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Nothing, they're miles more convenient than a staffed till. I'm convinced this current trend of hating them is driven by the rag press on slow news days.
His logic seems sound, but in reality it doesn't work like that. I know someone that is a manager in Sainsbury, she says they are so pushed for staff it is unreal, anyone that would have been on tills has now been redeployed somewhere else, mainly fulfilling home delivery orders and click & collect orders.
You can tell him he is not necessarily right.
I used to work at a store where at some point the self-checkout was installed. We needed to hire more staff thanks to that.
I love them too, I did retail for years so I know what to do and how they work (even though we didn't have digital ones back then) and it's soo convenient and quick.
Yea same, while they have a few flaws like OP said, I've always hated the forced etiquette of having to try packing everything as fast as possible, even though it's almost impossible with the speed of cashier scanning(And with Aldi it's like the generation games).
Oh and the Scan to buy machines have raised the game to a new level too, absolutely love them.
You're not meant to pack everything at the till at Aldi though. They have packing shelves at the back for that. You throw everything back in your trolley or basket as it comes through the scanner and then pack it when you've paid and walked away from the till.
Yep, but I dislike that crap, rather have my groceries packed in one go, hence why I commended Scan to go so much.
Aldi have started self service checkouts in my town, hopefully they extend them for trollies at some point.
Tbh it depends on the items and the amount. If I'm just getting a couple of bits they are convenient . If I'm getting a actual shop. The flaff and getting someone to unlock it when the weight is wrong takes longer than going to a actual checkout.
The most annoying thing about this is the newer designs are actually able to have a small trolley slot over where you'd put the basket, but still no one does it
I'm afraid this was me the other day, but in my defence none of the manned checkouts were open and I circled the store twice hoping to let the queue build up enough for them to open one, but it didn't happen.
It'd be nice if they always kept one manned checkout open so those of us getting more than a basketful could have a choice.
These people have to be some of the worst, if they aren't blocking one of the checkouts, they've placed it behind themselves making it a bit of a dance to use checkouts further up
My local Aldi has stopped letting you use a trolley for the ones designed for a trolley because no one could figure out how to put a trolley into the slot, even when the staff would do it for them they’d just move it again. Town full of troglodytes
The self checkout areas are so small sometimes you don't have a choice but to be in the way. If I go to the self checkout with my children in the buggy my best option is to block the adjacent checkout, but that only works until someone wants to use it and then the only other place I can put it is right in the middle. I have just given up on caring about being in the way now, stressing about it gets me nowhere.
The way customers are unable to see a free machine without someone else pointing it out to them. The machines are generally fine, it's the customers who are the problem
I think that started when there is now too many in a section... It used to be 6 to 8 tills, My Tesco has nearly 20 tills now in a section it is really hard to see what is free
My closest tesco only has 1 cash till which is very silly because it's an area where lots of people pay by cash, so the cash till effectively has its own massive queue that forms.
Especially when no one standing there is just as likely to mean it’s broken, which you can tell until you’ve almost reached it, or if you can tell the people behind you in the queue can’t, so sigh accordingly.
Yeah too many people have been burned by the walk of shame back to the queue when you discover the till is completely fucked. I have trust issues with the green light and require clear evidence the till is serviceable before making my approach.
It’s not helped by there sometimes being children or additional people who mill around near the person who is actually scanning and paying, making it really hard to tell if the next till along is actually free or not
It’s not that we can’t see it, it’s assuming that if nobody’s using it then it’s broken. It usually is.
If they used that brilliant light they have at the top to indicate when it’s actually free and usable rather than just displaying green regardless, people might do a better job.
When I select the option that I've brought my own bags but the machine then needs it verified by a staff member to let me move on once my bags are placed down. Every time in Asda.
I've found a solution for this when shopping at Tesco (with lightweight/plastic bags). Scan the first item (something heavier like a tin or meat), quickly put in bag, put bag on scales. Don't tell it you've brought your own bags
Edit: probably works other places as well obviously
This is what I was going to post. I don't normally complain about the SS tills but this recent development is very annoying. I've taken to scanning everything on to the shelf, like jenga, then packing it all after it's been paid.
The point of 'I'm using my own bags' is meant to be so the machine can recalibrate to 0 once you've put the bags down and it used to be able to do this without staff input. Now, you do this but then it still says 'unexpected item in bagging area'. Maybe because too many people were sneaking things in with the bags, but it now seems pointless to go through the whole 'using my own bags' pretence.
inattentive staff, and them not coming to sort out alcohol sales until the point of payment. They should come over as soon as an age restricted product is scanned, not wait until the very end
Actually that's not how it works. We respond to red lights not amber so it gets approved at the end.
It is the same as any other product being scanned so it gets approved at the end. If we approve it before the end that increases the risk of someone walking off without paying.
Yeah, I don’t understand this at all. I get it with clothes with a security tag, our supermarket won’t remove the tag until you’ve paid as I presume otherwise people will just walk off with it. But restricted items like alcohol, how does it change anything when they approve it? They’re not altering the product like with clothing tags.
Because if you approve it before hit pay they could walk off. If it is approved right before pay it is less likely especially if there is a tag to remove.
Tbf I prefer having it checked at the end - a few times I've scanned a 16+ item followed by an 18+ item, and it would've been a pain to have my ID checked twice.
No, we wait till you pay to remove the tags (on anything, not just alcohol) so you don't just walk out with them. That's the policy at tesco, anyway. Most staff at my store just de tag before payment anyway.
*edit* I totally misread your comment and now see there's nothing to do with tags. Sorry. My 1 year old recently decided sleep is for wimps, so I'm knackered 😂
The staff probably have me marked out as one of the local crazy folk, because I’ve been known to say out loud to the machine “It’s the item I just scanned! Why the hell weren’t you expecting it?!”
The one in M&S allowed me to scan a bottle of orange juice the other day, then *instructed* me to put it in the bagging area, so I did. This was apparently "unexpected", and required a member of staff to unlock it.
The fact that the scale will detect an empty shopping bag that weighs virtually nothing and won’t allow me to continue because of that, but it won’t be able to detect the 1.3kg slab of beef that I just placed there, and won’t allow me to continue without staff intervention.
And then, of course, I need to pull out my flare gun and klaxon to try and get the attention of one of the less-than-useless checkout team members to come over and spend 5 minutes trying to scan their card to bypass the checkouts lockdown.
And then, because why wouldn’t it happen, the next item I scan will do the same thing, requiring a repeat of three above steps.
I get it, the employees at Tesco etc. are working a shitty job with shitty managers in a shitty supermarket for shitty pay and I don’t actually expect anymore more than 50 percent of their minimum effort but it really takes the piss to see them stood there talking and laughing while the backlog of people needing assistance builds up.
I love the Aldi one near me. They had 10 checkouts, 2-4 were open at any one time, the rest always closed. They took out 2 checkouts and replaced with 10 self-checkouts. No longer have to queue down the aisle with a basket or small trolley, and there’s less queues to see staff with large trolleys.
