Self checkouts

mattyfez · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:23

My local tesco always ask if you need assistance packing, I think it must be a rule they have.

Probably a good thing as people who might be disabled can say yes, while others can simply get on with their own packing.. it would take a pretty narcissistic person to stand there watching the cashier pack for you, whilst delaying both themselves and the people queuing..

Liquid_Entity · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:24

TheVoice said:
No, they're paying for the machine you're using instead.

and the maintenance guy to come out practically every day to fix it !!

Kenai · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:25

Glaucus said:
You've never encountered a till, with bags to the side, with no where to place items other than straight in the bag, where do you live. Especially populate in metro stores.

Never seen something where I would consider it 'almost impossible' to pack my own bags, no.

Maybe the small tills you'd get in a petrol station but i've never seen those with a self service alternative.

asim18 · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:25

Guest2 said:
There was no conveyor belt. It was a small stand next to a till. He scanned behind and put the left the stuff being the scanning thing. I had to lean over, get my shopping and bag it. I wouldn't have minded if he at least pushed it forward to I could put it in the bags myself (and if he actually scanned all my shopping instead of missing some!)

If you had to lean over so much that it's worth making a thread on the internet, then maybe he was just placing them out of your reach so he could strategically pack your bags once he had scanned everything. And by interfering you also made him forget to scan your fajitas and garlic?

arc@css · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:26

Haven't tried self service checkout yet.

MrMoonX · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:26

maybe if you gave him an actual reach around he might of packed your bags

Glaucus · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:26

arc@css said:
Haven't tried self service checkout yet.

So so much better.
Mainly due to there being tons of them and you move through so much faster. Until idiots try and put a trolly load through.

Youstolemyname · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:28

TheVoice said:
No, they're paying for the machine you're using instead.

And the operating costs of the machine over 12 months is more than an employee? Not. A. Chance.

Double club card points at least for using a self serve is what I reckon.

Kenai · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:31

Youstolemyname said:
I still maintain you should get a discount for using self checkout. After all, they aren't paying the till operator...

How do you know the savings haven't already been factored into the cost of the produce you're buying?

asim18 · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:31

TheVoice said:
No, they're paying for the machine you're using instead.

Not "instead".

They have to pay for the normal checkout machines as well you know.

arc@css · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:32

Glaucus said:
Until idiots try and put a trolly load through.

TellyTel · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:32

Glaucus said:
So so much better.
Mainly due to there being tons of them and you move through so much faster. Until idiots try and put a trolly load through.

better when they work.

Also some self checkout tills are designed now for trolley loads.

aln · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:33

Glaucus said:
And? It's almost impossible to pack your own bags on some tills and it is part off your duties, unless things have changed drastically in 14years.

I've never seen a till like this. What do they look like?

Glaucus · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:37

aln said:
I've never seen a till like this. What do they look like?

Like half a self service till with a person behind it. Place to put a basket and no place for scanned items. Checkout staff always fill your bag, or if you have a rucksack pass it to you.
Ones in tesco garages, but they aren't just in tesco garages.

Youstolemyname · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:40

Kenai said:
How do you know the savings haven't already been factored into the cost of the produce you're buying?

Because they're the same price at the human tills

mame · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:40

I don't use them. Can't see why I would bother when there's someone there to do it for me. Many people say that they use them because they're faster. But why are they faster? It's either because the person using them is faster than a till operator which I can't really see, or it's because they are mainly used as an over-spill to the conventional tills. I don't think the tills themselves are faster. But as they get more customers used to using them, they will slowly replace more conventional tills with self-service so you have gained nothing but work.

I would say that people won't usually queue up as deep for self-service which is why they appear faster but once most/all of the tills are self-service, you will have the same queues as now

TheVoice · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:41

asim18 said:
Not "instead".

They have to pay for the normal checkout machines as well you know.

You know what I meant.

Youstolemyname said:
And the operating costs of the machine over 12 months is more than an employee? Not. A. Chance.

Double club card points at least for using a self serve is what I reckon.

They usually install two or three self-checkout systems where one till would go.

The bonus to the customer is that you (usually) get through quicker than if you used a regular till. Why do you need some kind of financial incentive as well?

Glaucus · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:42

There's far more self service tills. Nearly all designed for baskets. So you get through far faster.

Also there are plenty of people who see checkouts as a socialising event and just want to chat and take ages to pay, this generally doesn't happen on self service.

Woden · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:48

asim18 said:
Not "instead".

They have to pay for the normal checkout machines as well you know.

So, say the checkout girl/guy is on £6.20 an hour, and at an average of maybe 5mins to do the transaction. Do you really want a half-penny discount?

semi-pro waster · 14 Apr 2013 at 17:48

arc@css said:
Haven't tried self service checkout yet.

You're not missing out on anything much unless you've long held a repressed desire to be a checkout operator and this is as close as you'll get.

If people like to use them then good for them, I'm not keen as it always seems to take at least as long as using a normal checkout plus if you're buying alcohol or anything which is age restricted it's even longer as you've got to wait for someone to come over and put in the code to allow you to proceed.