Tesco

[Kidsfortea]

Please tell me if I'm out of line here.
Went into my local tescos today. Wanted to pay cash. This means that I now cannot use any of the self service tills as they are now card only.
The queues for the manned tills were horrendous but only half of them were open. I asked a passing member of staff why the tills were shut.
Her answer was because we want people to have to use the self service tills.
Why are we doing the job for them? Does this reflect on the prices, obviously not.
A lady in the same queue as me said that they made an older lady cry as she only had cash but didn't realise the manned till she had gone to was card only...she hadn't got one. Was given no help at all.

Aibu to question why cash is no longer a thing and why we have to use self service? Do these staff members not realise that their jobs are on the line here?

Well if all the tills become self serve only it's not just cash payers who are f*cked, it's those of us with 'zombie finger' as well. No matter what I do I cannot get a response from self service tills so I have to use manned checkouts. And another thing about Tesco, am I the only person who is appalled at their new policy with store baked bread? They put it out on the (customer side) shelves UNWRAPPED. They then provide what they call 'paper hands' that you pick it up with and a brown bag for you to put it in. It's disgustingly unhygienic. Thank you OP for giving me the opportunity to have a little rant about this. I feel so much better now.

Wow who put salt in your tea. I am not a nasty person. I would never yell or be rude to anyone nor was it my intention to make anyones life difficult. It was a simple question.
Maybe don't take your annoyance out on other people!

If there are no tills that take cash try going to customer services. They can process your shop and I've not yet found one that can't take cash.

You're welcome 👍

A lady in the same queue as me said that they made an older lady cry as she only had cash but didn't realise the manned till she had gone to was card only...she hadn't got one. Was given no help at all.

I think that’s likely to be absolute bollocks. It’s hardly in Tescos interest to ‘make’ people cry. And as if not even one member of staff would be a decent human being and help. Staff are constantly directing people to various tills in every Tesco, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and Asda I’ve ever been in.

Most people have cards, they need to use them.

Perfectly feasible about the older lady I'm afraid - I have been close to tears at a supermarket checkout. I have also had to abandon shopping because I'm in too much pain to make it through the queue. I don't think many people commenting here, or whoever makes the stupid rules, or the supermarket staff, understand how difficult it can be for an older person or someone with mobility issues to accomplish something like a supermarket shop.

My local supermarket has installed card-only self-service tills but you can't take a trolley through, only a 'basket'. But the 'baskets are stupid crates on wheels at floor level, which means you have to bend to the floor to put every item in and take every item out at the till. Completely unusable by anyone with mobility problems (back, hip and ankle in my case) and many older people I imagine. Whoever designed them does not give a fuck about older or mobility-challenged people. I use a trolley to lean on when going round the supermarket and stack items on the child seat to avoid bending. I might only have the equivalent of a basket of stuff. I have abandoned my trolley in store before and taken the items through the self-service till in my arms. There is a member of staff policing the self-service tills - mostly sitting there doing nothing because no one wants to use them. They could be serving actual customers on a normal checkout! Only 3 checkouts open in the whole shop and massive queues at all of them...

Yes I use the equivalent of click and collect and sometimes delivery but the things I need are not always available online.

I normally pay by card but have given up on Matalan as if you want a staffed till you have to pay cash. Every time I've used the self service I've experienced problems but the staff won't help.

Card transactions asre so much more efficient - reduces cash handling/counting costs, reduces risk of theft...
Maybe they should charge a premium for paying in cash?

Staff members jobs are NOT on the line....how bloody ridiculous

Cashless society would be a dangerous road to go down, we have all saw certain bank cards being unable to be processed at supermarkets. So in the event of cyber attacks on banking systems and we were cashless how would we purchase goods?.

We have an unmanned petrol station at our Tesco, and the staff in store will have nothing to do with it. It will not take my RBS card, I have to have another account simply to get petrol from tnere.

Due to COVID, I'm working in a supermarket. I've worked in much 'better' jobs. Much more highly paid jobs.

I would honestly take this job over any of them. Ultimately I plan to go back to what I was doing pre COVID, once business picks back up to a sustainable level.

