Supermarket Self Service Tills

[Calthrop]

I've given up on cash mainly because I pay for as much as I can on a cashback credit card, which I pay off in full every month. It earns me a decent amount of free money every year. Other than that, I will deliberately use whatever methods of communication involve the most admin as often as I can.

I take it, to help people keep their jobs: as said above, an admirable goal. Also there comes to mind, a byword from Germany (perhaps surprising, from that perceivedly efficiency-oriented nation): "Why do things simply, when with only a little effort they can be made beautifully complicated?"

 

[Tracked]

Sainsbury's still take cash, I usually use card at the moment but I've used them to get smaller change from £20 notes a couple of times

Morrisons have improved in the pandemic, the other issue with them beforehand was that when they had an issue it often coincided with the member of staff supervising walking off, but I usually only had a small amount of shopping and it was still quicker than waiting at a staffed till.

 

[Journeyman]

I take it, to help people keep their jobs: as said above, an admirable goal. Also there comes to mind, a byword from Germany (perhaps surprising, from that perceivedly efficiency-oriented nation): "Why do things simply, when with only a little effort they can be made beautifully complicated?"

Absolutely. I'm a big fan of consciously processing things. A pile of successfully completed admin is, to me, more satisfying and more informative than a bunch of direct debits I can easily lose track of.

 

[Calthrop]

Absolutely. I'm a big fan of consciously processing things. A pile of successfully completed admin is, to me, more satisfying and more informative than a bunch of direct debits I can easily lose track of.

As the man said -- ain't that the sad and sorry truth. My brother -- an extremely bright guy in most respects -- is (as he'd be the first to admit) utterly clueless and uninterested about anything in the finance / money sphere. He's also a very great fan of doing things in the modern / streamlined / electronic way; so tends to run his money-related doings thus, including copious use of direct debits; and is forever getting into financial messes. Who'd have thought it?

 

[GB]

Co-op ones are the worse. Barely enough room to pack one bag and setting off the weight alarm every other item. Asda and Sainsbury's have vastly improved and offer enough room to pack 3 or 4 bags as well as able to put the shallow trolleys over the basket ledge. Asda also offer full length conveyor belt self service. Very rarely have issues with weight checks these days.

 

[Journeyman]

As the man said -- ain't that the sad and sorry truth. My brother -- an extremely bright guy in most respects -- is (as he'd be the first to admit) utterly clueless and uninterested about anything in the finance / money sphere. He's also a very great fan of doing things in the modern / streamlined / electronic way; so tends to run his money-related doings thus, including copious use of direct debits; and is forever getting into financial messes. Who'd have thought it?

I ended up paying for a PPI policy I never knew I had on my first mortgage, and this went on for no less than 15 years, costing me thousands. The scumbags responsible refused to compensate me, despite it obviously being a mis-sale. Since then, I've been very careful.

 

[Lucan]

I use cash sometimes because I don't want to see cash dying out. There are entities who would like to ban it entirely, mostly ones that want a cut of every transaction that happens in the World, although that is never the reason they give.

Re: self-service tills, the touchscreens at my Tescos don't work for me. The operator has to come over and do it. They do it with an air of resignation tell me that it is not because I am doing it wrong, and it happens with a lot of people. Perhaps something to do with the type of soles on my shoes, my natural static charge, or just my magnetic personality (or lack of).

 

[nlogax]

I ended up paying for a PPI policy I never knew I had on my first mortgage, and this went on for no less than 15 years, costing me thousands. T

Presumably you got it all back during the last few years of PPI claims? I got stung too, via a credit card I had back in the mid noughties. Spent all £27 of my compensation pretty quickly

 

[xotGD]

With the lack of space for packing your bags, I have resorted to scanning half of the shopping, paying for that, removing the bags and then going through the whole process again for the rest of the shopping. A bit of a faff, but better than the whole pile of groceries collapsing onto the floor due to the lack of space.

