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.

So you then go to another supermarket shop all over again and hope that a manned till is open?

Why not check first and save yourself some time and effort.

No way would I shop twice because of self checkouts!

Yes and they have to pay a lot of extra people to facilitate that online shop

They malfunction if you've got something light - such as an eyeliner, or a greetings card. It's fine for a small basket but not really anything more.

Plus not everyone is as wise as you. Some people DON'T have excellent critical thinking skills. There are a lot of people with learning difficulties, some cognitive impairment, or just uncomfortable with new technology. What about them? Fuck em?

I use scan and shop. It's far less hassle.
If people want to wait in a massive queue at the only open checkout, then have to unload their trolley and then pack it all again, that's their prerogative but it's called progress.
We don't still ride around horse drawn carriages do we?

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.
There is ONE staff member to about 6/7 tills and most often then also have to cover the smart shop tills as well, so that’s one staff member for another 10 tills.
It’s not the staff members fault, it is management. Greedy bosses.

We are now;
1/ Scanning our own shopping
2/ Weighing our own goods
3/ Packing our own bags

I’m ok with all of the above but to then be kept waiting at the tills because there aren’t enough staff is tight fisted.

Where will it end? Sometimes I feel like I am actually working at Sainsburys myself!

You need to complain regularly.

If more people abandoned half scanned trolleys at the self scan they might get the message

Think you were being ridiculous to abandon your trolley. It won't make one bit of difference and you just forced a staff member to put all your goods back on the shelf.

I'd probably just think "I'll do it later" to be honest. Depends what I was buying. I do my main shop online, so a top up shop would most likely be stuff I didn't really need anyway such as wine and a load of random crap I'd picked up because I couldn't be arsed cooking. Faced with the hassle of buying stuff versus the hassle of cooking what I already had at home, I'd take the easier option.

@BobnLen 'they' really, really wont!

If it was a small shop I think you were being unreasonable but if it was a big shop then not unreasonable. I use self check out almost exclusively but wouldn't want to put a big shop through. The scales do cause errors and it would drive me insane.

Disagree with this totally.

We have a problem with employment. we need people to have jobs.

Supermarkets using the fact that 2 staff members were free to chat with nothing to do to cut staff won't help when they had customers who they refused to give service too. Therefore people will vote with their feet - lowering profits - giving more rise and reason to staff cuts.

People want their shopping scanned at a till. They don't want to be paying food prices that includes staff wages and then doing the staffs jobs.

And I say that as someone who online shops and uses self service tills if I need to pop in for a few bits.

I've only used the scan and shop once and I got selected for a full trolley check, so that wasn't any easier. Maybe it was because it was my first time, but for me - no it wasn't easier or quicker as the whole process was carried out twice.

@Fallenangelofthenorth fair enough, you've obviously got a lot of time on your hands. But for most people it would be cutting their nose off to spite their face!

Still don't get why you would waste time getting stuff and not checking if a manned checkout is opened first 🤷‍♀️.

Why you'd abandon the wine you wanted after making the effort to go in, park etc?

I used scan and shop ages ago in Waitrose to try it, it wasn't really any quicker but Waitrose has checkouts open anyway.

I wish.

The last three times I used a self scan, the first time it didn’t recognise a box of chocolates (assistant said known problem with that brand / bar code not being put on the system properly). The second time (a week later) the problem with the chocolates still existed and I couldn’t find the bakery item on the ‘look up’ screen.

The third time, the discount bar code had been put on wrinkled and I had to type it in.

Three (or four if you count the chocolates twice) separate problems of which only one (not finding the item) was possibly my fault (apparently M&S have separate ‘bakery’ and ‘sweet bakery’).

Luckily this was M&S and an assistant swooped in immediately all 4 times, plus I only had a few items but lying about self scans ‘only not working due to user error’ doesn’t help anyone.

Where i am, we aren't allowed to use the self checkouts unless we have a basket, but they still get arsey if customers ask for a checkout to be opened. They look at customers like we have just requested their wages for the next year or something similar. This is the same for asda, tesco, Morrison, and sainsburys but worse in asda. If we go anywhere near a self checkout, they refuse to let us join the queue, but they don't open a till either

So you can't trolley shop in any of the supermarkets? Or have I misunderstood?

Then surely you don't need to buy those items next time so it balances out? Or if it's things you don't normally buy you eat less of something else?

Biggest load of shite I've ever read on here.

And the manager will laugh at you every time because this is ridiculous.

I think what the poster means about spending less online is that in store you may see something like nice cakes and buy them that you wouldn't buy anyway so an extra. Also it's easy to keep to a strict list online and not buy unnecessary 'bargains' as you are not sidetracked by stuff on the shelves.

I have only ever used a basket at self check out. I cannot imagine how annoying it was getting through a trolley!!! I bet it kept stopping every third item!!! What a big waste of your time, picking it and then scanning it! Have you tried online deliveries?

Supermarkets will do whatever brings in most profit.

In M&S the other day it was quite busy with the staff going from till to till approving wine, and sorting out problems, etc.

Overhearing a conversation between staff, they'd had a lot of non-payers - seems there's an increase in people scanning, packing and walking off without paying!

But who knows whether those losses will eventually cause M&S to follow Booths example or the losses are outweighed by staff savings.

And you know how much you're spending as you go along.

So what - the staff will earn the same whether they are chucking stuff out or putting it on the shelves - it makes no odds to them.