Automated Tills

weldoninhio

What is the story with all the people whinging about automated tills in shops?? I love them, quick, easy and scan and you're out. No inane small talk, no "have you got a store card", no waiting for them to count out the change. It's incredibly handy.

I've seen people moaning that they "take jobs away from humans". But I doubt many people have been fired because of them. There are always tills open as well.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Ok.

Boom_Bap

I've changed my f*cking mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT5t678S1f4

They're convenient if you're in a hurry, instead of being stuck in a queue behind some customer fumbling for change. A positive having another option.

weldoninhio

Deleted User wrote: »

They're convenient if you're in a hurry, instead of being stuck in a queue behind some customer fumbling for change. A positive having another option.

They should have larger ones for trolleys too.

Boom_Bap

weldoninhio wrote: »

They should have larger ones for trolleys too.

and someone to scan the items for you

JohnnyFlash

Unexpected Item in the Bagging Area.

Yes, the decapitated head of your creator.

kneemos

The young one on standby in the local Dunnes could probably serve as many as the four automated tills.

Pain in the hole, most of the time.
You can't quickly scan everything the same speed someone who's paid to sit there all day scanning can.
Even if you could, you've to wait for the machine to register that you've placed the last item in the 'bagging area'.
You can't do multiples at the same time such as pressing 6 and then scanning one can of beer or whatever......You have to scan each one individually, and place it down before scanning the next one.
This means you've sometimes got to separate items that are bound together, like a 6-pack
"UNEXPECTED ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA!!!!!!!!"
You've to wait for the attendant to authorise any over-18s purchases or if anything goes wrong
You've to search for anything that doesn't have a barcode
Have the voice of Yoda, the ones in Dealz do..........I don't know how their employees aren't out massacring anyone under 3ft tall

The advent of contactless payment sped up the whole process of paying for goods. Automated tills have slowed that down to a crawl, it's even worse than it was before. Anyone who thinks they're better because they "don't have to talk to the attendant" is a weirdo and has bigger issues going on than their inability to make small talk.

The high horse brigade

It's not for your convenience. They are forcing you to get used to them letting queues build up at the normal checkouts, one less wage for them to pay.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

They're convenient if you're in a hurry, instead of being stuck in a queue behind some customer fumbling for change. A positive having another option.

In my local Tesco, it's often quicker to use the main checkouts as the queue for the automated ones is 4 times longer and takes an age for the reasons listed above. If you're only getting a few bits, the people ahead often let you skip them as well, making it quicker. I've never seen that in the self-checkout queue.

facehugger99

I particularly find it weird when someone stands behind me at a regular till with one or two items if I have a full trolley of shopping and there'a an automated checkout nearby.

I never let these people in front of me - I would if there's no automated tills - but if they choose to go to a regular till, they're waiting.

Mad_maxx

Hate them

Mr. CooL ICE

I go to Lidl/Aldi and have my shopping fired at me like a real man

weldoninhio

Boom_Bap wrote: »

and someone to scan the items for you

Why would you need someone to do that? Should shops have someone to walk around with you and put the items in the trolley for you too??

Woke Hogan

weldoninhio wrote: »

Why would you need someone to do that? Should shops have someone to walk around with you and put the items in the trolley for you too??

Why not?

weldoninhio

Deleted User wrote: »

Pain in the hole, most of the time.
You can't quickly scan everything the same speed someone who's paid to sit there all day scanning can.
Even if you could, you've to wait for the machine to register that you've placed the last item in the 'bagging area'.
You can't do multiples at the same time such as pressing 6 and then scanning one can of beer or whatever......You have to scan each one individually, and place it down before scanning the next one.
This means you've sometimes got to separate items that are bound together, like a 6-pack
"UNEXPECTED ITEM IN THE BAGGING AREA!!!!!!!!"
You've to wait for the attendant to authorise any over-18s purchases or if anything goes wrong
You've to search for anything that doesn't have a barcode
Have the voice of Yoda, the ones in Dealz do..........I don't know how their employees aren't out massacring anyone under 3ft tall

The advent of contactless payment sped up the whole process of paying for goods. Automated tills have slowed that down to a crawl, it's even worse than it was before. Anyone who thinks they're better because they "don't have to talk to the attendant" is a weirdo and has bigger issues going on than their inability to make small talk.

