Self-service supermarket tills - love them or loathe them?

Former_MSE_Debs

Poll started 24 Sept 2012

More and more, we’re operating the checkouts for the big supermarkets and giving them a nice surprise with our unexpected items in the baggage area. Is this a change for the better, or should supermarkets be swept clean of them?

Vote in this week's poll

Did you vote? Why did you pick that option? Are you surprised at the results so far? Have your say below. To see the results from last time, click this

torbrex

At the time of day when I go into supermarkets that have the self-serve checkouts they are usually the only tills that are open so I have very little choice.
If however there is a manned checkout open, I will use it instead.

murphy306

I sometimes prefer to use these as I do not always have time to chat to the checkout operator and have each and every item in my trolley discussed with me in full detail. I know that supermarkets ask the staff to be friendly but sometimes it does my head in

Mayernator87

I work on Self Checkouts at the local Supermarket. I honestly dont understand all the negative attitude towards them. Sure they complain about an "unexpected item in the bagging area", but thats a small price to pay if you want to be in and out in no time.

Personally, i love them. If a shop has them, ill be using them. People moan about the queue sometimes, but if you think about it, its one queue for six checkouts. It'll go down alot faster. I even put our weekly food shop through them.

PasturesNew

Hate them because they're designed badly. Good idea that ends up a faff.

Trying to find the right slot etc is a pain, not much room to pack your stuff before you run out of room (and you can't move it off and onto the trolley as it'll beep and staff will come)....

Where your change/cashback comes out is two different places/slots - and I know somebody who asked for £20 cashback, then 'forgot' and didn't pick it up and somebody who spotted it stole it.

Idiophreak

I love them for a few things - I can be through self service in a minute or two and don't have to interact with other people. That said, I don't find them overly practical for larger shops, but use scan-and-shop for those, which is even faster through the tills.

pmduk

I love them. They never wait for you to unload all of your shopping then tell you they're going for a break. Nor do they stop work halfway through to have a chat with a colleague. Both of which occur regularly at my local tesco.

x_Bunny_x

I recently attempted to use the self checkouts, first time was easy, second time the lady took items off me before i had chance to explain i wanted to do it myself!. Third time, i had the basket on the scales, unexpected item in the bagging area, got rid of that, then i removed my carrier bag from there, again a warning, 4th time i managed it, but ended up with my change, receipt, money and my nectar card all in my hand!. it felt like juggling things!. it would have been wasy to forget my actual shopping!. Then the money side of things, its weird, you put the money endways in the little slot, and it sucks it in!.

There needs to be a little booklet for people to understand how to work the things. Then there is the whole "have you remembered to scan your nectar card" no i havent im a newbie :rotfl:

WestonDave

They are generally good provided you know how they work - i.e that there are scales on both sides so it can tell that you have taken a certain amount of weight from one side and put it in the other, and that this ties up with the weight on the database for the item you have scanned. You have to stack everything on the "out" side until you've paid - I once watched some complete moron try to take a large trolley of Christmas week shopping through and get completely stuffed when she ran out of room on the "out" side. If she took the full bag off it created an error and insisted it was put back, so she couldn't finish!

However they do have a flaw in that if you take large bag (I frequently take a rucksack shopping) you can't really put it on the outside and so you end up having to stack it loose on that side and then pack your bag when its finished which slows the process down - probably to the point where its no quicker than using the manned tills.

There are occasionally the odd items that don't scan etc but that happens on the manned tills as well.

nzseries1

I love the way that you can put all your useless change in the coin machine (coppers and all) and that there's usually less of a queue.

pineapple

I'll use them if I only have a few items and if the staffed checkouts are full - otherwise no thanks. I'm hopeless and always get in a faff. I was at one for an eternity recently because I had misunderstood what items were included in a 2 for 1 offer. But the machine couldn't tell me where I was going wrong - I needed a real live person for that! Or you can guarantee the machine will reject my creased notes, or a super light item won't register... Plus if you have alcohol (or sometimes even liqueurs !!!!!!) you have to get an assistant anyway.
Meanwhile I'm only too conscious of the person waiting in line behind me sending me silent death threats because of my ineptitude :eek:.
One of my local supermarkets seems to be steadily reducing the number of staffed tills while increasing the self service ones. Look on it this way - the shoppers complicity in this will probably result in less jobs!
That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it