Why the fear of self-service tills?

loz

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My local Tesco local has just installed self-service tills. In the process they have cut down on the number of regular tills, and seemingly the number of operators.

Yet whenever I go in , there is a long queue to pay at the regular tills, and no one using the self-service. Watching people, it is clear they are buying things they could easily have paid for using self-service.

e.g people queuing to pay for a newspaper, when they could have been in and out in seconds using the self-service till.

What is their fear or concern? It isn't like it is just old people who are put off by the technology. It's everybody.
 
Probobaly the resistance to change, people like what they know and what they feel comfortable with. :)

Something new means change, the unknown, there is a fear of making a mistake / getting it wrong. :)
 
At the Tesco's on Bishopsgate in London the normal tills are far quicker.

I was there yesterday with only 1 item, thought it would be much quicker to use the self service tills. My opposite in the normal tills got served a good 25 people before me.
 
"unexpected item in the bagging area, unexpected item in the bagging area"

:suicide: :D
 
"unexpected item in the bagging area, unexpected item in the bagging area"

:suicide: :D

Yup, that and the fact that if I wanted to work in a Tesco checkout I would have not bothered geting any qualifications :D
 
I hate these things just as much as the self pay machines in banks. These machines are only good for 1 thing and that's sacking staff. Support your local economy, support local people and avoid these things like you would avoid Sky dropping HD bitrates. :mad: :thumbsdow
 
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 ;)?
 
I hate these things just as much as the self pay machines in banks. These machines are only good for 1 thing and that's sacking staff.

That's the stupid thing, they have to employ people to keep an eye on them. Just stick the same person on a frigging till & we can all get out of there.:suicide:
 
I use the one at Asda whenever I only have a basket, however, I always forget the booze factor which requires management to step in :oops:
 
"unexpected item in bagging area" "please wait for assistance" as apposed to "wan a packer" and the grunt "thats 11.80" I find the self service tills to be far better spoken and more helpful then the average cashier.

Anyone broke one yet?:devil:

I enthusiastically slapped a basket down on one the other day and the blue screen of death appeared on the screen so I then hastily moved on to another till while that one rebooted. A member of staff came along and looked at it then looked at me I just rolled my eyes and said “computers aye”:D
 
I occasionally use the one in ASDA, as long as I don't have too much shopping.The thing that nafs me off, is that it saves the company money, in ASDA there are 4 self service till and one person to keep an eye on all 4 tills, so staff reduction of 3, but this won't effect the price of the goods or employ so many people.

Steve
 
I hope that post made you feel big and clever. (no I don't work on a Tesco till).

Agreed

My wife works at our local Asda as a checkout operator.

Often deals with rude customers and theres the to deal with the immigrants trying their scamming techniques with food vouchers and acting dumb/don't speak english

Only time the customers appreciate them is when there aren't many operators working resulting in large queues
 
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 remember first using them in USA 5 or 6 years ago, thought it was brilliant idea.....granted sometimes they have the odd problem with reduced/promotional items, but then so do the human operated tills and you stand waiting 5 minutes for the head till manager of the day to stop groping the helpdesk girl :/

I enjoy having a chat with the ladies who do the tills in my local sainsburies, mostly older asian women, ie capable of slightly more intelligent conversation than the school leaver ones....(I know not all school leavers that work behind a till are dumb, i guess my local sainburies just gets more than their fare share)...but there are times when a self service till would be wonderful to just breeze through quickly...
 
I really like them, so much easier and quicker. Much more efficient as you don't really need all those people and space for those tills....
 
I like them, only thing that annoys me is that it gets impatient, telling me to place the item in the bagging area before ive had chance to put it down, telling me over and over again to insert cash or select payment method, and at the end it rushes me to get going by saying please remove bags from bagging area while i'm tryin to put my change/card away. Also i bought a card the other day and it kept saying place item in bagging area because it was too light to recognise it, it then took a few minutes for the woman to sort it out. But apart from that i like them.
 
When I go Asda and I am forced to go self-service, you spend 10 min looking like a fool. Trying to get an item to scan, wondering why there is a weight error in the packing area when you put it into a bag wondering why the stupid computer for a few seconds said "destroy all humans"
 
the tesco self service tills where I live are a terrible idea. I payed for my items by card inserted the card and was billed. No entering my pin or anything it just billed me then and there. Could have been anyones card i was using as I did nothing to prove that the card was mine.

Terrible idea if you ask me after trying to combat fraud with chip and pin and the n having Tesco not even require a signature
 
Yup, that and the fact that if I wanted to work in a Tesco checkout I would have not bothered geting any qualifications :D

Exactly, if i wanted to scan food barcodes, i'd work in Tesco checkout.
 
the tesco self service tills where I live are a terrible idea. I payed for my items by card inserted the card and was billed. No entering my pin or anything it just billed me then and there. Could have been anyones card i was using as I did nothing to prove that the card was mine.

Terrible idea if you ask me after trying to combat fraud with chip and pin and the n having Tesco not even require a signature

hmm..strange, they should require chip'n'pin now....perhaps its an older machine and the managers not upgraded to keep his spend budget down...lol

If they pay for the decent quality setups then there is rarely any hassle from the machine...the one i used in america some 5 years ago was almost faultless.....one item had to be swiped a couple times but then that happens at the peopled tills too...
 
In addition to "Unexpected item in the bagging area" for me, as a senior, the most irritating feature is that the moment I approach one of these tills, an assistant comes over and wants to help. I wouldn't mind if they simply took over, and did the necessary themselves. But no, they stand over me and chivy me along. I then make some rude comment, which I instantly regret - they are after all simply doing their job - and feel bad for hours afterwards. No, all in all, I'll stick to the ordinary check-out.
 
the tesco self service tills where I live are a terrible idea. I payed for my items by card inserted the card and was billed. No entering my pin or anything it just billed me then and there. Could have been anyones card i was using as I did nothing to prove that the card was mine.

Terrible idea if you ask me after trying to combat fraud with chip and pin and the n having Tesco not even require a signature




The flagship store in K|ensington used to have those machines (now -like most- upgraded to chip and pin versions).

I used to think what's stopping a gang-member pickpocketing someone outside the store, buying goods with a high re-sale value then the next gang-member doing the same and so on.
 
I like them, only thing that annoys me is that it gets impatient, telling me to place the item in the bagging area before ive had chance to put it down, telling me over and over again to insert cash or select payment method, and at the end it rushes me to get going by saying please remove bags from bagging area while i'm tryin to put my change/card away. Also i bought a card the other day and it kept saying place item in bagging area because it was too light to recognise it, it then took a few minutes for the woman to sort it out. But apart from that i like them.

Sounds just like tescos online :)
 
I use the one at Asda whenever I only have a basket, however, I always forget the booze factor which requires management to step in :oops:
Have you considered only going shopping when you're sober? :)
 

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