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.

@RegretMisery you really wouldn't just shoplift because they wouldn't open a till, don't be ridiculous

I've done things I'll probably go to Hell for.

In that case your shop is understaffed and whichever chain owns it should be employing more. Lone working in that environment is unsafe.

I'm happy to use scan and go as it saves my time - I pack once into my bag, rather than having to take it all out of the trolley and bag it up again. I've never been picked for a full rescan though...yet!!

However I hate the self checkouts which always seem to play up the minute I arrive although I do use them occasionally when I have small change that I want to get rid of!!

@RegretMisery yeah of course you have 🙄

Our Asda used to have someone scan and help pack at the self-service tills for customers with physical or cognitive difficulties. This seemed to me to be a real benefit, compared to having to use a checkout, but it must have been unofficial, because one day they said it 'wasn't allowed' any more. They will still open a wide checkout on request-guess that's required by law?

There are some sheep who would actually stack the shelves if they were asked by the supermarket!!

Oh give over! I just want to go in get our shopping, pay and leave!

Not have a tantrum, walk out and have to do the whole thing again.

I'm happy with self scan 🤷‍♀️

honestly, Asda at the utter worst.

At our local branch, the click and collect port is broken and has been for a year. You have to phone the store and drive around the back, park on a double yellow line and wait for them to bring out the shopping. They then leave you there - the path is littered with empty cases where people have had to empty the big boxes they bring the shopping out with because there's no staff to hand it back to.

The scan and go are never working - I always seem to get caught for checks so it takes forever. But the last 3 big shops I've done (about £150 worth of food), the scanners haven't been available because the machine that charges them has broken. But they're not opening any tills either.

When I went last week, there was 9 of us in a queue for the singular till - with three staff members just standing around chatting. The self-service (even if I wanted to use it) was utter chaos because the scan and go was out of action.

I find the whole thing unbearable.

Even better to get it online and delivered to your kitchen or front door, whichever you want

Well no, because they’re impulse buys - I don’t buy them weekly so it’s not a case of not having to buy them online in the next shop. For example I wouldn’t usually look at the make up, homeware or clothes section online but I would in store.

I think most people are more likely to impulse buy when going in store surely?

I think most people are more likely to impulse buy when going in store surely?I might stock up on something on offer, or try something different to what I would normally buy, or if I picked up some hot cross buns then another treat would last longer. It would all balance out for us.

Indeed. And many self service tills throw endless errors that are not the "fault,' of the customer either.

Good on you. I hate this move to have self service checkouts. I often see staff standing chatting while tills are unmanned in my local Tesco. What particularly annoys me is when you need approval for an item and they are standing a few feet away talking while you wait
If more of us followed your example they might start opening the tills again

I was in Sains the other day. One member of staff across both the self scan and scan and shop checkouts. She was running about in the self scan.
I had a voucher that the scan and shop said needed to be entered manually by staff (a voucher that I'd picked up in that very store 15 mins earlier).
I wandered over to ask if there was a member of staff for the scan and shop tills only to be told 'No, sorry'.
So I had to go over to customer service to ask if someone could help. Me and another woman (whose shopping had been selected for a random check) were standing there like a couple of lemons while they found someone.
This really isn't progress.

My Asda has just reinstalled the pound thing on the trolleys. While having one manned checkout where you can actually use cash. All the others are card only. They used to be cash and card, then inky half allowed cash, now none seem to be working. So you have to bring cash if you want a trolley, but you can't use cash for your shopping. They've also moved all the trolleys right around the corner of the store. Do they not want us to shop there?

They've also moved all the trolleys right around the corner of the store. Do they not want us to shop there?

thats another thing that bugs me about Asda. They no longer collect the trolleys from the trolly bays in the car park - so you walk towards the front of the store to realise there are no trollys there, then you have to walk around the entire car park trying to find a sodding trolly.

@Elphame absolutely it's unsafe. But do you know who isn't to blame for that? Me.

Go to booths they don’t have self scan but obviously the cost of extra staff is reflected in the price

If they're going this to you, you shouldn't be defending them. This is utterly unfair. Overworking in an unsafe environment is making it clear that don't give two shits about you! How dare they!

@TesticularHeft and this month a lot of us weren't even paid for the privilege of working 14 hour days and being assaulted on the regular. But we all have lives outside work and we need money to live them.

I'm fed up with it. Self scan is fine for a few items but not for a full shop. And there needs to actually he a member of staff there. I was in Sainsbury's last night and there was one person who kept disappearing off to tidy the proper checkouts.

And those who say go at a decent time. If I go on a Saturday morning then there is one checkout and a queue of six trollies.

My friend who uses a wheelchair asked them to open a till and they refused.

Sainsbury's services levels have gone through the floor recently. The store last night was a mess. Not just cages but full pallets blocking aisles. They clearly have no staff and it must be demoralising to work there.

I don't want to be horrible to staff of course so I've taken to answering the survey printed on the receipt and made clear it's not the actual staff, it's the lack of staff.

What a nob. Did he hurt you?

People saying abandoning a trolley will only hurt staff. It's just a job like picking an online order in reverse. But it's costing the company time. If there was a concerted campaign it might make a difference. Not that I'm suggesting we should because despite what I wrote above I'd feel crappy doing it. But we do need to communicate that we aren't happy.