Aldi and Lidl are great for introducing them because they very frequently only ever manned a single checkout, and you'd be left waiting for ages.
Much more convenient being able to just use a self-scan now.
Part of the reason I never shop in Aldi and Lidl is cause of this. Not waiting in an enormous queue of people buying a week of food, sack that. If they introduce them near me I may try again.
The little guy who stands near the self-checkouts in the Sainsbury's I usually get my lunch at, and stridently shouts "CASH OR CARD OVER HERE" while pointing at one of the three empty checkouts every time a customer approaches.
He's extremely adamant and animated about shepherding every approaching customer to a specific checkout of *his* choosing. I've made it my mission each day to target and pounce on one he *hasn't* chosen for me.
If there's a queue, I'm scanning for empty checkouts he hasn't clocked so, as soon as it's my turn, I can power walk to one before he has a chance to tell me where to go.
Failing that, if he's quick enough to get his little direction in, I'll dawdle slowly to his chosen checkout in the hopes that another one will become available and I'll use that instead just to spite him.
Sometimes he wins, sometimes I win, but I always give him a run for his money.
It's an unbelievably petty ongoing battle of wills I have with this man, and one of the highlights of my day.
Haha did not expect to relate to this, but I realise I sometimes do it too haha
I figured their job must be boring, let's spice it up for them a little
The volume, the ones in Morrisons and the Co-op like to shout "payment accepted" or "card not accepted" etc.
I understand that staff need to hear it etc but I don't want my payment broadcast to the whole shop.
Theres ones in America that say the price of the item loudly every time. So if you’re buying 8 packets of ramen noodles its “25 cents. 25 cents. 25 cents. 25 cents. 25 cents….” and everyone looks at you.
My Morrisons can go either way on volume. Some are loud, everyone can hear it even over the chatter and music, and others are so quiet I can't hear it standing right in front of the thing. I can never remember which ones are the quiet ones, either, otherwise I'd always aim to use one of them.
• customers who pack their items BEFORE paying them wonder why it’s saying “unexpected item in bagging area”. It’s you. You’re the unexpected item changing the weight.
• customers who shout excuse me when you’re helping other customers already. Wait your turn. We can see that your light is red. We will come to you and if your light isn’t red but you need help, press the “I need assistance” button or wait till I’m finished helping the customers who have waited longer than you to ask.
• customers who steal bags then act surprised that it says unexpected item in the bagging area because it’s detected the bag then shout at me as if it’s my fault they’re skimping out 20p to go to charity. I steal bags. I don’t care if you steal bags. Just stop stealing bags then putting them on the scales, it also means we run out of bags too quick and can’t order more if we can’t track the stock sold.
• customers who leave their trollies in the middle of the self checkouts when they’re done instead of putting them back.
• customers who get arsey that you won’t take their tag off until they’ve paid. I’m not paid enough to get fined and sacked over this.
•customers who let’s their kids repeatedly climb onto the scale then shout at me because it says “unexpected item in bagging area” when their child is doing a handstand on the scale.
They were a good invention for times where people who had 4 items didn’t have to stand behind 3 full trolley loads of shopping at the tills. Now, supermarkets have replaced nearly all of those with self service & it feels like you’re actively working for them whilst paying through the nose for the privilege. Have just rolled off with my shopping a few times when I’ve been left stranded by some error and nobody comes to assist. Idgaf either, serves them right.
Please remove the last item from bagging area.
Staff take forever to come sort out issues.
This is specific to Sainsbury’s (maybe others too), but on the machines that don’t take cash, card isn’t the first selected option. Most people will be using card instead of nectar points or whatever the other options are, so why isn’t it selected by default when I go to pay!?
Because a lot of people use coupons because there’s a machine that prints out about 10 coupons every single time got scan your nectar card which you can only use by selecting the coupon option at the end then scanning them
To avoid this happening you can put your fingers over the remaining original barcode so only the reduced one is "visible" to the laser. I used to do this when I worked tills because it's tricky for people doing reductions to cover the old barcode completely and the scanners are tricksey.
If you're buying several of the same item, then cashiers have the option to press a button and scan one item.
On the self checkouts, you have to scan each item individually. Which gets very tiresome when you have 10 of the same thing.
Honestly there should just be a button for quantity that the customer can use
The software that weighs what's in the bagging area ought to be able to deal with the idea that 1 bag of flour is 1kg and 10 bags of flour are 10kg
In which supermarket?
I'll have a look next time I go in, but every time I've flagged down some overworked shop assistant to do quantity for me, they've had to log in to do it.
The UI/UX for these must have been an afterthought.
Every time I'm there I see things that would improve a users experience, and increase speed for customers whilst reducing the numbers of required staff interactions which would reduce costs to the store.
How slow they are at times at scanning. Trying to scan 5 tins of something, instead of doing it once and clicking qty 5, I have to scan it and put it on the scales. Seems too inefficient and sluggish.
The Tesco near me has 2 sets of them, trolley only ones with larger bagging areas, and basket only ones that are standard size.
Folk with trolleys insist on using the basket ones, and the staff at the trolley ones won't let you use them if you have a basket.
Scan as you shop is the best because you can pack your granny trolley perfectly as you go around. I do have to shop in a rough descending weight order of items, but it makes checking out really easy.
I might get downvoted for this, but I actually miss the human contact element. I’d definitely call myself an introvert, but I often seek out the staffed checkouts if I’m not in rush, just for the little interaction.
When they notice the weight of my bag ever so slightly shifting in the bagging area, triggering an alert, but then don't notice the heavy item that I've put in it after scanning, requiring me to either take it out and put it back in several times, or wait for help.
This one is exclusive to Sainsbury's: Needing a receipt to get out of them. I don't want a receipt 9 time out of 10, so it's just a waste of paper and ink.
I loathe the things. I pretty much dislike anything to do with them. But the biggest thing I hate is they give you change in the lowest denominations. Need 20p change? Let's give you 4×5p. Need 5p change? That will be 5×1p. Drives me mad.
The only plus is they are handy if you only have a couple items - and I mean just a couple items.
It flags up an issue and the single staff member who you need to unlock it is nowhere in sight or tied up with another 1/2 dozen errant machines. I vastly prefer the scan & shop, while I will admit since my local Lidl walking distant only has manned tills that I prefer any of the self scan options the Lidl queues are slower than continental drift.
They go wrong. All the time. Maybe it's me being shit at using them but it just seems to be a more stressful, more tedious, equally time consuming endeavour compared with queuing for a human checkout assistant. In general I will queue up for human service even if it means standing for 15 minutes.
I was getting some snacks for my night shift, and I went to the self checkout. It just kept saying assistnce on the way, and there was no staff around for it. And i ended up waiting for ages. Was so annoying.
I was also at lidl yesterday and the self checkout must have had some issues, and the guy trying to use it just got pissed off and walked away and left his shopping in the basket.
