"Why I hate using the supermarket self checkout"

They are not intended to be used with a full trolley, although the stores could make that clearer. Common sense, really.

in 5 to 20 years time your basket or trolley will can your shopping as you go and all you will do at the checkout is pay, then bag your purchases a la Aldi.

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If people stopped shoplifting and cheating the self-service terminals (ie weighing all your loose produce as onions), Colesworths could turn off the weighing mechanism.

I’m old enough to remember when people came out and put petrol in your car and cleaned your windscreen. We adapted to serving ourselves and now no-one remembers those days. I was resistant to self-serve machines in Coles initially, but now I like them except for the fallibility of the machines and the inadequate space for all your stuff. The girls are kept busy by machine and people errors, but sooner or later the machines will get better and so will we. Those who have legitimate issues can still go through and talk to a real person, and as long as they leave that option I think we have choices.
I hate Coles with a passion for their ethics and the way they treat suppliers, but some of the innovations are actually quite good from a customer perspective.

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I prefer self-service so I can pack my bags exactly how I want them… if cashiers were better at it I would happily use them all the time (since the job issue is also important), but inevitably there will be squashed fruit and veg, broken crackers etc. Perhaps this lack of training of cashiers is a strategy to tempt people to use self-serve?

I used to have many issues with the SS machines, but have learned most of the tricks and now I rarely have a problem.

As for full trolleys, I pack into my own bags which go on the ground when full, and back into the trolley at the end. I try to choose a machine with enough space around it so I’m not in the way.

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3 posts were split to a new topic: McDonalds self serve machines - :heavy_check_mark: or X

Great answer. I never use self check out mainly for the jobs but also it is often slower especially when I see the queues there. Yes you even have to queue up to self serve

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I don’t mind queuing for a checkout chick/guy if it keeps young people employed.

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I’m a fan of them as i don’t have to talk to people.Something that people like to say is it’s saving someone’s job but they still have someone employed in that area to help you if you need it.The only time i would suggest using a cashier is when you purchase fruit or vegetables that need to be weighed etc.That’s where a lot of people run into trouble

Are our responses here coloured by the prospect that once more than 51% of customers believe self check out is better the other 49% Will be compelled to change how we do our shopping?

My experience suggests that the current design of self checkouts is seriously defective. There are better ways they could be configured to suit shoppers like us that prefer one large shop every other week. These stores could align self checkouts in rows. You could load your shop onto a moving belt. You could scan each item or weigh and price. And you could place the items direct into your now empty trolley at the end of a row. And you could have a holder for the bags you need to fill. Why have they not converted the now spare shopping lanes to self checkout lanes? :thinking:

Perhaps Woolies and Coles really do want us to shop every day, one day at a time?

And is it also a hidden intention to retrain our behaviours by making shopping that way at a self checkout the least bad option?

P.s.
What ever the future there is no way most of us will match the skill, speed or consistency of performance of a professional and experienced checkout operator. It remains for now the quickest way to get your shopping done, adequate staff levels provided!

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Woolies might, but Coles might not. The rewards games each plays have different flavours (for this and other reasons that are probably buried in their rewards card programs IT systems).

Woolies: Spend $100 over one or more shops this week for XXXX. It is specific to a single rewards card.

Coles: Spend $100 in a single shop this week for XXXX. It applies to any of the flybuys associated with the flybuys account.

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I must admit, the staff who I’ve interacted with at checkouts at my local woolies are typically fast and friendly - the only ‘coaching’ I throw in is to add more to the bag, they are by default quite conservative and I point out, being somewhat tending more gorilla than marmoset, that I’m ok with a heavy bag.

The only downside is the queue … but I’ve seen considerable queues at the self service checkouts in Coles, so maybe its like for like …

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Looks like consumers won’t have to hate the self-service checkouts for very much longer.

There goes the old “put everything through as carrots” scam.

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It appears that Woollies is set to out-do Coles with self-service checkout stupidity, at least with their card-only terminals.

Whilst at the local Woollies this afternoon, I placed a reusable hessian bag above the bagging area and the terminal immediately had an alarm message saying to remove the last item, and an on-screen button for “using my own bag” which i pressed.

After I removed the first bag after filling it and I placed a second empty bag on the terminal, the same thing repeated.

When I scanned a pack of Schick razor cartridges and put it in the bag, it displayed a message 'to place the last item in the bagging area" so I called out to the attendent, but by the time he arrived, the message had disappeared.

