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!

I’m happy to use them but it’s very annoying when they need a member of staff to sort stuff out a lot of the time (Sainsbury’s in particular!). I’m not talking about approving age restricted sales or if I do something wrong, but when I do it all right and the machine still objects.

The Pound shop near me has them and early in the morning they don’t have the option of staffed tils, but I do regularly see the staff member supervising the auto tills doing it for an elderly person who has asked for help. Their auto tills are pretty reliable and it’s a quieter time of day so doing that is unlikely to affect anyone else. However they do have stupid “joke” voices on at times which is extremely annoying. I always feel very sorry for the staff who have to listen to them for their whole shifts!

I’m not sure why people find them so difficult to use!! I think itsoften stubbornness, and an un-willingness to accept change.....

nice little patronising post, but it doesn't make you right. They are not difficult to use, they simply don't always work.

My 5 year old can use them, or could if they were working properly.
If I only need to buy a couple of items, or lunch, i couldn't care less if I deal with an individual or a machine, I want to pay quickly and get out of there. If the flipping till think my pack of crisps is too light, it should be calibrated better.

It's quicker to go through a till with a human.

Self serve checks outs take ages but i scan as you go in most shops. Never had a problem and way quicker. Plus Sainsbury’s and Asda then have seperate checkouts and there is never a queue.

No human interaction, a faceless automated machine, completely antisocial.

I love 'em.

Morrison’s always go wrong

Yep. My local Morrisons often seems to have a staff shortage which means there is nobody supervising the self checkouts. I ended up abandoning my till the other day and walking to a checkout manned by a human because I'd spent 5 minutes hoping someone would turn up and didn't want to wait any longer!

There was the time when I paid for one item with a two pound coins, waiting for change and it reported my note had got stuck.

There was no note put in it.
No note to come out of it.

The person who came over said that they needed to clear the note jammed in the machine

There was no note.

Still they insisted on pulling the machine apart to find The Note.

There was no note jammed in it.

I was there for over twenty minutes before they believed me and gave me my change but even then I was told they shouldn't do it really.

The worst thing? It had printed out my receipt so I could prove I'd not given it a note and didn't need one in my change so they knew there was no note.

The bagging process is almost always difficult. Either ‘unexpected item’ or unclear where to put your one bag or just awkward. Used a coop one yesterday and it was counter intuitive - had to put bag on small high ‘shelf’ made packing almost impossible.
One or two items no problem but if I have more or heavy/awkward then it’s almost always difficult.
Agree m and s are too loud. Almost never use m and snand was startled a few months ago as the whole shop rang out with its commands to me.
There is one Waitrose I use where they’ve got it right. All surfaces are generous and just work. You can put your bag pretty much anywhere. I think there is no weighing going on although that seems unlikely.

^*As far as jobs....there are other jobs out there....I easily found work....oh....and I’m a woman....

Runs to ge5 tin hat!!*^

Says something controversial so uses the hilarious "time hat" comment!

You obviously know how ignorant that comment is.

This was a mildly entertaining thread to read but that comment is just stupid and you've ruined your own thread.

slams door on the way out

I hate them because they never work properly. My empty shopping bags are too heavy for them so I always have to wait for a member of staff to authorise them. They always tell me there is an unexpected item when there isn't. The other day I had been waiting ages for someone to come over and sort my till out. It is often far quicker to use the manned checkouts.

They make my shopping experience more complicated. ATMs etc make my life easier.

It's not my role as a customer to save the shop money and do things myself.

I may use them for a very quick shop of a few items but mostly I don't .

I used to run tills etc and customers who used to say all smug I'm not using the self serve because it takes your jobs it used to really annoy me i had given out the jobs and know I had to put someone who should have been in the shop floor to help customers etc on a toll while people didn't use the self serve tills. Tills are a tiny tiny part of jobs in a supermarket don't use them if you don't like them but seriously you are not saving anyone's job.

im not sure why people find them difficult to use...

Because my height means I cannot always read them.

If I need to press on the screen I'm not able to do so as my finger sublux and I can't put enough pressure on the screen for it to accept my answer.

