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?

This is not a new thing is it.

It had happened last time I was at the self serve at Tesco too. Four machines that took cash all not taking it at the same time, wtf is going on?

Problem with self service tills are that every minute it stops and asks for someone to assist , so the poor person having to man the self service check out has to run back and forth. I bet they hate it !

I stopped using self service a while a ago.

a) i like a chat with the cashier
b) most of the time the red light lit up with a problem , having to wait for staff to come over.

I took an extra part time job in a supermarket. I am surprised how much I like it . I do try to have a conversation with the older customers who seem to be alone but sometimes it is just too busy . We are due to lose half our manned tills to self service . At the moment we are mostly on basic 7 hour contracts with quite a bit of overtime but our hours are likely to be cut . The company line is that they cannot get enough staff to man all the tills. I do get fed up with being blamed for the price and availability of products. Customer should realise all decisions are made by much higher management. Hopefully some of them are on Mumsnet!

Well the store staff are just that, store staff, they're not petrol station attendants, and as it's unmanned it's highly unlikely they'll have any training on how it works, nor be expected by Tesco to go and sort out problems at the petrol station, and likely have as much idea why your card doesn't work as you do.
So I doubt it's a case of they 'won't' have anything to do with it, and the implication that wording brings of them being deliberately awkward, rather there's no expectations from their employer to deal with the issues that arise there and therefore no training in how to solve problems with some cards not being accepted at the petrol station.

How is it better for staff if we use manned checkouts? I can see that it keeps them in work, but it’s not a customers job to do the staff in the shop a favour.

There might be fewer checkout staff now than there used to be. but there are a lot more people in jobs that facilitate internet shopping so it all works out.

No, of course they're not. They're going to pay the staff to stand around drinking coffee while the machines do their jobs for them.

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Like a pp says, supermarkets can't fill their vacancies so don't have the staff to fill shelves and work every till (I'm sure in some areas it's no problem before you jump on me)
If there aren't enough staff they have to do something to keep the stores running or they will close, it will be the small local stores to go so be careful what you wish for
I personally prefer self service but do accept my mum would struggle to pick it up quickly but she would try and be prepared to learn the technology (she's housebound so this is not an issue we face)
I also prefer not to carry cash, I do think post pandemic where we couldn't use cash it's accelerated card use and we just haven't gone back. Cash will never go completely, not in my lifetime I'm sure but we are in a digital world so cash is no longer king

They don't, honestly. They do it because they would lose customers if they didn't - but logistically and financially, it's much easier to run a shop.

I work in the online shopping dept.

I wouldn't be so sure about that, especially for poorer or vulnerable people.

www.thebalance.com/pros-and-cons-of-moving-to-a-cashless-society-4160702

Cash circulation dropped hugely during covid and companies realised they could save money. If you're a huge chain then the collection, counting and banking of cash is a huge cost. It's all about saving £££'s.

And cash is by no means obsolete

Do you mean the other way round - if you want to pay cash you have to use a staffed till (because the auto tills only accept card?). I've never gone to a person and not been allowed to pay by card.
Matalan is bad for that though, there's always huge queues of people for the one staffed till, of everyone who wants to pay by cash, pick up deliveries, or do returns.

OP I was in a tesco metro today with the same - nobody using the self serve, everyone queuing for the 1 person at the counter who was the only one who could do do cash payments/returns/fags and lottery tickets/evri delivery. He was run ragged off his feet while the other member of staff manning the self service tills was bored with nothing to do. You need to email tesco head office if you find it annoying, if enough people do it they might change their systems. Staff on the shop floor have minimal influence.

This !

I just feel sorry for the retail workers who are left with baskets and trolleys of shopping to put back as people like some of the posters on this thread smugly flounce off because they can't use a certain payment method. I imagine they'll be glad to see the back of them!

If you've brought cash what are you meant to do? Might have no money in account or money needed for a direct debit or transfer.

I would say "sorry, I don't have any other means to pay at the moment, is there any way you could take cash?" If not, I'd say I had to leave my shopping. It may be unavoidable sometimes, but I meant people behaving like this (from a post upthread):

If Tesco's card machines stop working, I'd just abandon my trolley & walk out. I wouldn't take the trouble to find a cash machine for them!

It's more people relishing in walking out and leaving extra work for someone, like that. It happens, machines go down, sometimes card isn't an option, sometimes cash isn't... Why behave so rudely towards employees who have no say in the matter?

really?

So I can't drive myself back from the supermarket, as thats taking jobs from the taxi drivers,
and i shouldnt cook my dinner as thats taking jobs from chefs,
and as for cleaning my bathroom, theres a cleaner out of a job somewhere

things change in the world, and the way we did things is not the way we do them now - some years ago we would go to a local shop and someone behind the counter would go and get what we wanted - we dont do that now

On the news his morning that more people using cash again as easier to budget.

My ndn works for Tesco and they've closed a lot of their tills and replaced with self service, they are still recruiting and are short staffed, in our local Tesco the left side self service take cash or card and the right are card only.
I much prefer scan as you shop, I don't want to unload everything onto the conveyor belt then repack it all. It's much easier and quicker to scan it and pack into the correct bags as you go around.