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

[Comedycook]

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?

It's a non-issue and not hard to do.

I'll save my "refusal to roll over" energy for important issues like the criminalisation of protest and the normalisation of far-right rhetoric in this country thanks. Not a supermarket policy that doesn't inconvenience me in the slightest.

Same here.

All of my jobs have been client and public facing, customer service, and learning how to get a job done well and efficiently. I’ve gotten to a point that my standards are if I need help, I’ll ask for it and as long as there is someone to help me when asked, I’m content. I want to get in, get out, and get on with the rest of my day. I may have the time to wait in a queue, but doesn’t mean I want to so if there is a self-checkout available with no queue or less people waiting than one with a person, I will use it.

The onus is on them to prove I've stolen something....I do not have to my prove my innocence before I am allowed to leave. They have no right to detain me. What I actually do is rip the receipt up in front of them.

Or you could like keep an empty carrier bag or 2 in your large Seasalt jute bag just for those occasions.

Wow, you're really 'sticking it to the man'.

What I actually do is rip the receipt up in front of them.

🤡

At least you give the staff a good laugh at you OP.

I think it depends on how you see shopping. If you are someone who sees buying a new top as a treat then it can be lovely to have it folded and put in a bag for you. Picking up a pint of milk is a chore, so happy to use self service and be quick.

If you are always shopping and buying new things then I understand the need to be quick, I am not and I don’t so for me I like the shopping experience. Just as if I go to an expensive restaurant I like to be cooked for and served (far nicer food than I can make myself!) I don’t think it’s snobbery I think it’s having different expectations of different events. Yes times change, and shopping isn’t like it was, but it’s not a bad thing to enjoy a small chat and it being an event to buy a nice top.

An ‘event’ to buy a top. Jesus Christ.

For some people, yes. I rarely buy myself new clothes... especially expensive ones.

I haven't got carrier bags and I like to pack my shopping properly in a proper bag as I have to carry it a bit of a distance as I am usually on foot as I do all my main shopping online, surely those checkouts should be able to tare any bag that customers use.

And lot's of people are in the same boat. The buying of the top is an 'event' or 'experience' for you but what exactly about having someone else fold it and put it in a bag makes it more of 'an event'?

Other than people waiting on you? And if it is that you enjoy other people waiting on you, maybe you need to have a think about why that is so important to you.

Folding and packing clothes nicely died when they stopping giving plastic carrier bags. The stores that still use paper ones will still fold and pack your new clothes, Fatface and WhiteStuff do I think, these examples are a similar price point to M&S

Even Primark do

I rarely buy new clothes in shops, but it still doesn't make it an event or an experience.

Other than people waiting on you? And if it is that you enjoy other people waiting on you, maybe you need to have a think about why that is so important to you having a chat with someone who happens to earn less is demeaning and seemingly it’s better to make them redundant and tell them a machine can do their job…..MN logic at its finest!

I’ve got a job. If I’m working in a shop as well, I expect to see some kind of discount on the price. Self service is the ruination of retail.

Going out for dinner is an ENTIRELY different experience to buying an item of clothing. Don’t be daft! A dinner is a social experience, and often marks an occasion or a celebration of something a little bit special. You’re being HOSTED by the restaurant. Thinking that a simple transaction for a new top should come with the same level of flourish is ridiculous. Get over yourself love.

Rather defeats the purpose of having the main shopping bag doesn't it.

Anyway I always get the unexpected item in the bagging area nonsense if I try to use any bag, so I try to use self serve tills without scales, or I just have to collect everything on the scales and then bag up at the end. Which takes twice as long, but there you go.

They tried this in the branch of one supermarket I go in and it’s now been removed. My local supermarket had approx 3 security guards hovering around near the entrance who were quite intimidating and they’ve now gone.

If you want to retain customers you have to treat them well to a certain degree.

You don’t get it, do you? They don’t care if YOU shop there or not. They don’t care if you never walk through the door again.

Why should they? Millions of other people will so it doesn’t matter about you.

No you don’t 😂😂

That’s what you want to do, but you don’t. You know it, we know it. No need to pretend otherwise.

It’s different because of how you’ve positioned it. I could argue eating in a restaurant is about tasting the food and sitting with friends, you don’t need a skivvy to make that enjoyable, fetch your plate yourself!

Tbf that's pretty much what you're supposed to do. Packing on the scales just upsets them.

Individual workers... correct.

The business as a whole should. They employ staff to represent them.

Going by your reasoning we'd be unreasonable to expect decent service anywhere

No I actually do...I'm quite mild mannered but things like that really irritate me and I can be quite lairy when I feel like it!