To too quickly lose my rag with self-service check outs?

[Liltzero]

Just had a nasty run in with the self service check outs in the Sainsburys Local. Damn thing kept complaining about "unexpected items in the bagging area"

Nobody around to help and the one lady serving at the proper till just suggesting to the long queue that they use the self service tills!

I still think that most people would prefer to be served quickly by a human being, so to my mind this proliferation of Self service tills shows a disregard of customer service in favour of increased profits by the shops, grrrrrr

For example there is always a long queue for the served tills in WHSmith whilst a poor shop assistant attempts to encourage the queuers to use the self service tills. Nobody shifts,

Rant over.....

I recall reading once on MN a MNetter who hated them. so whenever she would leave she would flick the language over so the machine would start speaking Welsh.

I LOVED that. But never found out where that switch is....

self service tills need no human resource re all that human members of staff do , i.e. holiday rota,shift rota, sickness cover rota ,etc ,so its worked out, they are very much cheaper, and, when your soon to go to uni offspring ,or for that matter yourself is looking for a part time job > go figure ! cake and eat it anyone ?

Whenever I am pointed in the direction of the self service till by a staff member, I say I'll use it if they give my 10% off my shopping for saving the company money....

Damn straight! Supermarkets feel like giant vending machines with people shuffling about under all that florescent lighting pressing beepy buttons. No life or soul whilst doing your grocery shopping any more.

Oh another one to add to the list. Just been to the library, self service system is fine except every single time something goes wrong with it.

Bedmonster they might be advertising for staff but it will be for rubbish hours - ie. only when needed. Self service tills do take jobs away and although you don't know anyone who doesn't use them for moral reasons I assure you there are many people that avoid them for these reasons.

hate the bastarding things with a passion.

As always I am drawn to threads on this topic. I don't know why...

:)

Go to Tesco. Use Scan and Shop. i am a convert, and I hate Tesco.

I used the M&S ones (they have tills for baskets and the self serve)
I was buying some chocolate sweets in the little mesh bags and had to input the barcode number for each.
That wasted me more time than queuing for the main tills

I don't mind them, if I've only got a few items and they are all bar coded (ie, don't need to be weighed or anything), it is normally quite quick and I don't have to talk to anyone.

DP, on the other hand, bitches and moans about them every time. I don't know how it takes him three times as long to figure out what he needs to do next.

To be fair, using them at B&Q when you're generally buying massive / unwieldy items is a pain in the rear.

I love the Waitrose quick check and quick pay system - it actually saves time and hassle!
I avoid self service tills at other supermarkets unless I am just buying a couple of items and there is no queue.

The only time I've used one I was so hopelessly useless that the patient and kindly assistant suggested that I might prefer to use a normal check-out next time

So now I go to the chatty woman who's always there, we exchange a few banalities about the weather and the cost of food. I'm pleased that she has a job and not been replaced by a machine.

I quite like them.

My DD works in tesco and has to man them, she hates them. because people don't know how to use them and gets sick of the abuse from customers.

I remembered another ishoo I have with them.
When you have loose items - Why is it they're NEVER in the same place on the touch screen as they were the feckin last time you bought them.
I swear the staff do a re-jig every few days - just for the hell of it/for their own amusement.

I refuse to use them on the basis that I don't work for Tesco.

I use the ones in our local M&S food quite often as the staff on the tills are so slow it's like drawing teeth.
With the sweets there should be a short code to enter (3 digits i think) on the packaging rather than the bar code.

I like them as there is usually less of a queue, because everyone else hates them! :o

I hate it when they don't register what you have bagged (if it's too light). It does my head in when it keeps repeating "please put the item in the bagging area!" I end up growling and stamping my feet by the time the assistant comes over saying "I have bagged the bloody item", through gritted teeth.

I prefer not to use the self service tills because it's so annoying when they start complaining about unexpected items in bagging area, or expected items not being in the bagging area, or wanting confirmation of age from a store assistant.

OP - last time I was in a WHSmiths with self service tills, a shop assistant standing next to the normal tills suggested I use the self service ones. When I looked at him doubtfully, he said "Shall I do it for you?" and scanned and packed all my items for me on the self service till. He was ever so helpful, although it did make the whole self service bit kind of pointless

As way of increasing the quantity and/or quality of your shopping without incurring extra payment they are v.good (so I am told).

Dont like the fact that they are taking jobs from people, and reducingservice to customers but still charging the same price. So I dont use them on principle.