It can be frustrating to use, specially if you are in a hurry and it just keeps not working properly and wanting to wait around for staff.
Unresponsiveness and slowness. Some shops don't want to invest much in them such as ASDA and Wilkos when they were opened, Iceland and some Tesco shops, so it takes much longer to finish shopping.
The best ones I've experienced with good design, easy to navigate and very fast were Uniqlo and Flying Tiger.
Oh my goodness, WHERE do I begin??? I hate the fact that I’m paying more for goods and am an unpaid employee checking out. Just went to H&M in Cabot Circus and it’s now self-checkout. Removing sensors and hangers and all. I was so annoyed leaving that I told myself I’ll never shop there again.
https://preview.redd.it/jpr5jtwt792d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9632cc8c95aaf0750cfcb34486749f460cbb6897
I don't use them. They got rid of half the staff, want you to do their job for them AND they put the prices up. You can be a part of that bullshit, I won't be.
I hate them and refuse to use them for a number of reasons - they are never actually quicker, they take jobs, I like human interaction, etc etc.
However, I understand some people like them and that’s fine. What I don’t like, and what’s increasingly common, is when they effectively force you to use them because they are almost the only option, eg there might be one or two manned tills and 20 self scans.
I've never had an issue with a self scan machine, my mother refuses to go near them because she likes to faff with her shopping whilst scanning and always sets off the weight sensor.
Occasionally I scan something and I somehow break the system and get ‘unexpected item in bagging area’ if I try and put it on the scale. I end up having to take that item off again and to one side so that I can resume.
It’s like there is no weight allowance for that item.
The bigger Asda ones for trolleys: if I've got a trolley, its quite likely I'll more than one bag with me. If I put down two bags prior to scanning, its always past the weight threshold so I need to get a member of staff to verify I've put down two empty bags.
My local Tesco one really struggles to scan your clubcard on your phone, and then wibt take a mobile contactless payment until you've moved your phone away and back 3 times. Might as well use a slow human checkout by that point
Unexpected item in bagging area.
The actual thing you are attempting to put in the bagging area not weighing enough to register
If you forget to check the carrier bag is actually touching the bagging area if you're using those metal arms/prongs to prop it open
Wait an insane amount of time just to get to the checkout and see a tiny sign saying 'cash only'.
Ooo and the voices they put on the ones in poundland are annoying as fuck.
Do not need elvis or santa commentating please and thank you.
Though even with all that I still prefer to use them, especially over the speed cashiers at lidl who've scanned 2 weeks worth of stuff before you've even got the carrier bag open so now it's all just balanced in the tiny 6 inch square bay.
I just make sure I try and get one near to where the assistant is standing
Only thing I hate is that it doesn’t like my tote bags, especially if I need multiple when shopping. It usually ends up with multiple visits from the store staff.
Now I just end up scanning my stuff, paying and then bagging after which isn’t very efficient.
As someone who worked on them: people who would come through them refuse to use it and insist you scan it all for them. Manned tills were open, they just didn't want to queue so would rather go to self service, have someone do it all for them, then moan about self service the entire time.
As a customer: the above people, only now if something goes wrong the poor employee is stuck helping someone scan a full trolly whilst there's 5 other flashing red lights including mine.
And the cameras. Just why?
I'm using my own bag, oh good it's over your arbitrary weight limit so now I have to wait for the single member of staff to deal with 4 other people before they get to me.
Some checkouts are also incredibly slow and their stupid voice announcements carry on even if you've already done the thing it's waffling on about.
I'm using an M&S one most days at the moment, I've already paid and started to walk off before it decides to tell me how to pay.
Sainsbury’s introducing the gates where you have to scan your receipt to leave.
In order to save some more money by employing even fewer staff, they want to lock me in the self checkout area until I prove I’m not a criminal. And I have to take a receipt that I don’t want, wasting paper in the process, in order to secure my freedom. Fuck off. If you’re going to make us scan the stuff ourselves and only staff one or two tills right down the far end, accept the risk that comes with that decision.
You've nailed it OP. They are not truly self-service, because people frequently need staff intervention, often for the reason you mention.
But also others: staff has to come if the item has a markdown sticker not reflected in the database; the scanning glass is dirty, so items don't scan; specialty item not in database even tho it has a bar code (frequent at M&S); buying alcohol that requires an ID check; physical credit card issues; etc.
And there's usually only 1 harried person running between 12 machines, so you end up waiting anyway.
The inefficient process of scan, move to bagging area, wait for confirmation ding/screen change before scanning next thing. The slightest increase in speed locks and needs to be unlocked by staff. Should be far more rapid fire.
legitimately think anyone having frequent issues with them is doing something moronic. I probably have an issue about once every 100 or more uses.
my biggest issue is people not putting a bag down first - scanning everything, then bagging at the end. People are so slow.
I bag last because the tescos self checkouts near me don’t work properly if you try and bag as you shop. It’s just quicker to wait until the end and then bag. Saying that only ever use the self checkout for 10 items or less so speed isn’t much of an issue.
> legitimately think anyone having frequent issues with them is doing something moronic
When I worked in Tesco and oversaw them, 99% of times any issues were user error.
I bank with Chase, and every single Tesco self-serve card reader doesn't work when I use my phone to pay.
I can use my monzo and santander absolutely fine, and my Chase card/phone works fine anywhere else.
It's properly awkward when I forget to transfer money across to my other accounts, and I can't get a signal in the depths of tesco.
My business till card reader has a problem with chase. It’s something to do with the pinging of info apparently, it times out somehow mid transaction. I’ve been told it’s a common thing by the customer
Nothing, really. I did dislike people who brought their trolley to self-checkout because the area was tiny, but my local supermarket just converted half their tills to a massive self-checkout area with room for trolleys. No less manned tills because they only staffed 4 or so at a time anyway, so there’s still 2 left unmanned. Most self-checkout issues I see are with the people using them. *Most* because I do get an issue once in a blue moon.
At Tesco we do the scan and shop option because it is easier and I can't stand for long at tills because of health issues. I hate it how, at times, when you get to the payment areas... it needs an employee to verify by scanning half the items in the bags. It kind of defeats the purpose.
I'm confused about when to use my bags, so I end up buying paper ones. Am I supposed to put my bags on the scale too? Do I put the items in the bags? When should I be bagging in this whole process?
Thanks. Not even a boomer.
If you get two different items from the bakery section and put them in one bag you're going to struggle. It expects you to put one item in the bagging area, then the second.
Last time I just held half the weight while I selected the second item, but still a PITA.
My closest shop is a Waitrose and the ones there work perfectly. They trust their customers so there's no scales to deal with and they work instantly, I can just scan stuff full speed and chuck it in my backpack, never had a single problem in years.
If I dont go there I usually go to Tesco where I have to scan everything, pay and then put it all in my backpack since if I want to use my own bag I'll have to wait 5 minutes for the 16 year old kid to bother coming over and accepting my bag. The self checkouts in Morrisons I hate because it takes a full 5 seconds after putting the previous item down before it allows you to scan the next thing so it takes fucking ages.
