[Closed] Self service tills!!!

The ones in my local B&q are friendlier than the till operator's, although it was a bit of a struggle trying to get 2 10 metre rolls of roofing felt on the scales!

project - Member

By using one youre doing a real person out of a real job

I'm taking away low-paid till operator jobs and creating self-service-checkout-machine design and manufacturing jobs 😉

TBH if you're in a shop that has self-service, then you're probably in a big supermarket, and therefore taking away jobs from small local shops. I don't go to Tesco to create jobs.

I'd love to know where you lie with the law when using them. And not in the AWT sense but more of a 'confused', pressed the wrong button, 'was miles away' sense. See MTQGs confusion in a previous post.

The last time I was in a shop buying food, the owner was asking me what I'd like to see on their shelves. Having made a few suggestions I'll be back to see if they've been acted on.

Not much point to that really, other than it beats the shit out of interacting with a machine.

If there were only self-service tills we wouldn't have this wonderful poem from Mr Tim Key!

Only thing they are good for is stocking up on Tesco generic paracetamol and ibuprofen. Of course you need to pay cash and multiple times

... a recent rant was on being asked to leave a queue for checkout with an operative i pointed out i had loose vegetables and wine - experience would suggest that this would require me to pace up and down and wave until a queue built up and then wait until someone could summon a colleague and guess an item code with a vaguely similar price and then walk off before authorising the alcohol - my arms are still tired from waving and i've 2mm of ASDA floor ground into my shoes from pacing.
PS for Tesco the answer is always cheese crusty if you want to pay for loose bakery goods

edit real shops are rarely open all hours

What a bunch of middle class twaddle.

They don't cost jobs, they cut queues that form at peak times and avoid people having to wait behind a weekly shop to pay for a few items. It's like having a 6 lane motorway instead of 2 single track roads.

And they are bloomin simple to operate, if you can't work it out then...

But if you are trying to use one for a trolley full you deserve everything you get.

It cuts down on unnecessary social interaction and the uncomfortable feeling of being judged upon your grocery purchases...

I was in the supermarket the other day buying a frey bentos pie, a half pint of milk, a one-third size tin of beans (remember them?) a single serving box of micro chips, and an individual canned steamed pudding. Oh and a copy of Zoo magazine.

The girl at the checkout asked me coyly "Would I be right to assume you are single sir?"

"Yes I am as it happens, thats very perceptive of you. How can you tell?"

she replied "Because you're ugly and you stink"

After reading this thread I'm off to find a threshing machine to destroy!

I like them
Any old money off coupon seems to work - whether or not you've actually bought that item 🙂

I always have to wait for a member of staff to 'verify my bag'. Apart from that they're no problem and are much quicker than waiting in a queue behind someone who has just bought enough shopping to last the next six months.

Kev

What a bunch of middle class twaddle.

They don't cost jobs, they cut queues that form at peak times and avoid people having to wait behind a weekly shop to pay for a few items.

Well if they don't cost jobs then they must have proved to have been an expensive waste of money for the supermarkets. They can't possibly be quicker as there is no way Joe Public can scan quicker than supermarket checkout staff. Supermarkets are perfectly capable of providing manned "6 items or less" checkouts if that is the issue.

[url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/7957800/Self-service-checkouts-have-not-cut-supermarket-queues.html ]Self-service checkouts 'have not cut supermarket queues'[/url]

[i]"Figures compiled by The Grocer magazine show that average queuing times for staffed tills at Tesco and Sainsbury's, the retailers with the most self-service checkouts, have increased over the past two years.

At Tesco, which has 6,000 self-service checkouts in its 1,200 stores, the average wait for a staffed till lengthened from 5min 15sec in 2008 to 5min 42sec this year. Sainsbury’s saw a smaller rise, from 5min 30sec to 5min 35sec. "[/i]

If queues haven't reduced since their introduction then it looks suspiciously like the supermarkets haven't used the 'freed up' staff to serve other customers, and that despite their protestations to the contrary, have simply reduced their staffing levels. To put it in my best middle-class twaddle.

