Self checkout machines

Glenster

Just saw this story on BBC

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170509-the-unpopular-rise-of-self-checkouts-and-how-to-fix-them

Am I completely in the minority in saying that I much prefer using them, and find them MUCH faster when buying under 20 items.

The only downside is that sometimes you're stuck behind a luddite moron who cant use it.

Kimbot

I mainly use these now as they are so handy.

Hector Bellend

Like everything else in life.

Great if used properly, nothing is moron proof though

osarusan

Annoying when the barcode is creased in some way and won't scan. Staff should be a bit more careful.

Then I take ages because I have to enter it manually, and I know the people behind me are thinking I'm a luddite moron, and idiot, or a dork who can't use it properly.

Conall Cernach

Unfortunately about the only thing I buy in shops that have them is alcohol and you have to go to a cashier with that.

maudgonner

I prefer them to manned checkouts, rarely have a problem. Great for getting rid of spare change too, as long as there isn't a queue of people behind you waiting for you to shovel in your fistful of 2 cent coins :pac:

osarusan

Also, maybe it's just Tesco, but that 'coupon' thing that comes up on screen and is related to rounding somehow is very f**king annoying.

me_irl

Handy if you spot some local football team trying to scrape funds together by "helping" at each til.

To the self checkouts I go!

Captain Pleasantry Avoidance wins again.

gramar

Every supermarket should have them for people with just a few items.
I hate having to queue behind people with trolley loads when you just have a couple of things.

me_irl

gramar wrote: »

Every supermarket should have them for people with just a few items.
I hate having to queue behind people with trolley loads when you just have a couple of things.

"Go on ahead there bud."

Glenster

The article says that 93% of people prefer traditional checkouts.

And creates a scenario in which it can say that manned checkouts are faster.

Crazy right?

Ubbquittious

Hate the yokes and their annoying English accents

me_irl

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Hate the yokes and their annoying English accents

It *beeps* with an accent?

Atlantic Dawn

They work fine except when you have people with a full trolley wanting to use them, if they are so much of a fan they should drop their CV in for a job. Tesco in Finglas have installed bollards at the entrance to them so trollies can't access them, a great feature, should be added to all stores.

Neighsayer

I hate these effing things and I cannot get my head around the store staff who get obviously annoyed when I say no thanks I don't want to use that or learn how to use it I prefer the manual checkout.  I know they're instructed to direct people towards these and assist them but some of them take it as a personal affront when you refuse or look at you like you've just come down from the hills.  Hey Turkeys, Christmas is coming but you should hardly be in a hurry to get there.

gramar

me_irl wrote: »

It *beeps* with an accent?

"unexpected item in the bagging area" :pac:

me_irl

gramar wrote: »

"unexpected item in the bagging area" :pac:

Thought that was an Irish accent... Like the female voice on the Luas no?

"Rye-al-toe".

HigginsJ

All shops should have them, not having to talk to someone when I am buying my food is great. I hate it when people don't know what they are doing though and won't put their items onto the weigh area once they have scanned them, I want to go and slap them and send them back where they belong. Also people with full trollies of shopping should be banned from them, not for you!!

Glenster

gramar wrote: »

"unexpected item in the bagging area" :pac:

I always thought it was a bit sexy, I'm always like,

"there'll be an unexpected item in your bagging area if you're not careful you minx"

I try not to say it out loud though.

HigginsJ

Glenster wrote: »

I always thought it was a bit sexy, I'm always like,

"there'll be an unexpected item in your bagging area if you're not careful you minx"

I try not to say it out loud though.

:pac:

topper75

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Hate the yokes and their annoying English accents

The English are gone Bull.

murpho999

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Hate the yokes and their annoying English accents

Supervalu has Irish accents.

Tesco are really guilty of the English ones.

TheDoc

Use them exclusively outside of the big shop we do where we use a till.

I seem to just have a knack for it. Lightning quick and I'm through the hole thing in the sort of time that it has been a massive change and positive change to shopping for me. Sure annoying when you are in a queue with people who dont know how to use them or doing stupid **** but sure look, I still here people complaining or moaning about paying for plastic bags and that's in nearly a decade.

