Have we come round to self-service checkouts?

At my local Tesco, the only change I have seen is that it is now possible to use your own bags without the intervention of a member of staff. The staff know how much some of us hate self-service checkouts and will occasionally open a proper checkout when it’s supposed to be self-service only.

A visit to the supermarket is never a happy experience, but self-service checkouts make the customer experience far worse.

I like them when I use a credit card for a very small amount, usually because I don’t have any change and don’t want to break into a £20 note. It still feels awkward to use a credit card for a very small amount, and the lack of human interaction prevents any embarrassment.

I’m not a fan I must admit. I find them more trouble than they’re worth, mainly because however firmly I place my items in the bagging area the machine seems adamant in saying I haven’t. And don’t get me started on ‘unknown item in bagging area’! Although my Mum does like them purely for the fact she likes to feel she’s been ID-ed for wine – even if it is by a machine.

I’m still amazed that half the time I ever try to use them around 25% aren’t working, but then again, what can you expect from Tesco.
Top tip to a winning experience,do not do anything with bags, yours, theirs or anyone else until you’ve finished. Seems the whole bag experience has never been user tested properly so removing that whole scenario seems to help alot.
Although the last time I tried to buy something in B&Q (for 1 item) I needed an assistant, apparently the item I had bought was too lite for the machine.

My only experience was several years ago in a local Tesco, after trying to use them on 3/4 visits and never succeeding to get through a trolley without having to ring for help I gave up as it was quicker and easier to queue.
Obviously things have changed since then but my local supermarkets dont have self-service checkouts and I rather enjoy the chat with the assistants; we live in the North where friendly conversation is mandatory with anyone nearby !!

At my local Tesco, I can use my Clubcard both to pay and get points at a standard checkout. At the self-service tills I can only use it for points, so I would have to use a different card to pay. So I don’t use them. And yes, I have asked them why and got no explanation.

I have noticed at my local Tesco that most till assistants regularly omit to credit my Clubcard with bag re-use points when I use my own shopping bag (I don’t let them get away with it, but it is wearing to have to remind them every time), whereas when I use the self-service checkout, which does let me use my own shopping bag, I have only myself to blame if I “forget”.

It depends on the supermarket I find. When I shopped at Morrisons they seemed designed to antagonise, while the Sainsbury’s ones aren’t too bad while the Asda near me has extra large ones so that trolleys can get through (and seems to recognise your own bags).

However, I still find that staff are quicker than I ever am with a basketload, self-service tends to be best for a couple of items.

I do feel that it’s worth putting in a good word for the middle way here. I always use the self scan option in my local Waitrose (the little laser barcode reader) and it works brilliantly. You can check how much your interim total spend is, it flags up special offers and you can load your baskets in the trolley as you go. Except for the very occasional spot check it’s really straighforward and you absolutely never get behind one of those wonderful folk who first carry on loading their bags in the trolley most meticulously even when the till assistant is ready to take payment and who then always fail to have purse or wallet ready or sometimes to have even made up their mind as to which method of payment they’re going to use!

They are a good idea in principle and if you have a small basket of shopping BUT nine times out of 10 they don’t work properly. (M&S and Sainsbury’s mainly)

I guess that someone somewhere has done a cost-benefit analysis for these obnoxious machines, but I don’t understand how it can have shown any benefit:

In M&S (all 4 stores in Sheffield) they now have between 2 and 6 assistants operating the Self Service tills for the customers because most customers appear to refuse point blank to use them. I don’t know whether it’s something peculiar to M&S customers but whenever I am in a manned checkout lane listening to the conversations there are usually a couple of staff trying to persuade customers to use the SS tills instead. Most customers start by simply ignoring the staff and staying in the manned till queue. If the staff get a bit more persistent they usually say “no thanks”. If the assistants get even more persuasive and say (as if to ‘bargain’ with the customers) “I’ll do it all for you if you like” a few customers agree to go across but many still say no. Those who do go across almost all spend the whole time that the transaction is going through complaining about the ethics of M&S making staff redundant by bringing these things in. Some staff try to argue the case, most stay silent and just smile politely and a few staff point out that the number of people who just walk off without paying means that they have to have staff watching them all anyway.

I fail to see what M&S has gained by introducing these and I cannot see how they are saving any money.

B&Q have lost me as a customer for good because they try to force people to use SS tills by closing all the manned ones. I now shop at Wickes who have no SS tills. They’re also a bit cheaper on most lines, so I win and I fail to see how B&Q gain anything. I know I’m not alone, even though I may be in a minority.

The Co-Op near to me had 6 SS tills which were the worst I ever came across for errors. Two were barriered off and marked “out of order” for about 6 months and now they’ve been taken out and there are only 4. They seem to get used quite a bit but customers wanting delivery (quite a large number) often go through the SS till and then have to have their transaction cancellend and taken to a manned till to get the delivery booked. This is the Co-Op’s fault, not that of the machines, but again I fail to see what advantage there has been to installing (and taking out 2 of) these.

I don’t shop anywhere else that has intrioduced them (yet) and long may it stay that way. (Waitrose, where I do almost all my shopping, don’t even have their won scanners here, though I’d give them a go if they did – they just have 20, yes 20, manned checkouts open all the time.

On the rare occasions that I have iused them they’ve been a disatsrer and I regularly point out to staff that as I have a sight disability and therefore a signature card not a PIN card they won’t work for me. I always add that I suspect that they therefore contravene the Disability Discrimination Act – some staff clearly don’t understand and others comment that they also worry about this. I don’t actually know if there is any contravention or not.

So all in all, with the amount of hassle they cause, lost sales, lost customers, the need for many staff to deal with the issues, unreliability, unexpected items, items too light to trigger the scale, bag issues and customers walking off without paying, I really don’t understand how on earth they can save any money or time for anyone and I don’t see how any sane person can see them as a benefit – even if you like them yourself, after waiting ages in a queue caused by a malfunction or some other need to call an assistant, they are slower than manned tills which must surely put off even those who like the concept?

Quite beyond me I’m afraid!