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

Helix

rob897 wrote: »

I use them when i can (and when they do work) purely for quickness.

I do agree though, Morrison's have got to be the worst. They have made the SS's smaller in order to cram more in and this leaves you with no bag space you'll be lucky to get 2 bags filled, and that "please place item in the bag" each time you scan something is soo patronising, Where else am i gonna put it?

They haven't even managed to fit more in by making it like it. My local Asda has 6 in the same space that Morrisons has 4 and Asda ones have a bigger packing area.

I did see some in the St Albans Morrisons which is one of their new style stores that had larger bagging areas. However there is a mix of the larger and smaller bagging areas and one queue for all of them so it is luck if you get one with a larger bagging area or not.

Middy

rob897 wrote: »

- To much of peoples disliking, turn up the volume to full pelt (Don't worry it will go back to the default volume when you're done). That way the staff are more likely to notice you if something goes wrong. Ive noticed that some SS's ,mainly sainsbury's have turned the volume down by default.

Sainsburys' ss do not go back to the default volume. Some customers mute them and when its busy, its difficult if they are having problems or not unless I can see the screen or the customer says something. Then I have to unmute them once they finish.

Helix

Middy wrote: »

Sainsburys' ss do not go back to the default volume. Some customers mute them and when its busy, its difficult if they are having problems or not unless I can see the screen or the customer says something. Then I have to unmute them once they finish.

I thought they had lights above them that flash if there is a problem, or do the Sainsburys ones not have them?

Don't shop there much anymore and the old store I used to work in didn't have them.

Lum

Helix wrote: »

I thought they had lights above them that flash if there is a problem, or do the Sainsburys ones not have them?

Don't know about the Sainsburys ones, but I know the Tesco ones do.

Unfortunately the staff at my local Tesco seem to be unaware of said lights. :mad:

rob897

Middy wrote: »

Sainsburys' ss do not go back to the default volume. Some customers mute them and when its busy, its difficult if they are having problems or not unless I can see the screen or the customer says something. Then I have to unmute them once they finish.

maybe it's just your store. The stores i go to have been only opened within the last 3 years so maybe they have updated some since then.

rob897

Helix wrote: »

They haven't even managed to fit more in by making it like it. My local Asda has 6 in the same space that Morrisons has 4 and Asda ones have a bigger packing area.

but they are different types of machines compared to what asda and tesco use, everything in them is just squashed in the screen and money slots and so on are all under scanner rather than to the side.

Helix wrote: »

I did see some in the St Albans Morrisons which is one of their new style stores that had larger bagging areas. However there is a mix of the larger and smaller bagging areas and one queue for all of them so it is luck if you get one with a larger bagging area or not.

i think morrisons are doing what asda do, have larger ones for 20 or more items and smaller ones for less items to control the flow.

rob897

Lum wrote: »

Unfortunately the staff at my local Tesco seem to be unaware of said lights. :mad:

they also have a touchscreen control panel which is usually in the center of the SS aisle. in all the stores ive been too, I have not seen one member of staff standing at these where i believe they can control all machines which in turn would save them time coming to you and could multitask with other customers.

Lum

rob897 wrote: »

they also have a touchscreen control panel which is usually in the center of the SS aisle. in all the stores ive been too, I have not seen one member of staff standing at these where i believe they can control all machines which in turn would save them time coming to you and could multitask with other customers.

I've seen that used when I lived in Aylesbury which got the really early models with actual full size conveyor belts, and apparently the staff got better training since it was very new then.

You can (or at least you could) actually approve people's alcohol purchases from those control panels.

I miss the conveyor belt self service machines, me and my partner could really rattle through the shopping on those.

geordie_joe

Middy wrote: »

So true

Has there been any headlines in any of the newspapers saying 'Supermarket giant makes thousands redundant due to self scans'? I haven't seen any.

You wouldn't see headlines like that unless head office made a press announcement saying it had decided to make thousands redundant.

If each store, independently, decided to make a couple of staff redundant, or not replace staff who leave, the press wouldn't notice.

Argos, homebase, B&Q etc. do it all the time, but the press don't notice because there is never an announcement, it's just each individual store adjusting it's staff level to match the business it is doing.

Every year you hear in the news that argos and the royal mail are taking on thousands of extra staff for the xmas period. But do you ever hear, in the news, that they are letting them all go after new year?

rob897

Lum wrote: »

I miss the conveyor belt self service machines, me and my partner could really rattle through the shopping on those.

yes, I remember those. One time i used them the member of staff had kindly bagged my things when i wasnt looking. But good news is that ASDA have the conveyor belts now in some stores.