Self service checkouts!! Are they stupid?

[phjonesNewideas]

I hate the idea of a machine taking the job of a human being so you can understand where i am coming from.
although i recently purchased 4 x 10 litre tubs of paint and the self checkout was the only option as no manned checkouts and the self serve machine would only scan 1 tub .
No staff available to inform so i left happy as i had beaten the machine.

 

[kevindgas]

never have any troube with the infernal contraptions - i never use them!! and like corgigrouch will refuse to!

 

[joinerjohn]

I have to agree with Corgigrouch. These self service tills are the devils own invention. Er Indoors likes to use them, but I hate them with a passion. (see my comedy sketch earlier) Every thing in that has happened to us at these infernal machines at some point.
I forgot to add the loose fruit and vegetable scenario to the sketch. The one where you've inadvertently put some mushrooms/onions/ carrots/grapes etc in a plastic bag, to be weighed at the checkout. You then have to navigate through a menu, a computer geek would struggle with, to find the items you've placed in the plastic bag.
There's also the carrier bags that flatly refuse to open (whilst the till only gives you 2.1 seconds from scanning the item to putting it on the packing area, before asking if you want to "Skip Bagging" or "Wait for an assistant.")
And don't you dare remove any carrier bag from the packing station before you've completed your transaction.

 

[EngStudent]

Er Indoors likes to use them, but I hate them with a passion. (see my comedy sketch earlier) Every thing in that has happened to us at these infernal machines at some point.
I forgot to add the loose fruit and vegetable scenario to the sketch. The one where you've inadvertently put some mushrooms/onions/ carrots/grapes etc in a plastic bag, to be weighed at the checkout. You then have to navigate through a menu, a computer geek would struggle with

I don't understand all the hatred for self-service checkouts. Popular item? It'll be on the first page you see. Not so popular? Use your brain. Sprouts won't be under 'S' for sprouts, they'll be under 'B' for Brussels sprouts.

I'll give you the 'unexpected item in bagging area', though it's not as common as it used to be. I could be getting better at operating the thing, or it could have been modified to become more accurate. As for alcohol/approval needed, Sainsburys machines will let you carry on scanning and wait until you've finished for age verification.

Personally I think they're great - it means I don't have to talk to anyone.

 

[AronSearle]

Picture this.

Local B&Q store.

4 self checkouts (NO tills now, ever, at all).

queue of people buying random items, including plants, and bit's of timber, stuff with inconsistent rates that needs authorising.

4 people using these scanners at the same time, all buying such items, with a further queue of people behind them.

1 shop assistant franticly rushing between these 4 tills, having to authorise every single item as it beeps through (for some reason it wasn't set up so she just had to to it once per customer, but once per item).




Me, after several minutes of trying to put a trolley full of goods through a till, having it take several minutes BECAUSE EACH F*****G ITEM NEEDS AUTHORISING AND I HAVE TO WAIT FOR HER TO WADDLE OVER FROM OTHER TILLS EACH AND EVERY TIME (caps because this is how I was feeling)!


Then, oh at last, I get to pay for my goods, how WONDERFUL, how amazing.

"Beep, card machine doesn't work, please ask for assistance"

Left a shopping trolley full of goods at the till because I was sick of having to wait for a till assistant for each and every button press.

NEVER shop at B&Q again.

 

[Bodgeitandleggit]

They are one of the worst things invented and I actively refuse to use them... There is invariably a need for a "Helpful" to assist and they are no quicker than a human checkout... I have been directed to a self serve checkout by a member of staff who was managing people flow, I politely suggested that it would be more helpful if she was to sit behind a till and help to reduce the queues. When she refused and continued to try to shepherd me to the self serve, I plonked my basket on an empty till and walked out of the store

I object to supermarkets trying to educate me to help them maximise profits. Fortunately I tend to buy most stuff in proper shops and only use supermarkets for stuff that are hard to find elsewhere.

Got to agree...........DONT USE THEM............they are not to help customers but as corgi said to maximise profits...........DONT USE THEM

 

[raebhoop]

I don't and won't use them...they are another nail in the declining customer service in this country.I talk and do business with humans ...not robots.

 

[AronSearle]

I talk and do business with humans ...not robots.

Racist.

 

[Brigadier]

You can scan Shandy Bass (0.5% alcohol) without fuss.
But "approval needed" to scan Bavaria 0.0% lager or wheat beer.

 

[Nige F]

I don't and won't use them...they are another nail in the declining customer service in this country.I talk and do business with humans ...not robots.

Bet you wouldn`t have felt like that in your teens with a Condom Machine

 

[Corgigrouch]

It uset to be just a song now it's reality

 

[raebhoop]

I don't and won't use them...they are another nail in the declining customer service in this country.I talk and do business with humans ...not robots.

Bet you wouldn`t have felt like that in your teens with a Condom Machine

Two things I've never bought in my life...a keebab or a condom.

 

[RF Lighting]

I think they are great. When there is no one in the way I can be through the checkout in seconds.

It's the idiots who can't follow simple instructions that cause the trouble with them.

 

[Whitespirit66]

I think they may be open to abuse.

I was in Asda, in a rough part of town the other day. The woman in front of me was trying to scan a widescreen TV as button mushrooms.

 

[Space cat]

- it means I don't have to talk to anyone.

So why are you here?