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 think there should be a sign on the way in advising how many tills if any are open or just self scan then you can make an informed choice

but those people who think it’s acceptable to dump shopping and create waste because there have a tantrum that the tills are shut are a disgrace to themselves
stores shop charge them a fee and ban them

@rwalker it is not a tantrum. The shops are providing a very poor service and some customers react by walking out.

Both of the larger supermarkets I use have multiple trolley-sized self-service checkouts and they are simple and easy to use. I prefer them to staffed checkouts because I never have to queue for one, I can scan the items in the order I choose making it easier to pack them in the manner I want, and I don't have to indicate to the cashier how I want to pay, wait for them to set up the card payment terminal, and then request my receipt. It's invariably quicker than using a staffed checkout, and it's bliss compared to the era before self-checkout when they had approximately 6 more staffed checkouts but the same number of customers, so there were perpetual queues, whereas now they have roughly 12 or so self-service in the same area and no queues... other than at the staffed checkouts.

I really don't understand the "I'm not being paid to scan my own shopping" thing. You have just been around the entire store yourself, presumably filling your trolley yourself, and taking your shopping home by yourself. Do you refuse to board a bus if the staff don't come and carry you on board? Refuse to drink your glass of whatever if the bar staff don't raise it to your lips for you? Refuse to step in an elevator because it has the temerity to just sit there with the doors open waiting for you?

Anyone who has worked in retail knows what an entitled, ignorant, ridiculous bunch of complete arseholes the general public can be. So many people seem to believe that because they are walking into a shop with the intention of spending money it gives them the right to treat the staff like dirt and make all sorts of unreasonable demands. I can completely understand there are practical reasons why staff are refusing to open tills for one particularly demanding customer at ten-to-closing, and I am also completely unsurprised that it provokes histrionic flouncing when they refuse. I'm also a bit bemused that the flouncers genuinely appear to believe their tantrums will somehow win the business/staff over their viewpoint.

After they've spent time doing their shopping? That's the tantrum, dumping the shopping after you've spent time selecting etc.

Why not check before you start shopping and then not shop there? Is the checkout open, yes or no?

Much less tantrummy!

@Noyesnoyes do you understand that there might not be large queues when you start shopping and then there are at checkout time? Or that as you scan yet something else that needs approval and there is no assistant to be seen you might just get fed up waiting 10 minutes for a staff approval?

@TesticularHeft as the parent of a disabled child the hours and location suit. I have a masters degree, have earned 5x my salary here in the past, but life changes. The fellow staff and store level management are beautiful people. The problems come from the top.

@pootlin 😆

If its user error then it's the supermarket's fault. I design software. If a user manages to break it or can't work out what to do or does something wrong, then I've cocked up.

If supermarkets make it too inconvenient to buy my shopping, I'm not going to give them my money. And I'll happily leave my trolley of food there to prove my point. Yes, unfortunately that means that some poor sod is going to have to put it back on the shelves. Maybe that means they can't help another customer, and the supermarket loses a bit of money, maybe they quit and leave the supermarket short staff. Whatever happens, it's going to leave a dent in the supermarkets bottom line, even if its just a fraction of a penny for the staff members time, + the £100 from my wallet that they're now not getting.

Do you understand standing in the queue is quicker than going elsewhere with the same potential issue?

@Noyesnoyes Which is why I have waited in ASDA in the past, But I did not go back. It is the one supermarket I avoid.
ASDA are going to end up with only the people who have no choice but to shop there.

Not judging by our local one on Sunday! It was bloody rammed.

I wonder if there should be a minimal level of staffing set by law before a store over a certain size can be open, say for those stores deemed to be large under the laws about shop opening.

EVERY time I go to Sainsbury’s now I politely ask to speak to the manager about the self serve tills and make my point calmly that customers are not being well served.

What difference do you think that will make? I can tell you, none. He'll just be thinking 'silly woman' while you complain at him as he is powerless to do anything about it. '

@Noyesnoyes ASDAs profits slumped 13% last year in spite of your local store being rammed. Most general supermarkets want to attract people who will spend more than average, rather than lots of people buying very cheap things.

H&M in France, and some stores in the UK now has self scan tills, including a device for removing security tags from your purchase.
personally I prefer it as I don’t have to run the gauntlet of ‘would you like a H&M reward card’ etc at the checkout

i had the same reaction in a different supermarket. I told the staff I just saw a rat run down the vegetable aisle. They looked at me like 'WTF do you want us to do'.

Looks like M&S is in the self scan doghouse too

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13240215/customers-marks-spencer-bemoan-self-service-tills.html

Interesting comments from industry commentators about how customers are likely to vote with their feet

M and S are popular with older customers. I can't see their expansion of self checkouts being popular.

What a load of bollocks

Where do I book my practice lessons for ASDA self checkouts?

Yanbu at all! I abandoned a basket of shopping at the self scan last week - scanned a bottle of wine but there wasn't a member of staff anywhere to verify my age.

I think supermarkets are forgetting that most of us have a choice about where we shop.

So why are they choosing to go to somewhere will self service then kick off about it

They’re going somewhere with checkouts and getting annoyed when the checkouts aren’t open. The fact there is also self service isn’t relevant.

@Allmarbleslost hadn't thought about the alcohol one. Is it worth complaining to whoever grants alcohol licences?