Self-Service Checkouts

[CHF]

Disadvantages

- There aren't enough of them in all shops and they don't currently accommodate larger trolley fulls well with the most common design.

Disappointed in you SNACR - your retail knowledge is slightly OOD )

The ASDA next to me has self service for trolleys where ou load up your own coneyor belt and scan like a checkout girl!

It's great for those adept with the SS tills...

[Frank Hovis]

The Tesco near me offer a scanner where you walk round and scan your items straight into the shopping bags in your trolley. You then pay on exit. Still I don't shop there because the quality if products is lacking.

Now that's one piece of kit I've never used and I've not seen anybody else using, it seems too much like hard work. I thought they'd withdrawn it. I knwo somebody who worked on the non-technical side of introducing this in the 90s.

And yes, Tesco own brand stuff is poor quality.

[hirop]

Don't usually have too many problems with them. Morrison's machine was horrendous once, never tried it since. Asda machine cashback was 10 quid short, that took 5 minutes to sort out - won't be doing that again. oddly the small Tesco convenience store down the road has a machine plagued by "unrecognised item in the baggage area"-itis and "reject your pound coin"-its, so don't use that, however using this store is rare as the prices on everything non-own brand are horrendously marked up.

[ccc]

Having worked on a checkout before - i like them.

I can scan and pack better than most of those working.

I don't buy much meat from Tesco - very poor quality.

[Bruce Banner]

I've never used the UK ones but here in France they have, perhaps, six machines that take cards only and two that take cards and cash, a bad idea as people use the cash machines for cards and I end up waiting while there are four or five free card only machines.

[crashmonitor]

I do use self service. But absolutely not if there is a queue forming because you can be sure that one of them will throw a spanner in the works.........'Assistance required', 'Unexpected item in bagging area'. A ten deep queue will probably be quicker with a cashier present.

[lulu]

Is it just me?

I too hate them but use them every once in a while - after I have accumulated excess small change - real till staff are never very keen on accepting £2+ worth of coppers but I have not yet had a problem getting rid of them through the self service till

[The Generation Game]

You will pack YOUR bags in the manner that THEY require.

That's an ORDER.

Tesco are going to get enforcement drones soon, I hear.

Anyway, got to go. I've seen a few looms that need breaking up.

I can imagine an ED209-style enforcer next to them.

"Remove unexpected item from bagging area! You have 20 seconds to comply!"

[Self Employed Youth]

I can't stand these machines either. I just don't use them and dump shopping. Have thought about buying off of the shoplifters instead, to save the hassle of being forced to use these machines.

[sleepwello'nights]

I'm always sorely tempted to use the expensive/cheap bottle of wine tip (they both weigh the same) someone on here mentioned as a means of compensation for being an unpaid supermarket checkout operator.

[Frank Hovis]

[stormymonday_2011]

I too hate them but use them every once in a while - after I have accumulated excess small change - real till staff are never very keen on accepting £2+ worth of coppers but I have not yet had a problem getting rid of them through the self service till

Yep that is my game too

I hate the damned things but they are great for buying single items such some milk and then unloading your old shrapnel on the supermarkets

[SarahBell]

I have used one once without it messing up.

I think I bought one item and didn't use my own bag. I didn't use theirs either though.

We broke one properly - it just refused to do anything right and the girl opened its inards up twice before giving up on it.

It must be easier to shoplift than ever before with them.

[DeepLurker]

I too hate them but use them every once in a while - after I have accumulated excess small change - real till staff are never very keen on accepting £2+ worth of coppers but I have not yet had a problem getting rid of them through the self service till

Same here.

[happy_renting]

I have used one once without it messing up.

I think I bought one item and didn't use my own bag. I didn't use theirs either though.

We broke one properly - it just refused to do anything right and the girl opened its inards up twice before giving up on it.

It must be easier to shoplift than ever before with them.

Tescos ones run on Windows XP.

[happy_renting]

When the self-service tills are busy, I use the manned tills instead, but scan everything myself, making beeping noises.

It really annoys the supermarkey staff.

[winkie]

"Unknown item in bagging area"

Is it just me?

[Rare Bear]

I'll use them if the main tills are full and I only have a few items; I think they have their place.

