Why the fear of self-service tills?

I refuse to use them as I believe it is an extremely dangerous path to go down. By buying offthe net I feel guilty enough without putting poor sods out of a job on tills as well.
In the Edinburgh branch of Tescos, the self service do get used an awful lot though.
 
I refuse to use them as I believe it is an extremely dangerous path to go down. By buying offthe net I feel guilty enough without putting poor sods out of a job on tills as well.
.

The jobs are going to go soon enough tho'. New scientist reported some months ago that RFID chips are now cheap enough to mass produce and the Super(??)Markets are looking at the idea of EVERY item having its own unique identifier chip. So you will be able to load your trolley and just wheel it through the check-out, which will remotely read every chip instantly and bill you in milli-seconds. Goodbye checkout girls and boys, (goodbye shoplifting too).
On-going costs will plummet as personnel are fired, profits will rocket, buy your Tesco shares now!
 
my local Tesco had only self service tills available until 9am - but they saw such a downturn in trade that they have had to open standard tills

people in to pick up sandwiches and a paper could not be bothered with the hassle and chose to shop elsewhere

i've tried them and hate them with a vengeance - as others have said if i wanted to scan shopping i'd work in a supermarket

they won't accept booze/dvds/cds/reduced items/many weigh items eg veg/etc etc
 
1. it puts people out of a job
2. it lines the pockets of the stores even more
3. they are clumsy and unintuitive
4. why the hell should i have to do it? i pay for my damn shopping and lug it to my car, im not bloody scanning it through aswell!

so sod that, if it gets to the stage where im forced to use them il start going to my local shops instead (if they havent closed by then!)
 
I personally use them all the time but it is very anoying when you get the unexpected item in the bagging area alart.

i'd imagine a number of people dont use them because they are lazy....

after all, why should you have to scan the item as well as put it in the basket in the first place!!!!

:rolleyes: ...
I think it would have more to do with people being scared of new stuff, I asked my mum she said that she thinks she would create a bigger queue and slow everybody else down as she struggled to use the thing.
 
HI,

I love the Self-Service tills, at my local Tesco, but I have one major gripe:

Why do so many morons keep using these tills, to put-through a whoel shopping torlley full of junk through, that includes 6 tins of tuna, 29 tins of cat food, a year's worth of booze, fourteen packets of bog roll, and :censored: knows what other stuff too? Plus, for every single item, they seem to be unable to find the fecking bar-code?! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Drives me round the bend, how stupid some people are! Moreso when the damn machine tells and shows you exactly what to do! These machines would be excellent for thinning out the human race. :rotfl:


Pooch
 
Drives me round the bend, how stupid some people are! Moreso when the damn machine tells and shows you exactly what to do! These machines would be excellent for thinning out the human race. :rotfl:

You mean like "Please place the item on the belt" with helpful video accompaniment showing those of us who have lost our hand/eye co-ordination just exactly what we should do? Fine when it works, of course, although I suspect many people have shared my experience of repeatedly trying to "Place the item on the belt" to no avail. It usually goes along the lines of:
Scan the item.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Place the item on the belt.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Lift item and replace.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Lift and replace the item with slightly more vigour.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Lift and bang the item soundly onto the belt.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Lift the item and jump onto the belt holding the item.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Avoid the disbelieving stares of customers and staff, hop lightly off the belt, and proceed to bang the item repeatedly on the belt.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Nod sagely to the OAP behind you in the queue.
Attempt to cancel the item, rescan, and place item on the belt.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Spot that you have another identical "item" in your basket. Place it on the belt.
"Unauthorised item on the belt. Please rescan the item and place it on the belt"
Fall to your knees sobbing gently, while the OAP attracts the attention of a member of staff, who, with a couple of button presses, scans the "item" and successfully "Places it on the belt"
Stumble towards the door, but not quickly enough to avoid your Nemesis saying "Thank you for shopping at Tescos" in what, to your now deranged imagination, seems like a very smug tone.
 
You mean like "Please place the item on the belt" with helpful video accompaniment showing those of us who have lost our hand/eye co-ordination just exactly what we should do? Fine when it works, of course, although I suspect many people have shared my experience of repeatedly trying to "Place the item on the belt" to no avail. It usually goes along the lines of:
Scan the item.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Place the item on the belt.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Lift item and replace.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Lift and replace the item with slightly more vigour.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Lift and bang the item soundly onto the belt.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Lift the item and jump onto the belt holding the item.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Avoid the disbelieving stares of customers and staff, hop lightly off the belt, and proceed to bang the item repeatedly on the belt.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Nod sagely to the OAP behind you in the queue.
Attempt to cancel the item, rescan, and place item on the belt.
"Please place the item on the belt"
Spot that you have another identical "item" in your basket. Place it on the belt.
"Unauthorised item on the belt. Please rescan the item and place it on the belt"
Fall to your knees sobbing gently, while the OAP attracts the attention of a member of staff, who, with a couple of button presses, scans the "item" and successfully "Places it on the belt"
Stumble towards the door, but not quickly enough to avoid your Nemesis saying "Thank you for shopping at Tescos" in what, to your now deranged imagination, seems like a very smug tone.