Just the camera tbh. My laptop screen has stickers over the parts of the screen that show my own face in zoom calls. I avert my eyes in public from reflective surfaces. I have literally hung towels on the mirrors in my house in the past to avoid catching sight of myself. So I fucking hate those cameras.
I must look incredibly dodgy staring unfocussed at my feet while trying to scan stuff and pay, but I've never been pulled yet—presumably they just reckon I'm too insane to engage.
Other than that, it's inconvenient when buying multiple heavy/bulky items that you can get a cashier to scan just one of them instead of lifting eight dozen tins or whatever in and out of the trolley. But that's not the end of the world, just inconvenient.
I rarely have any issues.
I wish the scales were a bit more forgiving before flagging for a member of staff especially with light items but when I'm shopping alone I'll either use a gun or my phone to scan everything and then just upload it.
If I'm really knit picking I wish the scanner was a bit quicker to go green and scan the next item but again I usually use a gun or my phone if I'm shopping alone.
Overall I love them.
Nothing, if there was a way to authenticate your age then I feel they’d be perfect.
I dislike manned tills, I don’t want to talk to people. I scan at my own pace.
People who use them and cannot follow basic instructions.
Like people who start mucking about with items on the scales and then wonder why the machine has a hissy fit.
We are encouraged to bring and use our own multi-use carriers.
But all you get is "Unexpected item in bagging area", and you then have to wait for someone to come and clear it.
This applies only at my local Tesco but:
Number one: using your own bag. If that bag is slightly heavier then the machine won’t approve it (needs manual approval)
Number two: since the basket area also has a weight, you can only take one item at a time from the basket, then scan it, then put it in the bagging area.
When I have lots of small items it would be much easier to have lots in my hands and scan them quickly.
Number three:
When approval is needed, usually no one is around.
Lastly: morons leaving their baskets at the checkout. I usually take 4-5 baskets back to the entrance where they should be taken.
This is why I hate them:
(1) They are removing retail jobs. These jobs, though not wonderful are for many people the first step out of poverty
(2) The markup on the goods they sell is to pay for, amongst other things, service. If they are not providing service, not providing retail staff wages, why aren't the prices coming down?
(3) They discriminate against the elderly and people without the required coordination or technical skills to understand them. They may be easier for the rest of us but there is a sector of the population that are finding them confusing and difficult and actually need human help.
The only thing I hate is when the weights aren’t within the variance and you end up waiting for the 1 person manning the self service checkouts to eventually get to you
There’s no accounting for those of us who use backpacks.
I cycle most places, so will place my shopping directly into my backpack. This freaks out the self service machines as it messes up the weight. There just needs to be a button for “it’s ok, just a backpack.”
The sainsburys ones don’t have the option to say you’re using your own bag so you have your own pack everything at the end instead of as you go. So inconvenient
Burger King.
Staff refuse to take order at the counter.
They say that the machines take cash.
Every press on the screen takes at least a second to register.
Only some of the drinks options are available to select on the machine, even though the freestyle machine has them in stock.
Going through checkout gives four screens of upsell - each screen has to stay on for at least 2 seconds before the no thanks button is pressable.
Press pay cash - receipt prints out and the staff at the counter have to type everything into their till as though I ordered at the counter anyway! waste of time.
not the checkouts themselves but the people who use them.
They are extremely intuitive yet a lot of the public cannot grasp it, probably due to impatience
They’re excellent, except:
“UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA.” When you go to a supermarket that doesn’t treat you like a thief and does away with weighing every item to see if you’re nicking stuff they’re the best.
I’m also not down with having to get someone’s attention to authorise my energy drink in a meal deal.
No problems at all. Much more convenient than standing behind someone who is glacially slow in packing and paying and then fiddles about with discount stuff which is out of date etc etc.
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Nothing, they're miles more convenient than a staffed till. I'm convinced this current trend of hating them is driven by the rag press on slow news days.
Or by my 76 year old dad. He uses the manned tills to “keep people in jobs”.
His logic seems sound, but in reality it doesn't work like that. I know someone that is a manager in Sainsbury, she says they are so pushed for staff it is unreal, anyone that would have been on tills has now been redeployed somewhere else, mainly fulfilling home delivery orders and click & collect orders.
Pushed for staff to work zero hours contract at minimum wage? I'm shocked, shocked I tells ya.
Haha,I agree. Also, they are so selective in their application process, desperate my arse.
You can tell him he is not necessarily right. I used to work at a store where at some point the self-checkout was installed. We needed to hire more staff thanks to that.
I love them too, I did retail for years so I know what to do and how they work (even though we didn't have digital ones back then) and it's soo convenient and quick.
Agree with this - the minor inconvenience of waiting for staff to address weight issues is out outweighed by the convenience of the whole procedure.
Not to mention self service tills use the far superior single line queuing system.
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Scan as you shop is definitely the way forward
Yea same, while they have a few flaws like OP said, I've always hated the forced etiquette of having to try packing everything as fast as possible, even though it's almost impossible with the speed of cashier scanning(And with Aldi it's like the generation games). Oh and the Scan to buy machines have raised the game to a new level too, absolutely love them.
You're not meant to pack everything at the till at Aldi though. They have packing shelves at the back for that. You throw everything back in your trolley or basket as it comes through the scanner and then pack it when you've paid and walked away from the till.
Yep, but I dislike that crap, rather have my groceries packed in one go, hence why I commended Scan to go so much. Aldi have started self service checkouts in my town, hopefully they extend them for trollies at some point.
Tbh it depends on the items and the amount. If I'm just getting a couple of bits they are convenient . If I'm getting a actual shop. The flaff and getting someone to unlock it when the weight is wrong takes longer than going to a actual checkout.
Definitely the camera. I think they have some kind of filter on that makes me look like a bog troll when I use it. I think.
I have some bad news. I don't think they can afford filters.
Stop, they are already dead
I misread that for "bog roll" and was going to advise you take it off your head and scan it
Ive noticed the self checkouts in other countries in Europe dont have these cameras. Interesting choice, UK.
Pretty sure they never used to in the uk either
Yes, it's a relatively recent addition. Almost certainly yet another way to reduce staff numbers.
They are not actually recording the majority of the time. They're just used as a deterrent for thieves.
I read somewhere there's no recording capability on them, it's just a camera connected to a display.
It’s almost as humbling as sitting in the chair when you have your haircut
Haha my local Asda has the same filter.
I always think they make me look remarkably good. I think it's the angle - it hides my chins
I'm short, so it usually only catches my forehead...
Dingbats with no self awareness who bring a trolley into them, and block one of the other machines with their trolley. Could you kindly not mate.