The same thing occured with the second pack of cartridges which took at least a minute before the message finally disappeared.

This store has never had the bagging area scales turned on before, at least with the card-only terminals which are the only ones that I use.

At least the Coles terminals do not have a dummy spit until one places their fourth “own bag” in the bagging area, and every item is accepted immediately it is placed in the bagging area after scanning.

image

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They started it here recently too - it slows things down enormously especially when you have multiple small items - it wont allow the next scan until the scales have registered the last item. There is a button that says “skip bagging” which I regularly press.

I can only conclude they are wanting me to spend more time at the checkout - which I now do.

Oddly:

(and from the link in a previous reply that had twice the advertising and annoying video :slight_smile: )

Called Scan&Go, the technology “allows customers to scan products with their smartphone as they walk through the store and pay in the app before tapping off at a dedicated kiosk in the self-serve area”, Woolworths said in a statement.

We went from scanning at the self serve checkout with the ‘Wilsons Gestapo’ watching (badly) to scanning at the self serve checkout, still with ‘Wilsons Gestapo’ but now weighing every item (badly and slowly) - to this? Scanning in the aisle (with itchy feet and fading smiles??) and paying on the way out? Are they going to weigh the entire trolley and try to get that accurate (when they have trouble getting single items accurate, this would be impressive). One assumes there is a facility for vegies to be weighed and tagged, similar to small-goods - or are they going to shrink-wrap every vegie beforehand?

Curious indeed …

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Our Woolies checkouts were backed up with long lines this week. The two ladies at the ‘few items’ counters (that are not labelled that way but the intent is obvious since there is so little room to place things) were tending to the odd person with a few items who were not about to use the self serves. We had 16 items in our trolley and will not use the self serves if we have anything that has to be identified and weighed (eg veg, fruit).

Ponying up to one of the lovely ladies at the ‘few items’ counter with our huge array of 16 items (and 3 bags) met with disdainful looks suggesting we were an affront to their ‘few items’ dignities, but they checked us out anyway. It is to the point where the self serves are giving us better smiles than Woolies famous ‘customer service’ staff. All the while there were unstaffed main checkouts, and the staff working the open ones were hustling the best they could.

I often struggle to discern Woolies real business plan and how they assesses the things they do. While each of Woolies and Coles has their +/-, locally Coles is just a nicer place to shop because all the customer-facing staff smile and hustle, even the supervisors.

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I wonder does the supporting App or will the App come with a million pop up reminders of ‘specials just for you’, or little subtle reminders!
Have you tried product abc, as well as product xyz you just purchased. They go great together in the bathroom? Or, it’s 2 weeks since you purchased your last 4 rolls of toilet tissue. Are you sure you don’t need some more before you run out?

I love the concept of not having to stuff around at the counter. Although it will likely take longer to scan in the aisle per product than the operator doing consecutive items? Even more time trapped at sub-zero temperatures under artificial lighting. Trapped in other ways too?:thinking:

P.S.
Woolies is in the next township. We can’t relate to Coles as that requires half a day out in the big smoke. Although compared to Woolies, Coles store layout defies reason. Sorry I meant it’s nothing like Woolies which makes it a slower process, worse for just a few items. At least our local, an IGA has only 4 aisles with room for just two cats. No swinging though! The RSPCA would be on to us. :wink:

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Our nearest Woollies had turned off the scales, but has turned them on in the last few weeks. Using the self serve for a few items recently it took a lot longer as the using I own bag message came up after almost every item scan. Looks like back to the manned express lane or other manned checkouts for multiple item purchases until something is done to make the self serve a more pleasant experience.

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We do not use self checkouts, not due to technical issues, but out of principle. We appear to be heading in the direction that, if you do not have a Uni Degree you are unemployable (my son has a Arts Degree and it qualified him to sell saucepans in Target and furniture in IKEA). So what happens to the millions of kids who leave school and find no jobs available, between automation and on line stores.? I find it quite amusing that I receive emails from supermarkets each week portraying that I am nuts for not buying online and have the items delivered (or more interesting store pick up to save time).

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As someone that regularly works in self-serve, can I just beg that people remember to take their cash they have withdrawn from the machines! One day last week I spent 1.5 hours in there and had 3 people walk away with their notes hanging out of the machine. It seems to happen at least once a day!

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