Tesco self service checkout machines
I wish to gripe about the Self Service checkout tills that have been springing up everywhere including my local branch of Tesco.
It is so disgustingly obvious that these things have been put there to save the company employing checkout staff. I would imagine one of these machines will pay for itself within two years. These machines are definitely not there for the convenience of Tesco customers, that's for sure. It takes twice as long to unload, scan, and pack your own shopping as it would for an assistant to do it for you.
I work in I.T. myself, I love computers and machines, but even I recognise the value of simple human contact in retail environments. There is a lot to be said for a simple "hello" or "thank you" from a checkout assistant at the supermarket. Not to mention the much nicer feeling of handing your money to a human being instead of a machine. So many aspects of life are already impersonal enough as it is without a soulless shopping experience as well.
Unmanned checkouts - a cynical attempt to force customers to use the self service tills?
What really winds me up, though, is when you go into Tesco at certain times of day, and of 10 "manned" checkouts, only one of them is actually "manned", the rest are left unattended, presumably in a cynical attempt to force customers to use the self service tills.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not an "anti-Tesco" person by any means. I like the shop. I just find these self service checkouts smack of laziness and penny pinching on the part of Tesco, and I find their very existence a bit of an insult.
The joke is, at busy times Tesco have to employ a member of staff to attend the "self service" checkouts. They're there to assist all the poor shoppers who get befuddled trying to use these machines, and all of these shoppers are noticeably annoyed and angry at having to use them in the first place!
If anything I'd say I'a Tesco fan, but I don't see one single redeeming feature in these "do it yourself" checkouts. Come on Tesco - surely you can afford to ditch them and go back to good old fashioned "members of staff"? Your customers would really appreciate it.
Comments from visitors
I'm sick of hearing 'they take away jobs' They don't just magically appear! Get rid of them you say! So what about the people making them and creating the software, what about their jobs? Or does that not matter as long as you get your ten items scanned for you? Besides, if they weren't there they wouldn't hire more staff, we'd just have bigger queues. Supermarkets are a business, they are there to make money and that is one way of doing it without having to raise prices to unaffordable levels. And if I hear another person say 'oh, I should get a 5% discount for doing YOUR job" I will scream because if you think I make 5% from every customers shopping going through my till then you are a moron. If you don't like them, don't use them.
Stressed self scan worker. - 24-Jan-12 20:40
"Self Service" petrol used to cost less than having someone fill the car up for you, and bring you the change.
The only purpose of "self service" on Tesco tills is to deprive someone of a job, thus bringing greater rewards to Tesco executives. Well, it doesn't get so much of mine anymore - since over half the tills are "self service" now, I go to Sainsbury's.
Still wondering at the sudden loss of market share, you Tesco executive dunderheads?
"Un expected item in bagging area" - GGRRRRR
The bagging area is far too small.
They have too many blips' - so you frequently need staff to type in a code.
miserablemoaninggit - 30-Jul-11 17:30
1) Press the 'Start' button on the touch screen (dont just scan away!)
2) Scan item #1
2a) Put it in the bagging area, then pull the bag off the rack and stick the item in the back.
2b) Optional, if you get the 'un expected item in bagging area' simply push it down in the bag a bit more.
3) Scan item #2
3a) Place the item in the bag. (Pull out new bag is nessercy [rubbish at spellings!])
3b) Got 'unexpected item in the bagging area'? Simply put it on the weighing stand then stick it in the bag once finished the process
4) Keep doing this untill you've finished.
5) Select Finish & Pay. (Scan or put your loyalty card where it tells you to if you have one.
5a) Select your payment method
5b) If you chose card, enter your card into the chip and pin machine. Then when it ways, type in your pin.
5c) If you chose vouchers, where you enter coupons (new tesco ones are usually underneath the scanner) enter them.
5d) If you choose cash and coins, enter your notes where it tells you (tesco ones are always at the left hand side of the scanner) and enter your coins. (for old tesco diy's use the 1 at a time penny inserter at the side of the bank note feeder [new tesco diy's: coins are underneath the barcode scanner])
Then finally, take your recipt and your done with.
Try months.
ONE autoamted checkout running full time in a 24/7 store replaces five staff (if you include holiday entitlement and the sotre is open 24/7 or close)
Even at basic wage and ignoring NI contributions by the empoyer, this saves around £1200. The SRU's (Staff Replacement Units) are not cheap but I can assure you they don't take years to pay for themselves. They are little more than a cut down till, with no conveyer but a weight monitor on the bag holder.
And yes you are right, this is not done because "customer like checking themselves out", it is done to cheapen operating costs to increase profit.
Sadly, that, combined with canned Muzac being played at me, mean I tend to shop more at Waitrose and Aldi. Although at different ends of the price spectrum, BOTH let me shop in silence, BOTH always do the checking out for me and BOTH of them carry a LOT of the identical brands to the "Serve yourself and listen to the noise" supermarkets. Customer service tends to be more cheerful there too :)
notsogoodshopping - 13-Jun-11 20:52
morrisonshater - 15-Apr-11 12:59
I honestly prefer the checkouts operated by supermarket staff.





