To be worried about this trend? - Tesco check-out free store.

[mustlovegin]

It was first started by Amazon Fresh I believe.

Now Tesco are trying to do the same with their first check-out free store.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58951984

Basically you cannot physically get into the store unless you have the Tesco App. You also cannot pay by means of cash or a credit/debit card - you are made to pay for your purchases through the App.

Isn't this potentially discriminatory plus it forces customers to fit into their ecosystem and comply with their restrictions?

This particular store is in an area with many council flats nearby. Elderly and disabled people used to shop there and will now need to walk at least 15 minutes to do their shopping.

Where are we heading with all of this? Shouldn't we have more options and freedom not less?

There was a review in the Times last month showing what it’s like if you go unprepared. Sharetoken link: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c0798c4e-30f4-11ec-820f-e2be9b2cb5fd?shareToken=4cbc38840391d10876061baf44702579

@Megan2018

I think it’s great, it’ll be an age before it gets to me in the rural wilds of the East Mids sadly but I do everything I can on apps. I can start and defrost and charge my car from an app, I do all my banking on apps. I can’t remember the last time I used cash for anything in a shop, must be 3+ years. I think paying for a loaf of bread with £1 coin is odd these days. I don’t know anyone that does that, not even my parents and they are early 70’s, even they have applepay! I love technology, I’m all for innovation and not living in the past.

Is it related to how posh the areais, maybe. In a not good part of london and most people don't use this. Definitely lots of us still using cash. I'd hate to rely on my phone for all this. And download yet more apps, no way.

Agree, the shop location is bang in the middle of many other food stores, I worked there for years...no reason anyone has to walk an extra 15 mins to a food shop.

There is a campaign about access to cash for those who are keen to keep it

www.onepostoffice.co.uk/secure/latest-news/our-business/post-office-launches-campaign-to-save-our-cash/

I’ve been deliberately avoiding this shop. I use the M&S across the road instead. Probably because I hate Tesco but having read that times article I’m also vindicated in my initial thought that it won’t be worth the effort of the endless downloading etc before you go in.

It says they are trialling it at one store to see what customers think. Not that it's coming generally.

I also can't imagine they are getting rid of self scan option.

They know they would lose loads of customers. The wording says customers can not customers have to.

No way will they want to lose the people who pop in for a couple of things, the people who don't want to use it or can't.

Self checkout of course is still a challenge for plenty of people.

And big stores weekly shops self scan just not going to work. And of course weekly shop many don't do list. So would send them elsewhere as extra work.

So assume checkouts stay as well.

It's as well not instead.

No way will they change meaning lots loss of customers.

Dh and I watched a programme about Sainsburys recently and they had a shop like this on that programme, so if its only newly open then it isnt the first supermarket to do it.
Interestingly they had one hidden till for if the app went down and once customers noticed it a lot of them queued up to use that instead

Thanks for the article Empressaurus

Even if all of those glitches are ironed out further down the line, you can realise how much power organisations can wield with set ups like these

I worry about the spread of covid and the health of my old dog. I may like or not like how a shop decides to operaste it but why would i` worry about it?

I agree, there other more pressing issues to worry about.

But a lot of these changes that have the potential to be very detrimental if adopted by enough companies have been introduced by stealth in the last couple of years when most of us have been understandably preoccupied with something else.

This is the way everything is going. Things change and we are entering further and further into the digital age.
It won’t be long before your face is recognised and that is how you pay. No cashiers needed at all or tills. Pick up your shopping and walk out.

It won’t be long before your face is recognised and that is how you pay

So presumably you are ok with banks (which could be Natwest or something more loosely operated like Monzo) or Google accessing and storing your biometric data then? No risk there whatsoever

But you're not being forced to do anything.

This is one shop out of hundreds in central London - just buy your bread somewhere else

Its evolution people need to evolve to their new environment otherwise they get left behind. Checkout assistants need to look at retaining customers need to learn new technologies. It's the way of the world.

