Asda not opening checkout tills

[Cramlington567]

About 8pm. Had a trolley full of stuff. There was a single checkout open when I entered. Went there to pay and it is closed with a sign saying in the evening there maybe be times when checkout is closed and you should use self scan. Two staff chatting ten meters away. I ask if they can open the till. They said 'sorry, no we don't have enough staff".

I go to self service. About 4 times the machine stopped and had to wait for the same staff to come over and unlock it. I was only a quarter of the way through my trolley. Justly left it there, walked out and said to the two staff, sorry I am leaving it, it's too much hassle.

Unreasonable? Plus, everyone saw this coming 10 years ago when it was 'we will always have at least one checkout open' then ' just ask and we will open one'.

Went to Aldi in the end but I can see them going the same way.

I am healthy by the way and middle aged. Would they have opened a till if I was elderly? Or obviously disabled but then not all disabilities are visible of course.

I have also walked out of a supermarket (Morrisons), leaving my stuff on the non-functioning self-service checkout when there were no proper checkouts open and no staff even to help at the self-service. This included a build-your-own salad from the salad bar that they would not have been able to re-sell.

No wonder people turn to online shopping and the supermarkets will be weeping then about lost profit.

Totally understandable to abandon your trolley full of shopping.
The more shit service we accept and put up with, the worse it'll get.
And I say that as someone who works in a major supermarket.

No you were perfectly reasonable. I'd have done the same. They should always have enough checkouts open for the people who need (elderly, disabled etc) or who want to use them.

Diva behaviour. The self scans only don't work properly due to user error. Use them a bit more and practice perhaps.

Good to hear. Not the staffs fault I suppose. Even in Aldi, I have asked and they pause before agreeing, the manager has said 'do you not want to use self service' and I say no. Can see it's a losing battle. May be the hill I choose to die on😅

abandoning your trolly full of stuff isn't going to do anything other than be annoying for minimum wage workers who have entirely zero control over how the supermarket is run

You’ve just left a trolley full of stuff for the poor staff to put away for you.

What you did was neither big nor clever.

Get to the supermarket at a decent time if you can’t be bothered to scan your own stuff.

Or download the Scan & Go app and scan the goods as you shop for them.

Don't blame you at all. I hate self scan tills. Would much rather go to a cashier.

Exactly.

Not unreasonable until self checkouts can be relied upon not to produce spurious errors and also have a way of not needing a person to authorise paracetamol or wine and then no person available.

I refuse to use self service tills. I don't work there so it's not my job to scan my shopping.

Yanbu, I would have left it too, they should employ more staff and keep tills open if they don't want their staff putting it back.

Of course it’s not their fault. The superiority just drips you off your posts.

Not unreasonable, but I’d have carried on using the self service tills in that situation as I’d have wanted my shopping.

I can't see how it's diva behavior to be expected to PAY for the privilege of being treated like absolute shit as a customer by a company. And customers aren't to blame for poorly paid staff.

Each to their own. I prefer till service but don't mind using the self scan from time to time reluctantly. I probably wouldn't get a quarter of the way through and then give up and go do another shop somewhere else... that's going to take even longer 😂

I agree that the shop floor staff have no control over it. But is it that annoying for them? I worked in supermarkets for years, and while I was working it really made not one bit of difference whether I was stacking a shelf with something from the warehouse, putting stuff back that a customer didn't want, working on the checkouts, or running the self service tills. My shift would finish at the same time anyway.
If anything, I'd say that if anyone did this in an attempt to cause inconvenience, it really wouldn't be effective.

This is one of the reasons most of my shopping is bought online.

Yeah, I do use self service tills if I have a basket btw. Just not when I have a big trolley full.

"Get to the supermarket at a decent time if you can’t be bothered to scan your own stuff."

If the supermarket is open then that is a decent time! And the supermarket should be prepared for actual customers wanting to pay for stuff and have appropriate measures in place. I'd say that functioning tills isn't a big ask!

Self service tills do not only malfunction due to user error - sometimes the scale doesn't recognise the weight of very light items or won't read coupons/need staff up authorise purchases.

Aren't you online shopping with the same supermarkets you're complaining about? How do they lose profit then?

I have asked them to open a till at Waitrose - 45 mins prior to closing - and they refused, saying I could put a full shop through a basket self scan in stages. Fuck that!!! I threatened to just leave the full trolly of shopping then they opened one. If they want to shut the tills at a certain point then they need to publicise the times. It is not unreasonable to want to do a full shop at 7:30pm.

Online shopping is at a much greater cost to the supermarkets than doing it all yourself, someone has to pick it, pack it and deliver it at hardly any extra cost to myself as I get delivery saver.

The self service checkouts are fine if you're buying a few items, but I wouldn't use one for a trolley full. If the supermarket is open late, it doesn't mean that they're absolved of providing decent customer service and I'd expect 1 manned checkout to be open as a minimum.