Sainsburys Smart Shop - shopping with fear and loathing

I don`t do self service.
The future of the shop assistance is in jeopardy I feel.
I like the chats we have and you get to sort of know them and have a little laugh too.

My system is same as Maggiemaybe.
People overrate chats with cashiers as the only human face of shopping.
My Waitrose drivers are like old friends. They use my name; offer to put stuff away and we generally have a laugh and a chat. One guy was highly amused that I took my big Andrex bag of TR's and flung it upstairs in a single movement.
Pittcity.
Thanks for advice on Smartshop. Just picked up few fresh items from Sainsbury and used it for the first time. Ace.

It’s years since I did a big shop at a supermarket., and reading this thread I don’t think I’m missing much. I do an online shop every 2/3 weeks, have my favourite items saved, can see all offers easily, get everything brought to me by a cheery driver and invariably have a money off voucher to use, often £15 (I shop at Tesco, Ocado and Sainsburys depending on which vouchers I’ve been sent). Choose your delivery times well and the delivery will be free or 99p. I believe it’s better for the environment too.

For top ups, fresh fruit, last minute stuff, human interaction, exercise, I walk to the local shops a few times a week. Works for me.

jo1book you use your phone as a scanner. After you've pressed Start Shop it recognises which shop you're in. There's a little orange button you press for each item and then scan it. At the end you scan a QR code on the self checkout and pay as usual. It just cuts out the scanning and packing at the checkout.

Minidriver56

I intend to start this method. I have loaded the app but what is the procedure? I take it I take a scanner around with me then load it to my phone to make payment?

I much prefer to scan and shop. Countless occcasions when apples and pears have been left battered and bruised by clumsy checkout operators as well as fingers pushed through cling wrapped raw meat have convinced me that I would not want anyone handling my food!

Never use self scan. Prefer to go to the checkouts

I use Smart Shop and really like it. If you make a mistake don’t worry, that’s why the odd re-scan happens. Seriously I wouldn’t be overly concerned. Just be a little but more careful.

It is not a question of taking back what I do not want, but not being able to make the changes and substitutes you make in the shop when you see the goods on the shelves.

A simple example. I wanted some aubergines for a specific dish for tonights supper. Aubergines were out of stock so I bought a quiche with a reduced price for quick sale on its place. The quiche was just one of many alternatives I could have bought. Otherwise I could have bought pate, smoked fish, soup, cold meat awholelot of things but a basket picker could not have a clue what the aubergin was wanted for or what alternatives I might find acceptable.

But my main reason for going to the supermarket is that my weekly journey into my local town to do the weeks food shopping takes me out of the village and into a more bustling community with lots of people about, where I can do lots of other things at the same time.

Sueki44.
Waitrose will always take back what you don't like. In fact, they are very generous. If they can only supply on a date-up basis, you will get it free. I've had lots of free lettuce and bread. On one occcasion, I got a parcel of stuff belonging to someone else and was told to just keep it. No complaints with online shopping with them.

SueK. There is a box on the Internet shopping site where you can specify how you prefer your fruit/veg. The expiry date issue would be down to the picker. I was told the are supposed to pick the longer date but you have no way of proving it one way or the other.

We were shopping with the grandsons when the self scanning gadgets first came in. GSs loved them and were very good at taking turns which isn’t always the case. OH’s family crest has the words “sans changer” on it. I think it’s been engraved on his heart so we haven’t used it since. I would probably use it if I was on my own as I like trying new things.

I plan my menus and have a shpping list, but will do on the spot reorganisations if I see something reduced that we like. I also like to choose my own fruit and veg, getting banans the right shade of green and right length, usually the small ones.

Living in a rural area, some weeks going to the nearest town to do the weeks shopping is my only opportunity to get outfrom the village and I structure a whole lot of other activities round it.

