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

mxxx

I live next to a morissons so use their SS tills most and have to say they are definately more tempremental than all the others. I have however worked out a useful tip.

When you put an item in the bagging area it takes a while to register it before it will let you scan your next item. If you place your next item on the scanner with the barcode visible to the scanner it will usually scan by itself as soon as its ready, this seems to be pretty consistant and is the fastest way i've found of getting through the self service. It saves you looking like a twit waving your items around too!
I havn't tried it with the tesco/sainsbury's etc ones but I imagine it would work the same

Fundamental_2

thriftymanc wrote: »

Not really a good idea. Fine from the customer's point of view when paying, but not good for the shop or the customer in the long run. E.g. if someone buys 3 onion bagels and puts them through as 3 plain bagels, the shop's system will think it still has 3 onion bagels more than it actually does. If all customers do that, the system's stock levels are wrong and something that goes out of stock won't automatically get re-ordered by the system. This happened all the time when I worked in a supermarket, things would be out of stocks for days at a time because the system's stock count was out and we ended up having to manually stock count all the loose produce and bakery every day to account for people not using the tills correctly. (And trust me, it is mind numbing having to count 200 apples or whatever... especially when you get so bored you lose count about six times and have to keep redoing it.) So you could do this, but don't complain when whatever you need is out of stock next time you want to buy it

And this is our problem because?

Riversong

One suggestion i have is when packing your shopping onto the larger tills which have conveyor belts. Unless you know its working try and unpack close to the actual till. It's annoying having to shove items down a broken belt especially when there's no sign to tell ypu. *cough*ASDA*cough*

thatguy1

thriftymanc wrote: »

Not really a good idea. Fine from the customer's point of view when paying, but not good for the shop or the customer in the long run. E.g. if someone buys 3 onion bagels and puts them through as 3 plain bagels, the shop's system will think it still has 3 onion bagels more than it actually does. If all customers do that, the system's stock levels are wrong and something that goes out of stock won't automatically get re-ordered by the system. This happened all the time when I worked in a supermarket, things would be out of stocks for days at a time because the system's stock count was out and we ended up having to manually stock count all the loose produce and bakery every day to account for people not using the tills correctly. (And trust me, it is mind numbing having to count 200 apples or whatever... especially when you get so bored you lose count about six times and have to keep redoing it.) So you could do this, but don't complain when whatever you need is out of stock next time you want to buy it

On the Sainsbury's tills & SS there is only one choice of loose bagels & only one choice of loose rolls.

togo

I have heard this jolly message again and again. Each time it is because I'm tired, need only a few items, and have either left a "use-again" shopping bag or my purse in the basket - or put my purse down on one of the weighing platforms! I get so cross with myself and the staff must get sick of me!

Middy

Fundamental wrote: »

And this is our problem because?

We get customers that weigh red onions as white. If I catch them, I void it off and put it through as red onions. Simple reason is that when you press look up item white onions are on the screen. Many customers don't know about the 'letter ladder' on the left handside of the screen. I always get customers that ask 'where's the button for courgettes/butternut squash/royal gala apples'

Also the number of customers that forget to take their receipt with them is high - esp when they have bought clothing, CDs etc as if the clothing doesn't fit or the CD is faulty, they have no proof of purchase.

djhworld

mrs_happ wrote: »

I will NEVER use these self-serve machines. Don't the public realise that these machines are taking peoples jobs ? Where I work they installed two, and then two of our people had to move to other branches as we were "overstaffed"
Eventually they will try to replace ALL shop assistants with machines.

It's this kind of thinking that stunts progress in society, is there any evidence that jobs are being taken away by these machines? In theory they're just designed to remove the need for the traditional basket till (10 items or less) so staff can be redeployed on proper checkouts to process people with bigger loads through quicker.

Anyway my pro-tip for using self service checkouts is to ensure you are not buying age restricted goods as this usually attracts militant employees to demand personal identification (understandably...because UK law will usually fine the company AND the employee for selling age restricted goods to someone underage)

Also, don't bother with the button that says "using your own bag" - I've always had trouble trying to use my rucksack as a bag on the self service checkouts - even after pressing the button I get the dreaded "unexpected item in bagging area" error

Cabbagewhite

I never use them out of choice, either in supermarkets or pay at pumps. It is obvious that they are designed to reduce staffing levels and I don't think it is an improvement, just cost cutting. I have a chip and sign debit card, Boots just totally reject it as if it is a dodgy card I'm using, so I had to find a manned till. In Tesco it calls the assistant to deal with it. Tesco petrol pumps accept my card without a PIN or signature. I haven't used any other self-service tills, except the Waitrose self-scan along time ago, tried twice and didn't work properly either time so have never bothered again. Ideally I'd like a hand held scanner in all the shops to tally up what I was buying or price-check items, then go through the tills. Who wants the stress of putting a whole trolley of shopping through self-service - which I've done late night in Tesco - when you could have an assistant's help going through a normal till?

Middy

I bought these through ss the other week when I had a stinking cold. No 'approval needed' flag came up.http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=256843802&sc_cmp=pcp_GSF_53595441

Later that day, I bought 4 more and no-one took any notice of me.

lj*

My DD found if you positioned the bag correctly on the bagging area to start with, she could just throw the items across the scanner and directly into the bag!:D