I've recently got myself a very basic phone to try and combat my screen addiction. So I wouldn't be able to use that store.
I find it quite concerning how reliant on technology I am. I'm currently posting on my tablet which I'm planning to give myself rules about using once I've adjusted to a basic phone. Which is ridiculous, obviously.
I find it quite concerning that they'll discriminate against you for not having a device that runs apps. Or what if you've run out of data? Or lost / broken their phone?

Similarly, I parked in a city centre multi storey last week expecting to pay with a card. Came back and none of the machines were working. The only way to pay was via QR code. I did it but it triggered multiple fraud alerts from my bank. My parents would not have known how to do that, been frustrated and worried and ended up with the parking fine.

I think Parliament should in the near future seriously consider laws that businesses have to accept certain payment methods, in order to protect the ability of all people to access products and services

I agree.

And I also think they will need to legislate against monopolistic technology platforms. In order to protect customers and also smaller organisations and traders who are often caught up in this mess.

Once Uber have disrupted destroyed the minicab sector, for instance, and drivers who are desperate to make a living are left with no option but to use the platform, what's stopping Uber from making it a condition for usage to provide a DNA sample ? Or surrender something else? Or donate a kidney?

It may all sound a bit extreme, but something similar is being introduced in other countries with more lax data and consumer protection legislation. Small businesses who are desperate for custom hand over whatever is required in order to be able to be allowed to continue to operate (and they are still abused in other ways - upping commission percentages for instance). It's sinister.

It's willy waving by Tesco. As PP have stated, Sainsbury's ran a trial store like this a few years ago in the same area, because that's where Sainsbury's head office is.
There are some local residents nearby, but the vast majority of the customers will be office workers from the legal businesses etc. nearby, including Amazon's London offices.

Sainsbury's ran a trial store like this a few years ago in the same area

The Sainsbury's one was cashless (which is bad enough) but they didn't force you to use the app

It's a private sector business, not a charity. They are not required to operate stores in particular ways to serve older customers.

Presumably they think there's a demand for this at that store, they aren't going to do something that loses them custom/money. If there really are a lot of older customers close by whom this will affect and they quickly lose business you will find they rapidly change it.

No one is "forcing" anyone to do anything.

It's a private business. If people do not want to use it they can shop elsewhere. There are tons of supermarkets near that one.

Oh I think this sounds cool. It'll be interesting to hear how successful it is or if it bombs.

Mustlovegin, agree completely - we're sleepwalking into a situation where a few unelected multinationals hold all the wealth and power and few seem to realise or care. Convenience over everything

@mustlovegin

Are there really that many council flats in Holborn But there is also another Tesco Express about 10 mins walk away plus the bigger one in Covent Garden and I’m sure there are various Sainsbury’s Locals too

You wouldn't think so, but there are several council flats in the area. Many elderly people with walking sticks and rollators. Sainsbury's is usually more expensive than Tesco.

The problem is that this is presented as a pilot, hence presumably they will want to roll it out to other areas.

BTW, this specific store was already cashless, operating with very few staff members, so I don't think this will help them reduce costs much further. What are they really trying to achieve with this?

I use a walking stick and occasionally a wheel chair, this would actually be great for me.

I do most shopping on line but it is really painful for me to pick up a few bits from a shop. I have to either use a basket that is awkward and means I have to put my hand bag either in the basket or on my shoulder behind me or a trolley.

Then I have to take what ever I'm buying out of the trolley / basket and then into my bag.

Going in and just putting groceries in my bag makes me think I might be able to shop in person.

Is it actually healthy to move further into the digital world? We are a social creature, but is this not against it? No social interaction?
I think it should be assessed about the impact it will have on society if shops move in this direction.

When integration reaches its peak there’ll be a trend in the opposite direction.
No worries there 😂😂😂

When integration reaches its peak there’ll be a trend in the opposite direction

I don''t know Tractor. I dread to think what peak integration would look like. I also don't think it would be reversible if we allow some changes to advance far enough, that's the problem

I hear folks saying all the time that they don't want to speak or interact with other people, is this healthy? What does the future look like where humans don't interact with others, some sort of dystopian society, I dont see this as a positive thing.