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 boycotted self-service checkouts for many years. And when staff tried to encourage me to use them, I pointed out to them why I wasn’t : To do what I could to protect their jobs. Frequently, the response was a blank expression which suggested they were too thick to understand that the reason their bosses installed machines was to replace them.

Eventually, I gave up when refusing to use the machines & joining the queue became too inconvenient & time-consuming to justify

Wow "too thick to understand"!

How deeply unpleasant you are!

I used to work in a supermarket as a checkout manager
I had a 1st class RG degree
My checkout team at the time included PHD students, a former secondary headteacher and a solicitor (working shifts as a SAHD)

So not thick at all!

I think it depends on the supermarket; our co-op ones are shite, constant bloody issues, I hate the fuckers and when staff signal to me to use I refuse. But the Sainsbury's ones no issue, the only time it needs overriding is for alcohol or otc medicine.

Honestly those machines genuinely hate me!!

I'm astonished how many posters will bend over and take it from these greedy supermarkets.

Welcome to 1984!

@MuggedByReality How rude are you. The blank look was probably because their job IS on the self scan machines, you're not protecting their jobs. But bless you.

And by the way, I'm probably more educated than you. Why do you assume people working in a supermarket are thick?

Self checkouts are the better option for people like you in all honesty, the less you interact with actual people the better, although as someone who's quite often treated as 'too thick' to comprehend anything because of the job I have, I take great delight in delivering the 'thick' version of myself and the blank stare with little to no engagement and watching such a customer get frustrated, I mean that's clearly what you want to be true, regardless of anything else and who am I to disabuse you of the notion I'm thick? The customer is always right after all!

No it's 2024 and things have changed......

@Noyesnoyes Things change back. Look at all those suppliers who tried to offshore their call centres and have taken them back because of all the issues. Businesses will always try to save money, it is up to us as consumers whether we let them. And the 13% fall in ASDA profits last year suggests they are not making good decisions.

Times do change!

Remember when someone used to fill your car with petrol for you?

I don't think they'll bring back manned checkouts, just improve the self service ones.

Filling your car up with petrol is no longer than someone doing it for you. Putting a full shop through a self service till and getting approvals for restricted products can take ages.

In the old days it was a lot quicker! Atenbers worth handed to the attendant and off you went!

The petrol attendant went into their booth to get you change and hand it back. It was slightly quicker, but negligible.

It's so bizarre how much it's changed. When I was a teen 20-odd years ago, the manager would watch the tills like a fucking hawk. If we had more than 2 customers in a queue and a spare till closed he'd expect supervisors, office staff, staff from other departments - anyone! - to jump in and help. He'd even go on if needed.

It was considered very poor customer service to make someone wait.

But you stayed in the car, warm and dry and it was a "free" service!

It's better now with pay at pump, but it was a big change to begin with and something that's just accepted now.

As with self service tills.

I've personally never seen anyone dump their trolley and refuse to use them, it must happen as OP has done it, but it's unusual.

Yes and look at the entitled and pampered people it has encouraged 😂😂

I am nor adverse to using self service tills for a few items. It is not entitled to refuse to put a shopping trolley full of food through a self service till.

Can't say it bothers me at all. Self service (esp. self scan) is far more convenient. I'm not sure it is obliterating jobs at all. There might be less checkout staff but I see plenty of order pickers. Far more than 20 years ago. Roles have simply changed to align with the way many people prefer to shop. Don't like it? Don't use that shop. Problem solved.

Only 6% of people regularly shop in supermarkets online. The staff for that do not replace those cashiers on tills.

I find that stat amazingly low!

" Despite the increase in online grocery shopping in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2022, the majority of UK grocery shoppers were doing this activity primarily in-store and partly online. That year, only 2.3 percent of consumers surveyed reported buying their groceries solely online."

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1319419/grocery-shopping-channels-uk/

Lots of people are like me. I still shop every week in store for fresh food, but do a big order occasionally for a delivery of wine, freezer items and heavy items.

Depends where you look?

internetretailing.net/new-research-finds-that-over-half-of-uk-consumers-are-buying-their-groceries-online/