Sounds like someone has trouble using them. I've never had an issue with them. Searching for a bread roll is fairly handy. If you are constantly having issues, you are the common denominator. There should be one till for people like you, otherwise the queues of people that can actually use technology are being held up.

chrissb8

They're great. Anyone complaining about the UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA is because 9 times our of 10 I see dopes not putting an item down on time or simply just not waiting for the goddamn lady putting the item down animation on the screen. You know, WHEN YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO.

People will be acting like they're in a mad rush, just wait and do it properly and it is still quicker than any person automated till. Also bugs me seeing people in their 50's or 60's acting like it's a piece of alien technology.

It's not like technology wasn't prevelant in your life and computers haven't been around now in a good functioning capacity since you were young enough and in your 30's. No excuse for the luddites, just conetemptuous stares as I wonder why their lazy a** is looking around giving me the "THeSe Bl00dY MaChines!" look. No it's just you and your unwillingness to learn something straight forward and new....FOLLOW THE DAMN INSTRUCTIONS.

AllForIt

I don't get why anyone would hate them, but if you do no one is forced to use them.

They do suit ppl with a handful of item. As a single guy that's the way I tend to shop and I don't miss the days when I would spend longer in a queue than it did to pick the items. I admit I'm quite impatient when it comes to being in a queue but I don't have to suffer than now anywhere near as much I used to.

The first iteration of them are prone to errors but I've noticed the newer ones are better that I've seen in Dealz and the new ones in my local Dunnes.

In the future I'm hoping you just pick up your times and your charged automatically as you exit via your smartphone

weldoninhio

Woke Hogan wrote: »

Why not?

Because it's handier to swipe them through, pay and go.

Mrs OBumble

weldoninhio wrote: »

They should have larger ones for trolleys too.

In my homeland, 15 years ago, they introduced hand held scanners that you use when putting items into the trolley.

Glad to see Ireland finally getting somewhere near catching up....

loyatemu

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

In my homeland, 15 years ago, they introduced hand held scanners that you use when putting items into the trolley.

Glad to see Ireland finally getting somewhere near catching up....

they had those in Superquinn 15 years ago too, don't know why it's taken so long for them to reappear.

Stevieluvsye

loyatemu wrote: »

they had those in Superquinn 15 years ago too, don't know why it's taken so long for them to reappear.

A ha. I knew i remembered them being somewhere over here and can clearly recall them now

oneilla

Why Self-Checkout Is and Has Always Been the Worst

The key point is that installing self-checkout is an opportunity for employers to reduce employee hours—these are rarely salaried workers—regardless of whether the system “works.” This is a phenomenon that Astra Taylor dubbed “fauxtomation”—whereupon the logic of automation is deployed to offer companies to slash wages, hours, benefits, or entire jobs, regardless of whether the system replacing them is actually up for the task (it often isn’t)—and it often arrives hand-in-hand with ****ty automation.

So grocery store and retail employees are scrambling to make the “labor-saving” technologies “work,” at behest of management, which is well aware that many tens of thousands of dollars have been sunk into this technology, which everyone hates.

Employees who had been hired as cashiers have to learn how to do things that are not at all in their original job description, like repair malfunctioning machines, how to walk shoppers through the system, and how to soothe them when they became frustrated, lest the worker face management’s displeasure. They’re also subjected to experimentation with confusing and freshly ****ty automated systems.

kneemos

loyatemu wrote: »

they had those in Superquinn 15 years ago too, don't know why it's taken so long for them to reappear.

Much easier to nick a few items I'd imagine.

FishOnABike

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

In my homeland, 15 years ago, they introduced hand held scanners that you use when putting items into the trolley.

Glad to see Ireland finally getting somewhere near catching up....

I remember Superquinn used to have those here, must be more than 20 years ago, but they never seem to have taken off in a big way.

FishOnABike

Mark Rippetoe wrote: »

I go to Lidl/Aldi and have my shopping fired at me like a real man

I race the till operator to fill my trolley quicker than they can scan,packing with both hands and strategically placing loose veg that need to be weighed or fresh bread that needs a code to be keyed in shopping on the conveyor to slow them down.

