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.

If the supermarket is open (and it’s not 10mins before store close) then it’s a decent time. Some people have jobs and stuff you know.

Shops will moan that no one shops in them after 6 soon.

Our local fb page had someone telling how a gang stole a whole trolley load from Lidl. Just ran for it through the self service area.
I know someone who always but always shoplifts through the self service at Sainsburys.

Until these thefts hit home they are going to continue with them.

The funny thing is that someone checked my receipt in Lidl the other day which really annoyed me...as if I was shoplifting they'd never catch me!😂

"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."

But I don't want to scan my own purchases at a supermarket and have hassle after every second item, unless I only have a couple of items. I also don't appreciate being on camera as I scan. If they don't trust me, pay a cashier to do it! Any hint of staff shortages and I'll just be off somewhere else.. much easier to shop online.

They don't give a shit if the staff put it back, the staff are usually held in even lower regard than the customers, so they're certainly not bothered about that.

It's a bit fruitless if it's done in the hope that it'll change anything - the people putting it away aren't the ones who can change anything, I mean I get it from the pov of being frustrated and leaving it etc but if it's done to prove a point it's not going to do anything because it's not causing a problem to the people making the decisions to rake in more profit.

It's the world we live in now, staff being cut, remaining staff working harder and customers being pissed off and companies making more and more profit.

Dunno what the answer is because many places - especially the cheaper ones - are the same, but I suspect leaving a trolley full of shopping isn't going to make any difference at all.

If a Supermarket is open - there should be at least one manned till. I hate self scanners with a passion (although I do use them for just a few items) because they always go wrong and it ISN'T user error. If an item doesn't weigh very much - the sensor doesn't pick it up, then you have messages telling you to add the item to your baggage when you already have. You can't buy paracetamol or alcohol without someone verifying your age (and why is it 25 for paracetamol? Do you have to be 25 to be an adult these days?). And if you use cash (I don't, but my kids do) it swallows your note and doesn't give you any change.

Then it asks you how many bags you have, even if you scanned them or weighed them at the beginning

I'm sticking to Aldi for the time being - none of our local Aldis even have self checkouts - you have to go through a till with a cashier

Did it in Sainsbury the other day.

No tills open, staff standing around chatting and a queue for the self scan. Not prepared to open a till to help the queue so I just left.

If I need training then perhaps they should have staff on hand to do the work.

This is why I try to avoid using them. In order to make the self service tills truly accessible they need to have them with different heights. They are currently way too low for those who can’t bend comfortably. They need a few that are much higher.
Still doesn’t solve the problems with errors and age approval though. I hate the things.

Agree! I'd rather just put up with the self service than go to another shop and re-do it all again

I wonder if you're related to the man that rammed me with his trolley tonight because I couldn't open a checkout for him at 10.30.

It's only me 10-midnight. I have to restock shelves, run the self scan and scan and go and the tobacco counter at the other side of the store. No security, no other colleagues on front end, just me. I'm regularly assaulted when I can't put a giant trolley full on a checkout. If you leave it the fresh stuff is wasted because I can't put it all back and still hear if someone needs help. I HATE how much food is wasted.

To add, I always offer to put it through the self scan for them myself, but that's never acceptable.

It's usually the same people coming back every day when they've been told every day for the last few years what time tills shut. It's fun for some people. It makes them feel so virtuous. One woman screamed obscenities at me and asked if I understood she cares about ACTUAL HUMAN BEINGS losing their jobs. I did remind her that I was in fact an actual human being trying to do my job.

The shit and nutter customers retail staff encounter is unbelievable.i feel for you dembones.

And the same people are on here moaning why the prices are going up.

It's the same with the amount of stuff you see dumped around the store that people decide not to buy and can't be bothered to take items back to the fridge etc. most of this food is wasted as the staff done know how long it has been out of the fridge or freezer.

The CEO of the supermarkets job is to make the shareholders as much profit as possible so they will keep staff to a minimum. If you don't like it go and shop at one that is fully staffed but good luck finding one. Even Aldi are rolling them out.

Thanks @Northernsouloldies

You need to write / email / phone Head Office, every single time.

Head Office controls the budget for staff, and alter it at a whim.

Why should she practice? She is not a member of staff.

@InterestedinEfteling that’s just not true. Yes of course if you do something wrong it’ll stop working, but it stops for other reasons too. Like when you get a new bag to fill and slightly shift one of the existing bags - the till freezes up. And god forbid you should try and load some of your full bags into your trolley - the machine won’t allow that either. And other times it just randomly locks. All the staff that come and fix it admit that glitches happen.

@RubyOtter I see queues in ASDA at the scan and go checkouts.

I never go to ASDA any more unless for a few items. ALDI always open checkouts if the queue is more than a few people. The ASDA queues at both shop and scan and trolley scan are often ridiculously long. I have no idea why people still shop there if they have another choice.

Not everyone who works in a supermarket is on minimum wage, I’m not.

Not true. I had to get help several times last time, none of which I could have done myself:

1. It didn't register my packet of basil leaves on the scales.
2. I had to have alcohol authorized and bottle tag removed.
3. I had to have my car park ticket processed.
4. I had to have steaks removed from the plastic boxes they were in.

YANBU. You are not paid or trained to operate a till, and the self service don’t really have the space for a trolley load of stuff.

However, the floor staff aren’t allowed to do anything about it, and Asda doesn’t have the processes in place for them to escalate it.

You really need to contact store management (named on receipt) and copy in Asda house with what you’ve detailed here, and that you then switched to Asda. Buzz words like diversity and customer care would be good, too. Maybe tag Asda on social media.

This could contribute to changing policy.