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Original poster

Had to scan my own shopping today on a normal till

89 replies

Legoandloldolls · 28/10/2020 16:03

In Wilko today. I was asked I wanted to pay by card and was directed to a normal till. They had blocked the belt off so i there was a upturned storage box to balance your basket on but only about 5 inches of the top of the conveyor belt. I had bought a mop and bucket and various other things so I scanned it on the floor. It was my choice to scan it on the floor as I just didnt want the faff of balancing it all on the minuscule make shift storage box. Then had to use the till screen and walk to end of the till to pay.

I know it's a first world issue but I hate self serve even when it's set up properly. Scanning my stuff at a proper till felt very depressing. I think it's just grim that some shops are so tight they wont even employ staff to run a till.

It's another depressing experience during the pandemic on the high street. If they had the full belt to use maybe it wouldnt have been so bad. I felt like I was being a CF wanting to shop in there. Mind you there was no where else to buy a mop, but if there was a choice I wouldn't rush back

OP posts:
Mrsjayy · 28/10/2020 16:49

I hate being directed to self service its a bloody hoha I avoid them as much as I can.

Reallybadidea · 28/10/2020 16:49

I assumed this was just Wilko's cheapskate version of self scan, rather than invest properly in it like Tesco, sainsburys etc. Not a great experience tbh.

throwaway100000 · 28/10/2020 17:01

As someone that used to work in retail I think this sounds bizarre!

The tills/software used on normal tills vs self service tills are different? Or did they switch it to self service software? If not, I wouldn’t want random customers doing whatever they liked under my till code lol. Customers would have access to company sensitive information via POS, or what if someone tried to open the till to retrieve cash etc

throwaway100000 · 28/10/2020 17:05

WTF customers are supposed to take their own security tags off? As in the sharp pins on clothes that need to be removed by a magnet? Is that a joke???

Sounds like a shoplifter’s paradise frankly. Also it will be a ball ache if a customer injures themselves on a security tag accidentally

AmuckAmuckAmuck · 28/10/2020 17:17

@throwaway100000

WTF customers are supposed to take their own security tags off? As in the sharp pins on clothes that need to be removed by a magnet? Is that a joke???

Sounds like a shoplifter’s paradise frankly. Also it will be a ball ache if a customer injures themselves on a security tag accidentally

Funny thing, went into our local Matalan to buy some jeans and were directed to the self service. We'd been in to Dorothy Perkins before and they had forgotten to remove the security tag (I had the receipt). I was able to try and remove the DP tag on Matalan tills. Sadly it didn't work as it was a different kind of tag so had to trek back across town anyway, but you're right. Shoplifters unite in there.

As for Wilko, their tills seem to run a more advanced software than a self checkout. I worked in the Co-Op for a while and it was more akin with their set up than a standard self serve. Certainly complex if you didn't have a little knowledge.

Thisismylife1 · 28/10/2020 17:20

I think it’s Covid unrelated.

It’s Wilco’s not Harrods! How do you think they keep the prices down Confused

Jericoo · 28/10/2020 17:22

They get the customer to do the job they used to pay people for, that's capitalism for you

areallthenamesusedup · 28/10/2020 17:25

@Jericoo

They get the customer to do the job they used to pay people for, that's capitalism for you
THIS!!!!! And we have fallen for it.
Paranoidmarvin · 28/10/2020 17:27

They have done this in matalan. I now wait to be served by the only maned till. The lady told me on there that loads of people have had their hours cut so they could do this. Just awful

BlindAssassin1 · 28/10/2020 17:44

We'd all better get used to it, with either self-scans or using handsets as you go round the supermarket.

I don't think companies want to pay someone to sit on their bum all day when other staff are unloading lorries, getting it on to the shop floor, walking up and down ailes filling click and collect orders, especially when they get paid the same.

The age of checkout jobs are nearly over, this was always the plan though, long before Covid came along.

