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?

My own woes aside, there is a massive big picture issue here.

Big companies/corporations have immense buying and lobbying power on the global front. It impacts employment because their main goal is profit at any cost, so there are fewer and fewer staff, mostly on part time or zero hours contracts because it reduces tax and NI contributions and low paid workers can get UC.

This is another can of worms because workers have to be flexible and are expected to do some unontracted extra hours. This royally screws up the whole budgeting thing for people as they sometimes put in different hours every month and then their pay and UC entitlement is a bit like a lottery due to "assessment period" for UC not jiving with payroll dates.

Retail work is now precarious in ways it never used to be unless you're management on a salary. In times past retail could be a career option starting on the shop floor but now more work is done in the "back office" where IT qualifications are required more than customer service.

I suspect the PP who referred to tin foil hat theories is actually on the button. Far easier to administrate a few behemoth umbrell companies for tax etc than lots of little businesses. CDBC could lead to us being controlled through our purchasing power.

Black Mirror, The new X-files and even the film Wall-E are possible glimpses into our future. Sounds extreme? I've watched the foundations being laid in real time. In purely economic terms, the NWO is pretty much upon us.

Currently living in a town in the south east - huge grown of housing - town centre dead - mainly i gather due to parking and rents. It was bad when i moved here 20 yrs ago, now awful. Full of charity shops, nail salons and coffee shops. 3 good restaurants, that is literally it. Its a real shame. In the process of moving to the south coast - small area with a bustling high street full of independents, bars, non chain restaurants, the whole place has a community vibe its a refreshing change but also shows me that all is not lost

The bureau de Change woman wasn't being awkward. Those are the rules when buying foreign currency—it's all about the money laundering laws.

YANBU. Shopping is a miserable affair these days. I don't work there so don't expect to serve myself. If shops want to drop staff and get customers serving theirselves then I expect goods to be cheaper as a result of those staff savings but they're just going up and up, like their profits. Plus I use mostly cash and most self service don't take cash. Customer service is rubbish too. I worked in retail in the 80's/90's and we would have been sacked for talking to our colleagues whilst serving, nowadays they barely acknowledge you.

TBH I don't really recognise this on my high street. I've just walked through and it's packed. Good mixture of shops, restaurants, entertainment venues. It's not universal.

I have excellent public transport, from where I live I can access the nearest town in 15 minutes, there are about 30 buses an hour. So I dont have to wait long.
The cost is not excessive but its 2 quid each way or a day ticket for iirc £5.
If I'm just going to town and back I may as well get the two single fares. Having said all that, nearly everything i want is online, can be delivered to my door for free and most of the shops on the high street are the same ones that deliver.

Theres virtually no independent shops, and still then, most do online.

I have only been to my high street about 6 times in 10 years, only to meet friends and the parking last time I went in was a fiver in the centre, but nowhere near where I needed to be.

It easier to all meet at an out of town shopping centre, they all have food halls, free parking and multiple buses. And you can do all the same things as in town but under cover.

When shopping is actual shops, which is rare now, I prefer self checkout. I do as much as possible online though just because it's quick and convenient.

Shops not matching their demographic is an issue. Having been in M & S food near my mum (retirement area) all the 3 self tills are free the one staffed has a long line.
They need to test systems with real people all ages, disabilities, wrangling 2 toddlers etc.
Self serve doesn’t work for larger orders there’s no where to put it - put item in bagging area! It won’t fit. The Aldi one won’t take yellow sticker discounts off they have to manually do it.

That’s where I got to, why bother exchanging cash at all? I travel all the time for work and never take currency with me. I have Currensea and if you have Revolute, that’s literally the point of it!

Great comment, very well put.

Maybe I didn’t explain properly. I don’t expect the assistant to override policy - but it’s all part of the general poor service. Anyway, my Revolut card is a physical card.

My teenage daughter couldn't buy something from our football shop, because they don't take cash! I had to go back to pay. How are cashless shops still making money?! Havent bought my football top, because im anjoyed about it. They've lost teenagers and the elderly! Crazy.

But again, you seem to want to make that MY problem.

I find it hard to believe that teenagers only carry cash!!! Only person I know who ever has cash on them is my dad, because he hates using his card as he doesn't know his PIN!!! Surely people realise we're moving away from cash because of how dirty and inconvenient it is?

I like to have some cash at least. You never know if everywhere will take cards.

Same. Boots and Tesco are the ones I would normally use but have dropped. I won’t go to Starbucks either as when I buy a cup of tea they expect me to queue up again to assemble it at the cutlery station.

If staff are on low wages and not being paid beyond their set hours they should complain and/or join a union. Not paying minimum wage is illegal.

Booths (posh northern Waitrose) put in then quickly took out the self service machines in our town as is wasn’t what customers wanted and apparently thefts were through the roof.

We close at 5, my shift finishes at 5. So, no, I'm not staying unpaid. I'm locking doors at 5. Tills close at 5 on dot. If I have to stay on later I will be in later next shift.

For physical shops the overheads are much higher than online shops which makes it impossible for them to compete.
Town and city centre retail premises will become unviable and the owners will have to go bust or sell-up cheap. Hopefully that will help to burst the property bubble.

What do you think teenagers use?!

I agree, the primark in town is absolutely manic on a Saturday but for some unknown reason they have decided to get rid of serviced tills bar 1 and the rest are self service. I bought 2 Bras, 2 pants and a pair of joggers on a Tuesday and that's about as much as I would do. I don't mind scanning a few bits in my local sainsburys but primark can poke it.

My 15 year old doesn't have a bank account so he only uses cash

Well mine only uses her phone as do her mates. We’ve had chats about possibly having a card/bit of cash as a backup especially if a distance from home but going out with phone with driving licence in case for ID is very much how they do it.

One of my main annoyances is the lack of changing rooms now, they are always closed due to lack of staff or shops just don’t have any. I live in the country so it’s not as easy to go home, try on and return as it’s an hour to just get to the shops! Also the lack of stock in stores, I need to be able to feel the fabrics and look at clothing in person but they never have anything in store, it’s all online so then you have to faff around sorting returns and refunds 😩

I don't get why people are having a go at you. Surely it is quite obvious shopping on the high street is not what it used to be.
For what it is worth, I agree with you, OP, but I can't see how things could change what with high rents, cost of parking and competition with online shopping.