Unexplained item in the bagging area!

I dislike them because I prefer not to have to do the work as well as paying the supermarket for my goods. As others have said, they take jobs that are needed. It also reduces people contact, which I genuinely feel is one of the ills of our society. No park keepers, bus conductors, librarians no longer checking your books in and out - the list is endless.

I used the self scan facility at Waitrose until the dratted thing had my card cancelled. Never again!

I quite often use the automatic scanners but am conscious of their many faults. Yesterday I thought I'd be clever and push the 'own bags' button before I started to avoid keying in 'zero bags' later on in the process. Of course I had to do it twice! Doh!

However, on the whole they are quick and efficient and I use them even for a large shop. The supermarkets seem to put their savvier staff on the automatic tills as they need to be able to sort problems and it's useful to interact with 'those who can'.

Our local supermarkets (including a Tesco) don't have them and I have heard some supermarkets are giving up on them. Personally I don't use them as I think they take jobs - how else are students going to learn to communicate with the rest of humanity (!). Plus, on the rare occasions I have tried I inevitably ended up needing assistance and it took a lot longer. And why should I have to do it all myself? I still remember when you stood (or sat) at the counter, gave your list to the assistant and they got everything for you and packed your bags. Them was the days.

Our local B&Q tried to force everyone to use self service by closing all the manned tills. It didn't really work as the four self service had three assistants. They seem to have given up now and brought back a choice.

Quite right MARYEJB. When they say 'Unexpected item in bagging area' why is it unexpected? They stock them so why should it be such a surprise when someone buys one? Or do they mean that they weren't expecting me to buy one? You can't even explain yourself “It's not for me, I never touch them but my friend likes them etc.”
If you get 'unexplained item' that's even worse. Does it mean explain what it's for (getting stains out of the carpet for example) or explain yourself buying it because you only bought a packet last week.
Better to stay well clear of them.

Hate them and never use them. I want a real person with a real job! I've been in a few different WH Smiths where there has been a member of staff at the "self-service" till all the time, just using it for people. What IS the point?

I always end up talking to the machine at self service checkouts. Usually to tell it to shut up! Here, in NZ they somehow seem to be programmed to sound a bit patronising. In one supermarket the parting, machine generated remark is, "Thank you for shopping New World." Where's the 'at'? Grrrrrrrr!!

You are not a Luddite, or a silly old codger, Babyboomer.
Self-serve tills are an abomination that make life difficult for customers and do people out of jobs on checkouts.
I avoid self-serve when possible or, if there is no choice, I treat it as the nuisance it is and I get staff help immediately if there is any trouble with it.

I don't often use the self-scanners, but have reached the point (despite only being 54) where I am quite happy to call an assistant and use my age as an excuse for not knowing exactly what to do. Look at it this way - the more we need to involve the human assistant, the more likely it is that they will have a job. If the till tells you that there is an unexpected item in the baggage area, let that human assistant sort it out and don't worry about it. You are helping to guarantee at least one person's job, and the more times you need or ask for help, the better!

I'm trying to make myself use the self-scanners, rather than be even more of a Luddite than I already am, but often chicken out. They all seem different depending which store you are in, and I feel like such a silly old codger when something goes wrong and an assistant has to come and sort it out. Not to mention the sighs of impatience of people waiting behind me as I puzzle over the wretched thing.

In our local Morrisons the self service tills have just been revamped and instead of unexpected items in the bagging area we now have surprising items. Surprising? I usually know what I've bought . Unless the Milk Tray Man has sneaked into the queue behind me. Dream on ....

Mzee - i tend to do that with time rather than dates eg if its 12.45 I immediately think'a quarter to one' etc. i find adverts annoying too when they say 'only 3 ninety nine when they mean £399! To go back to check outs i find self scanning very easy in waitrose and much quicker than queueing up tho when DH is with me he always puts booze in so we have to wait for the age verification person to arrive. You have to self check in at airports too now.

yes, I really like the self-service. I find that it is helpful to have a running total, something I used to do mentally and always got wrong! there should be something that tells the machine that you are definetly over 21 when you have booze so that you don't have to wait for someone! Maybe a quick scan that recognises a few wrinkles or grey hair ;-)!!
It is a lot quicker as you miss out a whole bagging chore.

Wow-- your self checkouts sound so complicated, thank goodness they are very simple here in Australia!! but I suppose it will come.

