Fed up with supermarkets

[SelfScanHell]

Sainsbury's reduced me to tears today.

Our DC has recently finished GCSEs so we decided to move from the usual online shop to taking them to learn how to do a shop in real life. They are autistic and can struggle in busy environments.

It was challenging but we managed to do a whole week’s shop using the ‘smart scan’ (they’ve used it before and prefer it) and got to the check-out. A few hiccups but managed with headphones and music. In the past we’ve had the ‘items needs to be checked’ thing every other time we visit, and just put up with 10 items being checked, never an issue.

Today we had the message, only 1 staff member seeing to about 20 check-outs. Other staff just said ‘sorry I can’t do that’. New staff member eventually appeared and told us the WHOLE trolley needed checking - an overflowing trolley with a week’s shop for a whole family. There was nowhere to do this, nowhere to move the stuff from our trolley, no extra bags, no counter space, just the floor for space to move the shopping to. No suggestions of how this was to be done. I was left standing by the trolley piled with food, next to a confused DC with the staff member just staring at me.

My first instinct was just to abandon the trolley to them. I should have said ‘OK I’ll go for a coffee and you do it’. But I wanted to manage the situation for my DC and felt sorry for the staff member who looked clueless, standing there blankly with no way to achieve this. So off we went to join a new queue for a normal till and do it all over again. Thankfully my DC managed, I’m so proud of them.

After getting the shopping into the car, and DC settled with music, I went back to complain at this new ‘whole trolley checking’ rule without the resource in place to do it. Plus, I’m lucky as my DC managed this time, what about someone else who is standing with a mountain of goods with nowhere to put them. After being given the manager’s email to send a complaint to him, I went back to the car and just started crying. Sometimes it’s just too much. First attempt at a full Sainsbury’s shop for DC has taught them they might be expected to pile their shopping on the floor to be checked (no way that’s happening).

I am tempted to ask if all ND people should avoid Sainsbury’s, but being less antagonistic I’ll ask, AIBU to say:

• If Sainsbury’s have to start checking everything in a packed trolley they should provide the staff and space to do this (not on the floor)

Sainsburys are dogshit with checking out customers. I worked there pre pandemic and they introduced "productivity" by getting us checkout staff to scan 19 items per minute. Considering it had never really been a big thing before it didn't go down well. Us staff were harassed by management if we didn't achieve this target. Most of the customers at manned tills didn't want fast scanning. It was absolute bullshit. At aldi its expected because of the low prices but Sainsburys have no excuse. So if I were you id avoid Sainsburys cos they don't care about customers

The OP is quite clear. The staff member did not "manage" the situation. OP herself came up with the solution to go through a till. A young person with ASD who is already overwhelmed with the experience of having completed a supermarket shop alone, and who has learned to expect a certain sequence of events in-store, would not necessarily be able to take over and "manage" this situation in the way that OP did. It had the potential to be extremely dysregulating and problematic for a disabled person. That's her point.

If Sainsbury's wants to slash its wage bill by forcing us all through self checkouts, they need to at least provide the training and adequate staffing levels to manage their system of monitoring thefts from the store.

Sounds like the staff member hadn't been adequately trained on what to do. They should have sent you to a normal till. I had one opened for me when this happened to me.l as I was nearly in tears as it was a massive shop! But after the second full trolley scan in a row - I won't use the shop and scan now. I just do self scan at tills or normal ones if it's not busy.

Just because it would be a "minor hiccup" to you, it doesn't mean it would be for everyone. You sound wholly ignorant wrt ASD. A huge corporation like Sainsbury's should have an idea of how to cater for customers with disabilities. And as for "a valuable lesson" for OP's child - you cannot teach children to just not be autistic 🙄

recently in sainsburys i had to have my entire shop rescanned too.

(a huge trolley full)

I was directed to an empty / normal (closed) checkout, where it went through as normal (with the space to do so)

Maybe the new person who served you didn't realise this was an option.

To be fair I dont think OP's son having ASD is relevant in particular to the query, the query is about how these re scans are meant to happen if staff are not available and theres no where to go with your trolley. That is as relevant to me on my own as it is to OP with her son present.

And huge corporations dont have our interests at heart, they are not our friends, they're not there to do us a favour, we are usually at their mercy.

Not what I said.
OP literally said she got back to the car and cried.
weeknights are a lot quieter and therefore more space to do necessary checks.
Sundays are limited on space so ends up being a little chaotic which OP clearly didn't cope with.

That seems a really silly way to introduce the task to an autistic teenager that's not done it before. It would have been more sensible to get him to meal plan & shop for that then pay for items at a checkout or self scan using his card or cash.

Is he likely to suddenly need to do a full weekly family shop any time soon?

