service was due to theft not to being back staff? Their self serve tills don’t calculate a weight like Tesco etc do.

I hope they retain some self service tills as I really don't want to go back to having to wait in queues behind people with trolley loads when I just want a sandwich!

I think another important factor is the demographics of their typical customer base. From my observations, most Booths customers seem to be an older demographic who are maybe more likely to prefer human contact to self service or may struggle with self service. So it kind of makes sense for them to roll back a bit.

But I don't think it signals a roll back to other more larger chains such as the main supermarkets who are likely to have a younger demographic more capable of using self service tills and more likely to be in a hurry.

I think it's a kind of marketing strategy for Booths to try to capture new customers, i.e. the ones who currently use other supermarkets but struggle with self service - a kind of "come to us instead where we have humans to serve you". They may think of it as something to differentiate them from other supermarkets and claim "personal service" is worth paying more for!

Could be a winner for Booths, but I don't think it's the start of all the other supermarkets rolling back at all. In our village Co Op, it's clear that most customers use the self service tills and very few use the manned counter which is often completely empty of customers, in fact the member of staff behind the counter often calls over people who are waiting in the queue for the self service tills!

I like self service tills and will always choose them if available. A mix of both self service and manned tills is probably best.

I’ve never heard of Booths, I thought it was a typo for Boots until I googled. 😬

I think this is absolutely great. I don't live near a Booths, but I'd def choose them over others if I lived near one.

We picked up a few things from a booths recently, DH was quite irritated by having to wait at the checkout rather than zooming through self service. He does most of our shopping and it'd put him off.

A mix is best.

Maybe my comment is as old as the dawn of time but self-service tills are just another example of an overall drift to automation and that’s not necessarily a good thing for the human race. Before long robots (for want of a better expression) will be walking the floors of shops asking if you need any help and I’m not comfortable with that. Plus self service anything is an obvious route to cutting overheads of employment costs dressed up as better customer service (which often turns out to be a false economy - I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been in M&S or any department store recently and left without buying anything because there is no-one to ask about a product. Nor have a nuanced conversation with, not a binary one as would be the case with an automated assistant). I think we have to take a stand for a balance before we hurtle down that route. What is so wrong with human interaction and purpose after all? I’m sure the railway ticket office staff fighting for their jobs would agree.

Maybe my comment is as old as the dawn of time but self-service tills are just another example of an overall drift to automation and that’s not necessarily a good thing for the human race.

Absolutely right. We should be hand weaving cloth and hand washing our clothes. The vacuum cleaner is the work of the devil.

Maybe my comment is as old as the dawn of time but self-service tills are just another example of an overall drift to automation and that’s not necessarily a good thing for the human race.

That may be the case. It may not be.

In most areas of work, increasing use of technology generates more jobs. They are just different. The challenge can be that they are more skilled, which can be challenging for people with lower levels of education / qualifications.

But the idea that automation = removal of people is simply not the case - the development of such technology is hugely person-dependent.

The rest of your post is confusing but regarding interacting with people - of course it's important. But in this case, that you've raised, self-service tills are welcomed by many, and shouldn't be regarded as a definite evil. Of course choice is important for those who don't agree.

Trouble is that shop and train staff are often unable to provide the advice you need due to inexperience, poor training or can’t be arsed attitude, so even if there are humans, they may not be able/willing to help.

People in the 1800s were saying the same about automation taking peoples jobs in the Industrial Revolution. New, usually higher skilled, jobs are created to replace the lost, usually lower skilled, ones.

That’s not going to be the case with AI.

Our Booths removed the self service tills years ago due to stealing. I’m surprised others have still had them.

AI is different. I was at an AI conference last week. It's mind blowing. And even the people developing it are uneasy about the direction It's taking.

i read that their self service tills are due an upgrade so it was a cost cutting decision to get rid of them instead.
that, and reducing theft.
not in response to customer feedback, otherwise why not just continue to offer both.

Having said that I am a great fan of Booths but don’t have one nearby

Because the number of customers who like them is a minority. Customer feedback was a factor in the decision. Why make a huge investment in something most of your customers don’t want?

Love Booths. I'm happy with manned or self scan, I just don't want to queue.
Our local new Co-op has awful self scan checkouts, there's nobody monitoring them, so you have to wait or go and find someone when the checkout can't register something, which is pretty much every shop. I've also come home with unintentional unscanned items, not had that happen anywhere else. Our Boots have removed all the manned checkouts.

It's actually banks I hate, Natwest is just a picture of awkwardness now, it must be a few years since they removed the counters and people still look lost.

Self service tills are fine for straightforward purchases of only a few items. Anything involving lots of items, loose items that need to be weighed, vouchers or reduced items ends up being a complete faff that holds up a queue of tutting shoppers so it is far easier at the till.

I love Booths but sadly not one anywhere near me. I guess their mostly oldr customers appreciate this, but nothing wrong with having a self service option for those who prefer it. I imagine there is a lot of theft thus way though, guess most supermarkets think it worthwhile if they can get rid of some staff,

I notice they mention alcohol as a problem, I was in Morrisons the other night and the self checkout assistant couldn’t keep up with the id and detaching tags she was literally running from till to till and having to take the bottle away to detag it, it was ridiculous 5 red lights were on at one time.

It is the opposite in my local Co Op.
People seem to prefer the serviced tills unless getting a sandwich or paper.

The service in every Booths I've ever been in is devestatingly slow. I breathed a sigh of relief when they finally brought in the self service tills. Now we're back to square one with so few till points open that you have to stand for ages behind people with trollies when you've only got a few items. Their ten items or fewer tills are very rarely staffed in my local store.

They've done this because of shoplifting whatever the spin they've put on it. They didn't weight their stock and when you self scanned you didn't need to put items in the bagging area and could just go on to scan the next item.

No, I never nicked anything, but I'm sure I wasn't the only person who realised this, and some probably took advantage.

Wonder why they've kept them at Keswick and Windermere? Tourists maybe?

That makes sense. Maybe the option was to upgrade to tills that weighed the items.

Do you use an automatic washing machine to wash your clothes? Or do you take your laundry to a place where a group of women are handwashing your clothes for a small fee like in the old days before automation?

Same question for any labour saving device that has put people out of employment over the last couple of hundred years.