To think you should get some sort of incentive to use self-check out tills in shops?

[angelos02]

Seems mad to me that you are doing staff's work and you get nothing back. Even just 10% off the total of your bill would be a start.

My local Poundland have just put self service checkouts in and I've not had a problem with them apart from the fact that they're slow to give change. I wish Boots here would get with the times and install some. Whenever I shop in there I have to walk around the store several times before finding someone to serve me. Iceland is another which could do with some. I don't shop in there often and when I do it's usually just for one or two things and every single time I get stuck in a queue of people with trollies full of frozen stuff that they want to arrange home delivery for.

Oh, another thing that pisses me off about them is that the way they give out change. Quite often I walk away with a load of 5p and 1p coins that it's decided to give me rather than 10p, 20p or 2p ones.

I must say I'm very jealous of those of you mentioning the self scanners that you use around Tesco, my local one doesn't have these!

Self scanning seems to be like flares - in one year, out the next. I first saw it in Safeways. Sainsburys had them for a while. Then ripped them out. And are now reinstating them.

Our "local" (nearest big) Tesco has them. I like them ...

I dont like having to speak to people so I like the self scanners. I also think it's quite good fun seeing how well I can scan . I cant stand all that enforced chat at the normal tills "how are you today"(I don't care), I'm fine thanks, how are you (I also don't care). Annoying that the self scanners won't accept your own bags without them getting checked though.

at people putting joints of meat through the self check out as potatoes. I had heard that people were telling the machine that more expensive fruit and vegetables were carrots and onions, but slapping actual joints of meat on the scale and telling the machine it is potatoes by 'mistake' .

But then, I've never being subject to a random rescan or bag check, so I guess that they figure the chance of being caught is low enough to make it worth the risk.

I read an amazing article recently about how sad it is that we're replacing real humans with machines and ever since then I've gone out of my way to join the 'real cashier' queue and also make eye contact with the person serving me as I know their job is now under threat. All of us who've used automated call centres know how frustrating it is to deal with machines, but we haven't voted with our feet and refused to do business with companies that think it's OK to waste our time so they can save money.

I hate them. I do believe it takes jobs. The local small tesco often only has 2 people on the shop floor.

My DW works in Tesco Express and would be there everyday if they could convince her to come in. They are constantly understaffed, but it is not the fault of the machines. They struggle to fill vacancies. You want more staff at your local Tesco Express? Offer to work for them.

There is an incentive. Not having to talk to somebody!

Lisa there is a word for that - Luddite!

In all seriousness there are pro's and con's to technology. Of course for the people right now who's jobs are affected it is horrible.
But if we were all still communicating by post and sticking up notices on actual notice boards - there wouldn't be an MN.

At the same time one of the reasons food is so much more affordable now than 20 years ago is due to technological innovation - in farming, in retail, supply chain, logistics etc.

in 20 years time there will probably no longer be supermarkets, people will either shop online for their "big shop" or grab things from smaller convenience stores.

I would be perfectly happy for all menial jobs to be done by machines, hopefully it would increase demand for a universal basic income, and people could then do jobs they actually enjoy or spend time doing what they are really interested in.

I am genuinely shocked at how many people want to avoid talking to others.

I'm not a Luddite (interesting that's used in a pejorative way - their alternative was starving, not retraining) - I'd.be a lot happier if the self service tills worked reliably, but they don't, and I find that actually wastes more of my time than a competent checkout person (which most are).

I am genuinely shocked at how many people want to avoid talking to others.

The problem is, in a world where we are made to count the value of every second (unless you are lucky enough to work in a role where you aren't assessed) then you start to treat your time as your employer does - as something precious.

No disrespect, but if I value my spare time (which I do) then spending an extra few second checking out is lower priority than spending time with my family.

('twas ever thus : "Getting and spending we lay waste our powers")

I love talking to people. I'm just not really interested in talking to a supermarket checkout person when I want to do my shopping. Talking over a pint is much more preferable.

Where are all these cashiers that want to stop and ask you for your life story , I always go to a cashier but we only exchange a 'good morning' 'goodbye' nothing more.

I don't really rate talking as a method of communicating information. Usually a machine can do this much more efficiently, with less room for misinterpretation (not always, of course - the software needs to be well designed.) I love talking as a way to connect with others but I don't want to connect just to get my groceries checked out or whatever it is.

If it's functional, give me written communication any day. If it's fun, pleasure, connection then I much prefer to be face to face but these are totally different things.

