Supermarket self service tills are terrible for customer service
- Thread starter HumbleCoder
- Start date
I can't fault them at all, if you're buying booze, use the basket isle, otherwise they take 5 seconds and you don't have to sit there while a prepubescent moron pokes his monitor for 30 minutes before realizing he's supposed to use a mouse.
If I have 1 or 2 items and all of the checkouts are full and I have the correct coinage on me (although twice now its swallowed £2 coins and not recognised them) I might use it if it's and item that I'm sure doesn't need ID to buy.
They're just terrible machines.
They're just terrible machines.
almost always use them unless we're getting a fair bit, very very rarely have problems with them. I presume all the people using them in morrisons are aware that they can't differentiate between small and large salad bowls?
If I can go through a supermarket without having to talk to the moron on the checkout, all the better, leave it to the machines I say, they're faster and don't waste your time by talking to you or the person at the till across from them.
I'm not there to have a conversation, I'm there to buy stuff with a minimum of fuss or disruption, having humans on the checkouts provides both fuss and disruption.
I'm not there to have a conversation, I'm there to buy stuff with a minimum of fuss or disruption, having humans on the checkouts provides both fuss and disruption.
Wow, you're even more miserable than me.
Well be prepared for larger queues if these take off because even if the customer is fast and knows what they are doing it still in all cases takes longer than it would if they were served normally.
So its not speed convienience they are for.
The space they take up is just about the same as a normal till.
The only convenience is to the store, in a reduction in staff. They require just one person to man, keep an eye on four tills. If its Tesco pushing it then that is their main factor in pushing it. Thats one way how they make a good margin with their profits, by having less staff than other competitors would have for a comparable store size.
So customers are being sold something which is being touted that improves their shopping experience which it in no way does(It only advantages the customer if the store has a lack of manned tills which is common with tesco stores) Genius marketting as per usual.
So its not speed convienience they are for.
The space they take up is just about the same as a normal till.
The only convenience is to the store, in a reduction in staff. They require just one person to man, keep an eye on four tills. If its Tesco pushing it then that is their main factor in pushing it. Thats one way how they make a good margin with their profits, by having less staff than other competitors would have for a comparable store size.
So customers are being sold something which is being touted that improves their shopping experience which it in no way does(It only advantages the customer if the store has a lack of manned tills which is common with tesco stores) Genius marketting as per usual.
Look at mister anti-corporate!
I'd use a self checkout over a manned till even if there were manned tills free. I find the staff generally miserable and unpleasant so I'd rather help myself. If it puts a few more miserable checkout assistants in the firing line in the process.... *shrug*
I'd use a self checkout over a manned till even if there were manned tills free. I find the staff generally miserable and unpleasant so I'd rather help myself. If it puts a few more miserable checkout assistants in the firing line in the process.... *shrug*
not true, in most supermarkets they're in blocks of 2 or 3 and probably double backed, so you're getting at least 4 for the space of 2 normal, maybe 6
I love the self-service tills when there is no queue for them.
When there's a queue they can be terrible, as you get someone who can't cope with scanning and bagging an item, or had a dozen loose fruit/veg items and no idea how to enter them into the system... then it's a nightmare.
I'm all for a test/licence system before you're allowed to use them!
When there's a queue they can be terrible, as you get someone who can't cope with scanning and bagging an item, or had a dozen loose fruit/veg items and no idea how to enter them into the system... then it's a nightmare.
I'm all for a test/licence system before you're allowed to use them!
If it's less than or equal to 2 bags of shopping then they are great, any thing more and its slow and rubbish.
My mate used to put a weekly shop through one where as me and my other friend would use the regular checkouts. We were always waiting for him to finish and he normally bought less.
My mate used to put a weekly shop through one where as me and my other friend would use the regular checkouts. We were always waiting for him to finish and he normally bought less.
Soldato
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Associate
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I love people who work in retail yet 'hate' so many of their customers so readily. They pay your wages ultimately, so regardless of how they treat you you should really think about giving them the respect and service that they're paying for.
Some customers are rude/obnoxious/stupid but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't bother treating them the same way that you treat every other 'nice' customer... if only for appearances sake.
As for the self service checkouts... they serve a purpose at our store. They replaced two tills and serve four customers at the same time using one member of staff and most of the time work pretty well. Heck, they even work better for those customers who are miserable and don't want any contact with human beings. What's not to like?
Some customers are rude/obnoxious/stupid but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't bother treating them the same way that you treat every other 'nice' customer... if only for appearances sake.
As for the self service checkouts... they serve a purpose at our store. They replaced two tills and serve four customers at the same time using one member of staff and most of the time work pretty well. Heck, they even work better for those customers who are miserable and don't want any contact with human beings. What's not to like?
I've never had a problem with self service tills, and to be honest the people I have noticed having problems are the ones who don't read the on screen instructions or clearly have no comon sense.
These same people seem to have problems with Tesco petrol pumps.
Note to these people: you need to press the pay at pump or pay at kiosk button otherwise the pump won't start.
These same people seem to have problems with Tesco petrol pumps.
Note to these people: you need to press the pay at pump or pay at kiosk button otherwise the pump won't start.
+1
That's pretty much what I was going to say in reply to Support_Bae.
You get people who are a pain in the arse, but you just have to deal with that. If it's really such an issue that it makes you hateful to all customers, you need to start looking at another line of work.
Soldato
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I'd say that I've had issues with self service tills about 50% of the times I've used them; although I've tended to find the ASDA ones as the worst (compared with Tescos and Sainsburys) ... but I suspect that these get a lot more abuse as the local ASDA is much busier than the other stores I've used them in.
But I don't like using them, I much prefer to use a normal till.
I do strongly object when you have, what frequently happens in one of the local Tesco Expresses round here, several members of staff joking around behind the tills who refuse to serve people with baskets full of shopping and instead just point them at the self service tills ... leading to problems and big queue (as there is ~6 normal tills, 3-4 members of staff behind them when I went through and only two self service tills ...
)
But I don't like using them, I much prefer to use a normal till.
I do strongly object when you have, what frequently happens in one of the local Tesco Expresses round here, several members of staff joking around behind the tills who refuse to serve people with baskets full of shopping and instead just point them at the self service tills ... leading to problems and big queue (as there is ~6 normal tills, 3-4 members of staff behind them when I went through and only two self service tills ...
)
Associate
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I do strongly object when you have, what frequently happens in one of the local Tesco Expresses round here, several members of staff joking around behind the tills who refuse to serve people with baskets full of shopping and instead just point them at the self service tills ... leading to problems and big queue (as there is ~6 normal tills, 3-4 members of staff behind them when I went through and only two self service tills ...
That's down to bad management really though. If you care enough, it'd be worth asking to speak to the duty manager. I know for one thing that wouldn't happen in my store, but we're completely different to Tesco.
Man of Honour
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Can't remember the last time I spoke to anyone in a supermarket or waited in a queue for more than a minute or two.