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

geordie_joe

giltbrook wrote: »

If the staff ask you to use the Self Service checkouts, tell them that you would prefer to try shelf stacking first until you build up a bit of confidence.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

That is the funniest thing I have heard this year, can't wait to hang round the SS Checkouts in Morrisons tomorrow and try it out.

JoeyG

If I'm using my own bag I usually don't bother putting them in the bag until I've paid, otherwise you have to get a member of staff to approve it.

I've got rid of at least £10 worth of coppers in self service tills... Just make sure before you start its a machine you can just chuck coins in rather than one you have to post the coins individually... You'll be there all night.

jenniewb

I have to say I end up mainly using the self service tills because I hate queues and will use whatever I have to queue less for.

They are all as bad as each other and infact I would say Tescos self service tills are more fickle then Morrisons, you can be packing stuff away fine then turn to grab something else to scan, all of a sudden: "unexpected item in the bagging area" and your left thinking, 'but I didn't even touch the bagging area! (This is Tescos). Sainsburys machines seem slower and M&S have yet to fix their chip and pin readers so you have to push and hold your card in place to use them. Boots are a bit fickle too but just on a par with Tescos, I can't say any of them is better then the others to be honest, I think what makes one better then the other is having enough staff to deal with the "assistance" [STRIKE]demands[/STRIKE] requests from the machines.

I think if you can, turn down the volume, this is on the initial screen, normally looks like the icon for volume control you get on your computer, press it to change the volume, it gets louder with each press until turning itself on mute. Just don't do this in Sainsburys Islington (London) as one staff member there took it upon himself to see what I was doing then wade over and put the volume on max. He then continued to chat with his collegues when the machine bellowed at me to "please wait for assistance".

If you have anything which needs a staff member to verify/authorise, whilst in the queue, put all these things together, as soon as you can see a staff member to earmark or as soon as the queue has gone down, get a staff member over to verify each item you need- let them know you have a pile of stuff. They are normal people (most of them) and I'd bet would far rather get a whole load of stuff over and done with in one go rather then having to go back and forth each time.
Items in that category would be: Alcohol, things with security packaging on (DVDs, CDs, clothes, some skincare, electronic items and even now some meat products and chewing gum, medications with paracetamol/ibuprofen/asprin/etc)

If you have your own carrier bags, get them ready whilst your in the queue then put them in position before you start, sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. Only when in place then begin by letting the machine know you have your own bags, if your asked for an assistant, you then have them earmarked to put through all your security issue items.

Sometimes the reduced price doesn't come off until the end, even when you have seen discounts come off as you shop (eg BOGOF or similar) others will only come off at the end. If you get to the payment screen and nothing looks like its come off, press to go back (bottom of most screens) you will see all the newly added discounts at the bottom of the scanned list.

Coupons, poke them in with your card or blow air at them to get the machine to register them.

Use earphones and play music. Even if you have gone to the effort of turning off the volume of your machine, other people will not have (and it only takes one...!) and this will wind you up just as much as if were your machine. Its the condescending, slow and overly loud way it speaks that drives people mad I think!

Don't try to out-do the self service tills. They have funny little men in back offices watching those machines. I use them regularly and have witnessed too many people to count being taken off by a security guard for trying to not scan things (which is the same a stealing despite how much you may despise being forced to use the machines). They do watch and they do keep tabs on you.

JHC

Supermarkets say that SS checkouts are about customer convenience and choice, but it's really about replacing checkout staff with cheaper machines. If they could, supermarkets would have us stacking their shelves too - oh, on second thoughts, the discount stores do that already!

Personally, I always use the manned tills.

Alexnikov

The only thing that I've found that really works is being *very* slow and deliberate about scanning things through and placing them in the bagging area. If you go a pace faster than that the system goes into meltdown and starts shouting the usual error messages at you.

Also keep a close eye on discounted items because (and this seems to be a problem recently in every supermarket, on staffed tills or self service) the stickers are hardly ever over the actual barcodes and you end up paying full price if you're not paying attention.

MandM90

I try and avoid using them; I feel bad that perhaps the more we use them, the less staff these big supermarkets will have to hire, and I don't want to take people's jobs from them.

If I do have to use them, I make DD stand at least 20cm away from the bag area. One slight breeze and it'll start protesting furiously and leave you to wait 5 minutes for a staff member to notice you exist

Gillby1

blufish wrote: »

Personally I love self-service checkouts, but then again I'm a socially awkward numpty. I get terribly embarrassed and panic that the checkout assistant is judging me by what I buy

Ha ha Blufish! I bet you'd be amazed at how many of us semi-consciously worry about little things like that! You are not alone...

jetfighter

I agree about the tip someone posted re: getting rid of spare change. I love doing that. I would never present a human cashier with a huge bag of coppers to pay for a tub of pick 'n' mix but I'm quite happy to throw them into the self-service till. Very satisfying.

I also find self-service tills are good if you want to be awkward and pay for certain things on credit card, certain things by cash, etc. (one example I have is when I went to Tesco and needed to buy a card and gift for a colleague with cash donated by other colleagues, and wanted to put my own shopping on the credit card). It's just easier sometimes.

Personally I always use the self-service tills, as the cashiers never give me my green Clubcard points. :mad:

Blame

Mister_Q wrote: »

This is not a tip on how to get the best from self service scanners.

Neither is this: I don't use them because they're obviously designed to save the supermarkets money in reduced wages.

If they're saving money, why should I pay the same for my shopping?

Xanadu

I love self scan machines and when they have their fits I often have fun.

When I get please wait for assistance, I often shout out that I have broken the machine, that sometimes gets staff there quicker lol.

When I get my change, I will exstatically proclaim "I've won, I've won".

I do also use them mainly when I have lots of change to get rid of. The scanners often make no sense, sometimes I find just spinning the packet around will make it scan quicker than feeding the barcode.