 

[Journeyman]

Presumably you got it all back during the last few years of PPI claims? I got stung too, via a credit card I had back in the mid noughties. Spent all £27 of my compensation pretty quickly

Nope. The absolute scumbags refused to budge. I used all of my appeal options, and they refused to pay out after that as well. I continued pestering them to no avail. I'm now banned from contacting the company concerned!

Aviva, if you're wondering.

 

[Busaholic]

Same with me; but, to be honest, for different and selfish reasons (though I applaud in principle, concern about potential job losses). I'm the ultimate technophobe, and a self-confessed septuagenarian dinosaur: self-service tills fill me with fear and confusion, and I've never yet been able to use one without having to ask the attendant staff member for help. To heck with that for a game of soldiers: I might just as well, and with less misery -- as above, queue up and deal with a human.

I also continue to make much use of cash, and plan to carry on doing so; admittedly in part, just to be contrary.

I'm a septuagenerian dinosaur and technophobe, and everyone assumes with my stick and slow walk that I'll be an age at the self-service till, but when I am it's almost invariably due to requiring authorisation for alcohol or pharma products. Sometimes I'm too quick and waiting for the technology to catch up, particularly if paying cash with the exact money. Also, trying to use coupons as part payment or to get extra points can be problematic, particularly at Sainsbury. A money-off coupon for 'pre-made dessert costing at least £2.20' wouldn't accept a £3.50 apple and blackberry pie as qualifying for instance, despite assistant intervention, but they have no powers to apply commonsense.

 

[MotCO]

Nope. The absolute scumbags refused to budge. I used all of my appeal options, and they refused to pay out after that as well. I continued pestering them to no avail. I'm now banned from contacting the company concerned!

Aviva, if you're wondering.

Did you apply directly or through a third party? If the former, did you retry using a third party?

The stock loss is much greater where the self checkouts do not have weigh scales, consequently most retailers have stopped installing these and are replacing them.

Are there any significant losses from shoppers mis-using the weighing scales in the grocery section? I've often wondered, and I am not advocating this, but what is there to stop you weighing expensive fruit such as raspberries, but selecting a cheaper fruit to produce the bar code and price label? The checkout scales will check that the weight is correct, but have no way of knowing whether the goods are correct.

 

[Hadders]

Are there any significant losses from shoppers mis-using the weighing scales in the grocery section? I've often wondered, and I am not advocating this, but what is there to stop you weighing expensive fruit such as raspberries, but selecting a cheaper fruit to produce the bar code and price label? The checkout scales will check that the weight is correct, but have no way of knowing whether the goods are correct.

That sort of thing does happen as do numerous other things, which I'm not going to publicise on here!

As ever, it's a balancing act between the overall customer experience and minimising loss.

 

[nlogax]

Nope. The absolute scumbags refused to budge. I used all of my appeal options, and they refused to pay out after that as well. I continued pestering them to no avail. I'm now banned from contacting the company concerned!

Aviva, if you're wondering.

Damn, bad luck Note to self well and truly made.

 

[Gloster]

Are there any significant losses from shoppers mis-using the weighing scales in the grocery section? I've often wondered, and I am not advocating this, but what is there to stop you weighing expensive fruit such as raspberries, but selecting a cheaper fruit to produce the bar code and price label? The checkout scales will check that the weight is correct, but have no way of knowing whether the goods are correct.

A few months ago there was a piece in one of the newspapers, probably the Grauniad, that said that one of the supermarkets had sold something like twice as many carrots, or one of the other cheaper vegetables, than it had bought in.

 

[Hadders]

Even the Queen mentioned it when she popped into Sainsbury's...

Queen jokes 'you can't cheat then?' about self-service tills

THE Queen joked “you can’t cheat then?” as she was shown the self-service tills while visiting Sainsbury’s to mark the supermarket’s 150th anniversary today. The 93-ye…

www.thesun.co.uk

THE Queen joked "you can't cheat then?" as she was shown the self-service tills while visiting Sainsbury's to mark the supermarket's 150th anniversary today.