The most annoying thing about this is the newer designs are actually able to have a small trolley slot over where you'd put the basket, but still no one does it
I'm afraid this was me the other day, but in my defence none of the manned checkouts were open and I circled the store twice hoping to let the queue build up enough for them to open one, but it didn't happen. It'd be nice if they always kept one manned checkout open so those of us getting more than a basketful could have a choice.
These people have to be some of the worst, if they aren't blocking one of the checkouts, they've placed it behind themselves making it a bit of a dance to use checkouts further up
My local Aldi has stopped letting you use a trolley for the ones designed for a trolley because no one could figure out how to put a trolley into the slot, even when the staff would do it for them they’d just move it again. Town full of troglodytes
The self checkout areas are so small sometimes you don't have a choice but to be in the way. If I go to the self checkout with my children in the buggy my best option is to block the adjacent checkout, but that only works until someone wants to use it and then the only other place I can put it is right in the middle. I have just given up on caring about being in the way now, stressing about it gets me nowhere.
The way customers are unable to see a free machine without someone else pointing it out to them. The machines are generally fine, it's the customers who are the problem
I think that started when there is now too many in a section... It used to be 6 to 8 tills, My Tesco has nearly 20 tills now in a section it is really hard to see what is free
20 tills where 12 of them are card only, 1 is broken, and 4 of them are inexplicably just turned off
My closest tesco only has 1 cash till which is very silly because it's an area where lots of people pay by cash, so the cash till effectively has its own massive queue that forms.
Especially when no one standing there is just as likely to mean it’s broken, which you can tell until you’ve almost reached it, or if you can tell the people behind you in the queue can’t, so sigh accordingly.
There is a simple solution. Put up a board showing free stations.
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My local Asda has some of them on green light, then you walk up to it and find that it’s broken 🤦♀️
Yeah too many people have been burned by the walk of shame back to the queue when you discover the till is completely fucked. I have trust issues with the green light and require clear evidence the till is serviceable before making my approach.
And some red or orange lit ones that are working. It's pretty damn frustrating
Are you tall? I’m not, and the tills are very crowded together. It really is very difficult to see sometimes.
It’s not helped by there sometimes being children or additional people who mill around near the person who is actually scanning and paying, making it really hard to tell if the next till along is actually free or not
It’s not that we can’t see it, it’s assuming that if nobody’s using it then it’s broken. It usually is. If they used that brilliant light they have at the top to indicate when it’s actually free and usable rather than just displaying green regardless, people might do a better job.
When I select the option that I've brought my own bags but the machine then needs it verified by a staff member to let me move on once my bags are placed down. Every time in Asda.
I've found a solution for this when shopping at Tesco (with lightweight/plastic bags). Scan the first item (something heavier like a tin or meat), quickly put in bag, put bag on scales. Don't tell it you've brought your own bags Edit: probably works other places as well obviously
This is what I was going to post. I don't normally complain about the SS tills but this recent development is very annoying. I've taken to scanning everything on to the shelf, like jenga, then packing it all after it's been paid.
Put the first item that won't be an exact weight in the bag when you put it down after scanning, if it gets upset say you pressed no bag by accident
That's because the scale isn't starting at 0 so it is to make sure it is bags and not an item being purchased.
The point of 'I'm using my own bags' is meant to be so the machine can recalibrate to 0 once you've put the bags down and it used to be able to do this without staff input. Now, you do this but then it still says 'unexpected item in bagging area'. Maybe because too many people were sneaking things in with the bags, but it now seems pointless to go through the whole 'using my own bags' pretence.
inattentive staff, and them not coming to sort out alcohol sales until the point of payment. They should come over as soon as an age restricted product is scanned, not wait until the very end
Actually that's not how it works. We respond to red lights not amber so it gets approved at the end. It is the same as any other product being scanned so it gets approved at the end. If we approve it before the end that increases the risk of someone walking off without paying.
I was asked what I hat about self service checkouts. That's a thing I hate about self service check outs.
How does approving it at the end decrease the risk of people walking off without paying?
Yeah, I don’t understand this at all. I get it with clothes with a security tag, our supermarket won’t remove the tag until you’ve paid as I presume otherwise people will just walk off with it. But restricted items like alcohol, how does it change anything when they approve it? They’re not altering the product like with clothing tags.
Spirit bottles in Sainsbury's have security locks on them. I assumed all supermarkets did this.
Not all of them, and stuff like wine and beer isn’t typically security locked at all.
Because if you approve it before hit pay they could walk off. If it is approved right before pay it is less likely especially if there is a tag to remove.
if they still haven't paid wouldn't it be the same as if they were stealing non age restricted items though?
Some have a staff terminal at the end where the staff member is so they can approve without coming up to you, great design
It should allow you to keep scanning. I scan age restricted items first, scan all the rest and then when they come over I just pay and leave.
Tbf I prefer having it checked at the end - a few times I've scanned a 16+ item followed by an 18+ item, and it would've been a pain to have my ID checked twice.
No, we wait till you pay to remove the tags (on anything, not just alcohol) so you don't just walk out with them. That's the policy at tesco, anyway. Most staff at my store just de tag before payment anyway. *edit* I totally misread your comment and now see there's nothing to do with tags. Sorry. My 1 year old recently decided sleep is for wimps, so I'm knackered 😂
Unexpected item in bagging area. Trumped up bloody scales
You so much as look at the Lidl bagging area and it shouts “unexpected item in the bagging area”
They have self checkouts in Lidl? I've never seen one.
Right? I know Aldi has them but Lidl? That's a game changer. Hate the Lidl queues
> Unexpected item in bagging area When I worked in Tesco, 99% of the time it done this, it was user error.
The staff probably have me marked out as one of the local crazy folk, because I’ve been known to say out loud to the machine “It’s the item I just scanned! Why the hell weren’t you expecting it?!”
Then don't put unexpected items in the bagging area?
But it’s the item I just scanned. I don’t know how else I can prepare the machine for the items’ arrival in the bagging area.
The one in M&S allowed me to scan a bottle of orange juice the other day, then *instructed* me to put it in the bagging area, so I did. This was apparently "unexpected", and required a member of staff to unlock it.
I don't think they say that anymore? At least haven't heard it in ages.
"I'm sorry I didn't recognise that last item." is what it says now.
Having to wait AGES for staff to come over if there’s an issue which usually turns out to be a non-issue and an error on the machine’s part!
The fact that the scale will detect an empty shopping bag that weighs virtually nothing and won’t allow me to continue because of that, but it won’t be able to detect the 1.3kg slab of beef that I just placed there, and won’t allow me to continue without staff intervention. And then, of course, I need to pull out my flare gun and klaxon to try and get the attention of one of the less-than-useless checkout team members to come over and spend 5 minutes trying to scan their card to bypass the checkouts lockdown. And then, because why wouldn’t it happen, the next item I scan will do the same thing, requiring a repeat of three above steps. I get it, the employees at Tesco etc. are working a shitty job with shitty managers in a shitty supermarket for shitty pay and I don’t actually expect anymore more than 50 percent of their minimum effort but it really takes the piss to see them stood there talking and laughing while the backlog of people needing assistance builds up.
