To wonder why people hate the self check outs at supermarkets

[Mumto123monkeys]

It’s driving me a bit mad....people moaning.
I don’t get what’s wrong with them, I’ve heard ‘why would I use them, I don’t work hear’. But surely it shortens the que...

Also ‘I like to speak to people, not a machine’ ok....it’s not difficult to strike up a convo in most places...
and loads of others! Personally, I can’t see the issue! I use both, I prefer self serve-scan as you shop too, if it’s available! It’s much quicker, and the kids love it so helps keep them happy!
I know they can be glitchy, but some shops have got them really good!

Waitrose muse be better than average as people seem to choose the self-service even when it would be quicker to use the human cashiers.

Firstly, some people prefer to avoid humans for a variety of reasons which is their right.

Secondly, even if the queues are short, you usually have to commit to one queue, and then can easily get stuffed if there's a problem requiring supervisor, or if the person in front doesn't have enough money, card rejected, damaged item needing replacing etc. Queues for self service are usually "communal" so if one person at one machine gets stuck, the chances are that the others are moving normally so no-one gets stuck behind the problem customer.

Waitrose have the most chatty staff on earth. It can take ages in a queue.

Only use them to buy a lunch deal at Tesco, too glitchy for a proper shop though due to queues I relented and used one last week and it rejected about 1/3 of my items, the customer care assistant had to verify each item and still it didn't get the bill right (in my favour)

Scan as you shop Smart Shop is brilliant no turning back

Any of the automatic airport machines never seem to be able to read DPs passport. I have no idea why. They read mine fine, but we always need an actual human to process it for DPs. Annoyingly they always try his passport in the machine first after we have said it does not work, as if we are too thick to use it. Then they express surprise it does not work and let us go to an actual desk with a human to process it. Every single time.

Passport readers are completely different - firstly the UK passport agency and UK border force aren't businesses, so it's nothing to do with being profit driven.

Secondly, there's a more fundamental reason that I shouldn't divulge because of the sensitive nature of security etc. I only know because I know someone who works deep inside the UK border force who mentioned something trivial to do with his working day which fitted in with my personal observations of the reality of using the "automated" machines as seen from the queue behind.

They take jobs away from actual people and as has been said above
I don't think they do as much as people think.
They took out one people manned til in out tesco and replaced it with 6 Self service til. Needed one person to look after it so same amount of staff per area but just served a lit more customers

Yes I know the passports are not profit driven although every agency has a pressure to save money. So having the public scan a passport instead of a worker is to save money.
The reality of using the automated machines? There is no reason at all security wise to have the public do this rather than a worker. In fact the countries with the heaviest security use a worker as the worker can also pick up things that a machine can not. The safest combination is a worker scanning the passport so the computer does checks, and the worker doing their visual checks.

@bruffin They open far less manned tills though. In the supermarket I used to go to on a busy Saturday every manned till would be opened. Now the only time I have seen this happen is at Christmas. So yes there is a reduction in staff. It may be staff hours reduced though rather than actual number of staff.

The safest combination is a worker scanning the passport so the computer does checks, and the worker doing their visual checks.

In theory the computer can be far more accurate re visual checks - it can perform millions of calculations in a fraction of a second which would be far better than a mere human checking the image on a passport looks like the person stood in front of him. Things like the distance between the eyes, the triangulation of the nose and ears, etc. Pretty easy to make yourself look like someone else with make up, changed hair (wigs), false moustache, etc which can fool a human, but wouldn't fool a computer. Also, over time, peoples' appearance changes, i.e. hair colour/length, weight etc., but the basic "numbers", i.e. facial geometry won't. Like I said, in theory the computer would be better.

I'm concerned that with more people using the self-service checkouts, the supermarkets will 'let go' some staff as they're not required to man the obsolete main checkouts.

I'm concerned that with more people using the self-service checkouts, the supermarkets will 'let go' some staff as they're not required to man the obsolete main checkouts.

Were you concerned when thousands of small shops closed down when the supermarkets first opened? Or for the guys who filled your car with petrol before self-service petrol stations?

We really shouldn't be artificially keeping unnecessary jobs from the past. We should be concentrating on jobs for the future.

