Unexplained item in the bagging area!

I hate the blooming things! The supervisor in Sainsbury's is always very surprised when we join a queue at a proper till, she points out spaces at the self-service ones and we decline to move. I have to gag DH as he is liable to tell her in no uncertain terms his feelings about them!

Keep him out of mischief!

Going to Tesco's tonight so might give this a try Elegran - good plan to give him the scanner

willow - You scan your Tesco card before you start shopping, to get recognised, then when you get to the checkout you scan something on the screen at the till, which displays the bill so that you can pay up. If you have stowed things in your own bags as you bought and scanned them, you are then ready to leave.

It works well for me. It is even better with two of you - one selecting things from the shelves, and handing them to the other who scans them and packs them away and pushes the trolley along behind the one choosing. It also means that OtherHalf is busy scanning so doesn't have a chance to choose all the expensive treats that you would ignore.

I actually can't see the point of them if there has to be an assistant standing there all day waiting to go and assist - do they really save time? My husband often used them when he was on the road to nip in and buy a sandwich so showed me what to do but I much prefer to go to a proper checkout where I can be unloading the trolley onto the conveyor while the customer in front is getting theirs through the till. That way I don't get stressed by the person behind waiting while I pack (although most times t'other 'alf is with me and he does the packing ) We tend to shop wherever they're giving us the most coupons so its either Morrisons or Tescos but I've never used the self scanning gun things as I'm not quite sure what you're supposed to do when you get to the till? We've used the self scan tills in B&Q and invariably someone has to come and assist as the item doesn't have the correct barcode on it!

roses,

I have got used to self-service tills as I often shop for just a few items on my way to work. The worst of it for me is when something goes wrong and there isn't a staff member in sight to out it right at 6:45 a.m.!
Oh that voice telling you there is an unidentified item in the bagging area!!! They could use that as formal torture ...

I avoid the self service checkouts as something always goes wrong and I end up needing help. I try to choose a checkout by whoever is on the till and have a good natter too. Don't know if it's because I am left-handed but I find that it is much easier using a checkout on the left, get in a tizz with the ones on the right. Couldn't scan my own to save my life. Only use my phone for texting, there's no hope really!

Self-service has been taken up a notch - thanks to the raft of new machines, complete with scales, at my local Post Office, I am now an experienced Post Office worker.

It has taken a while to train me, because of course it's not just swipe and pay (especially with parcels), but I got there in the end!

At what was our Co-op now local Asda the automatic till is really stroppy and seems to keep shouting at me.

If I only have a few items I don't put the bags into the bagging area. I just pile up the items after they have been scanned and paid for and then put them in the bags I brought with me. It can get very awkward if I happen to have other goods, often my library books, in the bag before I start shopping.

I use the self scan in Tesco without problems it saves me loads of time every week.

*I tell them I don't want to

sigh

Sometimes when I'm queuing at a checkout, a staff member helpfully suggests I could use the selfscan. I tell them I don't have any to and they offer to do it for me, so that's fine.

I hate the shops that have only selfscan open, and no actual cashiers. I've been known to walk out and go to another shop, to avoid them.

as they now have one of those things where you tap in your details to confirm your appointment.
I wouldn't use it the other week as there was no hand gel nearby and I thought the screen could be covered in germs.

If you're buying wine or other alcohol then an assistant has to come and verify you are over 18 at the self-scanner anyway. There is always one hovering around for such eventualities in Tesco, or waiting to see what sort of mess the customer makes of the self-scanner; she or he might as well be manning a till!

I refuse to use the wretched things until they are ergonomically designed and aimed to make life easier for the customer.

I shop once a week so use one of the smaller trolleys. I also use only my own bags. I also want to put my bags back in my trolley to get back to the car.

That means if I want space at table height to park all my shopping bags AND my handbag. I want a spare trolley by the bagging area to put each bag into as soon as it is loaded and a system that understands and can handle the concept that if I am using a cloth bag I may pick it temporarily off the bagging area to get something into it before putting it back.

Until all the above is done, I will queue and interact with a till operator.

I never use them, it's giving the customer work to do! I do my best day dreaming in queues.

I was waiting in the bank the other day when a rather jolly middle aged man wearing bank ID tapped my shoulder and asked me if I was just paying in. When I said 'yes' he directed me to a self service point and even followed me along and made sure I did it right. I thought it was rather sad that he was teaching me a skill that would do him out of a job.

In the co-op today only half of the bank of 4 self scanning stations were working. They didn't bother to open extra checkouts to compensate so inevitably queues started to build up
I don't mind the self checkouts at Sainsbury, but that's probably because I'm used to them. Before you start to scan you hit the 'I'm using my own bags' button and it tells you to put them in place. Then off you go! No problem. I do get annoyed with the local Tesco Express though, because any offers, such as two for one, don't appear on the screen until after you hit the 'Finish and Pay' button. It took me a while to get used to that - I wasn't happy hitting the F&P button until I knew my discounts had been applied. The staff on the other tills said they get fed up with it because they're constantly being called and having to explain to customers who don't know about this crazy system

I envy those that can shop n scan. I use Tesco and Asda and occasionally Morrisons none of these in my area have shop n scan.
I only use self service if I have one or two items otherwise I steer well clear.

Well yes but....
Self check-outs are still rare in our bit of France snd very little used.
So you have it all to yourself and get the undivided attention of the lady in charge who is delighted to help you. You don't have to wait while the check- out assistant chats to the person in front of you, answers the phone, scowls at you, grunts when she takes your money or just shuts the check-out with no explanation.
You can't put your own bag in the bagging area so that slows it down a bit and if you try to make it speak English every item of fruit and veg is called "dot dat" , but it all adds to the excitement.
We still don't have internet shopping (you can order it on line but have to drive to pick it up).

They drive me mad too. I often have the sort of bag that you have to pick up to get anything inside it and immediately you lift it off and put it back on there are problems. It also assumes that you have empty bags and if I already have a library book and an umbrella and something from another shop I have to scan all the stuff and bag it when I have paid. Takes much longer!

All the check outs busy , I go to the self service and call for help , the grinning assistant belts all through with vim ! then he says .. see you next week Mrs o

I like it for the running total too and I had the same experience early on of having to have the 'random' everything scanned again at a till thing. That seems to happen less often now. I wondered if it also has something to do with when you shop, with perhaps busier times generating more random scans.

I use the "scan-as-you-shop" in Tescos and now that I am used to it I like it. At first it seemed to choose me every time for a "random check" but it seems to have accepted that I am not trying to cheat. It shows a running total and reminds me when there is an offer on something and I could get three for two, or whatever.

I would be quicker if I scanned each thing as I took it from the shelf and oput it straight into my own bag, but usually I collect several things in the small compartment at the front of the trolley, then stop to scan them and put them away and go on to pick some more. There are usually "scan-as-you-shop" tills vacant so I get through faster than I would if I queued.

Only 3 check outs open, at least 2 people at each with FULL trolleys, DH waiting in the car and Grace due at the vet in 45 minutes-that was the only reason I attempted it.
Never again.