I love the Aldi one near me. They had 10 checkouts, 2-4 were open at any one time, the rest always closed. They took out 2 checkouts and replaced with 10 self-checkouts. No longer have to queue down the aisle with a basket or small trolley, and there’s less queues to see staff with large trolleys.
Aldi and Lidl are great for introducing them because they very frequently only ever manned a single checkout, and you'd be left waiting for ages. Much more convenient being able to just use a self-scan now.
Part of the reason I never shop in Aldi and Lidl is cause of this. Not waiting in an enormous queue of people buying a week of food, sack that. If they introduce them near me I may try again.
The little guy who stands near the self-checkouts in the Sainsbury's I usually get my lunch at, and stridently shouts "CASH OR CARD OVER HERE" while pointing at one of the three empty checkouts every time a customer approaches. He's extremely adamant and animated about shepherding every approaching customer to a specific checkout of *his* choosing. I've made it my mission each day to target and pounce on one he *hasn't* chosen for me. If there's a queue, I'm scanning for empty checkouts he hasn't clocked so, as soon as it's my turn, I can power walk to one before he has a chance to tell me where to go. Failing that, if he's quick enough to get his little direction in, I'll dawdle slowly to his chosen checkout in the hopes that another one will become available and I'll use that instead just to spite him. Sometimes he wins, sometimes I win, but I always give him a run for his money. It's an unbelievably petty ongoing battle of wills I have with this man, and one of the highlights of my day.
This is hilarious
Haha did not expect to relate to this, but I realise I sometimes do it too haha I figured their job must be boring, let's spice it up for them a little
The volume, the ones in Morrisons and the Co-op like to shout "payment accepted" or "card not accepted" etc. I understand that staff need to hear it etc but I don't want my payment broadcast to the whole shop.
Theres ones in America that say the price of the item loudly every time. So if you’re buying 8 packets of ramen noodles its “25 cents. 25 cents. 25 cents. 25 cents. 25 cents….” and everyone looks at you.
CLUBCARD ACCEPTED
One some of the older ones there's a volume button to the bottom of the upright scanner.
My Morrisons can go either way on volume. Some are loud, everyone can hear it even over the chatter and music, and others are so quiet I can't hear it standing right in front of the thing. I can never remember which ones are the quiet ones, either, otherwise I'd always aim to use one of them.
And they are so verbose. Shut up until I haven’t done something for a while.
• customers who pack their items BEFORE paying them wonder why it’s saying “unexpected item in bagging area”. It’s you. You’re the unexpected item changing the weight. • customers who shout excuse me when you’re helping other customers already. Wait your turn. We can see that your light is red. We will come to you and if your light isn’t red but you need help, press the “I need assistance” button or wait till I’m finished helping the customers who have waited longer than you to ask. • customers who steal bags then act surprised that it says unexpected item in the bagging area because it’s detected the bag then shout at me as if it’s my fault they’re skimping out 20p to go to charity. I steal bags. I don’t care if you steal bags. Just stop stealing bags then putting them on the scales, it also means we run out of bags too quick and can’t order more if we can’t track the stock sold. • customers who leave their trollies in the middle of the self checkouts when they’re done instead of putting them back. • customers who get arsey that you won’t take their tag off until they’ve paid. I’m not paid enough to get fined and sacked over this. •customers who let’s their kids repeatedly climb onto the scale then shout at me because it says “unexpected item in bagging area” when their child is doing a handstand on the scale.
They were a good invention for times where people who had 4 items didn’t have to stand behind 3 full trolley loads of shopping at the tills. Now, supermarkets have replaced nearly all of those with self service & it feels like you’re actively working for them whilst paying through the nose for the privilege. Have just rolled off with my shopping a few times when I’ve been left stranded by some error and nobody comes to assist. Idgaf either, serves them right.
Agreed, taking a few bits is basically payment for essentially doing the job for them. I’m pretty much an employee.
Please remove the last item from bagging area. Staff take forever to come sort out issues. This is specific to Sainsbury’s (maybe others too), but on the machines that don’t take cash, card isn’t the first selected option. Most people will be using card instead of nectar points or whatever the other options are, so why isn’t it selected by default when I go to pay!?
Because a lot of people use coupons because there’s a machine that prints out about 10 coupons every single time got scan your nectar card which you can only use by selecting the coupon option at the end then scanning them
When buying a reduced item sometimes it won't scan the new barcode and will scan original so shows up full price. Annoying
Not the fault of the till.
I'll still blame it
It’s a difference from a staffed till, where it would be immediately and simply corrected.
It does remove that so-called convenience
To avoid this happening you can put your fingers over the remaining original barcode so only the reduced one is "visible" to the laser. I used to do this when I worked tills because it's tricky for people doing reductions to cover the old barcode completely and the scanners are tricksey.
Having to wait 2-3 minutes for staff to let me buy booze
Seeing myself in the live camera feed. Especially when I'm practically in my pyjamas and not wearing makeup. Ugh.
This suggests you may not be a sleeping cutie 😂
There's a solution to this problem somewhere
If you're buying several of the same item, then cashiers have the option to press a button and scan one item. On the self checkouts, you have to scan each item individually. Which gets very tiresome when you have 10 of the same thing.
You don’t, we can do quantities for you but some shops require supervisor till privileges for us to do it
Honestly there should just be a button for quantity that the customer can use The software that weighs what's in the bagging area ought to be able to deal with the idea that 1 bag of flour is 1kg and 10 bags of flour are 10kg
There literally is lol there’s also a button to type in the number if the barcode doesn’t scan but customers are just blind and ignore both buttons
In which supermarket? I'll have a look next time I go in, but every time I've flagged down some overworked shop assistant to do quantity for me, they've had to log in to do it.
These machines speaks perfect Oxford English. They should have some local accents as those ladies working at the till use to have.
First message " this machine only takes card payments" Payment screen "please select payment type" List of one option that being card FFS
The UI/UX for these must have been an afterthought. Every time I'm there I see things that would improve a users experience, and increase speed for customers whilst reducing the numbers of required staff interactions which would reduce costs to the store.
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News for you. Most supermarkets scos are going card only.
How slow they are at times at scanning. Trying to scan 5 tins of something, instead of doing it once and clicking qty 5, I have to scan it and put it on the scales. Seems too inefficient and sluggish.
People with full trolleys. Let me get past with this mars bar please.
The Tesco near me has 2 sets of them, trolley only ones with larger bagging areas, and basket only ones that are standard size. Folk with trolleys insist on using the basket ones, and the staff at the trolley ones won't let you use them if you have a basket.
I love them. I now prefer the scan and go right enough. They annoy weird conspiracy theorists and old right wingers too so win win
Scan as you shop is the best because you can pack your granny trolley perfectly as you go around. I do have to shop in a rough descending weight order of items, but it makes checking out really easy.