I think it was poor planning on your part. You knew the terms & conditions of using the system & surely you understand that if you are new to using it or suddenly do a big shop when you previously only done small baskets then you would get a full re-scan.

I’m thoroughly supportive of you, but the key issue is your DC coped well in the worst case scenario.

@Serencwtch are you also trying to say you are cool with dumping an entire trolley load of food on the floor (assume your back is fine and no germ Phoebe’s at home) cos I didn’t see that in the t&c

We’ve all got a cry-in-the-car supermarket story love. Unfortunately shit happens. YABU because that was probably the most valuable life lesson for your child to learn at Sainsbury’s today.

Thank you x
You’re right.
All those happy to serve Sainsbury’s lack of resource can choose to. Wish we had other options local. But DC is OK and that’s the priority (and we need to find a Uni/Halls near another s’market 😉)

As I said, I don't use them. I did once or twice when they were first introduced, but found the constant requests for checks and re-scans too intrusive and time consuming and very inconvenient when I just didn't have the time to spare for it and it made me late for something, so I stopped using them. I haven't used them for probably 18 years or more.

I appreciate that your son enjoys the scanning part, but clearly he doesn't enjoy the upsetting unpredictibility of getting a whole trolley re-scan, so you can't have it both ways. You know how the system works, there's no point complaining to Sainsbury's about it. If the system is not to your liking, don't use it.

Rest assured, Love, that some of us feel differently and spend our careers in the NHS giving a shit when shit happens to others.

🫶🏻 I meant no disrespect op.

It’s not about ‘enjoying the self-scanning part’, and 10-item checks have been fine, but it’d derail to explain ASC needs and how they present for DC (and they’re not male).
It is about a large corporation expecting customers to adhere to a policy which they have not bothered to establish the resource to see through ie if you want someone to empty their trolley, give them somewhere to do it NOT THE FLOOR

There should have been another spare trolley to load your stuff into in order to do the re-scan. I'd have just said to the assistant 'you'll need to bring me a trolley then, I can't do it with nowhere to put my food and I'm not putting it on the floor. '

It was all a lot of unnecessary drama when the most obvious solution was simply to ask for another trolley. Although there should have been some available without having to ask.

You were absolutely right to complain OP, it sounds awful. The checks are not a problem if they are properly organised. The check you experienced would be a nightmare for anyone. Well done to your DC for coping with it.

Bu the way I’ve noticed that if I delete a few items during the self scan or leave a very large time gap between items it sends me for a rescan. I know it might be just a coincidence but maybe worth bear this in mind. It’s never sent me to rescan the whole shopping but my shopping is often about 10 items or more like 5 so 5 represents a good proportion.
I also often put a few items in a basket and then go to a quiet corner to scan them all in one go, especially in our Tesco as their self scans are total rubbish. So maybe something like this might work better for your DC.

and I should add that people are saying: you should have asked for a trolley etc etc. I wonder if these people have ever been at a supermarket with a ND person. By the end you are on the edge so much you can’t physically think.
And it’s not customer’s job to provide solutions - there should be an algorithm what to do in different situations.

This sounds a bit challenging but maybe it would be easier to take your DC one at a time in future.

I find it particularly annoying when there are several members of staff happily standing nearby chatting away to each other about their weekend plans, while I struggle at the self-checkout. This has happened to me a few times! Seriously, staff enjoying a chat about nonsense instead of opening up another till. I avoid supermarkets now, I do it online as much as possible.

Well yes I agree with your last paragraph entirely but the whole OP could have been distilled down to that salient argument instead of all the irrelevant stuff about your ASD child.

And why bother to point out that 'they' are not male? Why not just say it's your daughter?

@proximalhumerous here DC stands for DChild, just the one but respecting their anonymity. Interesting many have assume male.

Its has stood out how much well meaning advice is given as it was not possible to paint a full picture of the situation- little room to physically move in a cramped area let alone manage to empty a trolly.

I fully believe any large (or small) company which introduces a process for customers needs to resource this process before implementing it. The responsibility it their’s not the customers’.

A whole trolley check is not a new thing. It happened to me once years ago, I think they just took me through a normal till but it was such a non event in my life I barely remember.

You keep talking about emptying your food all over the floor but your OP says you went through a normal till in the end? So the same as a normal shop?

Hate to say this but the exact sme scenario happened to me in Tesco... including the floor being the only available surface. I bailed as I simply didn't have enough the time to wait for them fannying about trying to figure out how to do it. I think it is a rarity thankfully!

I’m like you. Absolutely not going to do the weekly shop in person, come what may.

The online shop was invented for ND people (I mean it wasn’t, but it could have been). No crowds, queues or tricky situations.