Are Supermarkets making us deaf - Your Thoughts

soul1

Hi everyone, just a quick update.
The Lidl store that I have complained about with regards to the self service till volume levels have done nothing at all so far to remedy this and the issue remains with some self service tills at the store being extremely loud and others being slightly quieter. All I've asked for is for all the self service tills at my local Lidl store to be at a reasonable volume, not too loud and for all the self service tills to be at the same volume.
With regards to my local Waitrose store, the store manager at the store raised the issue of the volume levels at the self service tills with Waitrose Head Office and the response from Waitrose Head Office was that the self service till volume levels need to be set at maximum to ensure that all customers pay for their goods. Therefore Waitrose does not care about whether they damage customers hearing or not. Will not be shopping there from now onwards.

jon81uk

soul1 said:

Hi everyone, just a quick update.
The Lidl store that I have complained about with regards to the self service till volume levels have done nothing at all so far to remedy this and the issue remains with some self service tills at the store being extremely loud and others being slightly quieter. All I've asked for is for all the self service tills at my local Lidl store to be at a reasonable volume, not too loud and for all the self service tills to be at the same volume.
With regards to my local Waitrose store, the store manager at the store raised the issue of the volume levels at the self service tills with Waitrose Head Office and the response from Waitrose Head Office was that the self service till volume levels need to be set at maximum to ensure that all customers pay for their goods. Therefore Waitrose does not care about whether they damage customers hearing or not. Will not be shopping there from now onwards.

You need sustained sound over 90decibals for at least 30 minutes to damage hearing, announcements on self-checkouts won't make any difference. Even for an employee it is unlikely to cause any damage.

Zinger549

soul1 said:

Hi everyone, just a quick update.
The Lidl store that I have complained about with regards to the self service till volume levels have done nothing at all so far to remedy this and the issue remains with some self service tills at the store being extremely loud and others being slightly quieter. All I've asked for is for all the self service tills at my local Lidl store to be at a reasonable volume, not too loud and for all the self service tills to be at the same volume.
With regards to my local Waitrose store, the store manager at the store raised the issue of the volume levels at the self service tills with Waitrose Head Office and the response from Waitrose Head Office was that the self service till volume levels need to be set at maximum to ensure that all customers pay for their goods. Therefore Waitrose does not care about whether they damage customers hearing or not. Will not be shopping there from now onwards.

Unless they get lots of complaints about they're probably not going to do anything about it.

Jenna_Appleseed

I'm autistic and I like supermarkets playing music.

soul1

Hi everyone, just a quick update. I've had a response from Lidl with regards to the volume of the self service tolls at my local store. The volume levels will be set at a moderate level, not too quiet and not too loud across all their self service checkouts. This is a good result and I feel that Lidl are listening to my concerns.
However with regards to Waitrose, it's a totally different response. I got a response from their Head Office saying thst the volume levels on their self service tills at my local Waitrose will remain at maximum volume. This is because they have received complaints from customers that the self service checkout volume levels are too quiet and to prevent customers not paying for their goods. Therefore rather than striking a balance like Lidl and other stores, where the volume levels are set at a medium/moderate level, Waitrose want to have all their self service tills at the maximum volume. This could potentially mean damaging not only their staffs hearing who work near the self service tills, but also customers hearing, especially children/babies who have super sensitive hearing which can be easily be damaged by very loud noise. Therefore Waitrose are putting their profits above looking after their customers physical health and wellbeing. I'm absolutely appalled by this. What I also don't understand is how customers are not paying for their goods if the self service tills are set at a medium/moderate volume level? Are customers not able to follow the simple instructions on the self service tills? I don't understand ???

jon81uk

soul1 said:

Hi everyone, just a quick update. I've had a response from Lidl with regards to the volume of the self service tolls at my local store. The volume levels will be set at a moderate level, not too quiet and not too loud across all their self service checkouts. This is a good result and I feel that Lidl are listening to my concerns.
However with regards to Waitrose, it's a totally different response. I got a response from their Head Office saying thst the volume levels on their self service tills at my local Waitrose will remain at maximum volume. This is because they have received complaints from customers that the self service checkout volume levels are too quiet and to prevent customers not paying for their goods. Therefore rather than striking a balance like Lidl and other stores, where the volume levels are set at a medium/moderate level, Waitrose want to have all their self service tills at the maximum volume. This could potentially mean damaging not only their staffs hearing who work near the self service tills, but also customers hearing, especially children/babies who have super sensitive hearing which can be easily be damaged by very loud noise. Therefore Waitrose are putting their profits above looking after their customers physical health and wellbeing. I'm absolutely appalled by this. What I also don't understand is how customers are not paying for their goods if the self service tills are set at a medium/moderate volume level? Are customers not able to follow the simple instructions on the self service tills? I don't understand ???

You need sustained sound over 90decibals for at least 30 minutes to damage hearing, announcements on self-checkouts won't make any difference. Even for an employee it is unlikely to cause any damage.

prowla

Back in the 70s I used to work in a Tesco and they had an in-house DJ "Hi, shoppers welcome to Tesco!"; it was in the Disco period.

TripleH

I can't say I've noticed the noise.

What is an issue, possibly just for me especially if I'm tired and at that awkward dusk time is the lights in shops.

They can feel like mini strobe lights which as a photosensitive epileptic is not a match made in heaven.

But that could just be me..