Self-scan supermarkets - arggggh

thelawnet

Money_User wrote: »

It doesn't mean it's a bad decision just because you don't like it.

Well yes it does because I'm not a shareholder so whether it's commercially right or not is irrelevant to me. I don't shop at say Tesco, because I don't like the way it's managed. I couldn't care less about how many people like shopping there, it's either a place that I'm willing to shop in or it's not.

I always read yeah but if Tesco/Asda/Sainsburys to this to all their customers they'll close down but this never seems to happen to the big Supermarkets does it! So maybe the decision isn't as bad as you think.

Possibly not. But in my personal case I'll likely spend more money not in Sainsburys and in say Waitrose.

Money_User

thelawnet wrote: »

Well yes it does because I'm not a shareholder so whether it's commercially right or not is irrelevant to me.

It still doesn't mean it's a bad decision, it's just you don't like it!

grimsalve

I usually get into a right pickle with any selfscan machine and then I have to go through the embarassment of calling the supervisor over and get them to scan and pack my items for me... which sort of defeats the object of self-scanning!

I avoid them if at all possible, it's nice to have a little friendly chat with a real person at a till instead of having a machine barking at you all the time about putting items in the bagging area. Do self-scan machines actually save time or money?

Fingers crossed it's just a fad and all the shops will eventually go back to the good old fashioned till.

thethirdbar

TheSaint wrote: »

I don't think putting people out of a job is a valid argument. The jobs created through the science and technology industries which design and manufacture them are higher paid better jobs.
But - I hate the fact that most of the darn things are REALLY slow, i find it faster to queue for a normal checkout - especially in B&Q - their machines are shocking.

yes... but that's actually a problem. it's all very well creating higher paid better jobs, but it erodes the availability of jobs for people like teens who want a saturday job or people with few qualifications.


i do agree that sometimes the self-scan tills are better/easier when you only have a few items. my local tesco 'superstore' is a large two-floor store, though, and it only has i think 3 'normal' tills - and i've never seen them fully staffed. They have around 14 self'serve tills which are a nightmare when its busy and they only have 1 (or sometimes not even 1) staff member supervising them. and they're just the regular 'small' self-serve tills - no space at all for a trolleyful of shopping. No idea what they were thinking.

Also I once nipped in before work to get some breakfast - their packs of 6 muller corners were on a bogof offer, so i thought i'd keep them in the fridge at work and have breakfast for a week. the self serve till didn't recognise the offer. i had to wait 5 minutes for a staff member to show up; she then went to check the offer and was inexplicably gone for over 15 minutes! she came back saying 'oh, sorry, the offer is brand new and hasn't been updated on the self-serve tills yet' - and then it took another 5 minutes for her to clear it. grr! i ended up being late for work - very very infuriating.

Freddie_Snowbits

Just as the extractor fans are placed above the fish counter to rid the smell, Baked Bread and Coffee entice costomers to part with their cash. The self scam checkouts are to the non unionised shop assistants, a means to a loss.

One would fear when the self weighing trolley is introduced, and contactless payment methods become widespread.

noangel666

I personally loath self scanner, probably since i got £40 cashback and walked off and left it DOH!!