:rotfl: :rotfl: Class
 
HI,

I love the Self-Service tills, at my local Tesco, but I have one major gripe:

....

Drives me round the bend, how stupid some people are! Moreso when the damn machine tells and shows you exactly what to do! These machines would be excellent for thinning out the human race. :rotfl:


Pooch

Well they shop at Tesco in the first place :rolleyes: So I am not surprised they are there....Call it supermarket snobbery, but no such problems at M&S or Waitrose...

And even better at my local greengrocers and butchers, don't have to take it off the shelves, put it in the bags and operate the till myself....They all do it for me, at generally a lower cost, and 100% of the time with better produce and assumed in a more environmentally friendly way....And in the case of my butchers there is always a glass of wine on a Sunday morning!

And if I forgot my wallet they still let me take the groceries and pay for it next time I come in....Although to be fair Waitrose did that as well but only for the babyproducts....They were genuinly surprised though that I came back with the money an hour later....
 
There's an element of WIIFM here. If I got a discount (say 5%) off my final bill for 'doing it myself' then I'd probably use it but why bother when Tesco pay someone to scan it for you...

This isn't laziness just a normal human trait!
 
I love the self service tills at Tesco. Being a fiddly gadget freak I love anything new like this that I can play with. Almost makes shopping worthwhile! With huge queues at the normal ones these are usually always empty.

Some people seem to have huge problems with them, but a quick study of how the work will help no end. When you scan it, there is a little sensor right near the front of the belt. If you don't wave the item over this it will give you that 'unexpected item on the belt' message. Apart from that it should be fine. Haven't had a problem yet with the machines, they work fine on multibuy and reduced items. Only problems when I had a very wet fresh chicken that kind of messed the machine up. :oops:
 
i never use the self service tills for one simple reason - I spent 9 months in my last job (which i bl**dy hated!) installing, commisioning, setting up and repairing bar code readers, amongst other things.
Consequently i wish to have as little as possible to do with one ever again and am more than happy to queue and then let Kevin/Tracy do the job for me.....

:D
 
HI,

I love the Self-Service tills, at my local Tesco, but I have one major gripe:

Why do so many morons keep using these tills, to put-through a whoel shopping torlley full of junk through, that includes 6 tins of tuna, 29 tins of cat food, a year's worth of booze, fourteen packets of bog roll, and :censored: knows what other stuff too? Plus, for every single item, they seem to be unable to find the fecking bar-code?! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Drives me round the bend, how stupid some people are! Moreso when the damn machine tells and shows you exactly what to do! These machines would be excellent for thinning out the human race. :rotfl:


Pooch

The self service ticket machines at stations around here they installed have have that effect and drives me round the bend.

They are not complicated but the intelligence of some people you stand in disbelief sometime while you are waiting as they try to find the correct station then proceed to payment and that is when you really get annoyed as the machines regularly stop accepting notes or card but even though there are signs on the display saying that notes/cards are not accepted they stand there for a good 5 minutes trying to force them in and when they finally give up(and i've missed the train) they start moaning at them.

As for the machines in supermarkets i like them as they are gadgety and it gives me something to look forward to after trawling up and down the aisles
 
I think its just a combination of factors

People too scared of technology (generally older people).
Machines not working at all (in my local somerfield, there's only ever one of the working usually)
The machines just being stupid
The fact they can't handle light goods (I bought a bottle of fanta and a chocolate, and I had to wait 5 mins in the queue because it was too light for the machine)
Sometimes they don't take notes if the notes have been folded a lot
Sometimes they won't accept the coin (all machines which you put coins in can have that problem though).

I do still use them though, cos its still usually faster than the "normal till", but I still think their annoying
 
You mean like "Please place the item on the belt" with helpful video accompaniment showing those of us who have lost our hand/eye co-ordination just exactly what we should do? Fine when it works, of course, although I suspect many people have shared my experience of repeatedly trying to "Place the item on the belt" to no avail. It usually goes along the lines of:
Scan the item.
"Please place the item on the belt"
snipQUOTE]

funny you mention the belt, we were giving it a try last week, put one bowl on it.... shoots down. missus goes to put the second bowl down...... run to the other end to move the bowl out of the way before the enevitable smash that was to ensue!

i wonder how many things get broken on them things?

i tell you one thing, if something were to get broken or the bag one doesnt accept my goods with relative ease id just leave everything there and walk out.

sorry tescos/asda but im a man, when i shop its in and out, no time for foreplay :nono:
 
The jobs are going to go soon enough tho'. New scientist reported some months ago that RFID chips are now cheap enough to mass produce and the Super(??)Markets are looking at the idea of EVERY item having its own unique identifier chip. So you will be able to load your trolley and just wheel it through the check-out, which will remotely read every chip instantly and bill you in milli-seconds. Goodbye checkout girls and boys,
You won't be so happy when the checkout starts charging you for the clothes you're wearing!