Boom_Bap

FishOnABike wrote: »

I race the till operator to fill my trolley quicker than they can scan,packing with both hands and strategically placing loose veg that need to be weighed or fresh bread that needs a code to be keyed in shopping on the conveyor to slow them down.

you should open a tin of peas on the conveyor belt, that'll learn em

antodeco

Mark Rippetoe wrote: »

I go to Lidl/Aldi and have my shopping fired at me like a real man

The amount of times I've lightly grazed the hand of the Aldi person when gabbing my stuff is far too great to count at this stage. I'm fairly positive we are basicslly dating at this stage.

gifted

weldoninhio wrote: »

Why would you need someone to do that? Should shops have someone to walk around with you and put the items in the trolley for you too??

Sure that's why we bring the young kids shopping.....

FishOnABike

kneemos wrote: »

Much easier to nick a few items I'd imagine.

They used to select self scan trolleys at random to have everything scanned at a standard checkout to keep people honest.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

FishOnABike wrote: »

They used to select self scan trolleys at random to have everything scanned at a standard checkout to keep people honest.

And why we stopped using the Superquinn self scan. They had a set number to check every day and because so few used them we were checked more than half the times we used it, thus defeating the purpose, as we had to pack the goods twice.

weldoninhio

weldoninhio wrote: »

Why would you need someone to do that? Should shops have someone to walk around with you and put the items in the trolley for you too??

Why bother doing anything then? Just pave your own driveway, for god's sake. Or walk into McDonald's and start making your own burger.

weldoninhio wrote: »

Sounds like someone has trouble using them. I've never had an issue with them. Searching for a bread roll is fairly handy. If you are constantly having issues, you are the common denominator. There should be one till for people like you, otherwise the queues of people that can actually use technology are being held up.

LOL......The only trouble I have is that it takes too long. I'm well able to use them, probably quicker than most, but it's still slower than someone who is doing that job years. Yes it's handy to find a bread roll, but how handy is it to have to find 5 different types of fruit, 3 of vegetables and 4 different bread/pastry items versus an employee who knows all of the PLU codes off by heart? Way to ignore practically everything else in the post, by the way.

The whole point is that the supermarkets have cut costs by doing this. The fact that it is slower for every single user (ignoring the queueing aspect) is just a byproduct they don't care about. They're not doing it because it's quicker, they're doing it because it's cheaper (for them).

seamus

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

In my homeland, 15 years ago, they introduced hand held scanners that you use when putting items into the trolley.

Glad to see Ireland finally getting somewhere near catching up....

Superquinn introduced these in the mid-90s.

Mickeroo

FishOnABike wrote: »

I remember Superquinn used to have those here, must be more than 20 years ago, but they never seem to have taken off in a big way.

It's still around, it's called Superscan now.

namloc1980

A till operator in Lidl or Aldi would put any of those automated tills to shame with their speed and ability to sort out issues there and then. None of that "unexpected item in the bagging area" nonsense.

kneemos

FishOnABike wrote: »

They used to select self scan trolleys at random to have everything scanned at a standard checkout to keep people honest.

Might have a lawsuit on their hands these days.

Pretty sure they would be libeling folk.

Billgirlylegs

weldoninhio wrote: »

Why would you need someone to do that? Should shops have someone to walk around with you and put the items in the trolley for you too??

See what Shifty said #15

Handy for a couple of items but.........

And if shops want them why aren't they standard, ie basket on left, bagging area on right. If you use different automated tellers, they all have different formats and appearances.
Pain in the whole trying to figure it out.

FishOnABike

kneemos wrote: »

Might have a lawsuit on their hands these days.

Pretty sure they would be libeling folk.

No more than security, customs or immigration at an airport would when they select someone for more thorough checking.

Irish Guitarist

There's four of them in Tesco here. It seems to be mandatory that at least one of them either isn't working or will only take credit cards.

And there always seems to be some moron queuing behind me that starts trying to use the machine I'm using before I've finished. I once put a €20 note in the machine and turned around to put an item in my bag while I was waiting for my change. In the two or three seconds this took some gobshite came out of nowhere and started trying to scan his shopping. I had to ask him to move out of the way so I could get my change out of the machine.

kneemos

FishOnABike wrote: »

No more than security, customs or immigration at an airport would when they select someone for more thorough checking.

Not the same.