OP and I am sick of people having legitimate complaints being characterised as "moaning" :)

@Kazzyhoward I agree which is why the safest option is both the computer scanning and the worker check. Because workers pick up many tell signs that computers can not. And airports with the heaviest security do both. They do not simply do a computer scan.

@Kazzyhoward small shops closing down and being served at a petrol station changed in the 60s and 70s, many commenters here will not have been born then. So bit pointless to dismiss their concerns using examples from decades ago.

I’d love it if someone filled my car up for me.

Yes I like someone filling my car up for me when I am abroad.
People here had no choice about the change. Petrol stations just enforced it and people had to do it themselves or go without petrol.

I prefer to use self checkout machines. They are great for buying things like condoms, etc, so you don't get that awkward moment with the checkout guy.

I am amazed at people saying they use them to get rid of change

I do. But I have also noticed that they are programmed to give you small change as well. If you need say 15p in change it won't give you a 10p and a 5p, it will give you eg 2 x 5p, 2 x 2p and 1 x 1p. So you have to be quite careful about what you put in.

They are great for buying things like condoms, etc, so you don't get that awkward moment with the checkout guy

I assume condoms aren't age restricted then :)

And according to the reasoning on this thread, none of the people who boycott them because of job losses should actually use a supermarket at all

Well job losses wasn't one of the reasons I gave for hating them but actually there does appear to be a swing away from the supermarkets. All are reporting profits down and Sainsbury's wanted to merge with Asda. Waitrose is closing stores and Tesco is tarnished by that big black hole in its accounts that was revealed a year or two back. All are desperate to cut costs at the expense of the customer.

Most of my shopping now is actually done elsewhere. My fruit and veg, eggs and milk are now all delivered to me by a local farm co-operative. Much fresher and nicer than the supermarket offerings. Cheese comes from a local farmshop and I don't eat meat.

Other staples are bought from a local zero waste shop so I can buy what I need in the quantities I want. As a bonus I don't have as much plastic rubbish to add to landfill either.

The now rarely need to visit the supermarket at all which is fine by me.

I find that the people who say "they never work properly" just don't use them properly.

I love self scan machines. Especially at ASDA as you can self-scan a big shop as they have the machines with a conveyor belt.
The lady in Asda said "I wish everyone used the machines like you do" the last time I did a big shop, as I didn't have a single issue.
The only time it has an issue with an item is when the item is too light, then you can just skip bagging

I've stopped using them. There is always one item won't go thru or an item that's read & beeped, but still displays as unread in the bagging area & only one staff member for the 9machines in my Tesco. The queue is usually 5- 10deep: when tills with staff on have 2 deep queues at most. It's a far nicer experience with a staffed till & no waiting for a harassed staff member to put a code in. .

The ones at Morrison's are useless, it's rare that you don't have an issue that requires an assistant. Sainsburys, very often the queue is as long as using a checkout. If I'm going to go in a shop to buy something, I prefer a human to deal with. There are thousands of people whose only human contact is the person who serves them if they go shopping.

If I'm not in a rush, I will use them.

However the ones in our local Lidl were so bad, that they eventually removed them all, because the checkout staff had to constantly jump up and leave their own tills (and a line of annoyed people in a queue) to sort out the issues with the self serve. 90% of the time I used those, they failed for some reason.

They don’t work.
You all must shop different places to me then. I use them regularly in Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrisons and rarely have any issues. Yes very occasionally one will throw a wobbler about some unexpected item but not often and the shops I use usually have someone on hand to quickly sort it out.

They steal jobs.
Not inevitably and anyway, as a PP said, this happens all the time. Cashpoints instead of having to go to the bank during opening hours and queue for a cashier. Self service petrol instead of waiting for the man on the forecourt to do it for you. And even supermarkets themselves come to that. In my grandmother's day you went to a shop and asked the shopkeeper for things and they got them off the shelf for you, she would no doubt have been amazed and appalled at a supermarket where you wonder round and apparently help yourself.

I like a bit of human engagement.
Maybe when I am a lonely old lady I will go to the shops hoping for a chat but at present I have enough human engagement without requiring Sainsbury's to provide it for me.

You can’t buy alcohol automatically.
No but when the tills are being properly run there is usually someone available to authorize it.

They take way longer than a human cashier.
If the cashier was sitting there with no queue and could serve you straight away then I might agree. But usually it is a choice of queue up to be served or go straight to a self service till. IME much quicker to take the self service route