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

ma-ri-ella

as someone who works on self scan i wanted to share a few tips.
1. some of the machines give you the option to add your own bag-place your bag in the bagging area then press done when finished.this works best if you do it after each bag instead of putting them all down at once.
2. Also when you first scan an item it will tell you to place the item in the bagging area at the top of the screen.once you have done this the screen will say scan and bag, at this point (before scanning the next item) you can remove the bag you are currently using if it is full.
3. If you are moving a full bag to use a new one the best way to do this is to slide it- that way the till doesnt think you are putting something new in the bagging area.
4.most age restricted products flash up to let us know we have to come over and help,in the store i work in we are not allowed to authorize alcohol to the end of the transaction -the till lets you continue scanning until you hit finish and pay.
5.paper tags eg the ones on clothing normally deactivate as you are scanning the item.(makes a funny beep sound)Tesco scanners sense when you have something like a razor blade that needs the box taking off but Asda ones dont.unless we see it in your basket we wont know you have it so please let us know!
6.coupons-some stores need to authorize the coupons before the till lets you complete the sale so please leave them out on the scales for us to check-saves time on having to open up the tills and check them.

I personally dont think that self scan tills take away jobs- where there are say 10 self scan tills there would not have been ten normal tills on in its place.However i dont think checkouts should be replaced.i think self service is best for just a few items to medium shops,certainly not someones monthly shopping!!

satori

I prefer using the self-scanning check-outs: I've never worked in a supermarket myself, but I know people who have, and manning the check-outs is the most dreaded task. You deal with angry or patronising customers (not to mention those who blank you out totally and don't even bother to say 'hello', 'thank you' and 'good bye'), some of them will have a conversation on their handy throughout the whole check-out... Physically, it is an extremely repetitive job, bad for your back and your joints (loads of repetitive stress injuries). If you are standing (as they do at Waitrose), you are working towards developing varicose veins... Intellectually, it is one of the most boring jobs in the world. And if you don't smile all the time, or you're too slow, you risk being sacked.
I had some teething problems when I started using the scanners, but with practice I got better: I can now manage discounted items, look up items such as bread rolls from the bakery, weigh fruit and vegs, and I keep alcohol or skin cream (with anti theft thingy) to the last, so that I won't require assistance several times.
The most annoying things are that sometimes the machine will tell me a coupon is not eligible (and I can't see why), and that I use a rucksack when shopping, so I either have to wait till the end to pack everything in my rucksack quickly, or ask someone to check it at the very beginning.
The scanners at Boots are still a bit tricky for me though: I find them very, very slow...

Sunshine22_2

I love self service when hungover and enjoying hiding inside my coat away from the hangover devils. Or when buying weird assortments of items and not wanting to get 'that look' such as whipped cream, pain killers and energy drink!!

BargainHunter09

I use these tills a lot and sometimes they work fine and sometimes they throw a wobbler. Like many, I also talk back to the machines, not nastily but in humour, it may seem a little loopy but it keeps me from getting cross with it!

Whilst I understand the comments about jobs, I also agree with a previous poster that where they may have 9 ss checkouts, they usually would only have the space to fit 3 normal checkouts. With 3 members of staff usually covering these ss checkouts, it is not much different to the number on the manned ones, it's just they're covering more bases.

So long as there's staff around who are happy to help, and in my local supermarket there usually are, I don't mind using them. Often the same staff are on daily / weekly and I chat to them just like I do if I am on a manned checkout. I know the machines can get things wrong and be very annoying but I feel more sorry for the staff who have to work there and constantly having to listen to the annoying robotic voices.

bmw318iman

I love them, the secret is to take as long as possible, much longer than the "manned" till, see how long a queue you can build up.
What's all that tuting?:)

geordie_joe

BargainHunter09 wrote: »

Whilst I understand the comments about jobs, I also agree with a previous poster that where they may have 9 ss checkouts, they usually would only have the space to fit 3 normal checkouts. With 3 members of staff usually covering these ss checkouts, it is not much different to the number on the manned ones, it's just they're covering more bases.

I have to disagree. If they have 9 ss checkouts, at busy times you could get 9 people using them and doing all the work with just assistant hovering round waiting to step in if there is a problem. If the ss checkouts were not there they would have more than one checkout manned to cope with the 9 person queue.

Middy

If you are in Sainsburys and buying yellow stickered items, look at the name of the product on the screen first when you scan it before you put it in the bagging area as about 50% of the time, you hear it doing the scanned beep, but doesn't register.

Also if you are buying a large number of the same item - best to go to ss as the assistant will do a quantity mode. So if you are buying say 24 bottles of the same wine, the assistant will do it for you. This way the bagging area scales are switched off so don't need to unload the trolley.

On the manned tills when customers buy 6 cases of the same beer, some insist that they have to put them all on! We only need one and with the scan gun, scan it 6 times (we have lost the quantity function about 18 months ago)

Middy

Regarding the ss space taken up. We lost 2 manned checkouts for one lot and the 2 basket tills.

The layout of the 2 basket tills was badly designed as there was no room to put stuff once it was scanned for customers to put into bags. OK if you were quick and had 4 items. But with the slow biddies with 20 items was a joke.

Now the new basket till is cramped and no room to move. Plus the entrance is very narrow. I am surprised how on earth it has passed h&s as if a colleague falls ill (has happened on other tills)- no first aider colleague can assist them there and if there is a fire and need to vacate the store, we could trip up with the narrow entrance clogged with the bin and the basket full of left behinds (security tags, unwanted coat hangers etc) and easily trip over these.

Middy

All of our colleagues agree that 10 ss for our store, when its full of pensioners is far too much. The store about 3 miles down the road, which is 3 times larger has only 6. The larger store (6 times as big) about 5 miles in the other direction has 12 ss plus 4 scan and go machines.

We wish HQ will take note to remove at least the 4 larger ones.

djt100

bit of a cheat, but if you go to a shop that takes nector cards. the ss machine will ask how many of your own bags you used, always say 9, so 9 free points. even if buying one item