Self Service Checkouts Yay or Nay!

If I've got just a couple of items and the manned tills have queues at them then I might persuade myself to use them otherwise I'll use the others.
I use an electric wheelchair when I'm shopping, unless I'm doing a big or heavy shop, and I find it's a stretch for me to reach the buttons to press from the chair, and any vouchers come from a little gadget above the till so I have to remember to look up to check there is nothing coming out. Some of these tills are not designed with disabled people in mind.

I prefer shop and scan it’s quick there’s never a queue and I rarely have problems. My shoppings packed how I like it and I’m not taking stuff from shelf to trolley, trolley to till belt, back to trolley then into bags. If I only have a few bits then self checkout also works for me. Most shops have a choice of checkout so just use which one suits you.

I avoid like the plague!!!!!

@ BlueBelle - hear, hear! Some people seem to be implying they do not have a choice, but of course we do. I also don’t think we should close our minds to change.
There is a condition which can affect the “elderly”, it’s called
Hardening of the attitudes

Seriously dislike these, as they are yet another example of the gradual removal of the human element, i.e. communication with a living, breathing person, from our everyday lives. I enjoy the occasional banter with checkout staff, and hope that it makes their day more rewarding too. I'm lucky in that I have a support network of family and friends with whom I have regular, face to face contact, but others aren't so fortunate, so all this de-personalised automation affects them so much more. All in the name of profit, and regardless of the impact on society. The way things are going we're all going to end up sitting at home in front of a computer screen, with little or no direct, meaningful engagement with our fellow human beings. I suspect that some unfortunates out there may well already have virtually reached that unenviable, unhealthy status. And then there's A.I....

PamelaJ but that’s exactly what we do have …both …..so what is there to complain about !!!
We have 3 way traffic in our local supermarket
tills and till assistants
Self service
Scan and go
So choices for everyone
It’s not a competition go where you feel comfortable

I don’t like them. No matter what, something always goes wrong and an assistant needs to help.

I may be one of the few who quite likes them but then I’m only ever getting a few things. I’m deaf and not having to try and hear what the assistant is saying is a big plus.

Nobody ever mentions the jobs created by the technology do they?
The software designers, hardware manufacturers, installers, maintenance, back up services , call center staff, warehousing, transportation etc

Waitrose still has plenty of standard tills open and staff on the shop floor to help.

100% yes. I’ve used Waitrose Quick check since 1997 and love it.
It was trialled in our local shop and I was one of the first to use it.
I can’t stand queuing behind people chatting and fumbling to eventually find their wallets and like the efficiency of it.

I worked in the village shop as a school girl, cutting cheese, slicing bacon, weighing out sweets, but progress we must.

I’d much rather work on my spreadsheets thank you very much than scribe 🖋️ in a ledger with black and red ink.

Bluebelle why can’t we stay in a time warp?
I can’t see why we can’t have both. Leave the SSC for those that like them, retain some manned checkouts for those that don’t.
I’m fairly tech savvy but I prefer to interact with a human.

No and I’d like to see the figures of the number of any staff who have been moved to lower paid jobs or sacked.

I always have used self service since they arrived and prefer them We cannot stay in a time warp we have to move on and get used to different ways of doing things Even at our advanced ages we need to move on and accept that things are not going to stay the same
The self service are easy and efficient and there is always someone on hand to help when they bleep I think fear of new things hold a lot of folks back
The staff who are no longer on the tills seem to have been given other jobs and we do still have the choice for those that don’t like self service so we actually have the best of both worlds at the moment.
I used to love the shops that weighed everything and cut the slice of cheese you wanted and had a chair by the counter and patted the butter and weighed the coffee but long gone

Times have to move, change, sometimes better, sometimes worse, but ever changing, ever moving

Its no longer the case that they are taking jobs away from real people is it? There is a widespread shortage of staff at checkout level and I think it solves a problem. However there are the two sorts.
The one which results in the "unexplained item in the bagging area" generally gets a thumbs down from me as it is slow and cumbersome have I placed my bag on the right side? Why didn't an item scan (or twice as recently happened at the Euston M&S ?) I would never use it for more than a couple of items.
But I have used Waitrose's "zapper" gun where you scan and pack into your bags in the trolley as you go round for years and would never go back to the checkout/ belt palaver. I sort my shopping into bags as I go along and also have a useful running total so I know whether or not to treat myself with a cheeky bottle of wine or to hold back as this week's shop is a big one.

Absolutely yay. Manned checkouts make me anxious.

Mixed. I do prefer a person rather than the very bossy lady in the machines. OTH, if doing a big shop, it’s so much easier to pack as you go along.
So it’s a mixed response from me.

Taking jobs off people. Half the time they go wrong so they need someone there but only one person for a dozen of them so 11 people have lost their jobs.

Gin if that happens again, you need to say quite clearly that you will need some assistance if they want you to use the self-service till as you have poor eyesight.
My mother-in-law has macular degeneration and it's surprising how many people don't seem to realise her limitations, she has to tell them.

I like scan and go so I’m already packed when I get to the till. Before those, or self service tills, there was always a long queues at the manned tills, often held up even longer, by people chatting at the till.
I’d like there to be a choice though. Sainsbury’s near us has 4 manned tills, some self service and some for those using the app. There’s rarely a queue of more than 3 as I pass the manned tills.

I objected to them initially because people lose jobs and we don’t get discount scanning shopping for ourselves. It’s obviously because of artificial intelligence taking over everyday life. However standing behind someone with with a trolly full of food is totally time consuming and irritating.
I admit I gave in I find Aldi self service is very efficient they have large barcodes easy to scan.

I appreciate tbem. Only ever have a few items nowadays. Find staff always available to attend to glitches. A yes from me.

Ive never used one as I dont physically go to the supermarket (no transport/mobility issues). However my nephew uses them often and says he dislikes them except for more than a few items. He builds computers and is obviously good with machines but says they often misbehave.

I like the people contact at the check out and will carry on using them as long as they exist.

and its not just to do with age - see quite a lot of younger people who chose that option, even waiting longer to do so.

Not so keen on self service tills but love smartshop where you scan the items as you shop so are packing as you go along. It's always seemed to me the most absurd waste of time to take items from the shelf, place them in the trolley, take them from the trolley and place on conveyor belt, take them from place beyond conveyor belt and place in own shopping bag now resident in trolley. For those concerned that self service costs jobs, were jobs not lost when you self-selected items to place in your basket or trolley rather than asking an assistant to reach behind for the goods?

I use them in B&Q but they always have someone on hand to sort out problems.