InTheShadows

Don't use them on principle alone. I don't care if they are quicker or more convenient I like to say hello and have a quick chat with the checkout operator

weldoninhio

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Why bother doing anything then? Just pave your own driveway, for god's sake. Or walk into McDonald's and start making your own burger.



LOL......The only trouble I have is that it takes too long. I'm well able to use them, probably quicker than most, but it's still slower than someone who is doing that job years. Yes it's handy to find a bread roll, but how handy is it to have to find 5 different types of fruit, 3 of vegetables and 4 different bread/pastry items versus an employee who knows all of the PLU codes off by heart? Way to ignore practically everything else in the post, by the way.

The whole point is that the supermarkets have cut costs by doing this. The fact that it is slower for every single user (ignoring the queueing aspect) is just a byproduct they don't care about. They're not doing it because it's quicker, they're doing it because it's cheaper (for them).

The fact that you think lining up a barcode with a scanner takes years of training shows us that it’s a user end problem.

pawrick

9 times out of 10 when i give in and use them beside the express tills in my local supervalue I end up having to get someone over as something doesn't register and i stand there like a spare pr*ck waiting for help with a flashing red light while the queue i tried to avoid skips past me.

Doing shopping in my local tesco with a trolley and no one on the manned tills as they are helping people at the automated ones who ran in to problems sucks also.

Spanish Eyes

Hate them with a passion. Always feel for the checkout operators that are no longer there anymore.

Anyway my local Lidl installed them, I have never entered that store since. Awful queues, and there is often just one regular cashier till open. Just not as efficient really.

Local Aldi has resisted so far... it is all cashiers there. So they get most of my business now.

SuperValu has two or three cashier tills open and a humungous queue for the automated ones. The cashier tills are often much quicker in the long run.

Anyway I am clumsy and get flustered, so I just don't use them. An incident in a supermarket in Italy last year finished me off. Bad enough not really liking the auto tills, but being barked at by a hulk in a language I was not fluent in was something else! No cashier tills open. I was red from head to foot. Aaagh.

Forty Seven

I get the odd problem using the self scan tills but never been held up as much as I have been by people chatting, people nipping off for things they forgot, people who only realise they have to pay when the cashier asks for the money who then start rummaging in the 20 litre handbag and cashiers chatting to the cashier in the next lane about their night out.

Most people are grand but there are a lot that helped create the npc meme.

riclad

I like them because i can buy 7 euro,s worth of item,s ,
and pay with a 50 euro not.
i have no interest in talking to a checkout employee for 1 minute .
What can you say to someone in 1 minute ?
sometimes its faster to use the cashier till,
When there,s 10 people waiting to use the auto checkout tills .
Many tesco,s have only 2 or 3 cashier tills .

Church on Tuesday

I just cant wait for the automated tills to become sentient, Terminator shtyle.

weldoninhio

weldoninhio wrote: »

The fact that you think lining up a barcode with a scanner takes years of training shows us that it’s a user end problem.

The fact that you aren't able to comprehend plain English indicates there's a problem alright, but it ain't mine. Where did I mention barcodes?

The problem is that the machine cannot keep up with anyone that is in any way efficient at scanning and packing their stuff. Here it is, as simply as I can put it:

Self-Checkout
Look up scones, wait, press button, wait, press "4", wait, place in bagging area, wait for machine to recognise its there, another wait, finished = 15 seconds. Repeat for bananas, onions, vienna rolls, ginger, loose mushrooms, peppers, apples and scallions = almost 3 minutes for 9 items. That's working at optimum efficiency, ignoring any errors that might occur...be they mechanical or human. Throw in 4 bottles of beer, including waiting for the attendant to let the machine know you're +18 and you're talking up to 5 minutes total. Then you have to pack it all up.


regular Checkout
Lady who has worked there 18 months knows the PLU code for scones. Hits "4" button, then types the code, then throws them into the packing area = 3 seconds. Multiply by 9 + the scanning of the beer = 30 seconds max. Plus, you're already packed and ready to rock.

Mickeroo

kneemos wrote: »

Might have a lawsuit on their hands these days.

Pretty sure they would be libeling folk.

No this isn't true.

kneemos

Mickeroo wrote: »

No this isn't true.

You could just refuse the search anyway.