Spill the beans...on your self-service checkout tips (beep)

thatguy1

waltsalt wrote: »

The only thing I hate about them is when some fool tries to put a full trolley through the ones designed for baskets. Nightmare!

I had someone with a trolley moan before that someone with a basket was using self scan!

Alantheaged

Couldn't see a lot of tips. Only two that stood out were:

1. Check if the offer has registered by pressing "Finish and Pay" to see if the offer is applied to the final bill, then scan more items to carry on - I didn't know you could do that.

2. Put in lots of change to convert it to "real" money for free. Bit naughty but not as naughty as the change converter machines that take a big percentage (10% ish for goodness sake!) off you for doing the same thing. Guess this freebie will only last as long as it takes for the supermarkets to reprogramme the SS tills to reject any money you put in over and above the actual bill.

Other than those I couldn't see any real helps.

Also from uplink on posting 108 replying to Littlevoice:

In my case, you won't feel a trace of me I don't drool on my fingers. I just tap my tongue. Whatever is left of me on the bags evaporates before I start scanning.

Urgh that's so gross (and I'm not a teenager) - since when did germs evaporate? - keep your spit to yourself please!!!

Uplink

Alantheaged wrote: »

Also from uplink on posting 108 replying to Littlevoice:

In my case, you won't feel a trace of me I don't drool on my fingers. I just tap my tongue. Whatever is left of me on the bags evaporates before I start scanning.

Urgh that's so gross (and I'm not a teenager) - since when did germs evaporate? - keep your spit to yourself please!!!

I want to write something about the people who cough, sneeze, whatever, while you walk around doing your shopping or you're queuing, or where everybody's hands might have been that day, but I'll keep quiet Still looking for a quotation on Google about how kissing someone on the lips (possibly French style too) is more hygienic than shaking hands. Edit: found something. Warning: some of you might find it gross.

Lum

waltsalt wrote: »

The only thing I hate about them is when some fool tries to put a full trolley through the ones designed for baskets. Nightmare!

I guess that's why the new Tesco where I live has switched to a variant of the basket-only design that takes either a basket or the smaller size trolley.

At the Tesco where I used to live, there used to be some basket ones and some full size ones with a proper conveyor belt and bagging area.

That design was awesome when it was me and my partner doing the shopping. We sometimes used to ask the late night staff to put it into assist mode and really rattle through the shopping.

It was actually better than a staffed till as my partner knew what order I liked the goods in, and would send all the frozen stuff first, then all the fridge stuff etc. allowing for efficient bagging and not hanging around while the cashier scans every item except the two you need to complete your current bag.

I guess they stopped fitting that design because too many people would attempt to use them on their own. There is nothing more frustrating than being stuck behind a person who scans an item, walks down to the far end of the conveyor belt, bags it, walks back to their trolley, scans the next item and so on.

These days if it's a full shop I go for a staffed checkout where possible and aim for one that has as few people on it, but is not empty. This allows me to separate the loading and bagging stages without feeling rushed.

Obukit

waltsalt wrote: »

The only thing I hate about them is when some fool tries to put a full trolley through the ones designed for baskets. Nightmare!

I had someone like that in front of me in a (very busy) Asda, full trolley of shopping which was obviously going to take 15 minutes to scan. The assistant told him he couldn't use SS, the bloke had a little tantrum about how Te$co let him! Was mildly amusing.

In my local Sainsburys, though, for some reason the SS will often beep as you scan something, and expect you to bag the item, but not register it on the screen or running total. If you scan it again the system then gets in a strop because you only bag one item, but it expects two. So the assistant comes over and "voids" off the second "scan", and you get the item for free. I've tried to explain that the computer is mistaken but they look at me as if I'm mad, questioning the infallibility of the screen! Always feel awkward "stealing" an item but you just can't argue that you want to pay for the item!

shalbal68

I only ever use ss tills, i've used them in every supermarket, the best ones are Sainsburys & Asda, worst ones are Tesco & Morrissons. The only time i ever have probs is when i have age restricted items and the "helpful" assisstant comes over to authorise it & then takes it to remove the tag, prompting the "please place item in bagging area" remark, when its left right till the end i have no probs. The people that annoy me are the ones that dont pack as they scan!

richardw

Some of the newsagent shop ones accept a well known airport operator loyalty card, even at some non airport shops.

Doondie

My closest supermarket is a big ASDA store (there are also smaller Tesco and Sainsbury's stores down the road). In the past one year (my memory doesn't go any further... backwards ), I've used the staffed tills just once, and that was when the self-checkout machines were being rearranged. I just don't like queuing, especially when I've got just 3-5 items to buy.

Here's a couple of tips.

