Staffed tills

Booths are moving back to fully staffed tills in their shops. Do you think this is a good idea and all supermarkets should do it?

I won't use self service tills!

Unfortunately I have to shop after my wife has been put to bed and the manned tills are closed so now I have to go through the self service till. At times this gets problematic and you feel like smashing the m/c from it not registering bags to putting alcohol through. The other night I had to have the screen scanned 3 times by a member of staff. Would not want to put a full shop through these tills. Some customers go to a manned till because that is the only human contact they may have during a day When I could shop during the day people were queueing at the tills but self serve was nearly empty

No self service for me....you are doing Their job for them...a very impersonal practice at the least.

I agree lets keep humans in work and taking our cash and, thats another thing ban cards and phones from the shops, cash only,,,

If you have a trolley full of shopping it makes sense to use the manned checkouts, if you only have a Daily Mail and a bag of malteasers it makes sense to use the self service tills. If the shop only has self service tills and you object to them no one is forcing you to go in and buy anything.

It’s all about personal choice and what suits you at the time and what suits you may not suit others. I can’t see why the shops have to be criticised for giving you options, but in saying that people always forget there are others to consider and will always find something to moan and whinge about

Yes, fully staffed tills should be reintroduced. I will not use self-service tills because they were introduced for one reason only, that is, to reduce the staff headcount. They put people out of work!
If and when self-service tills are fully established the next thing will be a request from the store for customers to come in early and stack the shelves. Joking apart, self- service tills makes my blood boil.
If a company wants to save money their first target is to get rid of people, money walks on two legs.
If this comment directs some people away from using self-service tills and saves at least one job I will be a happy man.

A pity that other Supermarkets are not carrying out the same policy by putting jobs before profit in this cash free way of life.

But where do you stop with such a line of argument?

Supermarkets per se have put out of work a whole cadre of people who had been employed in the small shops which they have replaced. Butchers, bakers, fishmongers..... skilled artisan tradesmen (and women) no longer able to pursue their chosen occupation.

Shops per se, also in their turn had led to decline in Town and village markets and itinerant traders. etc etc

Should we go back to ___________? (Please fill in your chosen epoch)

star delta.

They can still have manned tills of a decided small number of items or a certain small amount of money like they had before self service tills!

I always chat with the staff in the supermarket. If you are a regular, you see the same faces over again, so you are no longer compete strangers to one another. Occasionally, I will strike up a conversation with another shopper.

Recently have switched my default shop from Tesco to Morrisons. So far, just two visits, and both times, a handful of other shoppers initiated a conversation with me. Very rare that I have experienced such like in years of using Tesco. Just seems to be a very different 'vibe' about the shop.

Posted by: Pi Eta 1 (1)
Yes, fully staffed tills should be reintroduced. I will not use self-service tills because they were introduced for one reason only, that is, to reduce the staff headcount

I would argue they were put there to reduce checkout times and hence increase the convenience aspect for the customer.......your thoughts?

I use self service tills for small purchases but often have problems so I prefer manned tills.Plenty people use home deliveries and this employs pickers,delivery drivers etc.

"I wont use them because I like to chat with the staff"
"I wont use them because they reduce staff numbers"
" I wont use them because they are too complicated"

I am seeing the use of the word "I" a lot.

When do the people who do like them, can see the benefits and are happy to use them get a say......or dont they matter?

Self service tills still need a member of staff to oversee them.
Much better to have that member of staff on a normal till.

I agree much better to use staffed tills , self service ok for a couple of items,wife did 30 years,staff will tell you the new tills are thieves paradise , maybe they are losing more cash to
Shoplifters ,

Posted by: PeterP (10862)
Unfortunately I have to shop after my wife has been put to bed and the manned tills are closed so now I have to go through the self service till. At times this gets problematic and you feel like smashing the m/c from it not registering bags to putting alcohol through. The other night I had to have the screen scanned 3 times by a member of staff. Would not want to put a full shop through these tills. Some customers go to a manned till because that is the only human contact they may have during a day When I could shop during the day people were queueing at the tills but self serve was nearly empty

Replied: 11th Nov 2023 at 05:06
If you cant get out,give on line shopping a try

1st mate I like getting my own items to our liking Eg bacon with very little fat streaks or items with a long shelf life

We have tried it a few times Peter and we did get some very short life items.My son ordered some prawns and it was substituted for a tin a kipper filets .Every thing has an upside and downside to it I suppose.