Anywhere there is an automated/machine based service, I'm using it.

If the cinema could just come up with some self service for food I'll be proper laughing. I use automation so much everywhere, that the cinema sticks out like a soar thumb. The machine for collecting tickets frequently isn't working in my local. Also more often then not we are getting food, and the staff either look to be on a go slow or there is just clearly not enough tills or staff on for what is a peak time. I'd always arrive early knowing this, but something that I figured after years and years they'd have figured a way to make more efficent.

I remember one cinema, I don't know if it was abroad or the one in town. I just paid someone at a till, walked into this room where it was self serve popcorn and drinks and it was a brilliant and fluid experience. There was a till there with the bags of chocolate behind you paid for but everything else you were just in, pickup, out.

me_irl

HigginsJ wrote: »

Also people with full trollies of shopping should be banned from them, not for you!! <big bang theory gif that I'm not quoting>

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il_asp-0lq4

gizmo81

I was in a Spar a while back with them in it which I thought was different.

donegal_man

They're great. Get the customer to do the job that would have been done by a cashier thereby reducing staff costs and generating savings which improve the bottom line and will no doubt be passed on to the customer in due course.

Gravelly

Glenster wrote: »

Just saw this story on BBC

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170509-the-unpopular-rise-of-self-checkouts-and-how-to-fix-them

Am I completely in the minority in saying that I much prefer using them, and find them MUCH faster when buying under 20 items.

The only downside is that sometimes you're stuck behind a luddite moron who cant use it.

I'm probably that luddite moron in front of you. For some reason I always seem to have a problem with one item, and the staff member always seems to be on a different continent at the time.

ScrubsfanChris

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Hate the yokes and their annoying English accents

You not encountered the Centra ones? Proper Irish lad voting those ones

Always use them if I have a few items. The most annoying thing though is paying by card, they don't have the "tap to pay" system and its just so slow going through the pin process on those things, much slower than a normal register for some reason.

HigginsJ

me_irl wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il_asp-0lq4

Ok then.......

Samsgirl

One of my bestest discoveries waa that the annoying voice can be muted!! No more arguments in Tesco.

antodeco

TheDoc wrote: »

Lightning quick and I'm through the hole

:pac:

me_irl

Samsgirl wrote: »

One of my bestest discoveries waa that the annoying voice can be muted!! No more arguments in Tesco.

Not a nice way to talk about your other half!



HEEEEEEEEEEEEYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

*canned laughter*

mimimcmc

Glenster wrote: »

The article says that 93% of people prefer traditional checkouts.

And creates a scenario in which it can say that manned checkouts are faster.

Crazy right?

I would agree that manned checkouts are faster, two people doing the one job essentially, of course it's faster..

I'm not a huge fan of these, will use them when I have one or two items but anymore and I'd rather just go to someone and let them do the work. And I'm the type of person that HATES interaction at customer service but it's usually quicker and time is of the essence

van_beano

gramar wrote: »

"unexpected item in the bagging area" :pac:

"Please remove the item before continuing"

ScumLord

me_irl wrote: »

It *beeps* with an accent?

The ones in supervalu have a tone, it's almost like it's about to say "take your bags, and your change, and get the **** out", but it stops itself.

I still have a preference for the old tills, I like to have someone do it for me, it makes me feel important to see a professional scanner working for me. Plus, you can't make a machine feel awkward by saying things like "oh yeah, scan my vegetables baby".

Atlantic Dawn

The new contactless card terminals at self checkouts in Tesco are a pure pain in the hole if you have an old school PIN card, they are non adjustable in angle so if your tall you have to bend down like a tool to see the display, annoying.

jjbrien

I watched this a few monrths ago the random things we end up watching about self checkouts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0CtmrMtGu4

The person using the self checkout ended up being slower than the person who went to the human operated one. He also paid more. I do use them when I got a small number of items but I hate when they go un identified object or wait for assistance drives me nuts.