Slightly different but infuriating to me, in a wheelchair with no car. I hate Asda but am sometimes forced through their portals. Their diy option is laid out in rectangle, so that you have your back to houryour opposite number, iyswim, and the tills are also very close together. So awkward, and I avoid them. This Asda has about 20 checkouts, but only two, next to each other, wide enough for wheelchairs and clearly marked. Maybe I am a mean person, but when I have 5 items, I occasionally POLITELY ask the person in front, before they have started putting the contents of their 2 overloaded trolleys if I could precede them, as I cannot fit through the basket only checkouts. Not once has somebody let me!

I miss the opportunity when it's a machine to be annoying. I don't mean really annoying but just enough to be able to smile to yourself. I can only do this at a till which is manned (or more often wommened) and it first happened by accident when the check out person said to me “16-66” rather than “16 pounds, 66”.
I of course replied “Great fire of London”
Since then I've had various others including, just the other week, 19-01, so I said
“Death of Queen Victoria”
“What?” said the check out man
When I repeated it he looked really puzzled until I explained and then said
“Am I supposed to know that?”
“Well you work here” I said.
I think I went a bit too far that time but it does make you brush up on your dates. What you mustn't do is manufacture a date you know by buying a Mars bar on your way to check out. Disappointingly most of my bills seem to be stuck somewhere in 14th Century and a progress report on the Black Death doesn't really work.
You can't do any of that with a machine but why can't the machine tell you something interesting?
I also feel like I'd welcome the opportunity to properly explain the item in the baggage area but that never happens does it?

I am scared of them. I even mess it up when my daughter is doing it. Last time we did it in Sainsbury's the assistant had to come so many times it would have saved time if she had done it all for us.

Did it once in B&Q with 3 items and I still needed help.

I was in WH Smith this week and the till points were all closed, all that was available was a self service checkout. So used it although it really annoyed me that the store had cut staff levels so much that all customers had to use the self service.
I will NOT be shopping in WH Smiths ever again.

never use them unless one of my DCs is with me and then I usually get it wrong and the assistant that is always there has to come and sort it out! complete waste of time, and stress levels rise.

I used to use the scanning gun in Sainsburys when I lived in England. wonderful, saved time at checkout (unless you got caught for the spot check, but that is understandable and therefore happy to go along with it once in a while), easy to use and as it had a running total it was easy to keep within budget, and could easily find the price or offer. Wish France would catch up with these.

I was once in my local ASDA waiting in the self checkout queue don't usually but needs must when an unexpected item appeared in the bagging area - a toddler on the scales removing all her clothing and her mum was still trying to scan and pack !!

I totally refuse to use them. Surely we want jobs for our children/grandchildren and believe me there won't be any in the future as we allow machines to replace humans. Make a stand. If the queues are long then complain and ask them to open up more checkouts with real human beings who then have jobs. We have a government who is ripping apart those who do not work and yet we continue to facilitate the decimation of so many jobs, especially for those on lower incomes, by using machines. It's a human tragedy but one that we could actually stop if we made different choices.

I refuse to use machines, whose installation has put people out of a job. They are there to increase the shop's profits, not for our convenience.
I stopped using the library when they replaced humans with machines. I don't use ATMs either as they are so open to criminal activity.
Soon we'll get DIY church (headphones on for recorded hymns and sermon. Help yourself to wafers and wine) and DIY dentistry (50p in slot for 1 minute's use of drill. Vending machine offering choice of instruments and amalgam. £2 for mouthwash)

I have trouble with self service tills unless my seven year old grand daughter is there to do it for me. It's no problem to her!

I use them if I've just got a few items. What annoys me about Sainsburys one is that you have to be careful not to lift the weight of the bag off the scale as you put the first item in, otherwise it counts the weight of the bag and throws an 'unexpected item' error.

The pedant in me objected to the GP surgery self check in, which invited 'Arrive me'. I was pleased to see last time I visited that the greeting had been changed.

I hate supermarket self check out as I rarely get through without an assistant being called. I once had an unexpected item in the bagging area, it turned out to be DGD perched on the edge, which I hadn't thought of!

Don't get me started. Self service tills are just a way to get the customer to do the work whilst a member of staff stands there watching (usually making me feel like an idiot).
On another note, what's the point of a '10 items only' till that allows someone with a trolley load to go through? 9:15 on a Thursday morning, I wanted 2 things and I was running late. On principle I won't use the self service tills, but when I asked the supervisor what was going on she said "well, when it's quiet we let people with more stuff go through" One or two more items, maybe, but a trolley full?
Then there's the salesgirl in Debenham's who asks if I've got a carrier bag. Yes, I have. I put it on the counter, expecting her to put my item in it whilst I put my card in the machine and pay. Did she? Did she hell. She stood there watching me whilst I paid, then packed my own stuff.
Sorry - on my soap box again. But sometimes I feel as though the staff in shops are paid to supervise us, the customers, whilst we do the work.