(goodbye shoplifting too).
Well, goodbye low-tech shoplifting anyway. RFID tag emulator, anyone? Then of course will come the inevitable RFID malware and viruses, designed to attack the reader software...
 
1) Most of them cannot handle reduced items
2) Multibuys generally cause it to explode
3) As Vinvader points out, the machines seem to be autistic and get upset if the item is not bagged in exactly the right way.
4) Putting notes in them is next to impossible
5) At least three of the checkout girls in Tesco and several of the ones in Sainsburys are lovely and I wouldn't want them out of a job now would I ;)?

thats pretty much it, but not just limited to that, altho i shop at the tesco express across the street from me, and i get the idea those self service tills are differnent to those that others are describing, as there is no conveyor belt. you can't get ciggarettes or certain items behind the till, so people wait for that, if you buy booze, it comes up with another warning that a human has to override, and if the card reader doesn't like your chip and pin, it has to call a human to get you to sign and check your signature

no one has mentioned coins being rejected either. when i have the right change and buy my paper in the morning i put it in and if it's too fast or too slow, or a bit rainy in the morning, the machine goes in a mood and spits the coin back out a few times before accepting it

and in my tesco express, in the mornings at least, the kids bugger about for ages with the damn things buying sweets and changing thier mind and forgetting things, making the queue massive and putting you in danger of missing the bus to work

so in many cases, rather than being quicker, it's a lot slower. it's fine for buying a newspaper in the morning or a few items, but when i get anything multisave or discounted, or buy something that i've been mispriced for previously, i'll wait for a normal person so i can make sure i'm charged right

in speaking to staff, they all tend to hate the machines too as they are a pain in the arse, and not just because they take jobs, it's the almost constant human service they require to make people move from one queue to another, show them how to use the machine, and fix all the problems and warnings. they are fine early mornings when they are short of staff to man all the tills, better having self service than having to wait on one person serving everyone, but after work, they sometimes have only 1 or 2 people on the tills when it's busy, and 1 or 2 people looking after the 2 self service units instead of using the other 2 tills and getting people served quicker
 
Since I work in our local Sainsburys, I do not go into Tescos very often, and I have only used the self scan checkout once in our local Tescos and to be honest I hated it. I love chatting to the checkout operators and if I have a problem it is easy to sort out.

I only used the self scan system because I went shopping with a mate, I won't use it again.

I did not know Sainsburys had any of these selfscan checkouts, we have none, and our manager wants everyone checkout trained, something which I don't want to do, so somehow I got to find an excuse to get out of it.
 
Safeways used to give you a scanner that you used to scan the goods as you went round the store and then you'd either bag the goods at the end or put them in plastic boxes as you went that you brought and kept to reuse. Every so often you would be selected to go through a normal checkout to make sure that you weren't scamming the system. Seemed much faster than the current self service tills.

I'd still rather order my shopping over the Internet, Ocado are just about perfect and its rare that I get a single substitution or anything with a short expiry date on it.
 
You won't be so happy when the checkout starts charging you for the clothes you're wearing!


Well, goodbye low-tech shoplifting anyway. RFID tag emulator, anyone? Then of course will come the inevitable RFID malware and viruses, designed to attack the reader software...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy about it. I think it's another step towards the total dehumanisation of the way we live, eventually ending up with no social interaction at all with other people if you don't try and after that who knows what. Shopping is bad enough as it is, but to make it even less 'human'...
 
Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy about it. I think it's another step towards the total dehumanisation of the way we live, eventually ending up with no social interaction at all with other people if you don't try and after that who knows what. Shopping is bad enough as it is, but to make it even less 'human'...

The majority of shops I seem to go into, I would generally rather not have to deal with the clueless humans. :rolleyes:
 
Safeways used to give you a scanner that you used to scan the goods as you went round the store and then you'd either bag the goods at the end or put them in plastic boxes as you went that you brought and kept to reuse. Every so often you would be selected to go through a normal checkout to make sure that you weren't scamming the system. Seemed much faster than the current self service tills.

I'd still rather order my shopping over the Internet, Ocado are just about perfect and its rare that I get a single substitution or anything with a short expiry date on it.

I only tried grocery shopping over the net once with Tescos, but hated it. At leas when I go and do my shopping I might see some offers I would not see on the website. anyway internet shopping is a lazy mans way. If you do shopping on the net to save money that is another thing, but not because you can't be bothered to get off your behind and do some shopping.

Don't give me this rubbish about being busy, we are all busy, we all got things to do as I keep telling my brother as he uses this Internet shopping thing as well.

I work in a supermarket, but I still hate shopping, I get what I want and then get out quick, but I will never use online shopping for my groceries again.
 
I did not know Sainsburys had any of these selfscan checkouts, we have none, and our manager wants everyone checkout trained, something which I don't want to do, so somehow I got to find an excuse to get out of it.
How about telling him it's not your job?
 
One good thing about self service tills is that they dont start having a chat with the person in front of you while you are waiting to pay and get out of there.

I expect the machine is probably more intelligent than a lot of checkout assistants, tesco staff are the worst in my opinion.

Ordering shopping on the internet is better especially if you just have a recurring list.
 

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