Why can't I work M&S self service tills?

[Atre]

Everywhere else is fine - up to a point; obviously there's the errors in bagging area and all that shit. But with M&S it takes me ages just to get the bastard thing to scan a code at all. There's only six actual tills in ours now so didn't have much choice but to do self service and honestly it took forever, stood like a twat waving my bloody manchego at the stupid fucking red light. What am I doing wrong?

I find if you move the item across the sensor it works. So not holding/waving it in front, but passing it from right to left.

Ours had a sort of narrow hole with the red light inside and I used to find myself trying to squash a sandwich into the recess! Dur!

Yes, ours has the ones with a hole too.

I'll try moving it across next time, thanks.

Christ, what a bloody faff it all is.

They are rubbish, I don’t do anything wrong, but off goes the light and I have to wait for someone to come along and put the disc in and enter code so I can continue. We still have 2 bigger ones, which take cash, these seem to work better, but everyone knows this so waits for these to become available. If there is a person on a desk I will go to them or else they will get rid of them altogether.

I don’t know, but I can’t work the m and s self service tills either. I’ve been banned from using them in Tesco, and WHSmith tills refuse to work for me.
Aldi, Lidl, co-op are fine.

Scan in front of hole. Up and down or side to side. Then wait a second or two. It’ll beep and you can continue.

Awful things but I find if you go slowly they’re not as bad.

My 4 year old can do the scanning. I, a 40 year old woman, can't. I think they're designed for young people.

I agree. The worst self serve tills that I use. Asda and Aldi are far better sensors.

Was hard trying to lift a pack of 4 2 litre sparkling water up to the scanner yesterday but apart from that ours are ok. They used to be crap though and often scanned an item twice so had to get help to remove it! I think they've updated ours. Also they put an extra manned till in yesterday with rollers probably for heavy items like turkeys, and best of all they actually had staff operating them.

Also:

The bar code is usually on the reverse of the product label - there should be no need to search every item for the barcode.

Left to right as per pp.

Be gentle putting your shopping in the bag, if you are but rough the scales can take a second or two to settle.

This happens to me with some M&S self service checkouts. The trick is to not wave it about in front of the scanner, but to hold it still, about six inches away from the scanner, and wait for a couple of seconds. That always works.

Nothing helpful to offer but you made me laugh out loud OP so thank you! Have a very happy Christmas 🎄

No one can make them scan - they are crap!

My dp works at m&s manning the ss tills. His advice is move items fully across the sensor they don't register the product whilst it (the till) can still see the product.
Its like a landmine only goes off when you step off it.

Nobody can work them. I was in there this morning and there were five tills on my side and absolutely nobody could scan anything. It was like an episode of Mr Bean or something.

Ours had a brilliant system for manned tills on Friday. A greeter directing people to the shortest queue, through the bread aisle via a winding snakey airport style barrier. Which was very efficient. Except if you wanted to browse for brioche. I know they’re called tensa barriers by the way!

I get so frustrated by them that I have given up and now wait in the queue for the proper tills.

Don't have a problem with ours but the best scanner is the one you take round the shop with you. Scan and into your bag, go to SS till and pay. No messing about getting goods out of basket, scanning and back into a bag. Use it every time.

They are truly shit. I used them once, felt overwhelmed and frustrated. And haven't shopped there since.

I'm no technophobe. I don't mind scan and go in Waitrose. But the M&S system is just horrible.

@GellerYeller ours had that too so they were doing their best tbf but because they only have six manned tills at all the snakey queue was fucking huge. I decided not to get any bakery stuff because the entire area was full of queue.

On the plus side, looking at my receipt I appear to have not paid for my crackers. 😳 Completely unintended - I spent ages holding them up to the hole.

Reading the comments it's not just me that finds them difficult to work. Who on earth designed them?!

Thought it was just me! M&S self service, I avoid, but the queues today were something else. Trying to get the items to scan is ridiculous.

This was me until a (very nice) M&S worker came over and demonstrated. Basically, hold the barcode still a little bit further away from the scanner than you'd think, don't shove it up close. If you're holding it there and nothings happening gently pull it towards you and wait for the beep. Haven't had an issue since and am tbh quite pleased to no longer feel and look inept every time I go there.

They are awful. You have to tip everything up so the contents all falls about in anything where it can (salad tubs, chicken fillets, punnet fruit etc). Lidl is the same and the sensor is way down the bottom but at least their bar codes are bigger