But I am enjoying this one way more than I ever thought I would. It's a much less crappy job than some much more 'prestigious' jobs I've done.

They've probably adjusted it as more and more people do use card. As long as there is some way to pay in cash and its clearly signed I don't see the issue.

It might be a simple question but an annoying one. Checkouts are not usually closed for fun, there’s not an abundance of staff just sat in the back doing nothing like some people seem to think.

We have self service and manned tills, usually it’s only during the quiet periods the self service is on and nobody’s stood at the manned tills. However during these times for every customer that won’t use the self serve and asks for a man till, someone has to stop filling the shop floor to serve said customer (and it’s never just the one).

We then get less filling done on the and then customers complain that this and that’s empty. We can’t win and pisses me off no end.

Off topic but yes they should have at least one cash till, the only time ours have not taken cash is when we had a change shortage and couldn’t fill it. Maybe this could be the issue?

I don't shop in Tesco or Asda because it is so much self service, I only shop online at Tesco. Waitrose still has a lot of manned tills and doesn't mind how you pay. M&S try to direct you to self service but I just ignore them.

Whilst I think self service tills are convenient for some, I do feel for those elderly or vulnerable that struggle with the technology as there are often nobody around to help. Also, a chat at the till was often the only contact they would have with someone that day and they must really miss it.

I was in boots the other day, they had 2 manned tills and then a row of self service. I had an issue at the self service till as it didn’t take off the offer price for a product. I had to stand there and wait for 10 minutes until they had stopped serving everyone else in the queue. How was that quicker and more convenient? The staff looked run ragged trying to cover both areas. Sometimes you just can’t replace humans.

Our Tesco Superstore has just taken out 8 check out tills, the scan and pay is closed. So there are only 4 tills operated by staff. I pay a mixture of cash and card, but out of about 20 self serve tills only 2 take cash and there is always a queue. My local M&S had 2 self serve cash tills, but this week it went down to one. I avoid shopping Friday, Saturday and Sunday as the queues to pay are awful

I do so agree with the importance to elderly people of the social engagement in supermarkets, as I’m slightly skimming the surface of that issue at the moment - I’m staying at DS and DDIL’s house cat sitting, about an hours drive from home and although I have been out and about on 3 occasions doing my voluntary work, nonetheless the absolute emptiness of the house and the lack of human contact with DH (other than by phone - he’s not good at Face Time) is getting to me. Even though I’m incredibly lucky that I have a DH to whom I’ll return in a week. Ive popped into the local town just to have a coffee and say hello to someone!

I am absolutely not in any way minimising the plight of genuinely lonely people - but its like saying I have a bit of a headache which is getting me down so how I’d cope with your excruciating pain I dont know

Don't use self service tills and write to the supermarket and tell them.

They will put people out of a job and, additionally, show that the store doesn't give a toss about the needs of their customers. They expect them to do the job of a cashier and market it as some old bollocks about being convenient for the customer.

I wouldn't be surprised if they come up with some reasoning that says its good for the planet...as that seems to be the current Get Out of Jail Free Card.

What next, will the customer be expected to stack the shelves?

Have one, maybe two self-service tills for those who want them-anything else is a save money exercise.

Banks are now (post pandemic) charging more to process cash & cheques - in many cases, card payments are now cheaper to accept.

Checkouts may soon be a thing of the past in any case - www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60038681.amp

In the main this is a democratising, empowering thing thats good for consumers Absolutely not - the removal of cash is really negative and creates huge problems.

I agree. I work in hospitality. Yesterday, on one of the busiest days of the year, all cash points and card machines did not work. It was a problem in the area where we work and all had the same problem.
Everything ground to a halt. No-one had cash. The whole day was a nightmare.

Times are changing and supermarkets much pre fer customers shopping online now jus t like other stores.Days of shopping instore are numbered, staff are relieved as all customers do is moan, its so tiresome.

In our local Tesco about half the self service machines are cash only. It's a pain to be honest!
They can set the machine to be one or another. So the fact non are set to cash I would raise with the store manager.