Self Service Till Checkout Cameras- Is the Close Surveillance they force on us even Legal ?

Grumpy_chap

Zentex said:

Is there any way the People can challenge the shops over being forced to scan dozens of items at 5X the time it takes them to do it all? I am a busy person I do NOT have time to scan my own shopping

There are plenty of ways to avoid being forced to use a self-service check-out:

• Shop at a time when the staffed tills are open
• Shop at a different store without self-service tills
• Shop and online and receive home delivery
• Send the Butler or the Maid to do the shopping
• Eat in restaurants so there is no shopping to do at all

Jumblebumble

Zentex said:

I was forced into an Aldi self checkout as they would not open a till for any of us (despite telling us when first introduced , all we had to was ask for a manned checkout till to be opened if we wanted one to use) , their was a big queue behind me waiting. 
I had a lot of shopping, it took me ages, I had to twice get help, the £20 note would not go in for 10 attempts and to top it off I was watched by Big Brother at the till the whole time WITHOUT MY EXPLICIT CONSENT.
Do Supermarkets have to warn people they are being surveilled in writing anywhere in the Store? Does this infringe our civil rights to anonymity? By law would they have to open a till if you do not give consent to be closely surveilled at a self service till ? Does anybody know the law around all of this please?
I resented the whole experience and was not expecting to be told it was self service or nothing ! 
When I voiced my dissatisfaction over them not opening a till I was warned I would be banned by from the store by the woman manning the tills.
I have never been treated so badly in any supermarket in the country.
Is there any way the People can challenge the shops over being forced to scan dozens of items at 5X the time it takes them to do it all? I am a busy person I do NOT have time to scan my own shopping and forcing others to wait a very long time to get to the till. I would love a consumer backlash which is effective to get them to change back to at least 70% manned tills open, any chance of this happening?

I am confused as you seem to be suggesting that you would like higher prices owing to shoplifting and the cost of manning tills
The obvious win win  solution is for you to do your shopping in Waitrose

caprikid1

The simple way to pressurise stores into ensuring a till is open is merely leaving your basked of shopping at the self checkout tills should that be the only option and walking out. I appreciate this puts a burden on the existing staff but if everyone did that then stopped shopping there the impact would be considerable.

cannugec5

A few years back I was ‘forced’ to use a self service till in WHSmiths. I struggled and was cross as the assistant stood by refusing to serve me, but he did eventually come to assist . When I got home I noted that one item had scanned at a significantly higher price than marked on the label. So I took it back and this time the (same) assistant had to serve me as he sorted out the refund. 

I never went back into that store.
it is now an empty closed down shop. 

Pollycat

Looking at some of the piled-high trollies in my local Aldi, I just can't imagine anyone being 'forced' to use the self service tills.

I use one of the larger pull along baskets and sometimes I struggle to get all my scanned items on the shelf.
I prefer to use the self service tills as I can scan and pack at my own pace.

Jumblebumble

Pollycat said:

Looking at some of the piled-high trollies in my local Aldi, I just can't imagine anyone being 'forced' to use the self service tills.

I use one of the larger pull along baskets and sometimes I struggle to get all my scanned items on the shelf.
I prefer to use the self service tills as I can scan and pack at my own pace.

Our nearby Aldi Local has only  self service tills
Our nearby  Lidl has only manned tills

We do most shopping in Lidl 
( nothing to do with bakery LOL)

MattMattMattUK

Browntoa said:

Don't shop in Lidl either then as the staff wear body cameras as well 

I think this happens nearly everywhere now. I was talking to the staff in Sainsbury's as I had a scan and go check (which is fine), and the man said that they wear them now as people have attacked them when they have needed to check bags, which had also always resulted in the person having been found to have hidden loads of non-scanned expensive items at the bottom of their bags. I have seen till staff wearing these in some very nice areas and even in Waitrose so it is not reserved to the budget end of the market or rougher areas.

It is disappointing that people are unwilling to treat customer service staff with basic respect. 

GingerTim

caprikid1 said:

The simple way to pressurise stores into ensuring a till is open is merely leaving your basked of shopping at the self checkout tills should that be the only option and walking out. I appreciate this puts a burden on the existing staff but if everyone did that then stopped shopping there the impact would be considerable.

Total lack of respect for workers if you behave like this.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

TELLIT01 said:

Nobody would be banned for simply saying they weren't happy with the situation.  I would suggest that, at best, this was a case of "It ain't what you say, it's the way that you say it".  At worst becoming abusive to staff.

Have a look online for the video of the lady being told to leave a ASDA because she had her guide dog with her, it isn't always the customer's attitude that causes the issue, plenty of maladjusted people out there, some of them probably work in supermarkets.

Any time someone on here says they had an issue they always get berated as being the problem without any of us knowing the story, these threads run pages long but when someone is stuck with a real problem there's only a handful of posts.... 

Regarding the cameras, it's not so much the camera, more the screen projecting what the camera is capturing that I'm not keen on but you can usually stand a little to one side and not be on it.

I was in Coop yesterday, lady says "next" guy at front in his own world looking at his phone, another was there because the meal deal hadn't gone through on the receipt (fortunately was in front of that lady) and in the petrol garage guy was messing about trying stuff to stuff a pizza in to his backpack. 

Self checkout does have it's plus points for nipping in and doing a smaller shop. 

Pollycat

Jumblebumble said:

Pollycat said:

Looking at some of the piled-high trollies in my local Aldi, I just can't imagine anyone being 'forced' to use the self service tills.

I use one of the larger pull along baskets and sometimes I struggle to get all my scanned items on the shelf.
I prefer to use the self service tills as I can scan and pack at my own pace.

Our nearby Aldi Local has only  self service tills
Our nearby  Lidl has only manned tills

We do most shopping in Lidl 
( nothing to do with bakery LOL)

Is that a small store, like a Tesco Metro? Where people often pop in for a bottle of milk or loaf of bread and most people use a basket...
There are 8 self service tills in my local Aldi and a similar number of manned tills (always manned whenever I've been in).
If there were only self service tills, all the 8 trollies would not fit into the space and the queue would be down the length of the shop and back again.