A couple of weeks ago I had to explain to a couple the put the item in your bag didn't mean put it in your bag. Theyd selected having their own bag and the machine has been updated to say place item in your bag not bagging area. They were very embarassed but it wasn't their fault.

Too many assumptions are made about people's abilities.

I love them. I'm a miserable cow who doesn't like talking to people though. Our local Lidl has them and there's rarely a queue, people seem scared of them. Best shop ever.

Remembered that m and s experience was so messy (assistant helping woman in front of me and my bag being ‘illegal’, odd authorisation for alcohol intervention etc where she handed me the previous woman’s receipt) that I actually walked out having packed but not paid ! Got home and realised. Went back next day to pay (at criminal bar and have frequently represented those who have lost their good character for lesser amounts than involved here). No doubt have even represented someone with same ‘defence’. It really was the mess-on which caused that to happen !
Was imagining cctv woman hunt for me and my career down the pan before I got in touch with manager who immediately identifiéd my unpaid transaction.

i dont mind them at all, if the alternative is a queue, and i am only buying one or two things.
previously i hated them but am well used to them. I know what to do!

...I easily found work....oh....and I’m a woman....

Oh, well you're alright, Jack.

Have you considered that those lost checkout jobs resulted in more rejected applicants for your own job (not enough new jobs to replace the defunct ones), more people who then couldn't make rent and more people who eventually became homeless?

Those aren't just "jobs", they're places in society for both parent and children. They're a family tradition of getting up and going to work each day. The run-on, long term social and economic effects of these job losses is severe.

I have to say I like scan as you shop. Means I keep a better eye on what I’m spending, and I pack as I go which makes the whole hideous supermarket experience over with quicker. Unless I need alcohol. Or the checkout decides I need a random bag check. Or one occasion in Asda where I’d just about finished a mammoth shop, and the scanner died 😭

@Esto Zara is the same and I think the amazon shop in the us is set up like that!

You can turn the irritating voice off on the Tesco ones! Discovering that (from a MN thread) has been one of the greatest simple joys of my recent life!

I work in a supermarket. Top tips for self scanners

Make sure your basket isn't touching the scales.
If you can avoid it, don't put your bag on there, pack once you've scanned, saves some errors
Read the screen. The amount of people that don't read the screen, or push the obvious button in the middle like finish and pay
It won't scan the next item because it's not registered the item on the scale.
Be patient

They don't allow you to sort yourself out intuitively. I want to dump my bag full of other purchases from other shops in the bagging area so I can transfer stuff from the basket to the bag I'm packing it into but it has a hissy fit that you pit something there.

Or some of them have bagging areas to the left and you put the basket on the right, which is counter intuitive to me. Others have a bizarre area to put the basket which is too narrow to balance a basket on and others have similarly pathetically small bagging areas to put your scanned stuff, so it slides onto the floor because you're not allowed to put it in the bag you've brought because it has other items in it so is 'unexpected' and then the machine isn't allowed to sell you wine and and and. God it's tedious.

Real people are so much more flexible. And I'd be amazed if people are more expensive too. I bet those machines and their maintenance cost more than a checkout assistant on minimum wage.

Completely agree Ukelou. I’ve done the same job in the past. It’s like some sort of Middle Class Saviour syndrome, here to save the poor people’s jobs one self scan refusal at a time

It’s actually really irritating and entitled.

As for self scans “never working” - I can assure everyone it is you, not the machines.

If there is a reasonably free checkout queue I will use it if I am buying alcohol as it can be quicker than self serve and waiting for the attendant to come along and authorize the sale.

I like the self serve checkouts in general. The ones in Tesco are pretty good.

and know I had to put someone who should have been in the shop floor to help customers etc on a toll while people didn't use the self serve tills

Therefore, without self serve you would have to hire extra checkout operators in order to have sufficient staff to cover both shop floor and till. Therefore, jobs had been lost.

They seem to work very well here and tend to underused so I can get rid of all my small change and not hold people up.

I was in a newly opened convience store last weekend and was buying a bottle of wine. They gentleman at customer service got a notice on his screen was able to look over and authorise me without having to come over.

I tend to hold me bag until I have scanned and paid so I think that spares me some issues.