To think this is why the high street is failing?

[MiamiWindMachine]

I’m off on holiday in a couple of days, so thought I’d go up to the big shopping centre for a couple of last minute things.

In the massive H&M, all the tills bar one had been converted to self-service. The ones on the floor I was on were ALL closed. I went down to the lower floor and there was a huge queue, because no one could work out the machines. There was a step to remove security tags, and people couldn’t work out whether this was only for those plastic tags or if there was some flag on the barcodes for lower value items. Someone else was trying to process a return via these tills. When a member of staff eventually appeared, she confirmed returns could only be processed at a manned till. The customer pointed out that there were no manned tills. The staff member had no idea who to ask about it, then disappeared to find someone, so the queue was getting even longer.

I was on the way out about 15 minutes before closing time and went past M&S. I thought “I wonder if the Bureau de Change is still open” and went to check. The woman saw me approach and had a pained look on her face, saying “Arrgghh, I’ve just cashed uuuppp!” I was a bit taken aback, but said “Oh well, never mind. What time do you close, for future reference?” She then reluctantly admitted that she was supposed to be open until 8, but said “But I do start cashing up at around 7.30”. I was about to ask why when she started saying, “It’s fine; I’ll do it, I’ll do it”, like she was doing me a massive favour. I tried to pay on Revolut and she said “We can’t take those cards!”, as if it was somehow obvious. I asked about Apple Pay and she said, “No, it has to be a proper bank card or credit card”. I therefore went to pay with my credit card and she said, “You do know we have to charge a fee for these, don’t you?” I said I didn’t have a choice given she’d rejected two other payment methods.

I then went down to foods to grab a ready meal and some wine. I went to a manned till as I had alcohol and the girl said, “Oh, could you go to the self-service? It’s just that I’m closing this one”. I asked about the alcohol and she said, “I can approve that from here; it’s just that it’s easier for me”.

I feel like we’re constantly told in the media “Use it or lose it” re: the high street; how sad it would be if we lost the personal touch. From what I could see yesterday, one store has done everything possible to eliminate personal interaction, while in the other, the staff are more bothered about their convenience than the customers’. Is it any wonder that people would rather click a couple of buttons to get something delivered?

Same for me. Can never find my size in store, especially in a sale! It’s been this way for 20 years at least. So online works for me. And I don’t need to the a whole day out of my life to go buy a new dress. I can’t think of anything worse than wasting my valuable days off traipsing around shops.

I get that done people enjoy the act of shopping, like a hobby. But it seems there are not enough of them left to make it worth the shops time and money to deliver the same level of service they did pre-internet.

I do a mix of online and in-store food shopping. But I use the self scanner thingies as it’s easier and more efficient to pack the bags immediately.

Never have any problems in my nearest town for shopping. The biggest problem that killed our town are the extortionate rent and the cheapest car parking being £6 per hour and all roads double yellow within a 3 mile radius. The car park nearest the shops is about £8.50 per hour

The last time I went into H&M you could buy kids shorts for £8. If you want to pay £8 for a pair of cotton shorts then you cannot also expect “service”.

This!!!! I HATE shopping online. The actual shops though are horrendous and seem to have no stock.
I noticed M& S now has self check outs in lingerie but I won’t use them. I won’t use them anywhere anymore.
Yes it’s 2024 so businesses should understand that not everyone finds self check out easy.
I nearly had a panic attack trying to send a parcel in a large central post office on a “self service” parcel check in thingy. There were loads of people trying to work this machine out and failing so it’s not just me.

I HAVE a job, I find my own job taxes my brain quite enough, I don’t have the mental capacity to also perform a retail role.
YANBU OP.

Or perhaps, like my mother, you are 88.

Your husband and best friends have died recently and you're trying to keep busy and keep looking forward but life is a bit tough.

You still want to have some independence so you regularly pop to the shops on the bus (even though your daughter is happy to take you).

But somehow having to deal with a machine telling you to put stuff in and out of you're bag because the useless scales haven't registered your shopping properly is all a bit much and a bit scary at the moment and you'd rather deal with a person because that makes you feel happier.

But let's just call her ignorant and confine her to the house shall we?

No one here is winning except landlords and shareholders.

Retail workers are often overworked and underpaid, and dealing with unhappy customers (sometimes aggressive - not you OP, just a big increase in aggression generally!).

Customers are getting poor service from stretched, unmotivated employees and businesses, and we are mostly now happier online shopping.

As a PP said, it's a vicious circle, but i think the bigger companies don't want to improve the situation because it benefits them.

I'll just add this: there's a wee Scotmid supermarket not far from me. I've shopped there for years. They have two tills. They don't sell everything, but they have the basics. (They no longer sell meat, only a limited number of ready meals - blame the shoplifter who cleared out their meat section one day.)

I do have bad days, though I try not to go about with my face tripping me. A couple of months ago I went in, paid for my shopping...

The young lad at the counter looked at me: "Are you all right Weary? Could you do with a hug?"

You wouldn't bloody get that from a self checkout.

This sums it up perfectly. Thank you for saying this.

