As I approached the Sainsbury's checkouts this morning to pay for my Saturday breakfast bread rolls, I was suprised to find that the "basket only" tills had been replaced with two rows of bright and shiny new "serve yourself" checkouts.

A bright and shiny new assistant offered to explain the process to me and proceeded to indicate that I needed to follow a trail of buttons from "Start" to "Pay", choosing (I suspect) from a series of choice menus along the way until I reached the final destination, via my purchase description, of the card functionality.

It took about three seconds for me to say "Oh, I can't be bothered with all that, I'llgo to a normal checkout".

"But you didn't even give it a chance", she wailed.

I said "D'you know those 'menus' you get on the phone when you're trying to contact a utility company – 1 for this, two for that, three for the other and so on, and you never seem to get where you want to go? This is like that. I'm not here to punch buttons.I'm here to be served. By a human. Who has a job – punching buttons, so I don't have to!"

Have a nice day.

Deporsonalisation (sic) project moves forward

What you doing in a supermarket if this is a gripe?

they've had them in tesco's for over a year… you will succumb eventually.. and be happier for it.

They're actually very good and very quick, except the ones in morrisons, which are crap.

The only problem with them is total tards who clearly have no idea how to work any form of technology and take 10 mins to scan some bog rolls, a bottle of tonic water and a low fat yogurt

you only need to press the pay now/finish button at the end. if you swim in a deeper section of the gene pool you'd work out that starting to scan things starts the process. you're right to stay away though, it means a shorter wait for the opposable thumb brigade

Lifesaver in B&Q (that's probably overstating it a little). Long live those that hate using them 🙂

There still bullshit tho, crap registering on any product unless its got a perfectly flat bar code, you need to select what fruit you have if its hand picked and it always blites out something bollocks like remove from baggage area when you only breathed on it

least you can weigh a steak as a banana tho 🙂

What you doing in a supermarket if this is a gripe?

Precisely. There are (maybe) a few local shops left who who would be glad/desperate to have your business and give you all the chit chat you could ever ask for. You caused the "deporsonalisation" by shopping there and supporting their business model; so go and help cause some personalisation, not to mention several hundred jobs, by supporting local small traders.

I'm with Woppit on this one. In Tesco's last night I realised that I could walk in, get all my bits and pieces, pay for them and walk out with no actual direct interaction with another Human Being. In a place with hundreds of other people in. I'd rather be served by a person, no matter how bored, disinterested and unmotivated they may be. I'm no technophobe, but at the end of a busy day the last thing I want to do is spend time dealing with a flipping machine giving me orders. The till assistant deals with all that for me, without me needing to comply at any stage other than to pay for the stuff. Machines and computers dominate enough of our lives already, real Human interaction is becoming a scarce commodity.

Three_Fish – Member

What you doing in a supermarket if this is a gripe?

Precisely. There are (maybe) a few local shops left who who would be glad/desperate to have your business and give you all the chit chat you could ever ask for. You caused the blah blah blah blah.

Clearly, you don't live where I do.

Excellent assumption-making though. Knuckles off the ground, now. 😛

Machines and computers dominate enough of our lives already, real Human interaction is becoming a scarce commodity.

oh the irony

I hate them, my hatred is further fueled by the poor staff who have to train customers, knowing full well that they are effectively making themselves redundant. I prefer to queue as you don't have to wait for the assistant everytime you try to by alcohol or razor blades or a magazine or anything really. I don't like being shouted at by machines "UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA!!!!!"

blah blah blah blah.

Classy reponse.

Knuckles off the ground, now.

You mentioned something about assumptions?

oh the irony

I know, I know.

On the flip side; I use Skype a fair bit to communicate with friends who live far away. I like the way the video feature makes it a bit more personal than just audio; you can see someone's facial expressions, see them laugh, etc. Especially fun with little ones. Ooh haven't they grown? Technology can sometimes make the distance between people smaller.

With the machines, you don't get to chat to the checkout person about the weather/football/fear of Terrorism, or chat to the pretty lady in front with just a large cucumber and a bottle of baby oil. You just get to go back to your lonely solitary existence without speaking to another Human Being. Again.

Sniff.

Ooh, Meal For One again? How exciting…

I hate that the bloody things shout at you all the time. Clearly they've turned the volume up to 11 to help the hard of hearing, which is very inclusive and hard to disagree with, but I'm not hard of hearing and don't appreciate being SCREAMED AT. It's like basil fawlty ordering manul to scan his sodding nectar card.

chat to the checkout person about the weather/football/fear of Terrorism, or chat to the pretty lady in front with just a large cucumber and a bottle of baby oil

you have never once chatted to anyone that you don't know personally whilst shopping in a supermarket..

no..
you haven't..

you just hastily purchase your goods and look surly until you leave.. and that's a fact..
sorry

Interestingly supermarkets push the 'creating local jobs' angle very hard when they are trying to push through planning permission (and preparing to decimate local wealth creating businesses), so if you go to a newly built one you won't see any self service tills.

you just hastily purchase your goods and look surly until you leave.. and that's a fact..

(Cries because it's so true)

I love them. I'll even stand and wait to use one when the checkout person at the standard till is "cco-ee" and "yoo-hoo"ing me to go and pay at her empty till.
There are far too many people pecking at my head all day at work as it is, I don't need somebody else yapping at me in my time as well.
I love our local Sainsbury's. It's huge. I can always get just what I went in for and I only have to speak to somebody if I want something from the bakery or meat departments that are not already pre-packaged.
It's just about as nice as boring food shopping can be.
I really like Pay At The Pump petrol pumps but I rarely fill the car up these days.