I disagree with the notion that closing manned tills, means that the supermarket needs less staff, because the staff which are trained to operate the tills, do other in store jobs, such as order picking for online customers, shelf filling, and shops and supermarkets have always utilised their workforce, to do a multitude of in-store jobs, I started work in 1979 for a chain store, and when it was quiet, we got on with the job of running a branch, from cleaning, to merchandising, shelf stocking, putting in a stock order, all time consuming jobs, but on a Friday and Saturday when it was busy, you would be on the till all day, and in between rushes, stocking shelves quickly, and at the end of the day it was cashing up time, and filling in a 'reconciliation sheet' and night safe banking, the takings had to match what had been rung through the till, and it was all called 'shop work'

It were great apart from the fact that I was paid sod all for what I did

I was in Asda the other Friday in the afternoon when it was very busy, and they had nearly all the manned tills operating, along with Scan & Go, self service Trolley Shop, and self service for Basket Cases like Whupsy, operating with mix of card only and card and cash machines, Asda seemed to have it reet.

As regards Booths, for what they charge, they should deliver it for you, put it away for you, and cook it for you LINK

I must say though, that looking at what they sell, it really is mouth watering stuff

I am 100% behind having humans on the tills i abhor self -service after allas someone on here as stated " We are doing the supermarkets work for them"" But we don't see any reduction in costs . We do the work and get no return i SAY BIN THAM ALL OFF!!! And let's create the jobs that they have already shed .WELL DONE BOOTHS ..
G.B.

PeterP

Sainsbury do a nice Bacon Medallions in their 'Taste the Difference' range: has hardly any fat. (It is not nitrate-free though)

I am still searching for Bacon that does not exude white snots of additives when fried. No luck yet.

Egg and bacon was the easy cook breakfast when camping: I have been cooking this longer than anything else. 1950's, 1960's and 1970's, the bacon did not exude white snots when I cooked it.

Whilst it may be true that vegetables contain lots of nitrates, there is evidence that those added to our bacon turn into nitrosamines, by combining with amines from the bacon at cooking temperatures. Most nitrosamines are known to be carcinogenic!

I don't know why our food standards authorities allow this adulteration of bacon. In the long run, it is not good for the producers. Already health advice is to avoid processed meats!

Ah well, C'est la Vie. Have found that a farmer, about seven miles from where I live, occasionally has farm-produced bacon. So that is my next port of call in my endeavour to find better bacon.

Some good points both for and against. I use self service for a few items, but prefer a "wo/manned" till for larger shopping trips.

I use 'Scan & Go' and it amuses me when yoo get a 'Quality Check' which is a daft way of saying that they are looking to see if you have been shoplifting

I remember one, (though don't recall which) supermarket reporting that they had allegedly sold more carrots than ever they had bought. Seems customers has claimed their look-up, bagged, items to be carrots when in reality it was a more expensive item.

In Sainsbury, a few times I have seen shoppers just totally omit the paying stage: just grab their wanted items and go.

In my local Tesco, in a quiet corner, you often see traces of a nosh-out: people have eaten what they had picked from the shelves, and then left the packaging before leaving the store, free from incriminating evidence of their act.

Tesco had a free stand of small apples, free for kiddies, part of a health initiative, as an alternative to parents buying sweets in response to pester factor at the checkout. Once I saw a woman take dozens of them, she really filled her pockets.

I too prefer to be served by a human, rather than spend a minute or two chatting to a machine.

What hasn't been brought up here is the fact that an awful lot of older people are not aux fait with using unmanned tills, simply because technology may have left them behind so they don't know how to work them, and that could cause stress and anxiety for some.

In my local Tesco Express there are two manned tills, and two recently installed unmanned tills, but I have yet to see anyone of my age using one. I know all the staff in there by name and they know mine, so we have a little natter if it's not too busy, and that's nice.

All of us on here who use a computer will have at least some basic knowledge of how certain things work, but for that older generation who have never even switched on a computer, never mind used one, it would be a nightmare so, keep manned tills going.

The Banks have yet to learn this lesson, they are shutting Banks and relying on, machines and internet but, We oldies don't like it but, they are not listening , Wigan Natwest has queues from the desk to the door, lots of machines and, Us oldies like to see a person take our money, If that machine takes our money and shuts down with a fault, where do we stand, With a teller, he/she will give a proof of payment, The yoof have lessons to learn that we already know,,,,,,

Yep,

If it can go wrong, sooner or later it does go wrong.

There hasn't been a branch of my bank in Wigan for years. The Post Office is where I pay in and take out.

How say you when it comes to completely automated, such as the Amazon Go grocery stores: no checkout. Cameras and sensors detect what you buy, and you are debited via your app.