Yesterday I went into the town centre supermarket that I regularly use, I had my hair done, took some jewellry into a jeweller for repair, visited the sewing and needlework shop to buy some colour matched bias binding to finish a task and went to a stationer for some index cards and came home via the specialist baker for bread and buns.

All in one morning, one location and one journey. There were 4 yellow label quick sale items in my shopping bag, saving me nearly £2.

Not sure about that Sueki44 but you can refuse to take items if you’re not happy.

I don’t know if it’s appropriate to ask here, but my worry about online ordering is dates. I only shop once a week and always look for the latest date possible on goods.... sometimes the expiry date on items at the front can be that day’s date!
Similarly with say bananas, I will buy a couple of ripe ones and the rest green. Is it possible to stipulate dates? You can tell I’m a complete novice!

I would be very happy if everybody did use the self scanners that would leave the manned check outs for people like me. I will not use self service tills either but sometimes \dh will do it because he is impatient.
If big supermarkets want my money they are going to have to serve me for it.

I placed an order online last night and the nice Waitrose people are dropping it off later today. Sainsbury's can keep their hideous queues.

Online ordering and home delivery for me!! Cannot be bothered with trudging around huge supermarkets and handling the same items at least 4 times - 6 if you include putting bags in/out of car. I also don’t spend as much as I’m not tempted by offers and impulse buying. Delivery costs can be very cheap if you pick your time carefully.

Well there is bound to be the odd problem but I’ll risk it to not have to queue and then try to quickly pack my shopping with other queuers tutting behind me now that is stressful.

And you scanners think it’s better and saves you time! It doesn’t sound like it to me

In Tesco they have labels on meat products alerting customers to security labels thank goodness.

I don’t mind self scan, as long as I don’t have too much. So often it gets its knickers in a twist and an assistant has to come, though.
However I’m always VERY careful now to take my receipt! Was once stopped at the exit (Asda) because unknown to me, a piece of steak (which I so rarely buy!) had a small security tag on the back and the self scan had made no alert.

Staff had to go through a bin to find my receipt - it was horrible. And largely their own fault for not having an alert system for such security tags.

Thanks for clarifying and confirming what I was trying to explain, Franbern. I have experienced this system when shopping with my daughter at her local Tesco. Now our Sainsburys is advertising the introduction of Smart Shop, so I intend to try it next time I shop there. I will then discover whether it works via a hand-held scanner or from my phone; the one thing I know is that it isn't helpful to refer to it as Self Scan, which is what they call the little tills with a scale where you take your shopping to scan it yourself. Whether I am a "smart" enough shopper to use the new system is something I will soon discover.....

Sorry - I may have confused people. My Largish Sainsbury Smart Scan does not use my mobile phone for that purpose. As I walk into the store I collect a scanning device and start it by scanning my Nectar card into it. There is a holder for these o each Sainsbury's trolley.
Quite separately, I use my mobile phone for my Alexa shopping list., Have this on a lanyard round my neck when shopping - so keep my hands free for picking up items and scanning them before placing them into the appropriate bag in my trolley.
At end of shop go to SmartShop checkout -always spaces at machines there even where the tills and self-service machines have queues - use the scanner to finish off my shop, and then use my card to pay - and leave store.
I really do love this system - and I think that we have to accept that it is the future. We cannot preserve outdated jobs, - my mother used to take her shopping list into the local grocers in the morning and that would be packed into a box and delivered to her later that day by a lad on a bike. we did not preserve those jobs!!! And, as has been said, other jobs are created for this technology.

The new Sainsbury's Smart Shop is a phone app. I use it if I'm only buying a couple of things and it works well. A rescan confused the staff the other day. Our local Sainsbury's is very small and has a good 4g signal.
I don't think it saves any time over self scan or using a cashier, except that you don't need to find your nectar card.

I don not use Sainsbury anymore. Some of the food is obviously made/produced in a cheaper way. Staff are rude. Checkouts are not open. Self service is always so busy. Never used to be like this.