1. Don't press random buttons and always listen to what the till 'is saying'; I often see people wondering where their change is, although the machine has just said 'Notes are dispensed below the scanner';
2. If buying discounted goods due to reached 'display by' date, it's better to scan them last (read on for the explanation);
3. Put the item IN the bag(ging area), not aside, as soon as you scan it, as some machines weigh the items you put and if a kilo of potatoes and 5 100-gram bars of chocolate don't weigh 1.500 kg, you'll have to wait for assistance; Also some (not all) discounted (last day on the shelf) products are being marked as 'discounted products' with no particular weight - this might confuse the machine, should you scan something else afterwards, so better scan them last to avoid unnecessary delay; Having said that, too light items (such as chewing gums) may not be 'felt' by the scales, so be patient and press 'Don't want to bag this item', should the machine refuse to continue;
4. When scanning your products, hover or fly them over the barcode reader with normal (not too fast, not too slow) speed, don't slide them over or press against the scanner and don't assume it can 'read' from just one direction;
5. If paying by debit card, be prepared to choose if you'd like cashback before you're prompted to enter your PIN; if paying by credit card, this step is omitted;
6. It's probably my imagination but some machines do have... motion sensors and dropping items in the bag quickly can cause problems - 'Please place the item in the bagging area' followed by 'Item removed from bagging area - return item in bagging area before continuing' and so on until you finally see and press 'Skip bagging' or someone comes to your rescue;
7. Last but not least, you don't have to wait for assistance each time you scan some alcoholic product for instance, as often you are allowed to continue scanning until you've finished, when unavoidably you'll need someone to approve your shopping.

Hope this helps and happy self-scanning!

Lum

Doondie wrote: »

It's probably my imagination but some machines do have... motion sensors and dropping items in the bag quickly can cause problems - 'Please place the item in the bagging area' followed by 'Item removed from bagging area - return item in bagging area before continuing' and so on until you finally see and press 'Skip bagging' or someone comes to your rescue;

This is probably because if you drop it too hard it'll cause the scale to bounce up and down and confuse the machine. You can see the same effect if you jump really hard on a set of bathroom scales.

hbk619

Doondie wrote: »

My closest supermarket is a big ASDA store (there are also smaller Tesco and Sainsbury's stores down the road). In the past one year (my memory doesn't go any further... backwards ), I've used the staffed tills just once, and that was when the self-checkout machines were being rearranged. I just don't like queuing, especially when I've got just 3-5 items to buy.

Here's a couple of tips.

1. Don't press random buttons and always listen to what the till 'is saying'; I often see people wondering where their change is, although the machine has just said 'Notes are dispensed below the scanner';
2. If buying discounted goods due to reached 'display by' date, it's better to scan them last (read on for the explanation);
3. Put the item IN the bag(ging area), not aside, as soon as you scan it, as some machines weigh the items you put and if a kilo of potatoes and 5 100-gram bars of chocolate don't weigh 1.500 kg, you'll have to wait for assistance; Also some (not all) discounted (last day on the shelf) products are being marked as 'discounted products' with no particular weight - this might confuse the machine, should you scan something else afterwards, so better scan them last to avoid unnecessary delay; Having said that, too light items (such as chewing gums) may not be 'felt' by the scales, so be patient and press 'Don't want to bag this item', should the machine refuse to continue;
4. When scanning your products, hover or fly them over the barcode reader with normal (not too fast, not too slow) speed, don't slide them over or press against the scanner and don't assume it can 'read' from just one direction;
5. If paying by debit card, be prepared to choose if you'd like cashback before you're prompted to enter your PIN; if paying by credit card, this step is omitted;
6. It's probably my imagination but some machines do have... motion sensors and dropping items in the bag quickly can cause problems - 'Please place the item in the bagging area' followed by 'Item removed from bagging area - return item in bagging area before continuing' and so on until you finally see and press 'Skip bagging' or someone comes to your rescue;
7. Last but not least, you don't have to wait for assistance each time you scan some alcoholic product for instance, as often you are allowed to continue scanning until you've finished, when unavoidably you'll need someone to approve your shopping.

Hope this helps and happy self-scanning!

Amen! (Haven't read the whole thread, just a few pages). There are 2 scanners on self-serve, one parallel to the floor, one perpendicular. Swing the product around and 90% of the time it'll pick the barcode up on the first try (it's so annoying seeing people look for the barcode, you don't need to!). You need one approval for all age restricted products so just keep going as Doondie said.

To use your own bags scan the first item and put the bag down at the same time, unless the bag is particularly thick (e.g. the £1 ones, not the 10p or carrier ones) it won't notice.

As said before, discounts in Sainsbury's and Tesco don't come off until you total and select method of payment (or go back). Normal tills in Tesco are the same, you have to hit total to see discounts.

Reduced barcodes are generally harder for the scanner to see so might take a second swing. You have to actually move the product too for it to scan, a flick of the wrist is normally enough. And as Doondie said, a normal speed. So many people at my till whiz their clubcard over thinking they're smart, it's a laser not a !!!!!!!g ninja!

I guess people who struggle haven't worked in a supermarket. I use them for every shopping trip and rarely have issues, probably due to working for Tesco for 4 years. Although saying that, visited Morrisons once and that was a nightmare.