Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder about self checkout etiquette?

33 replies

Magentaplasticglasses · 26/08/2024 18:20

I was at the self checkout in Sainsbury's local earlier. I scanned and paid for my shop, and I started packing it into a carrier bag.

I heard a noise next to me, turned around and a woman had put her shopping in my ( now empty) basket and started scanning her shopping before I'd even had chance to finish packing. She glanced at me but didn't say anything to me and didn't seem annoyed or hostile.

The self checkout consists of a shelf for a basket the scanning screen and a surface for scanned shopping. It's not a multi user unit.

The shop wasn't busy, the other self check out was available, and both were card only. There also wasn't a big queue for the manned tills. There was 2 members of staff and 2-3 people.

I didn't say anything to the woman because I was just so baffled that she was there. Surely etiquette is to wait for the first person to have taken their basket and left before you start loading up your items and scanning, and the alternate option is to use the other available self checkout?!

I'm not annoyed or anything, I just found it odd!

YABU - The woman was following the proper etiquette of supermarket self checkouts

YANBU - The woman's behaviour was odd and she should have used the other self checkout

OP posts:
malmi · 26/08/2024 20:27

Our Sainsbury’s local has smart shop and you do the whole thing on the phone including paying. So you don't even need to go near the self check out machines.

Rubyandscarlett · 26/08/2024 20:34

taxguru · 26/08/2024 19:17

Do you refuse to use cash machines to withdraw cash, pay in, check balances, etc?

Do you refuse to use self service petrol pumps?

I'm surprised you even use supermarkets where you have to pick your own food from the shelves. Wouldn't you prefer an old fashioned "open all hours" shop where the shopkeeper gets everything from shelves behind the counter and puts it in your basket for you?

Do you refuse to book holidays/flights etc online and insist on going into travel agents instead for them to book for you?

Show quote history

What a bitchy reply.
I did a whole trolley shop last wwek and had to serve myself as no checkouts were open which really pissed me off being as l spent well over £100.

Izzymoon · 26/08/2024 20:35

YABU for making up a story since this can’t actually happen.

Original poster
Magentaplasticglasses · 27/08/2024 01:18

Ghostgirl77 · 26/08/2024 18:28

Surely you pack as you go? It’s set up so that you put your bag on and scan everything straight into it, then pay, pick up your bag and leave.

If I was lugging a heavy basket of shopping and I saw you’d finished paying then I probably would put my basket down on the assumption that you were about to walk away.

If I pack as I scan it keeps asking for someone to come over and "assist" because the weight of the bag confuses the scale. Meaning I have to wait for someone to be free each time it happens. It's far quicker to scan everything and pack once I'm done, as I only use self checkout when I have a few items

OP posts:
Original poster
Magentaplasticglasses · 27/08/2024 01:29

Walkacrossthesand · 26/08/2024 18:23

The screen doesn't clear for the next shopper until all packages are removed from the bagging area (unless it was one of those very basic ones that don't weigh the shopping - not many of those around though) so I don't see how she could even do that! Very odd

I thought that, but she actively started scanning after I'd paid but before I'd fully packed my bag. She scanned her item with no issue, although she couldn't physically put it down on the packing surface and carry on scanning until I'd finished packing and moved.

The machine definitely has scales as well because it constantly asks for assistance if I pack as I scan, which is why I pack afterwards.

I've never been in this situation before so I don't know if it's an error with the machine or if different shops have different machine settings - I'm just a bit confused all around!

OP posts:
Original poster
Magentaplasticglasses · 27/08/2024 01:41

xsquared · 26/08/2024 19:34

I know this is not really the point of the thread, but if you have a Nectar card op, wouldn't you prefer to use Smartshop, so that you scan and load your bags as you go and then you could avoid the self service checkout but just pay at the Smartshop pay point?

To answer your original question though, the person after you should have waited for you to leave the area. She may have had a heavy basket, but she still needs to wait her turn and not rush you!

Edited

She didn't even have a basket- when I heard her next to me and turned around, she'd put her stuff in my empty basket!

I hadn't had chance to pick it up and put it back as I hadn't finished packing. She didn't have masses of stuff either so it's not like she would have dropped everything walking the extra 50 cm to the empty self checkout next to me, and even if she needed to put her stuff in my basket, she could have taken it to the other checkout.

The whole thing was really odd. I wish I'd asked her what she was doing but I was just baffled!

OP posts:
Original poster
Magentaplasticglasses · 27/08/2024 01:50

Izzymoon · 26/08/2024 20:35

YABU for making up a story since this can’t actually happen.

Do you truly believe that if you haven't experienced something it can't have happened?
You must have a really narrow and inexperienced world view if that's the stance you take with everything.

OP posts:
notanothernamechange24 · 27/08/2024 02:00

Izzymoon · 26/08/2024 20:35

YABU for making up a story since this can’t actually happen.

Err yes it can!!!
I have this evening been to the coop and used the self service tills. 3 separate transactions and I didn't remove anything from the till until I left. Tills worked fine.
Just because you haven't experienced something doesn't mean it's impossible. 🙄

New posts on this thread. Refresh page