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?

My local M&S has self checkouts for clothes etc and they work fine for me. There is always an assistant close by in case of extra help required.
It's much more efficient than standing in a queue waiting to be served.

Not depressed. Just having a shit day. We've all had shit days. They'd probably have to work a whole day to afford that fancy jumper. And for some reason them putting it in a bag, asking for a sparks card and saying "that will be £125 please" and then giving you a receipt isn't enough. They have to SMILE and be oh so grateful you've chosen to shop at M&S today and OOOH you've chosen to buy an expensive item thank you so much madam.

It should be the same but larger more expensive purchases generally come with higher more involved levels of customer service. It's the difference between buying a diamond ring or wedding dress and buying a packet of gum and a pint of milk. You don't expect the same level of service in the petrol station as you expect in chanel for example.

Exactly though. M&S isn't chanel.

Lord the anti- human interaction brigade are out. Why’s it belittling to exchange words with someone at a check out?

Because if you expect any kind of polite conversation or help from a shop assistant you clearly think they're a peasant and expect them to fawn all over you.

Well no...because now they won't even put it in bag, ask for the money and give you a receipt. I have to do all that for myself. There is precisely zero interaction.

But my pet peeve is when they state at you suspiciously for using the self checkout. You've made me do it ffs. You cannot remove all cashiers then treat customers with suspicion.

*stare

Do you think that was a consideration when supermarkets took over from grocery shops?

Not sure you'd want to go back to those days

Like i said, I'm disabled. I won't be the only one.

I agree with you OP. Had this at Zara last weekend, the bastard tag wouldn’t come off so I had to get help anyway. My parents wouldn’t be able to cope, my mum is partially sighted and wouldn’t be able to see the screen and she is arthritic in her hands and not a chance could she do tags. Great if you want to use it but there should be a choice.

I also agree with you on the removing jobs comment and I also like my purchases wrapping in tissue paper and putting in a nice bag. Sometimes you save hard to buy something and it’s a treat, it should be a lovely experience to buy it. Absolutely agree clothes shopping is different to a pint of milk from the local shop.

What do you need tissue paper for?!

You seem very insistent that customers should receive the most very basic service and that they're terribly entitled to want any nice little extras or even just common courtesy.

It protects delicate fabrics from the rough fabric of a reusable bag, it makes it feel spoiling. I don’t need it, I like it. It gets reused at home too so saves me buying it separately. I don’t buy a lot of things, so those that I do I like it to feel special.

Is it because there are so many returns, probably more than purchases, I use the store as a returns hub for the stuff that I don't want that was bought online.

Very weird perspective OP. Acting like a shop should give you some sort of pat on the back for buying their naice £125 jumper (in the form of a person on the till doing the exact same thing a self service till does?) because you feel like you’ve, what? Done them a favour?

Dont buy their jumper if you need all that from them. Presumably you buy the jumper cos you want the jumper, not because you want the “customer service” (also as PP have said, customer service still very much alive elsewhere in the shop/buying experience, it’s just the tills that have changed).

Also for what it’s worth I’ve had countless time when a member of staff on a till has rung something up incorrectly/left a tag on etc- humans don’t magically make life easier (in fact probably more likely to make mistakes seeing as they’re, well, human).

Also lol at expecting some sort of white glove service in M&S. Away to Harrods if you’re that arsed.

I don't want a pat on the back. I want someone to serve me. Like all transactions, they will say thank you and I will say thank you. I don't but myself expensive things often at all and when I do I expect a little service

Uniqlo in Japan have self checkouts, and they are amazing. You just put your clothes or even a basket of clothes into a space like a sink and in a couple of seconds the checkout knows exactly what you’re buying. It’s great.

I don’t understand how that is your measure of “service” though? Isn’t someone showing you where something is in the shop, getting a jumper from out back in your size, advising on what suits, all more important?

the jumper costs £125 because that’s what the jumper costs, there is no monetary value in a thank you at the till.

Most service is terrible and that's not shop specific. Do you have this in a size 14? If it's not out there we don't have it...is the usual response.

And no I don't want a shop assistant to advice me on what suits me, if I want that I'd go to a personal shopper.

All I want is someone to scan my purchase, take my payment, hand me my goods and say a polite thank you.

Why are we now treating the concept of a cashier as some sort of alien concept? And the cost of goods is not just the item price...it goes towards the shops, rates, rents, security, staff, etc

I think we need to get used to doing things for ourselves - like scanning and item and putting it in a bag - as the ratio of the working population to the non working population continues to decrease. And prepare ourselves to being cared for by AIs/robots if we do need aged care down the track.

But why does somebody need to say “thank you” to me if i buy something? I’m buying things for ME, not to make the store staff happy, or because I feel sorry for them. I buy a shirt because I like it and its worth the price. No more, no less.
I don’t need a “Thank you”, I’m not some celebrity or the pope gracing the store with my blessing…..

I hate the full trolley self service checkouts in Tesco. Its useless at recognising half my shopping and once you've scanned it you can't proceed to the next thing until its in a bag. There was one week it was literally every other item I had to get the staff to put through. I told her it was quicker to use an actual till and could I just abandon it and go have an actual person do it instead and she said no.
When I take my 2 year old shopping with me I always ask if they want machine or human checkout. Human wins every time because humans are made for human interaction.

I haven't bought much clothing wise the last few months but the only place the unmanned tills worked well was Decathalon, although not strictly just clothes. You just place your shopping in a box and it scans it automatically and I don't think you care so much about your gym leggings getting creased.

Interestingly I've just seen Booths have decided to remove most of their self service checkouts and go back to people manning tills. I guess they don't feel it will harm their profits too much. I do think the highstreet won't survive if you now don't even get human interaction. So many places closed fitting rooms during covid, or they're now not manned so they're such a mess, that if a machine is going to manage the sale too I might aswell do all of that from the comfort of home online.

You wanting special and specific customer service is potential detrimental to the future of the store, they are all on the verge of collapse thanks to internet shopping. M&S in particular have closed so many shops and made so many redundancies, out sourced customer services abroad etc. I can also guarantee that 99% of the staff your so desperate for praise from for buying an expensive shirt cannot afford to spend that kind of money on a shirt because they pay there staff just above minimum wage like the rest of the supermarket chains! They are there to earn there keep and go home to there families like the rest of us. think you need to chill, your not in Chanel your in M&S and it isn’t particularly high end as much as you want to believe it is.