Where are all these cashiers that want to stop and ask you for your life story confused, I always go to a cashier but we only exchange a 'good morning' 'goodbye' nothing more.

Unfortunately I seem to monopolise the bloody lot of them.

I agree it's passing staff's work onto the customer. you have to scan it yourself and then pack it as well. It's not a great hardship but of course it's saving the staff a job - that's how it saves the shops money.

I don't mind them for a basket shop. I've never tried for a big shop. I like the friendliness of the chatting with the cashier!

I can manage self-service tills, but I don't like the ethos they promote. A lot of people with disabilities have their independence because there are real humans there when they shop. If we completely automate everything, a lot of those people will struggle.

I have a feeling that in stores which offer self-service and staffed checkouts, the management have made an assumption that those choosing a manned checkout are doing so because they want as chat, and have encouraged trained staff appropriately.

I'd be curious to know if the people advocating self service in this thread also (like me) prefer to deal with organisations by email, rather than by bloody phone ?

JeanneDeMontbaston Bit of a straw man argument there. A row of self-service machines does not an automated world make. And also there isn't an ethos that has been promoted by self service tills. It is more or less a matter of convenience. If I have a handful of items I'll always go to the self service check-out but if it's a family shop then I'm going to a cashier. Disability does not come into this argument.

YY I much prefer email LurkingHusband.

That is a good point though, I would always go to a proper checkout with a full shop, and only use self checkout for a smaller shop. There is a tradeoff and actually when you have more items it's faster to have somebody else doing the scanning and looking up of codes etc for you while you focus on bagging.

I'd just forgotten that because in the UK I much prefer to do a full shop online, which, again, is automated and involves a machine rather than a person.

People don't like talking to cashiers because supermarkets instruct them to ask instrusive questions and then you are put on the spot and end up either having to lie and make something up and blurting out the truth, of the type of conversation you don't want to have with a stranger. Or banks ask you 'if you are treating yourself' if you take money out which is none of their bloody business and what if you are using the money to pay for a relative's funeral, or you were going to get something nice with it, but now you have to use it to pay for car repairs etc etc.

I find it very difficult to lie and struggle with some aspects of social niceties - I probably am on the autistic spectrum or have social anxiety disorder or something similar.

So if someone asks 'how are you today?' as a greeting, as one checkout operator once did, I have a panicked internal monologue along the lines of 'he doesn't really want to know so I just have to say 'fine thank you and how are you' but that's a lie because I have the most awful toothache, I've just been to see a close relative who is terminally ill, and work is a big stressy nightmare so how can I say I'm fine when I'm not so most of the time I do the 'fine thank you' while cringing inside but sometimes I forget and say I have toothache and then it's really awkward because I didn't lie and say I was fine etc etc and that is why I prefer to do the self checkout and then I can do the futile task of swearing at and arguing with a machine.

I also like to throw in my loose change and pay the balance by card, but I shop at Aldi most of the time anyway and they don't talk to you as much anyway and if they do, it's not the fake chat like the staff at Sainsburys have to do.

Barbara, they chat away in my local Aldi but yes, it seems more genuine.

LurkingHusband, yes I definitely prefer contact by email or live chat. I'm really not keen on having to contact companies by phone.

At the risk of drifting OT (which I know is frowned upon in AIBU), my preference for email is not to avoid talking to people (although that is an added bonus ). It's more about putting me in control of the exchange. I can type an email when I want to, and read the response when I want to. Plus I have a ready-made audit trail, in case it's needed (which it hasn't been so far).

Compared to using the phone:

1. only when they are open
2. you hang on, until they are ready to answer
3. usually (all my calls are recorded) you have no record of what was said

or

4. you have to be ready to drop everything and deal with them when they call.

Given that most livechat services can be automated ...

Barbara I have worked in retail and have never been instructed to ask intrusive questions. What an odd thing to suggest! Generally retail staff are just trying to be pleasant and friendly in my experience

I don't want any incentive for people to use the unmanned tills as I live in a retirement area and, while I admire pensioners tackling modern-day technology, my nerves could not take any more trying to manage it. When we had no water for a while last year the Police had to be called to the local Sainsburys as two older gentlemen came to blows over the last few 19p Basics water (the shelves were full of other water but they cost from 59p upwards so any financial incentives can be dangerous too
Self service checkouts usually end up taking longer here than the manned tills as the poor person supervising has to do one-to-one tuition for somebody