Clearly they've turned the volume up to 11 to help the hard of hearing, which is very inclusive and hard to disagree with,

I can disagree with that. It's not inclusive, it's exclusive, because it annoys the people with good or sensitive ears.

And shouldn't aural instructions be for the benefit of the blind, not the deaf? Blind folk often have acute hearing, so wouldn't need it to be especially loud.

What they should give you is a little round dial on the front of the machine labelled 'Volume', and there should also be a label in braille I suppose.

Easy!

I don't see the point of Woppit's post though. He's telling us he doesn't like self-service tills isn't he? Does he want a list of all the things I don't like?

Interestingly supermarkets push the 'creating local jobs' angle very hard when they are trying to push through planning permission…

You may find this article (and other linked articles) interesting…

"The British Retail Planning Forum (1998), embarrassingly financed by the supermarkets themselves, discovered that every time a large supermarket opens, on average, 276 jobs are lost."

I have come very, very close to attacking B&Q's ones with the hardware I was trying to buy at the time.

I've no massive objection to using them, but having them squawk the same obvious/irrelevant instruction loudly at you every two seconds does raise the blood pressure somewhat.

On the petrol pump note, again, a brilliant idea but why do Esso limit it to £59 when that won't fill my tank? Bell ends. And – on a tangent – how have so many people never figured out that the pump stretches to both sides of the car?

If I am doing some of the work by scanning it myself I would like a discount on my shopping please for being part of their workforce 😉

In the fullness of time, you might find that you have to pay extra for the personal service provided by a checkout person.
I wonder how many people will be queueing for the serve yourself tills then?

It's no use using supermarkets and moaning about depersonalisation and staff cuts – you go to them cos they're cheap and convenient, you can't then complain when they try and make the process even cheaper and more efficient now can you?

p.s. iDave, you don't even need to push the Finish/Pay Now button, just stick a card in and it does it – magic!

I don't see the point of Woppit's post though. He's telling us he doesn't like self-service tills isn't he? Does he want a list of all the things I don't like?

I'd just got up and was feeling a bit grumpy.

I'm with Woppit. Those f*kin things are an abridgment to my happiness.

Mr Woppit read this – http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/morality10/morality10_index.html

Nothing to do with the thread but I suspect you'll appreciate it.

you go to them cos they're cheap and convenient

I live above a shop. It's dirty, well overpriced for everything, loads of out of date stuff on the shelves, and the shop owner sells fags to kids and stolen goods out the back. I don't go in there at all. In fact I'd be quite happy to see the place close down.

The only plus side of serve yourself tills is that steak can be weighed as potatoes 😆

I'd like the self service tills to shout out what you've just bought each time.

"TUB OF 'ROID CREAM!!!, £2.89"
"CONDOMS, EXTRA SMALL!!!, £3.50"
"ASDA OWN BRAND LAGER!!!, £1.17"

"Sadly the woppit died out due to it's failure to evolve."

There's only one reason the supermarkets do anything.

avdave2 – Member

"Sadly the woppit died out due to it's failure to evolve."

Done better, earlier. Still pretty toss, though…

i quite like em really once you get the hang of it all and dont have someone in front arseing around without a clue….and yes I may have been known to do the old one scanned one in the bag slight of hand routine…when times are hard!

you have never once chatted to anyone that you don't know personally whilst shopping in a supermarket..
no..
you haven't..
you just hastily purchase your goods and look surly until you leave.. and that's a fact..
sorry

And you know this to be a fact how? Have you stood behind me in a queue and studied closely how I behave when I'm shopping for stuff? No you haven't, and your statement is non-factual in my case, and in the case of many people I've stood in queues with. There have been instances when I've taken product from a shelf with a marked price, and the price at the till was incorrect. The checkout girl was able to query it with a supervisor who verified that I was correct. A bloody machine has no discretion under these circumstances, and I refuse to partake in a system designed to reduce the number of staff jobs and increase the profits of powerful supermarket chains.

When they offer discount for using them,I'll think about it. Discount overall would have to equate to the salaries of the people whose jobs you're taking. Until then you can serve me, thank you very much.

No one? Uhm ok, it's depersonalisation and doesn't mean what you think.

I assume those of you complaining go to Morrisons? Theirs was very shouty, but did do cash back, which was nice. Our very newly built Tesco does have them by the way skidarist so that may be a local decision, as it should be.
But…
In the same way that most supermarkets have literally thousands of products I don't feel compelled to bitch about, I just walk past them and get/do what I do want.
If you don't like supermarkets and what they do/represent fine. Bitch about that.

But if you are going to whine on about a till you don't have to use may I suggest you either

a. at least use the bloody thing so you actually have something to moan about
or
b…. I don't have a b. Just don't use them I guess.

Wow, didn't realise I was that bothered 🙂

CountZero-if you want to query a price at the machine you could ask a member of staff. They seem to leave on there most of the time, it is just a till that can be told to do something else just like the one that someone else operates, not a supreme unquestionable being, just a till…
But if you don't want to use it, don't, it really is that easy.

and I refuse to partake in a system designed to reduce the number of staff jobs and increase the profits

best live outwith capitalism then.