Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think self checkouts in clothes shops is a step too far

309 replies

Comedycook · 09/11/2023 13:59

Went shopping to get my dd some new clothes today. Noticed H and M had self service checkouts... tills were open too though. Then I went to M&S and tills were only for returns or exchanges and to pay you had to use self service. I tolerate self checkouts in supermarkets but when I am buying clothes, I expect some sort of service. What struck me is that in my local M and S they sell Jaeger...a blouse was £125. I assume their coats would be at least a couple of hundred quid. It really irks me and no way would I spend hundreds of pounds on an item of clothing and have to ring it up a the checkout myself. I think it's really crappy to be honest... anyone else agree?

OP posts:
OnlyFoolsnMothers · 09/11/2023 14:13

Yes it’s a piss take- our M&S is too and someone has to come over to take the tags off. I absolutely hate it.

AnneLovesGilbert · 09/11/2023 14:16

Our nearest Matalan does this. They haven’t even done anything new to make it clear what you have to do, they’ve just dragged the scanner out to the front and people stand by the unmanned tills looking confused till a member of staff barks at them to a scan it themselves.

They deserve to go under.

Starbeeees · 09/11/2023 14:18

You should see Bershka 🤣 you have to take the tags off yourself as well 🤣

TokyoSushi · 09/11/2023 14:18

Love a self check out, in any store, maybe they're made for people like me!

commonground · 09/11/2023 14:19

Ha. They do this in Uniqlo - and you have to pay for the paper bag too. It's kind of marginally OK there I think because you are mainly buying cottons and sweatshirts etc - so foldables. Still not great. It always feels a bit of a scrum (and tbh, the clothes aren't super cheap).

That's why I love Liberty's - no matter what you buy you get it tisssss-ue wrapped and in a purple bag, gratis (which are really nice for recycling as gift bags). That's service for you!

Spaghettieis · 09/11/2023 14:19

Our M&S has this now too. On the one hand it’s good that if you have something simple to check out then it saves time queuing behind someone with a complex return, and frees up staff to deal with returns, but I wish they would have just employed extra staff instead!

Thedm · 09/11/2023 14:21

I’m just waiting for us to start having “Vend-all” stores. Just stores full of vending machines for everything; clothes, shoes, guns in the US. It’s always in sci-fi books and I always thought that would never happen, but it’s coming closer!

quivers · 09/11/2023 14:21

Our Matalan has been doing this for a while and it is a pain in the neck every time. They literally pay a member of staff to stand there and point you in the direction of the self-checkouts, and they invariably have to go over and assist anyway. Stupid bloody idea.

Nanny0gg · 09/11/2023 14:21

It's great.

It means my clothes are folded properly and not screwed up and I don't have to show the staff how to do it.

(I object to paying a lot of money and then having to iron them when I get home)

TheFlis · 09/11/2023 14:22

Seems like I am in the minority but I love them, particularly the Uniqlo ones where you don’t even have to scan stuff, you just put it in the box and it does it automatically. So much quicker!

floofbag · 09/11/2023 14:22

Well the high street won't survive unless they cut back on staff . I don't know what the problem is , I like being self sufficient and not standing in a long slow queue !

Thesearmsofmine · 09/11/2023 14:23

Yes our M&S is the same. My mum won’t go to that store now because she hates them.
I actually find it quite sad, for a lot of people those little interactions you might have at the till are important.

Original poster
Comedycook · 09/11/2023 14:25

I tolerate self service for certain items..but a coat or suit can be a couple of hundred pounds at least. I really don't want to have to ring it up on the till myself like I'm buying a pint of milk in my local co-op. I expect some service.

OP posts:
Lyricallie · 09/11/2023 14:26

Oh I like it, they’re usually straight forward to use. The Uniqlo ones are clever too, no scanning anything! Stops you having to queue for ages.

Hoptimist · 09/11/2023 14:26

TheFlis · 09/11/2023 14:22

Seems like I am in the minority but I love them, particularly the Uniqlo ones where you don’t even have to scan stuff, you just put it in the box and it does it automatically. So much quicker!

I often feel like buying stuff from Uniqlo, just because of their scanners. You throw it all in and they scan it all individually. One personal highlight when I was standing near a scanner with a pile of clothes in my arms and it still automatically scanned them correctly. The transaction of dreams.

floofbag · 09/11/2023 14:27

You can still stand in a queue and pay in M and s .

Thesearmsofmine · 09/11/2023 14:29

floofbag · 09/11/2023 14:27

You can still stand in a queue and pay in M and s .

Not in our brand new store. In an older store in the next town you can still pay a human.

EasternTennessee · 09/11/2023 14:32

I don’t mind doing it myself, it’s usually quicker.

BarbaraofSeville · 09/11/2023 14:32

Wanting someone else to scan a tag and put a coat in a bag is quite an odd thing to prioritise. Why does it matter?

Shopping is not 'an experience'. It's a chore that's not made any better by having to queue up to be made to engage in small talk with someone who's really not interested in the hundreds of people they serve each day, but their bosses seem to think that everyone wants to be paid fake complements or interrogated about what they're doing for the rest of the day

Being able to try things on instead of being forced into the futility that is online shopping for clothes is a necessary evil and if this is what they need to do to help it continue, then that's fine by me.

iatealltheminieggs · 09/11/2023 14:33

In Pull and Bear you have to take the security tags off too, which is great... if you can get it to work. I ended up helping two other customers whilst I was buying my stuff as there were no staff visible to ask. I should have sent them an invoice for my time!

I don't mind self checkouts generally, but a staff member should still be around when something inevitably goes wrong.

Original poster
Comedycook · 09/11/2023 14:34

floofbag · 09/11/2023 14:27

You can still stand in a queue and pay in M and s .

In my local one, you can only be served by a cashier in the food section. The clothes section today was all self service. The tills which were open were only for exchanges and returns

OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 09/11/2023 14:35

Thesearmsofmine · 09/11/2023 14:29

Not in our brand new store. In an older store in the next town you can still pay a human.

Show quote history

You can in our new one.

The Returns till isn't just for returns

Original poster
Comedycook · 09/11/2023 14:36

Shopping is not 'an experience'. It's a chore

Popping out to buy a pint of milk and a roll of binbags is a chore. Shopping for clothes is not necessarily a chore for everyone.

OP posts:
PecanPeach · 09/11/2023 14:36

Matalan near me has them and you take your own security tags off and no staff are anywhere to be seen.

I can't even imagine the amount of stock they must lose to shoplifting. I can't believe the cost of an extra member of staff outweighs that.

ExpressCheckout · 09/11/2023 14:38

It really depends on the service, I think. You can have terrible self-scan where you are waiting 4-5 minutes (I'm looking at you, Morrisons) or really quick, efficient self-scan, e.g. Aldi. But yes I take OP's point. If I was spending £125 on an item of clothing in a physical store, I'd expect some kind of human interaction.

Swipe left for the next trending thread