To Not Use Self Sevice Tills

[TitusOatesLivesNextDoor]

Because:

1. I'm not employed by the supermarket as a cashier and don't want to work for nothing

2. They will eventually put cashiers out of work.

I hate them I put my money in the recipet bin once and they announced it over the tannoy and everyone was staring at me.

I totally agree. While they are convenient they are replacing a person and getting you to do the work.

I think it's different if you have seen the automation happening in your lifetime (especially if you used to work in an affected area as I did - in fact my Saturday job on a supermarket till was before they even had scanners, and I'm only 49) - you have a much more direct awareness of the jobs that have gone. Yes some of them were sometimes boring, but that doesn't mean they weren't worth having to the types of people who had them (especially part-time, school hours jobs). Yes, there may be an inconsistency between avoiding some types of automation but not others, based on that, but it's understandable, and not ridiculous, as some are implying.

The problem isn’t self-service, the problem is supermarkets like Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco assuming by default that you are going to steal stuff — so the process to use them becomes more convoluted. Waitrose doesn’t have that problem and their self-service is flawless, because they have enough staff to use other methods to make sure people don’t steal (like approaching self-scan thieves while they are shopping, and ensuring all scanners are linked with a waitrose card so you have a name to the shop so consequences can be delayed too).

1). I hardly think you can call it "working for the supermarket for nothing" if you pack your OWN shopping. It's not exactly cleaning up the broken eggs in aisle 12, is it?

2). Nope, the cashiers will be deployed to other departments like merchandising and stock control. You know, so that all the stuff you put in your basket isn't out of date or hasn't got the wrong price on it.

If you don't like them, don't use them, but don't moan about waiting for a checkout in a queue six deep when the self-service is free...

automatically assumed that I am a thief!

I got "randomly" selected in Tesco yesterday.

I had bought three boxes of (identical) catfood and the assistant needed to scan three items to check. She could see they were the same but insisted on scanning each one "in case the barcode was different"

That’s normal though , you get a ‘random’ check every few weeks . Sometimes it’s 10 items and sometimes the whole of your shopping .
The issue is people do abuse the system ,not the system itself

I don't care about the random check (although it does seem to happen almost every time I go in there lately. Maybe that store has a pilfering issue or they are cross with me for shopping there less now?)

The point was she could see the three identical boxes lying next to each other in the trolley, all identical!

I haven't read the thread but I have worked in supermarkets. At my local supermarket the majority of the time the cashier's on the checkout are from other departments and are 'queue busting' so they are also not paid to put your shopping through the checkout.

I would rather have more people restocking shelves than on the checkouts.

In the Tesco closest to me when they first introduced them they had quite an aggressive member of staff ushering / herding hapless shoppers to the newly introduced self serve tills ....... I purposely made such a hash of it in the end as she was obviously losing her temper at constantly having to use her staff key to remedy errors ..... I would never use one now as they have just sacked 12 members of staff from the Deli after closing it and not redeployed them .

So some people like them and some don't. That's why the supermarkets have self scan and manned tills!

I put a £60 shop through the self-service and when I left, the same people were still queueing at the till

Apologies if this has already been asked @adaline but how do you fit a £60 shop on to the tiny space given?

I use Asda so maybe other stores have a larger packing area. I'm all for self service and always use if I can, but £60 could be a weeks shop for me (it could also be a smaller weekend booze n treat shop) I've never had the space to bag it all, and of course if you take it off of the scales it adopts dalek on heat mode.

The Morrisons and Asda nearest to us have Self Check Outs with conveyors so you can easily put through an entire £60 shop no problem.

I was a Christmas temp at Tesco the one year and trust me we were not short of people who preferred to go to a cashier.

Also self scan is supposed to be for small amounts - when I have a basket with only a few items in I don't want to stand behind a family of five who have done their weekly shop.

I also hate the small talk with the cashiers, I like keeping my headphones on, scanning my stuff and then leaving.

Apologies if this has already been asked @adaline but how do you fit a £60 shop on to the tiny space given?

As soon as one bag is full, you can take it off and put it on the floor/in your trolley. You don't need to leave all your shopping in the bagging area.

I use the self scanners so I don't have to talk to other humans

Anyone still using a Garage where they come out and put the fuel in for you?
Thought not . . .

I only agree to go into McDonalds or KFC for the DC if they have one of those ordering screens so I will be personally responsible for lots of fast food workers losing their jobs too.
And yet there are almost permanent adverts for staff at them, much like the supermarkets.

adaline
You obviously do know how to use self - serve!
I’m irritated by customers that try to use it, then blame my colleagues when they can’t!

@cheesemongery just wait for the light on the scales to go green and then you can remove your bag and it won't trigger an "item removed from bagging area" palaver

I’m irritated by customers that try to use it, then blame my colleagues when they can’t!

Yep, and I'm saying if supermarkets don't want people to struggle with self-serve, then they need to open more tills.

Anyone still using a Garage where they come out and put the fuel in for you?

We actually have one not too far from us, but I've only used it once - it took much longer than doing it yourself, and the lady running it was rude to boot! I'd rather do it myself.

Nrft but YANBU.
However mumsnet is full of incredibly anti social people who won't open the front door and don't like speaking to anyone so you have probably been told YABU!
I hate supermarkets generally and go to individual shops as much as possible, but when I have to go to the supermarket I wait for the cashier. Some places (Sainsbury) have almost no cashiers so I avoid them
My local Morrisons, I have been going there years and it's the same ladies on the tills as always so they know everyone and everyone knows them. So yes, sometimes you have to wait a bit for a conversation to finish but they don't rush me so that's fine!

I hate self service anything actually. When out library went self service it really pissed me off, because I would try and renew books with the assistant who was just stood there and they would point at the self service machine. A lot of people have almost no human interaction in their lives-older people often dont-and I hate this move towards everything being do it yourself and speak to noone.
Everybody shuffling to prod their little individual screens and shuffling back into their cars. Ugh.Also, the more people use self serve the quicker every single service will be so, and I think that would be awful.

I was a cashier. I would've loved if my store had self service to get some of the incredibly grumpy customers away from me. Unfortunately it didn't so they all piled up at my till and harassed me for not being fast enough.

I mostly use self service. I just prefer them.

I love them especially the scan and shop. Quick and easy without having to use a cart. Pop items in a bag in the pram, scan at the self-serve, pay and go.

Not having to stand in a long line or having to make small talk whenever I just want to get in and out.