Asda's new "hybrid checkouts" - good or bad?

simontime

Has anyone else experienced Asda's larger self-service checkouts? My local store in Northern Ireland has removed several conventional staffed checkouts & replaced them with self-service ones for people using trolleys. They have also expanded the number of self-service check outs for people using baskets.
At my last big shop I was shepherded away from a traditional checkout to try one of the new "hybrid" ones. The store was fairly busy, but I was next in line for the original checkout before being moved. There was 1 customer at the new checkout I was shown to & she appeared to be well on with scanning her products. It still took her quite some time to get her remaining items scanned, with a helper being needed a couple of times. Once she was done I started to get ready to put my shopping through. Just to describe the new checkouts - they are much like the basket ones, but with a slightly larger packing area. I put out a couple of my large bags & left some more folded up on this area & checked the machine had got the weight sorted out okay. Within a few scans things started to go wrong. Alcohol needed age verification, several items threw up various errors - each of which meant me waiting for a helper to come & manually over-ride the system before I could continue. As I needed to open up more bags, I lifted a couple off the packing area to open them up, which caused the machine to go bonkers - not stopping even when the same bags were replaced again! All in all I estimate that helpers came to help me at least 10 times for 1 average sized trolley of shopping. I'm not an expert shopper, but I don't think I'm such an imbecile that I cannot put items through an automatic scanner without it throwing up several issues.
This is obviously a great cost saving for Asda - removing the expensive overhead of checkout assistants. However, the helpers seemed to be working frenetically to keep these new checkouts going & the annoyance to me (& others nearby that I spotted) was appreciable.
I don't think that Asda has got a good enough system in place for this sort of checkout to work successfully yet. The previous arrangement of self-service for smaller amounts of shopping & traditional checkouts for larger ones seemed to work well.
I was ready to cause physical damage to the machine by the end of my shop, & will avoid it in future whilst there are still staffed checkouts on offer. I dread to think of the chaos that will ensue when the store is really busy - like at Christmas.
Am I just being a Luddite, or is this 1 step too far for Asda in its aim of maximising profits over customers' shopping experience?

Steve059

I gave up using automatic checkouts after being told that the reason that I was having problems with one was that I was doing what it told me. :mad:

SailorSam

I don't like using the self-service tills and when they try to persuade me to move from a 'manned' checkout i simply say No Thank You.

Lovelyjoolz

If I'm only buying one or two things, I'll use the self service checkouts if there are no staffed ones free. But more than a couple of items and I would rather wait in a queue for a staffed checkout than fight with those damned machines!

I hate them. With a passion. And all the time I'm cursing and muttering under my breath at the stupid things, I'm getting angrier over the fact that someone probably lost their job when they replaced their checkout with the ridiculous self-serve tosh!

And breeeeathe.... rant over

MysteryMe

I've seen them, they are the devils spawn as far as I'm concerned. Don't mind self service tills for a few bits but not a full shop. Customers will be expected to start re stocking the shelves next

VfM4meplse

I tried one about 3 months ago in Crawley. Stupid really - I knew I'd need help to get my parking money back, ended up waiting and neglected for ages whilst the SA ran around the SS tills for baskets. Waste of time.

Gigervamp

I hate self service tills. I also hate the fact that Asda have the tills so close together that my wheelchair won't fit through. They do have a couple of wide aisle tills, but there's usually only one open and it often has the longest queue.

System

The problem with Asda's self scans is that you need approval for any coupon. Even for a penny. My Asda has 6 of these self scans with the conveyor belts and 11 basket ones. They have just ONE staff member for 17 tills and I have stood there waving my arms saying 'Hello', ''Excuse Me', 'I have a coupon' etc and the sole staff member deals with the customers that their assistance required command has come up AFTER mine!

What I have done before is to scan my shopping (minus one item) on a self scan without using the coupon - 99% of the time is a Price Guarantee. Then go to the kiosk with the item I have not scanned/paid for with the coupon and paid for it there. My friend and I did a race and both of us had a coupon. She used hers at the self scan and I did what I described earlier. I won.

Anatidaephobia

They have those self service tills with larger packing areas at most of the Asda's near me. I have used them but only for fairly small shops and haven't really had many problems - at least, no more problems than I'd have at a normal self service till anyway.

I find that using the self checkouts get easier once you've done it a few times cos you start to get the 'knack' of it and become aware of the flaws and try to avoid them.

I tend to shop during quieter times though so I can imagine that doing a big shop at a self service till during a busy period could be problematic.

[Deleted User]

The more people that use these faulty machines the less people will have jobs, avoid

DPJames

Avoid them like the plague. They slow things down immensely. Imagine the chaos at Christmas time if all the tills were self serve!