Self checkout machines

PARlance wrote: »

Superquinn had them for a few years before being taking over by SuperValu. Still available in ex Superquinn SuperValu's afaik.

They never really caught on, it was rare enough to see them being used ime.

Tesco Maynooth has it as well

Brilliant except when you're doing a furtive booze-run in your tracksuit bottoms and hoody and have to call an assistant to authorize it.

Hate them so much. 2 self-checkouts jammed when I was trying to scan a bunch of stuff in Boots. FIVE!!!!! staff members had to come over and try get it working. After 10 minutes they gave up and helped carry my shopping to a till where I was done in under a minute. I try to avoid them as much as possible, mostly to keep people on a till in job.

"Approval Needed" is also annoying when you have to wait a few minutes for a staff member to come along because they gave so many the boot when they fit the check outs in.

Not to mention its much quicker going to a till and you're above waist height for loading up your shopping because you didn't bring a bag.

I used to work in a shop that had them. Staff obviously hate them too, we had to work with them 8 hours a day as opposed to the customer who only had to use them for a couple minutes. Couple of the arguments we would get:

In general most staff are happy to take you on the till if it's quiet, but when you're the only person rostered to cover self-service checkouts and there is a line of about 15 people and someone goes "I want the till", you get understandably somewhat annoyed. If you take someone at the til then you can't tend to the other 8 people using the self-service checkouts and they end up waiting if they need assistance. Hence why staff prefer to offer to do the self-service checkout for you.

To the people that argue it's no faster than the till, it is. I've seen people waiting in line for 5-10 mins for the till while the 12-15 people in the line behind them go through the self-service.

In general the staff don't care for the "you'll be out of a job" argument. In the grand scheme of things they should, but in reality it's only ever said with venom from a customer which puts staff on the defensive about it. When you're giving out to a customer assistant over self-service checkouts, you're ****ting on the bottom rung of the ladder. If you're that ethically opposed then don't shop there.

I love them. When I first started using them I was a bit scared of them, they felt inhuman. Going in and out of the store without a single interaction with another person.

But I really prefer the privacy of just getting my own stuff now, noone there to judge my choices (obviously they couldn't give a toss really, but it's still a thought). It's just better all around to use the self-checkout. I don't know why everyone doesn't use them to be honest.

In places like Walmart in America, they have self-service checkouts for trolleys. You can do the "big shop", hundreds of dollars worth of stuff, all by yourself, without having to chitchat with a real person. It's fantastic.

anna080 wrote: »

We should have a system like the UK where you pack your shopping into your bag as you take it off the shelf, then you just weigh your bags at the self service and off you go

How does that work? Do you use the scanners as you're putting shopping into the bags?

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

How does that work? Do you use the scanners as you're putting shopping into the bags?

Ya there's scanners on the trolley and you scan each item as you put it into the bags

Love them but they're so stupid.... I'm forever weighing expensive stuff, like a Bottle of Wine or Rib Eye steaks in as "Potatoes" and it never once noticed I was acting the maggot. Threw a dinner party last week and it only set me back €4.27.