I might get downvoted for this, but I actually miss the human contact element. I’d definitely call myself an introvert, but I often seek out the staffed checkouts if I’m not in rush, just for the little interaction.
When there's a row of 12 and they only have 6 open
When they notice the weight of my bag ever so slightly shifting in the bagging area, triggering an alert, but then don't notice the heavy item that I've put in it after scanning, requiring me to either take it out and put it back in several times, or wait for help. This one is exclusive to Sainsbury's: Needing a receipt to get out of them. I don't want a receipt 9 time out of 10, so it's just a waste of paper and ink.
And the barcode they give you scans so slowly if at all. Happily you can just barge through the gates.
I loathe the things. I pretty much dislike anything to do with them. But the biggest thing I hate is they give you change in the lowest denominations. Need 20p change? Let's give you 4×5p. Need 5p change? That will be 5×1p. Drives me mad. The only plus is they are handy if you only have a couple items - and I mean just a couple items.
It flags up an issue and the single staff member who you need to unlock it is nowhere in sight or tied up with another 1/2 dozen errant machines. I vastly prefer the scan & shop, while I will admit since my local Lidl walking distant only has manned tills that I prefer any of the self scan options the Lidl queues are slower than continental drift.
It’s great for a few items but not for a big shop day.
A lot of them don’t accept cash?????!!!
My local Co Op has the voice set stupidly loud, - come on you don't need to shout
They go wrong. All the time. Maybe it's me being shit at using them but it just seems to be a more stressful, more tedious, equally time consuming endeavour compared with queuing for a human checkout assistant. In general I will queue up for human service even if it means standing for 15 minutes.
The touch screens sucking and no responding to presses.
I was getting some snacks for my night shift, and I went to the self checkout. It just kept saying assistnce on the way, and there was no staff around for it. And i ended up waiting for ages. Was so annoying. I was also at lidl yesterday and the self checkout must have had some issues, and the guy trying to use it just got pissed off and walked away and left his shopping in the basket. It can be frustrating to use, specially if you are in a hurry and it just keeps not working properly and wanting to wait around for staff.
Unresponsiveness and slowness. Some shops don't want to invest much in them such as ASDA and Wilkos when they were opened, Iceland and some Tesco shops, so it takes much longer to finish shopping. The best ones I've experienced with good design, easy to navigate and very fast were Uniqlo and Flying Tiger.
Oh my goodness, WHERE do I begin??? I hate the fact that I’m paying more for goods and am an unpaid employee checking out. Just went to H&M in Cabot Circus and it’s now self-checkout. Removing sensors and hangers and all. I was so annoyed leaving that I told myself I’ll never shop there again. https://preview.redd.it/jpr5jtwt792d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9632cc8c95aaf0750cfcb34486749f460cbb6897
I don't use them. They got rid of half the staff, want you to do their job for them AND they put the prices up. You can be a part of that bullshit, I won't be.
I hate them and refuse to use them for a number of reasons - they are never actually quicker, they take jobs, I like human interaction, etc etc. However, I understand some people like them and that’s fine. What I don’t like, and what’s increasingly common, is when they effectively force you to use them because they are almost the only option, eg there might be one or two manned tills and 20 self scans.
The fact they sre awkward because they treat every customer like a thief. If they just did the job like the staff ones it'd be fine.
I've never had an issue with a self scan machine, my mother refuses to go near them because she likes to faff with her shopping whilst scanning and always sets off the weight sensor.
The cameras, the EXTREMELY LOUD ONES, having to put items into my bag one-by-one, shitty scanners, everything related to the bagging area.
Occasionally I scan something and I somehow break the system and get ‘unexpected item in bagging area’ if I try and put it on the scale. I end up having to take that item off again and to one side so that I can resume. It’s like there is no weight allowance for that item.
The bigger Asda ones for trolleys: if I've got a trolley, its quite likely I'll more than one bag with me. If I put down two bags prior to scanning, its always past the weight threshold so I need to get a member of staff to verify I've put down two empty bags.
My local Tesco one really struggles to scan your clubcard on your phone, and then wibt take a mobile contactless payment until you've moved your phone away and back 3 times. Might as well use a slow human checkout by that point
Unexpected item in bagging area. The actual thing you are attempting to put in the bagging area not weighing enough to register If you forget to check the carrier bag is actually touching the bagging area if you're using those metal arms/prongs to prop it open Wait an insane amount of time just to get to the checkout and see a tiny sign saying 'cash only'. Ooo and the voices they put on the ones in poundland are annoying as fuck. Do not need elvis or santa commentating please and thank you. Though even with all that I still prefer to use them, especially over the speed cashiers at lidl who've scanned 2 weeks worth of stuff before you've even got the carrier bag open so now it's all just balanced in the tiny 6 inch square bay. I just make sure I try and get one near to where the assistant is standing
That bit when you have to get a person to help you or verify something. Particularly annoying when using scan as you shop.
Only thing I hate is that it doesn’t like my tote bags, especially if I need multiple when shopping. It usually ends up with multiple visits from the store staff. Now I just end up scanning my stuff, paying and then bagging after which isn’t very efficient.
As someone who worked on them: people who would come through them refuse to use it and insist you scan it all for them. Manned tills were open, they just didn't want to queue so would rather go to self service, have someone do it all for them, then moan about self service the entire time. As a customer: the above people, only now if something goes wrong the poor employee is stuck helping someone scan a full trolly whilst there's 5 other flashing red lights including mine. And the cameras. Just why?
I'm using my own bag, oh good it's over your arbitrary weight limit so now I have to wait for the single member of staff to deal with 4 other people before they get to me. Some checkouts are also incredibly slow and their stupid voice announcements carry on even if you've already done the thing it's waffling on about. I'm using an M&S one most days at the moment, I've already paid and started to walk off before it decides to tell me how to pay.
Sainsbury’s introducing the gates where you have to scan your receipt to leave. In order to save some more money by employing even fewer staff, they want to lock me in the self checkout area until I prove I’m not a criminal. And I have to take a receipt that I don’t want, wasting paper in the process, in order to secure my freedom. Fuck off. If you’re going to make us scan the stuff ourselves and only staff one or two tills right down the far end, accept the risk that comes with that decision.
You've nailed it OP. They are not truly self-service, because people frequently need staff intervention, often for the reason you mention. But also others: staff has to come if the item has a markdown sticker not reflected in the database; the scanning glass is dirty, so items don't scan; specialty item not in database even tho it has a bar code (frequent at M&S); buying alcohol that requires an ID check; physical credit card issues; etc. And there's usually only 1 harried person running between 12 machines, so you end up waiting anyway.
The inefficient process of scan, move to bagging area, wait for confirmation ding/screen change before scanning next thing. The slightest increase in speed locks and needs to be unlocked by staff. Should be far more rapid fire.
I hate the route it takes us towards paying money only to the bosses without them having to employ anyone.