In the Sainsburys where I shop it's definitely quicker to use a machine than it is to wait for an available cashier. The cahiers queues are always full by someone with a trolley full piling stuff on to the conveyor which will inevitalbly take at least 10mins before they have packed, paid and left. Using the machine takes less than 5mins. If it took longer I wouldn't use it would I, I'd wait for a cashier instead.

Kev

They are all part of the sexist agenda. Men are incapable of opening supermarket bags and this is the latest feminist weapon designed to make men feel insignificant as they wrestle with the inseparable sides of the bags while woman quickly pass them by. It's an outrage.

They can't possibly be quicker as there is no way Joe Public can scan quicker than supermarket checkout staff.

Throughput innit?

Joe Public may be slow at scanning, but the supermarket can fit 6 self-service machines in the space for 2 manned tills.

So unless Joe Public is 3 times slower than the staff then throughput is increased at peak times. 😀
(even if individual checkout times are longer)

Anyways, I like em. Way faster than dealing with till staff when I just want to grab a couple of things for lunch.

ernie_lynch - True because there are absolutely no other variables that affect the length of queues at supermarkets. Well done!

They can't possibly be quicker as there is no way Joe Public can scan quicker than supermarket checkout staff.

You have obviously missed the point though. The actually time stood at the till scanning may be longer but the queue [b]may[/b] be less because you can spread the load across the 6 lanes, not 1.

Its not rocket science.

Its just additional choice. If its quiet or you have troublesome items that are hard to scan use the regular till. Busy a lots of old dears waiting for the checkout then nip thought the self service and save yourself some time.

And the fact that seemingly intelligent people are getting so wound up by a machine that can be operated by children is quite telling.

ernie_lynch - True because there are absolutely no other variables that affect the length of queues at supermarkets. Well done!

Thanks 8)

Although credit should really go to the Daily Telegraph for publishing the article which reports the detailed research into the matter.

my girlfriend insists on using them every time. however she mostly buys knives, paracetamol & wine -yeah i know 😯 - so always needs an assistant. drives me mental.

And the fact that seemingly intelligent people are getting so wound up by a machine that can be operated by children is quite telling.

I think there actually is little yellow kids inside the self service tills operating them, keeps them off the streets of Shanghai

.

And WHY must the till use the same patronising tone reserved for three year olds? or that irritating liquid beep? I refuse to use them.

Was queued for a self service till in an Asda on Sunday.

Assistant asked 'would you like me to put that through for you', so I agreed.

Chatted to my wife & amused the baby whilst the assistant scanned our items.

Came to pay, and realised she'd scanned everyting but not put it in bags.

Really helpful.

So we then had to spend exactly the same time & effort bagging everything up that we'd have had to had she not offered to 'help'.

Pointless.

Dope.

Hardly ever had a problem with using them in Tesco or Sainsbury's.

They are incredibly simple and just need to be used by their own rules i.e. do things in the order they want, be careful not to jiggle the bag about, etc.

Easy.

Having a member of staff doing what you pay them to do is even easier. Self-service is no service.

Reading some of the nonsense posted on this thread confirms my belief in Joe Public. Yes I work in a store with these tills.

People who can't/won't use them are the same people who.......

Have to use a pump at the petrol station that is on the same side as the fuel filler cap
Drive everywhere at 40mph
Hog the middle lane
Carry mobile phones (if they have dared embrace such technology) in a pouch attached to their belt

Someone needs to tell Tesco that a 500g bag of ciabatta breadmaker mix doesn't weigh the "expected weight" of 0.080kg reported on the screen. It's tough being in the squeezed middle, and that's one of the worst things about it.

I guess it's all first generation problems, they have got noticeably better in the short(ish) time they've been around.

Has the average waiting time on both served AND self service tills gone down?
Most people will use both at sometime?

If not, then the only one who benefits is the shop. The public get shafted along with the staff.

Massive queues in Todmorden btw.
Evolution is not uniform.