Agree with this

I'm not averse to self service tills, provided they (1) accept bags for life, (2) have staff available to assist and (3) bar codes work. Around here, Sainsburys are terrible for this but Aldi are pretty good

Amen to this!

The old days of having to trail around a mobbed city centre, in and out of sweltering shops, dodging oblivious idiots crawling along four abreast, packed buses in and out or trying to find a parking spot... err no...

The advent of internet shopping is a godsend. If the High Street is dying on it's arse then that's a facet of the fact that it simply can't compete due to being outdated and that the majority of people have moved on to the 21st Century.

I've walked out of a few shops recently because I was in a rush and couldn't purchase what i needed in time. But the cost of me leaving doesn't balance out against the cost of a staff member. If we all just didn't bother when we saw a queue they would staff better. Unfortunately in a time poor society its easier just to persevere than look elsewhere.

The high street is crap. I see plenty of things I like online and go in to try them on and they don’t have them in store. So I go home and order a few items in both the sizes I’d have tried on, and invariably send most of it back.

Then you have the “trying to buy holiday clothes in June/July” situation, only to find it’s all in the sale, barely anything left. Knitwear and winter clothes on the rails already.

Sizing is out of whack too, bought two pairs of H&M trousers recently, fitted a 10 in one pair and needed a 14/16 in the other. Ridiculous.

I used to love a day in town shopping, but it’s not a very rewarding or productive experience these days. I feel sorry for my teenage daughter and her mates, it’s nothing like the good old days of Topshop, Miss Selfridge and Bay Trading!

Retail, shopkeeping, hospitality all used to be careers and customers generally benefited from that experience. Now they're jobs before people embark on a career and we mostly suffer because of it.

It started with the death of small shops and high streets becoming cookie cutter replicas lacking in identity. Low service chain stores were an easy target for the internet to supplant

I hate self checkouts but I am not ignorant thank you very much.

I know how to use them but they rarely work without some sort of problem and, of course, if you have alcohol someone has to come to help and they are often busy helping someone else.

If I wanted to use a checkout I would work in a shop! Shops should employ enough staff so that checkouts can be manned.

I no longer shop in Boots because they only have self service checkouts

I'm lucky enough to still have an HMV "in the wild" near me, and that is a decent shopping experience. Being middle aged with disposible income means I walk round and buy anything I vaguely like the look of, the kind of rockstar lifestyle my 15 year old self could only dream of. I've always found the staff in there really good (ordering stuff they don't have in, spontaneously offering to swop a DVD boxset for one in better condition in the stock room etc). They also have a section of staff picks with hand-written enthusiastic summaries. One young lad was stoked I bought his choice, it was quite cute.

Tell me you’ve never worked in retail without telling me you’ve never worked in retail.

What’s “entitled” about expecting a service advertised as open until 8 to be open at 7.45? How early should I have to go?

Against which vehicle manufacturers will lobby because it will have a negative impact on their profits.

What’s that got to do with anything?

I tried to pay on Revolut and she said “We can’t take those cards!”, as if it was somehow obvious. I asked about Apple Pay and she said, “No, it has to be a proper bank card or credit card”. I therefore went to pay with my credit card and she said, “You do know we have to charge a fee for these, don’t you?” I said I didn’t have a choice given she’d rejected two other payment methods.

She did nothing wrong. As I understand it, they have to have the physical card to change money, it’s not her fault that they don’t take Revolut and she was only warning you that a credit card will charge a fee.

That you expect her to work for free or take it up with her manager. Cashing up half an hour early is a bit much to be fair but she won’t get paid a penny for working after 8pm and her manager won’t entertain paying her. Anyone who has worked in retail knows that.

There's a little row of shops near where we live - fishmonger, wine merchant, cheese shop/deli and chocolatier. I wanted to buy a few bits so clocked off work a bit early and walked there for around 4.50pm to find every shop closed (according to the signs, they closed at 5.30pm)

These are all independent shops. I guess it was quiet and they just shut up shop early, but I then went home and did an Ocado order instead. It was mildly annoying, but mainly I feel sorry for any 'real' shop trying to survive these days, when the online option is so easy and accessible. I'll support independent shops when I can, but I shop more online these days.

Someone posted a while ago on a similar thread, saying that there's no God-given 'right' to a high street and high street shops. The way we buy stuff is evolving, and there will be winners and losers in that.

I see your point, also we are being ' CONNED' ' TRICKED' at every corner and have to watch out. I had an altercation this morning with a well known telephone vompany. I wanted to simply change my home address, I was on hight alert as this could render me vulnerble to more trickery. I toyed with the option of wholesale CANCELLATION because I cant be bothered to jump through lots of hoops to arrange transfer of address. " Oh if yo wasnt to cancel the you have to pay CANCELLATION FEE " I was informed. No Ive had this mire than 18 months!!!!!!!
Oh No, she said Your contract is fir TWO YEARS!!!!!
*** Its news to me!!!!!! How deceptive 0f you I said!!!!!!!!
Anyway I just cancelled the whole lot, paid cancellation fee because somehow I susspected I was being cojoaled into another contract if 2 years. Im done eith society treating consumers like SECOND CLASS citizens. I must admit I swore a few times at the operator because I feel so powerless at big corporate powers.