To think that people that use self service tills should

[Charlie97]

A. Not scan, put all there stuff on other side, pay and ONLY then pack

B. Have a speed test, if they can't find bar code within certain amount of seconds, then they are not deemed fit and proper to use self service tills

C. Should not be allowed to let children scan items really slowly, whilst fighting their siblings for whose turn it is

Or should I just use the real person serving aisle?

This is light hearted!

Owllady I had to go to an appointment last week with both DCs in tow. Then nipped in to the nearby Asda to get them a sandwich and a drink etc. Came across those conveyor belt self service things and thought the same...then ended up using it because the slowcoaches at the basket checkouts were taking too long! .

I talk to the scanning machines. I can't seem to help it but my absolute love is scan and pack. I like to pack stuff just so, and get a panic on at the tills because it all comes at me too fast!

WH Smith. I nearly flounced out of the shop last week. It doesn't recognise the weight of single pencils and greetings cards.

Then the thing asks me if I want bargain chocolate etc, and charges me 1p for a bag.

kim I would probably get an 'Age defy cream' ad or something.

I use the self scan thingybob that allows you to walk around scanning and packing straight away. Saves a lot of time. Give it a whirl?

Sainsburys and Waitrose. I am not a snob, that's all that he is here.

I love that PP. I love sailing past the queues at the end and avoiding the conveyor altogether. No need to speak to a soul either.

ProlificPenguin where is said Waitrose? Asking for a friend... .

A few weeks ago I watched with increasing (irrational) rage as a guy continued to shove his card in the reader despite the screen and the robot voice telling him over and over to select his payment method first. It went on for hours (45 seconds) and in the end I walked over and pressed the 'pay by card' button and went back to queuing. DP was mortified and to be fair so was I once my PMT stopped raging

There's nothing wrong with my DS scanning items at the self-service till. He's a damn sight better than most adults I see there.

Misspixie Quite a lot of Waitroses have these. I love them.

And if you do get picked for a random rescan, they are terribly apologetic, two work together to unpack and repack beautifully, and if you are in danger of getting caught out by the Wicked Witch Parking Lady they'll happily over-ride it and let you go. Unlike Tesco who seem to assume all customers are lying cows unless proven otherwise.

I don't think you have to 'find' the barcode unless it doesn't scan first time. There's a sensor underneath and on one side so chances are it will scan anyway. Stop faffing!!

My son is better at them than me too... I have some kind of forcefield that makes the damn thing start screaming - thought it was the child but no it does it when I am alone too

The post office has self service tills too now - genius

We have a little waitrose in the City Centre. .

WholeNutt that is what happens to me every time.

Agree with posters who make the point about not using them because it is just another way for stores to shed staff. I never use them for that reason: I am not going to be an unpaid till operator and save the store having to pay someone to do the job,

I said that originally but have caved, I'm not going to wait behind to or three trolley loads of things when I've only got half a dozen items myself, but always use manned tills when it's quiet.

I like using them because so many staff on the tills seem to be excessively keen on licking their fingers before scanning my shopping (even when I clearly have my own bags and do not need them to offer me a spit-dotted carrier). I do however get very annoyed by the complete inability of the machine to cope with me moving my bags a centimetre.

This is a slippery slope to increasing automation which serves as a benefit to these huge corporations. Less manpower obviously, innit?

Put the lighthearted bantery joking aside and the faux-anger aside. And just refuse to use the bloody things. Vote with your feet.

Are we especially good, as a nation, at dumbly accepting things we don't really like?

Once upon a time we would ask the shop keeper for items behind their desk, now we self-serve everything, thereby doing shopkeepers out of jobs... We don't want to go back the good old days, or get left behind technologically, do we? The jobs lost on the tills are made up for in engineering and fitting and the advancement of the country aren't they?

I always pack after I pay, would take even longer if I didn't.

Go to Waitrose. I am always the only person using self-service.

Oh I hate the Morrison's ones! Ours give you a split second to put your item in the bag before it throws a hissy fit and decides you are a shoplifter, forcing a member of staff to correct the machine (after they have corrected all the other "shoplifter's" machines) after half your items. Then it refuses my notes. Over and over and over again it refuses money from me.

I only use them now when I need change.

Yes, I could vote with my feet and join the mahoosive queue at the manned tills. But it wouldn't make any difference.