I didn't realise that supermarket staff are on teh fiddle quite as much as Mark said.

Don't know about these days but in the past most shrinkage was down to staff rather than shoplifters. Nicking goods seems to have always been regarded as a perk of the job. The London dockers' strike was not so much about the loss of jobs caused by containerization as the loss of opportunity for nicking.

[happy_renting]

I have heard that one of the most shoplifted items are razor blades. Small, quite expensive, consumable items and easy to sell.

[DTMark]

That's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. That's so "me" down even to the facial expressions and mannerisms, it's creepy.

Sadly I can even remember the Doctor Who episode that used that alarm sample - Terror of the Zygons, part 4, mid 1970s when the ship was about to self destruct.

Don't know about these days but in the past most shrinkage was down to staff rather than shoplifters. Nicking goods seems to have always been regarded as a perk of the job. The London dockers' strike was not so much about the loss of jobs caused by containerization as the loss of opportunity for nicking.

Shrinkage - haven't heard that word in years. The last time I recall it was in a meeting of the Prod Squad (fruit and veg team) where our department manager was trying to explain after having come across an apple in the coldstore with a bite taken out of it. "To you lot, it's just the shrinkage. To the company, it's financial loss".

I have heard that one of the most shoplifted items are razor blades. Small, quite expensive, consumable items and easy to sell.

Razor blades, batteries, alcohol and.... pick and mix sweets.

I worked for Woolworths Head office too, and one of the most commonly stolen items from the clothing department was... incredibly... socks.

I think it's fair to say that there are differences of opinion on these self service checkouts

[DTMark]

Best of all, are the hand held scanners that you carry around the shop and zap the stuff as you put it into your bag. Absolute genius. I see how much it actually costs, get a running total and I don't repack at the check out counter. Completely painless. Almost as good as Asda's online ordering where it remembers what you bought last time - and you can just do a couple of clicks to get it again.

Sainsbury's in Farnham - our second nearest - has the "scanner built into the shopping trolley" system so you scan your own stuff as you walk around. I'm guessing that this is only deployed in the more affluent areas. You can't just "take one and use it", you have to sort of "book it out" I think - maybe they give you the once over and see if they think you can be trusted

I remember Sainsburys trialling these, I think, in their Colchester store - the area was called Stanway - and that would have been in about 1995. If I recall rightly, they were abandoned because of the theft risks.

If you have a Tesco loyalty card, everything you buy is registered against that so if you log into Tesco.com and enter your loyalty card number you can pull up a list of everything you bought when you last went into the store and order it again.

[SNACR]

Disappointed in you SNACR - your retail knowledge is slightly OOD )

The ASDA next to me has self service for trolleys where ou load up your own coneyor belt and scan like a checkout girl!

It's great for those adept with the SS tills...

Yep, I've used those but was saying the normal ones don't accommodate them but didn't phrase it well.

[SNACR]

Sainsbury's in Farnham - our second nearest - has the "scanner built into the shopping trolley" system so you scan your own stuff as you walk around. I'm guessing that this is only deployed in the more affluent areas. You can't just "take one and use it", you have to sort of "book it out" I think - maybe they give you the once over and see if they think you can be trusted

I remember Sainsburys trialling these, I think, in their Colchester store - the area was called Stanway - and that would have been in about 1995. If I recall rightly, they were abandoned because of the theft risks.

If you have a Tesco loyalty card, everything you buy is registered against that so if you log into Tesco.com and enter your loyalty card number you can pull up a list of everything you bought when you last went into the store and order it again.

The issue with the self-scan is it showing a running total results in punters spending less. The fact that Waitrose persevered longest with them suggest clientele is an issue with them also.

[StainlessSteelCat]

The issue with the self-scan is it showing a running total results in punters spending less. The fact that Waitrose persevered longest with them suggest clientele is an issue with them also.

Quite so. I start thinking harder about whether I want something once the total goes over £10, and always stop once I've filled my bag. Neither of those checks are available with a traditional basket.

[Guest eight]

Razor blades, batteries, alcohol and.... pick and mix sweets.

Cheese too now. In fact weight for weight I think cheese costs more than batteries.