Big A has opened a score or so in UK over last three years, though some were quickly closed down again.

(To date, rather London-centric)

How doo folk feel about places like Aldi, Lidl and Food Warehouse, where they don't have self service tills, but you are not allowed to pack your bags as they go through checkout, you have to chuck the shopping back into your trolley, and pack them in the packing area, in somewhere like Asda you can pack them, as they come through checkout.

I prefer to pack my own bags as that way I'll know the equal weight I have to carry in each bag (I usually have two).

I prefer to do this out of the way of the till so as not to hold up a long queue by messing about and in the way. Mind you, I have seen people in Lidl pack a large amount of goods whilst still at the till area, and then, they start faffing around with a card or cash to pay, and I find that a bit selfish.

I take the trolley to the car, and pack there.

It is summut I started to do in the Covid lockdown period, being a task I could assign to completing in the fresh air and with reduced social contact. It has become a habit which I seem to have maintained. I guess see no reason to change.

Aldi is ok for shopping. I don't mind packing my bags as Mollie said you can sort the weight as you see fit, rather than being rushed. Apparently Asda are now verifying bags to make sure there is nothing in them before you start packing at the self service. They either need to trust people to do their own check out or put more tills on.

My brother never bothered with shopping bags in the supermarket.
He used the trolley and had two laundry baskets in the boot of his car. he got home and took the baskets into the house and put the shopping away then for the rest of the week he used the baskets for washingI use 4 bags but sometimes they do not register at the self serve and this is when I get annoyed that a member of staff has to clear the screen even before I start scanning any items

Peter, do you buy 4 bags or use your own.

I bought two reusable bags from Asda and two from Morrisons which I use plus I have a cloth bag from Aldi in reserve. One of the bags is loosing its outer cover thus may not register what was its proper weight

I honestly did not know you had to weigh your bags Peter.

The Corner Shops have returned, but now they are called Convenience Stores!

Some are even ownd by the Supermarket chains responsible for the demise of the Corner Shops.

Like many other things, we go round in circles!

Retep normally if using bags you put your basket /trolley to one side of the scanner till and then on the scanner m/c you press a section asking if you are you using your own bags .Place your bags on the long black section then press done. (the long section has a built in scale) this will then weigh every item that you scan and you cannot scan your next item until you put that item on the black mat (bag)which checks the weight of each item .Clever if it works ok

Ahhh... Thanks for that Peter that explains now why the auto till I was on in Asda stopped while i was checking out, An item I was trying to scan would not ' ping' I tried several times ant the machine froze and said/displayed,
" place item on Left tray" I did't know what it meant and called a colleague over, ( new term for shop assistant), I told her that this item won't scan, She faffed about with the package and it ' pinged' and returned to the finish and pay,

IT's a shocking state of affairs that there was NO bank in Wigan for the likes of AngelWood , We used to bank with the YORKSHIE BANK having been with them at the LEIGH branch for ages being from Hindley Green then we came to Marus Bridge Area so transferred to WIGAN branch now that has gones ,similar used to bank at the TRUSTEE BANK , for a town and population the size of our town i honestly believe it's an UTTER DISGRACE !!!GB

Golden Bear

Why doo yoo and others on here need to visit a bloody bank now ?

You are not trading or being paid in cash are you ?

When you are not using your cards for payment, just freeze them (turn them off ) in your banking apps, if you are worried about being frauded.

I have an amount of cash on me when I go shopping, to use if for any reason the card payments aren't working, which does happen sometimes, you read about those things don't you.

GB

There’s a TSB in Ashton.

Self service tills are a boon sometimes....instead of waiting behind someone with a full trolley when I've only got three or four items, I'm through in a crack....

Tommy, don't be rude to GB. Sometimes people need to visit a bank branch, not everyone has the tech or skills to bank online. I bank online but will not use a banking app on my phone which is why I use the post office for paying in.

A reason why we need a facility is because if you need to withdraw a substantial amount of cash, it can result in a great deal of inconvenience to yourself to obtain the cash.

In the case of our bank, a trip to another town miles away to order the cash as they will not allow it to be ordered over the phone or email and then a further trip to the town to collect the cash.

Why all banks cannot have a hub like the TSB have in Wigan is beyond belief in the now modern world of Internet technology which has made life harder for many people, especially the elderly.

A reason why some Supermakets might be going back to manned tills is because of the amount of goods that are not being paid for on the self service tills.

And in the case of clothes stores, no changing rooms to try clothes on because of the amount of shoplifting.

Apparently, it has gradually gone worse as the immigration has increased!