Wrong on all counts Houns, but stop trying to be clever and think for a minute about why they are there and who is really gaining from them.

"That's not a carrot sir, that's a leek"
-"...Oh is it? I never can tell..."

Carry mobile phones ... in a pouch attached to their belt

These people are trained members of T.W.A.T

People who walk around with one of those stupid little Bluetooth earpieces, even when they're not actually on a call, are also members.

last time Mrs R and I went to a large Swedish furniture store there were queues at the few opened manned checkouts but the automated ones were taped off. When she asked why they told her they didn't have enough staff to man the automated ones as they needed watching closely because of the amount of "wastage". Does make you wonder where the savings are and whether the whole thing's been thought through.

What happened to the 'coming revolution' of RFID tags?

Debit card goes in the device on the trolley, the trolley knows what you put in or take out and the system charges it automatically.

They were supposed to be cheap enough to put on anything and would do away with all the barcode scanning etc?
I've seen some pieces on TV with them but they don't seem to be getting rolled out

Although credit should really go to the Daily Telegraph for publishing the article which reports the detailed research into the matter.

Not really. The telegraph did a very common media trick of jumping to a conclusion based on research data.

Data: Queues are marginally longer now than [i]a while ago[/i].
?
Interpretation: Self service tills didn't exist [i]a while ago[/i]
?
Conclusion: Self service tills must have made queues longer

Correlation ? causation

The telegraph did a very common media trick of jumping to a conclusion based on research data.

Your conclusion isn't based on any research data ? Excellent. I'll believe you instead then.

What happened to the 'coming revolution' of RFID tags?

Too expensive. Would cost billions of pounds to implement and the tags are also too expensive, business case doesn't stack up as people are fairly happy with the current system and don't want to pay more for the tags. I think there is a demonstration store in Germany somewhere with the full works. RFID checkouts, dynamic shelf edge labels, automated shelf fill etc. Impressive stuff.

Waitrose did a trial a while back using barcode scanning on the trolley so you scanned as you packed to save the time taken to unload the trolley and pack the bags. Don't know why wasn't rolled out but judging by the banks of unused scanners it may have been user apathy (weighed items were also a faff).

Your conclusion isn't based on any research data ? Excellent. I'll believe you instead then.

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They stopped the Asda ones in our branch a while ago as some bright spark had realised the self service tills took any "10p off" kind of vouchers regardless of if you had the actual items in your bag. People were just scanning an entire booklet in and getting their shopping for next to nothing!

Could be worse. I bought some Sticklebricks for the little 'un a while ago using the Argos self service. I was actually directed by the machine to a proper till half way through to 'prove' I was 18. Some data entry error must have made it think I was trying to buy a knife or something...

some bright spark had realised the self service tills took any "10p off" kind of vouchers

Lets hope no one figures out how easy it is to print out your own barcode stickers then eh? 😀

Waitrose did a trial a while back using barcode scanning on the trolley so you scanned as you packed to save the time taken to unload the trolley and pack the bags. Don't know why wasn't rolled out but judging by the banks of unused scanners it may have been user apathy (weighed items were also a faff).

Waitrose still do it in Malvern and it's great.

Weighed items are easy as you weigh them and stick the sticker on whether you scan yourself or the till dolly does it.

I learned all about the STDs the lady on the till had been given by her boyfriend on Saturday at the huge supermarket*. I tend to bring that out in people.

They don't give you that on the self-service: 'Darren has had the clap so much he's being treated for applause' flashing up on screen!

* I kid you not. 100% true. Even I was a bit shocked! 😯

People can actually afford to shop in waitrose.

I never use them in Morrisons becuase:

1. There is always a need to wait for an intervention by a staff member.

2. I'd miss the asian lady on till 5 telling me in a jovial manner how she would never allow her son to marry a white girl.

I stopped using them so much since they introduced the weight element into the machine....now the bloody thing knows the difference between a single samosa and a whacking great bag of sirloin its not half so appealing.
Still, B&Q are a way behind on this front 😉