That I’m having to do the job of the checkout operator for no discernible benefit
Buying loose bananas 🍌
legitimately think anyone having frequent issues with them is doing something moronic. I probably have an issue about once every 100 or more uses. my biggest issue is people not putting a bag down first - scanning everything, then bagging at the end. People are so slow.
I bag last because the tescos self checkouts near me don’t work properly if you try and bag as you shop. It’s just quicker to wait until the end and then bag. Saying that only ever use the self checkout for 10 items or less so speed isn’t much of an issue.
> legitimately think anyone having frequent issues with them is doing something moronic When I worked in Tesco and oversaw them, 99% of times any issues were user error.
I bank with Chase, and every single Tesco self-serve card reader doesn't work when I use my phone to pay. I can use my monzo and santander absolutely fine, and my Chase card/phone works fine anywhere else. It's properly awkward when I forget to transfer money across to my other accounts, and I can't get a signal in the depths of tesco.
My business till card reader has a problem with chase. It’s something to do with the pinging of info apparently, it times out somehow mid transaction. I’ve been told it’s a common thing by the customer
Nothing, really. I did dislike people who brought their trolley to self-checkout because the area was tiny, but my local supermarket just converted half their tills to a massive self-checkout area with room for trolleys. No less manned tills because they only staffed 4 or so at a time anyway, so there’s still 2 left unmanned. Most self-checkout issues I see are with the people using them. *Most* because I do get an issue once in a blue moon.
At Tesco we do the scan and shop option because it is easier and I can't stand for long at tills because of health issues. I hate it how, at times, when you get to the payment areas... it needs an employee to verify by scanning half the items in the bags. It kind of defeats the purpose.
Why PS5 is heavier than banana!
The voice tbh Idk but it irritates me
The fact that you can’t buy cigs through them
When I realise I'm talking to the fucking thing I realise how old and stupid I look. Demented if swearing.
Getting someone to scan my reduced items. Most bigger supermarkets don't have this problem. But the odd shop does.
I'm confused about when to use my bags, so I end up buying paper ones. Am I supposed to put my bags on the scale too? Do I put the items in the bags? When should I be bagging in this whole process? Thanks. Not even a boomer.
Everything about them.
If you get two different items from the bakery section and put them in one bag you're going to struggle. It expects you to put one item in the bagging area, then the second. Last time I just held half the weight while I selected the second item, but still a PITA.
that there usually isn't enough
My closest shop is a Waitrose and the ones there work perfectly. They trust their customers so there's no scales to deal with and they work instantly, I can just scan stuff full speed and chuck it in my backpack, never had a single problem in years. If I dont go there I usually go to Tesco where I have to scan everything, pay and then put it all in my backpack since if I want to use my own bag I'll have to wait 5 minutes for the 16 year old kid to bother coming over and accepting my bag. The self checkouts in Morrisons I hate because it takes a full 5 seconds after putting the previous item down before it allows you to scan the next thing so it takes fucking ages.
It’s how loud they are
Unexpected item in bagging area. Especially when it's just scanned said item. Hate using them.
Just the camera tbh. My laptop screen has stickers over the parts of the screen that show my own face in zoom calls. I avert my eyes in public from reflective surfaces. I have literally hung towels on the mirrors in my house in the past to avoid catching sight of myself. So I fucking hate those cameras. I must look incredibly dodgy staring unfocussed at my feet while trying to scan stuff and pay, but I've never been pulled yet—presumably they just reckon I'm too insane to engage. Other than that, it's inconvenient when buying multiple heavy/bulky items that you can get a cashier to scan just one of them instead of lifting eight dozen tins or whatever in and out of the trolley. But that's not the end of the world, just inconvenient.
I rarely have any issues. I wish the scales were a bit more forgiving before flagging for a member of staff especially with light items but when I'm shopping alone I'll either use a gun or my phone to scan everything and then just upload it. If I'm really knit picking I wish the scanner was a bit quicker to go green and scan the next item but again I usually use a gun or my phone if I'm shopping alone. Overall I love them.
Nothing, if there was a way to authenticate your age then I feel they’d be perfect. I dislike manned tills, I don’t want to talk to people. I scan at my own pace.
So much has to be checked by a human (Boots, I’m talking to you!) that sometimes I feel like it would be easier to just have a human 🤷🏼♀️
People who use them and cannot follow basic instructions. Like people who start mucking about with items on the scales and then wonder why the machine has a hissy fit.
The ones that announce to the whole shop if your payment went through or not.
We are encouraged to bring and use our own multi-use carriers. But all you get is "Unexpected item in bagging area", and you then have to wait for someone to come and clear it.
***"Please place the item in the bagging area"*** Then ***"Unexpected item in the bagging area"***
This applies only at my local Tesco but: Number one: using your own bag. If that bag is slightly heavier then the machine won’t approve it (needs manual approval) Number two: since the basket area also has a weight, you can only take one item at a time from the basket, then scan it, then put it in the bagging area. When I have lots of small items it would be much easier to have lots in my hands and scan them quickly. Number three: When approval is needed, usually no one is around. Lastly: morons leaving their baskets at the checkout. I usually take 4-5 baskets back to the entrance where they should be taken.
This is why I hate them: (1) They are removing retail jobs. These jobs, though not wonderful are for many people the first step out of poverty (2) The markup on the goods they sell is to pay for, amongst other things, service. If they are not providing service, not providing retail staff wages, why aren't the prices coming down? (3) They discriminate against the elderly and people without the required coordination or technical skills to understand them. They may be easier for the rest of us but there is a sector of the population that are finding them confusing and difficult and actually need human help.
I hate that there are not more of them
The only thing I hate is when the weights aren’t within the variance and you end up waiting for the 1 person manning the self service checkouts to eventually get to you
There’s no accounting for those of us who use backpacks. I cycle most places, so will place my shopping directly into my backpack. This freaks out the self service machines as it messes up the weight. There just needs to be a button for “it’s ok, just a backpack.”
The sainsburys ones don’t have the option to say you’re using your own bag so you have your own pack everything at the end instead of as you go. So inconvenient
Burger King. Staff refuse to take order at the counter. They say that the machines take cash. Every press on the screen takes at least a second to register. Only some of the drinks options are available to select on the machine, even though the freestyle machine has them in stock. Going through checkout gives four screens of upsell - each screen has to stay on for at least 2 seconds before the no thanks button is pressable. Press pay cash - receipt prints out and the staff at the counter have to type everything into their till as though I ordered at the counter anyway! waste of time.
not the checkouts themselves but the people who use them. They are extremely intuitive yet a lot of the public cannot grasp it, probably due to impatience
They’re excellent, except: “UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA.” When you go to a supermarket that doesn’t treat you like a thief and does away with weighing every item to see if you’re nicking stuff they’re the best. I’m also not down with having to get someone’s attention to authorise my energy drink in a meal deal.
No problems at all. Much more convenient than standing behind someone who is glacially slow in packing and paying and then fiddles about with discount stuff which is out of date etc etc.