Lovemusic33 · 28/10/2020 17:53

In a time where many people are out of work I find this very sad ☹️, I hate self service but am often made to use them to reduce queue sizes (not enough tills open). Also sad when for lots of people going to a shop is the only face to face contact they have with another human being especially at the moment.

I haven’t been into a wilko for ages so I’m unsure if ours is doing this, I really hope not.

JacobReesMogadishu · 28/10/2020 17:57

Had this at a small hospital based WH Smith’s. It must be a covid thing there because they only every have one member of staff. Even though it was self service the member of staff was still there telling you what to do. So doesn’t save any wages that I can see but does keep them away from customers....maybe more important in a hospital?

BoomBoomsCousin · 28/10/2020 17:57

This sort of thing just sends me online.

Dhalia443 · 28/10/2020 18:01

I agree. Matalans was bloody annoying! She told me to remove the hangers.... err no!
Wilkos was frustrating slow, it’s not a user friendly self scan. ( much prefer home delivery from them.)

I like to be served by a human. I love Aldi, none of that nonsense 😂

rhubarbgin7 · 28/10/2020 18:12

I've been to a few different wilkos and have done this, it's not a problem to me it's extremely simple and quick to use. What is annoying though is the people who use the self service and slaver about for 15 mins holding the que up, I've never worked in a shop or on a till but it's very self explanatory.

Frouby · 28/10/2020 18:14

I hate self service tills, they benefit no one except the company.

Fizbosshoes · 28/10/2020 18:17

Our local wilko has been like this for weeks if not months. There is a very helpful young guy that is available for people who are not sure what to do but he is far too enthusiatic and wasted in wilkos and seems like he should be on kids tv

ImMoana · 28/10/2020 18:22

I had the unfortunate experience of having to use these tills in Wilko’s recently too.
Worse then using the awkward till arrangement was the confusion over which tills were open and which till to use. One queue for self service, fair enough but then the one member of staff was trying to operate one queue for the other tills too, except they weren’t very vocal about that, so there was one additional queue being funnelled down to bigger tills and then random people walking up to the bigger tills, trying to work out of they were open, what the queuing system was and also the normal CF’s trying to push in.

Not in any rush to go back.

SynchroSwimmer · 28/10/2020 18:23

I had this in Wilco Swindon, 2 less than pleasant young women chatting and implying I had to self scan while they were messing around.

I refused and waited for a manned till. The attitude of the staff on the sidelines was a bit off and a bit odd.

In my mind I would just dump my trolley and leave - if the only option open is to self scan.

dontcallmelen · 28/10/2020 18:26

Same at my local wilko, it’s quite bizarre as like OP said appears very amateurish, also the stock levels have been atrocious since lockdown a third of the shop is virtually empty, I avoid self checkout as much as possible mainly as it makes me sad the loss of interaction & sense of isolation that seems to be fostered over the last few years plus does appear as an excuse to cut staff/hours.

MoonJelly · 28/10/2020 18:27

Happily I haven't come across this one. If I did, I strongly suspect that I'd decide to shop elsewhere or go online.

MountainDweller · 28/10/2020 18:33

I would have refused, I only have one free hand as I use a stick.

Wetweekend99 · 28/10/2020 18:39

It was/is a covid measure. Its really not that tricky. Scan your items and read the screen. It is too keep the queues down and as many people in and out as quick as possible. I have no problem doing it and I would rather handle my own products for the sake of the staff. Imagine how many things they have to touch, if I can reduce that i will.

CHIRIBAYA · 28/10/2020 18:40

Ah, this happened to me in Wilkos last week. No objection to self-scanning as such but it was a normal till and staff were hanging around chatting while I was trying to work out how to scan and pay; it was not obvious. It has put me off going back, I just can't be bothered with the faff. Teeny issues in themselves but this constant drip of teeny issues is adding to the camel's back!

AdobeWanKenobi · 28/10/2020 18:45

Its really not that tricky

Literally the person above you said she used a a stick and struggled. Not everyone is able bodied or able to understand these systems so for some people it is tricky.

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