The 93-year-old monarch inspected the technology this morning as she toured the replica store - saying they were sure to help people who were "in a hurry".

As part of the visit, she was told about how rationing was developed during wartime, to how families now use self-service tills to get their weekly shop.

Speaking to manager Damien Corcoran, she appeared to be particularly interested in the self-service checkout facility - wondering if it was possible to get away without paying.

She asked: "And you can't trick it? You can't cheat then?"

Mr Corcoran replied: "Well, you always can cheat but with the weighing scales we've got that should prevent certain items from being undetected."


The Queen had a point - with Brit shoppers previously admitting to nicking billions of pounds in groceries - just because they can.

Mr Corcoran then told her many shoppers like the convenience of scanning their own groceries, with the monarch remarking: "I'm sure they do - everybody wants to hurry."

Her Maj was even greeted by period actors dressed to fit the pop up store - a replica of the original 1869 Sainsbury's store in Drury Lane in Covent Garden.

Then, the store sold just three items - butter, milk and eggs.


She was later shown Bloater Paste, a fish herring pate from the 1950s, which she said "sounded disgusting".

During her visit, the Queen also got the opportunity to see an original ration book from the Second World War, and reflected on her own experiences of food shortages.

She said: "As a Sunday treat we had some sweeties, but we were lucky we had a farm."

When the porridge and oranges of six decades ago were contrasted the avocados and ready meals of 2019, she remarked "tastes have changed".

 

[RuralRambler]

Did you apply directly or through a third party? If the former, did you retry using a third party?



Are there any significant losses from shoppers mis-using the weighing scales in the grocery section? I've often wondered, and I am not advocating this, but what is there to stop you weighing expensive fruit such as raspberries, but selecting a cheaper fruit to produce the bar code and price label? The checkout scales will check that the weight is correct, but have no way of knowing whether the goods are correct.

I think there was a case where a serving police officer bought a load of doughnuts but weighed them as carrots, hence paying far far less than he should. He did get caught though!

 

[Ediswan]

Are there any significant losses from shoppers mis-using the weighing scales in the grocery section? I've often wondered, and I am not advocating this, but what is there to stop you weighing expensive fruit such as raspberries, but selecting a cheaper fruit to produce the bar code and price label? The checkout scales will check that the weight is correct, but have no way of knowing whether the goods are correct.

Some French supermarket weighing scales use a camera to recognise the produce. I suspect there is a manual override, never had to use it, could be 'staff only'.

 

[py_megapixel]

The biggest problem I encounter with the self-service machines is that I generally don't want to put my shopping in a carrier bag; I want to put it in my rucksack. Unfortunately a rucksack is often heavy enough that if I place it on the scales the machine refuses to believe it's just a bag and a member of staff has to verify it.

I assume the aim of this is to make sure people can't hide things in a rucksack and just buy a small nominal item to make it look like I was a genuine customer to the staff.
I don't quite see the point of this; if I really wanted to steal the merchandise (which, for the record, I don't) I could surely just keep the rucksack on my back and use a carrier bag for my nominal item, and the computer would be none the wiser?

 

[Ediswan]

I think there was a case where a serving police officer bought a load of doughnuts but weighed them as carrots, hence paying far far less than he should. He did get caught though!

And was dismissed as a result: https://www.peterboroughmatters.co....h-police-officer-sacked-self-scan-error-27276

 

[Journeyman]

Did you apply directly or through a third party? If the former, did you retry using a third party?

Applied myself. I actually spent eighteen months analysing PPI claims for a living, and therefore knew exactly what the rules were. Every third party claim we got was absolutely useless, and claims management companies were bigger crooks than the sellers of the policies themselves!

Damn, bad luck Note to self well and truly made.

Yeah, I was young and naive when I got lumbered with it. You live and learn.