Parchment

I will use them for a few things but prefer to go to a cashier. More often that not the machine has some kind of fit about something and it will delay me longer than actually going to a cashier.

biko

In many stores, four human cashiers could be replaced by one worker who directs crowds to banks of self-service tills

This is the reason I still use the regular tills.
#keepthepeopleinjobs

Parchment

biko wrote: »

This is the reason I still use the regular tills.
#keepthepeopleinjobs

It already happened in the banks.

maudgonner

Parchment wrote: »

It already happened in the banks.

To be honest the 'customer service' I usually received from tellers in the bank was so bloody awful I'd opt for a machine any day. Their attitude ranged somewhere from abysmal to insulting.

elefant

I prefer them because of other people not preferring them. Even when the manned tills have long queues, the self-service stations seem to be nearly empty.

I love the self-service bag drop stations in airports for the same reason. I think a lot of people aren't confident in using them so they never have long queues.

me_irl

maudgonner wrote: »

To be honest the 'customer service' I usually received from tellers in the bank was so bloody awful I'd opt for a machine any day. Their attitude ranged somewhere from abysmal to insulting.

And mildly accusatory.

"I just want to lodge some money to my account... don't make a fcuking song and dance of it!"

Cienciano

jjbrien wrote: »

I watched this a few monrths ago the random things we end up watching about self checkouts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0CtmrMtGu4

The person using the self checkout ended up being slower than the person who went to the human operated one. He also paid more. I do use them when I got a small number of items but I hate when they go un identified object or wait for assistance drives me nuts.

Looks like they're buying a load of stuff that you have to input yourself like fruit and veg and loose bread. If you're buying 3 or 4 things with barcodes, self service will be better if there's no queue.

Ubbquittious

ScrubsfanChris wrote: »

You not encountered the Centra ones? Proper Irish lad voting those ones

Always use them if I have a few items. The most annoying thing though is paying by card, they don't have the "tap to pay" system and its just so slow going through the pin process on those things, much slower than a normal register for some reason.

I can't afford centra. Or super valu for that matter. I buy most of my stuff from an old man with glasses reading the paper in a small shop cluttered with wooden vegetable trays

me_irl

Cienciano wrote: »

Looks like they're buying a load of stuff that you have to input yourself like fruit and veg and loose bread. If you're buying 3 or 4 things with barcodes, self service will be better if there's no queue.

Like... rolls?

eviltimeban

Best option of all is the "Superscan" in Supervalu. Scan your items with a scanning gun as you shop, bag them yourself as you go along (so you can ensure things don't get crushed) and keep an eye on your budget as well.

Then hand over to the cashier at the till, pay, and off you go. Plus there's often no one queuing at the Superscan only till so it's much quicker.

doolox

Most jobs in this category will eventually go. If a particular supermarket tries to keep more jobs than necessary it will lose out to the competition and go bankrupt.

Eventually as older checkout operators retire, younger operators will take over and be more inclined to adopt to the new technology. Less numbers of operators will be required and more shelf packers, warehouse operators etc will be employed. Most workers prefer to have a distance between themselves and the often unpredictable and troublesome public so that jobs that offer that privacy and distance from the public are preferred to public facing jobs.

I find that a lot of retail outlets have minimal numbers of shop assistants in the retail area in comparison to 10 yrs ago. I have been told that a lot of retail activity, restocking, cleaning, repricing sales notices etc. are now done while the shops are closed to the public to prevent members of the public engaging staff members and impacting on productivity. The days of personal engagement, soliciting extra sales etc are numbered for a lot of retailers.

Womens beauty products, where a lot of personal engagement recommendations etc still goes on seems to be the exception to this trend.

xabi

...and dont forget to take a blue token, ahhhhhh

my3cents

I just hate the way the Dunnes ones give you back your change in really small denominations and thats after they have taken ages counting any change you use.

Because the machine was so slow last week I overpaid by one 20cents coin, no big deal but I got four 5 cents coins as change and I didn't even put any copper in the bl00dy thing.

maudgonner

me_irl wrote: »

Like... rolls?

Presumably. I don't know if the shops sell slutty bread. Unless...bagels maybe?



(Hope someone is having a bagel for lunch and reading this )