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Time we all boycotted self service checkouts

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dave50 | 16:33 Tue 04th Dec 2012 | Shopping & Style
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They are just another way to employ less people, make shopping even more impersonal. I went to one supermarket the other day and there were hardly any staff at any of the normal checkouts, the one or two that were open there were long queues. Everyone was being gently ushered into the self service section, a bit difficult for me as I had a trolley full so I left it in the middle of the isle and walked out.
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I like self service.
I despise it, but often use it as the queues are so long elsewhere. I could smash the thing to smithereens when that awful robotic female voice says "Please place the item in the baggage area" a nanosecond after you have scanned it.
I much prefer self-service because I can check items out at the pace I want, in the order that I want.
I refuse to use them
No thanks, dave.

The self-service checkout doesn't spend half-an-hour (Exaggeration) reading the paper, especially when I'm in a hurry, and doesn't speak at all! I enjoy the silence!!!
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they are quick and easy, I like them.
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I like them too, no rush, can pack as i go at my pace.
Triggs, am saying nowt :-)

I don't mind them, it's the voice which does by bonce in.

Our 'local' asda has one with a conveyor belt.
a bit difficult for me as I had a trolley full so I left it in the middle of the isle and walked out.

Did you spit your dummy into the middle of isle too?
Do the self service checkouts , asks you if you want any cash ?
yes, the asda ones do
I loathe them.

If I buy a sandwich and a bottle of water in M&S for my lunch I don't want to bend down and put them in the loading area, I want to bung them straight into my handbag.

If I'm doing a basket worth of shopping I have to wait while an assistant comes over and authorises the alcohol, age limited DVD, razor blades or whatever other controlled purchase I am attempting to make.

I avoid them at all costs, I just don't find them time saving or user friendly.
I've boycotted those self serve tills since day one. I appreciate some feel they can get through faster jumping the queue using them, but it disgusts me that a retailer thinks that I, the customer, is so worthless they don't need to serve me at all. Just fill up the shelves and let the customer do it all, just wait for the money to roll in. Not only do I get the my purchases from the shelves myself, which I don't mind so much as it allows me to browse at my own pace, but I'm even expected to have to pass them through a machine and tot up what to pay myself. That is beyond the Pale. And worse, they always site whatever few 'basket only' tills they have right next to these machines that are forever announcing how you must move the unexpected this from that and place this card there or wait for assistance etc. Lord only knows how the till operators put up with it. The customer is simply not valued these days. Plus of course it is to have fewer till operators so fewer jobs for folk so they are not valued either.

Of and I have politely told those who seem to think I'm only not using that section because I'm too thick to understand it that I prefer service from my retailer, more than once. Trouble is the individual who is insulting me by trying to usher me into, 'the sort yourself out because we can't be bothered with you, you worthless individual', section is most likely not responsible for it anyway.
I like to use them, especially after I realised I could empty into the cash hopper bags of 5p, 2p and 1p pieces that we had accumulated over the years. I don't bother if I have alcohol or a huge trolleyful of stuff but otherwise I like them.
Would your boycott extend to boycotting supermarkets altogether dave since they expect you to pick the goods of the shelf which also means they employ fewer people.
I must admit I did once leave a trolleyfull of stuff as a protest when the till queues were too long but realised it hurt me as much as it hurt the store since I then needed to spend half an hour in another store refilling my trolley.
Our local Sainsburys has self service checkouts that do not offer the cash back facility. I work for Asda, and our store has about 10 self service checkouts, plus another three or four self service ones with conveyor belts. Not everyone likes them, but then I'm sure not everyone liked motor cars and electric lights when they first arrived either!
Will supermarket employees on the tills grow to like them when they are all unemployed?
Depends on what shopping I'm doing. If I'm by myself and just getting a couple of things I use the self service, If I'm with Trish and we doing a full shop we use the manned check out and I pack as Trish sends it through.
LyndaB

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