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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to hate self checkouts in shops?

69 replies

downtomylastcigarette · 11/05/2012 12:23

Apart from the fact that I hate using them, isn't this a ploy by the shop to cut staff? Why should I support that during a recession? Or is it a desparate attempt to stay in business during a recession, which I should support? Confusing ...

Any shop assistants with an opinion?

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 11/05/2012 13:07

Lol at mushroom contraband !

CleanHankie · 11/05/2012 13:09

I can't answer regarding self checkouts in supermarkets but I work in a library where we've had self service machines installed for the last 5 yrs or so. No staff have been made redundant because of them. The staff that used to work on a counter issuing/returning books are now deployed in other jobs around the library that assist with the smooth running of the place and in fact give us a better reputation for customer satisfaction (ie shelving and having staff on the "shop floor" to answer queries. The self checkouts have cut down on queueing time enormously.

But I do dislike self checkouts in supermarkets, esp when it can't read my pre packaged cheese and demands to know the weight of it.

DaisyMaisyJessicaEmily · 11/05/2012 13:09

The Asda ones have a thing you can pour your change into rather than posting each coin alone, makes it very useful towards the end of the month as I can get rid of a load of coppers Blush

Generally though we don't use them, for all the reasons above really.

Longdistance · 11/05/2012 13:09

You sound JUST like my dh. He gripes about this saying. 'I'm not doing it myself, they pay their staff to do it!'

ErnesttheBavarian · 11/05/2012 13:11

My supermarket in Switzerland had a brilliant system. You had to register for the scheme, then when you went shopping you picked up a personal bar code reader, and scanned each item as you took it and could then pack it straight into your bags. There was a special till especially for people using the system, which was almost always empty, so you just gave the scanner to the check out assistant and paid, so no having to empty the trolley and load the goods onto the belt, not having to pack shopping bags, just shop, scan, pay, go. Was fab. Was gutted to move away. was brilliant.

they did occasional checks to make sure you were being honest.

Byeckerslike · 11/05/2012 13:12

Yes i would like to know how you dont scan things, even the weight of a greetings card upsets the bloody things Angry

DaisyMaisyJessicaEmily · 11/05/2012 13:13

Safeway used to do that too Ernest - the boxes that they let you keep were fab for toys etc too

CockyPants · 11/05/2012 13:13

I had a meltdown in Waitrose cos I couldn't get it to work...machine called for assistance. All the staff ignored me for 10 mins so I yelled is anyone actually going to help me or should I just put the whole frigging lot back....cue cat bum looks from loads of middle class Cestrians...

ripsishere · 11/05/2012 13:14

I don't like them. DD loves them. If she is with me, we self scan, if not the till out woman gets the job.

GrimmaTheNome · 11/05/2012 13:18

They're OK if you've got a couple of barcoded items, but I've never tried them with my usual shop which includes loose veg and pick&mix rolls.

I like the staff on the checkouts at the stores I use.

5Foot5 · 11/05/2012 13:19

I don't mind them at all.

  1. I can go through my purse and use up all the loose change and bits of copper

  2. When I want to break down £20 notes from the cash point so I have some £1 I can buy two items and scan and pay for each ome separately.

CleanHanky I was interested and relieved to here that your library had no redundancies after the introduction of self-scanning. This system was introduced in to our local library 2 or 3 years ago and, though I quite like it and it seems to reduce the queues, I did worry a bit in case anyone lost their job over it.

eurochick · 11/05/2012 13:20

Ernest the Waitrose near me has that system. I've never tried it though.

I hate the self-service checkouts. They never seem to work smoothly. There is always an unexpected item (how frickin unexpected can the thing I have just scanned be, ffs?), or something that won't scan, or some sort of error message. And I am concerned about the impact on jobs.

RuleBritannia · 11/05/2012 13:34

Self checkout machines dispense with the use of staff. We should therefore be able to buy our things more cheaply if we use them.

Lizcat · 11/05/2012 13:36

I love Waitrose quick check bar code scanner you take round the store with you. When I have had a bad day at work long hours empathy sucked out of me I do not have to talk to anyone. A massive shop can be done in around 15mins.

sereneswan · 11/05/2012 13:38

I refuse to use them - it's a ploy to cut staff and make more money for the company by getting us to do their work for them.