 

[hexagon789]

The biggest problem I encounter with the self-service machines is that I generally don't want to put my shopping in a carrier bag; I want to put it in my rucksack. Unfortunately a rucksack is often heavy enough that if I place it on the scales the machine refuses to believe it's just a bag and a member of staff has to verify it.

I assume the aim of this is to make sure people can't hide things in a rucksack and just buy a small nominal item to make it look like I was a genuine customer to the staff.
I don't quite see the point of this; if I really wanted to steal the merchandise (which, for the record, I don't) I could surely just keep the rucksack on my back and use a carrier bag for my nominal item, and the computer would be none the wiser?

When I bring a bag I don't weigh it, I leave it to the side. I then go through with scanning all the shopping and when I've paid then put the bag down and fill it with the shopping.

I found with experience trying to get it to recognise the weight of your own bag was useless, so I gave up trying.

Are there any significant losses from shoppers mis-using the weighing scales in the grocery section?

Oh yes, plenty...

Though there are some scales which try and detect the item using a camera to protect against that but I haven't seen any in supermarkets up here.

 

[Non Multi]

When I bring a bag I don't weigh it, I leave it to the side. I then go through with scanning all the shopping and when I've paid then put the bag down and fill it with the shopping.

I decided that was also the easiest thing to do. Makes it easier for staff to check what I've already scanned if needed.

 

[py_megapixel]

When I bring a bag I don't weigh it, I leave it to the side. I then go through with scanning all the shopping and when I've paid then put the bag down and fill it with the shopping.

I decided that was also the easiest thing to do. Makes it easier for staff to check what I've already scanned if needed.

In the supermarkets near where I am the tills always seem to be quite cramped together meaning there isn't anywhere to put the bag down. It's obviously even worse now that they have perspex screens too. Holding the bag in one hand and filling it with the other is another thing I've tried but if you items which aren't light then it can be a bit of a nuisance.

 

[RailAleFan]

Self-checkout staff intervention required at our Tesco Extra is mostly remote now, they have a control panel and don't need to come over to you if they can clearly see what needs to be verified.

 

[birchesgreen]

People do cheat with these tills but considering how much food supermarkets throw away its not really an issue.

 

[Hadders]

People do cheat with these tills but considering how much food supermarkets throw away its not really an issue.

I know people like to portray supermarkets as bad boys but there isn't much that is thrown away.

It's impossible to quantify the exact level of loss through self checkouts as it just another area of unknown loss (and bear in mind there aren't zero losses through manned checkouts either) but the amount of food disposed of is very small these days.

 

[hexagon789]

In the supermarkets near where I am the tills always seem to be quite cramped together meaning there isn't anywhere to put the bag down. It's obviously even worse now that they have perspex screens too. Holding the bag in one hand and filling it with the other is another thing I've tried but if you items which aren't light then it can be a bit of a nuisance.

Unfortunate if space is tight, but could you not get the that bag out afterwards and place it one the weighing plate?

Otherwise I don't know what to suggest, sorry

I decided that was also the easiest thing to do. Makes it easier for staff to check what I've already scanned if needed.

Exactly, another reason I do it though it drastically cuts staff interventions in the first place by not bringing up a weighing error.

I know people like to portray supermarkets as bad boys but there isn't much that is thrown away.

It's impossible to quantify the exact level of loss through self checkouts as it just another area of unknown loss (and bear in mind there aren't zero losses through manned checkouts either) but the amount of food disposed of is very small these days.

Don't you believe that, that's all I'll say!

(I have personal experience - it's not 'very small')

 

[birchesgreen]

It's impossible to quantify the exact level of loss through self checkouts as it just another area of unknown loss (and bear in mind there aren't zero losses through manned checkouts either) but the amount of food disposed of is very small these days.

You are incorrect, though it does vary by chain, and even by store.

 

[py_megapixel]

Otherwise I don't know what to suggest, sorry

No it's fine... RailForums members have no particular duty to resolve my petty issues with supermarket shopping