If I got a discount for using them I might feel differently (although of course that doesn't mitigate the cutting staff aspect). But as it is I refuse to play a game where I am a loser, the staff (or former staff) are losers and the big guys win at everyone else's expense.

On the rare occasions I have succumbed because of critical hurry and they've looked quicker they freeze or start shouting about removing the item from the bagging area, or putting the bleddy item in the bag.

I also actually like interacting with the staff if they're nice (no I'm not a mad lady who stands there chatting for hours) rather than a machine.

startail · 11/05/2012 13:47

I break them, always end up with the light flashing and needing the staff.

Anyway I had a really nice lad chat and help me pack in Sainburys this week (our Tesco's staff are lovely too).

I'd much rather they had jobs than employ the machine.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 11/05/2012 13:47

I hate them. I am always the silly woman saying 'can you help me?' because I find them genuinely very difficult to work. They do make it extremely obvious and embarrassing if you're struggling to work it out.

Also, because I find them hard to use, it is inevitably much slower.

I wouldn't mind them being there and optional, but my local Co-op has a stupid system where if you queue for the normal checkout, they'll go down the queue and tell you to please use the self-checkouts. So we end up in this ridiculous situation where I say 'no thanks' and they keep pestering, and eventually they stand over me doing half of it for me, and by the time I'm done the person three after me in the original queue is walking out the door!

auburnlizzy78 · 11/05/2012 13:55

I can't do them. They always go wrong. I am never sure where to put the basket and it was only a few weeks ago that I realised I was supposed to scan the barcode (DH thought this was v amusing). I had thought that there was a camera in the machine taking a picture of each item and recognising what it was.
But I still don't know where the scanner actually is on the machine so I just sort of wave the item randomly and hope for the best.
So I hate them for that reason, and also for the reason that the OP has noted.

ragged · 11/05/2012 14:04

Ours is very slow & will not take large quantities of loose change, much less poor quality coins.

The packing area is too small.

Constant "Using your own bag?" questions, especially if actually am using own bag(s)!

Staff scold if you don't pack as you go, but frown if they have to keep sorting out the "Using your own bag?" queries. Confused

I always forget to use any coupons on self-service (I hate the extra points coupons even more than I hate the self check, mind).

they are faster, so grit my teeth & use it... very slowly.

PatronSaintOfDucks · 11/05/2012 14:07

I HATE them. Life is waaaaaay to short for bloody frigging unexpected items in the bloody bagging area. The scales are also too small to fit all my shopping. I cannot fill one bag, take it off, and then fill another. I end up piling all my stuff in a huge unstable pyramid (items have fallen off and broken in the past) and then bag them after I pay. I like shopping assistants. They scan stuff (most of them are very good at it and do it lighting fast) and I bag it in the meanwhile. And they don't have annoying electronic voices.

EasilyBored · 11/05/2012 14:14

I like them for when you're only nipping in to get a couple of things, they're much quicker.

Oh, except for the time I went to Asda to buy lemons, and it would only let me buy one at once as they were a 'restricted item' Confused

CogitoErgoSometimes · 11/05/2012 14:14

'It's a ploy to cut staff'..... All companies have to keep their costs tight, especially those in such a competitive sector as UK supermarket retailing. Would be lovely to swan around having goods popped individually into your basket by a personal shopper but life's just not like that.

Gumby · 11/05/2012 14:20

5foot5

In our area self service machines in libraries did lead to redundancies

However the staff have to show people how to use the machines or they don't fulfil their targets so when people refuse to use them it puts the staff in an awkward position

porcamiseria · 11/05/2012 14:30

They are excellent for shop lifting, if you are that way inclined!

Downandoutnumbered · 11/05/2012 15:14

Hate them hate them hate them. I walked out of M&S and abandoned a whole basket of shopping once after the dratted thing couldn't read three bar codes in a row (and randomly decided that the Economist was twice its real price).

Plus they want proof of age for everything in sight, which cancels out any extra speed. I stupidly used one in Sainsbury's once because the queues at the real tills were so long and I only had two things, but unfortunately one of the things was a bottle of Calpol, so I had to wait 10 minutes for someone to come and check that I really was over 16.