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Self Serve or a Manned Till?

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Do you prefer using self serve or a manned till?

Booth has announced it is axing most of it's self serve tills and having more staffed checkouts.

SamGoodship
a year ago
What do you think of this?+20 points
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Jackscot

We use any of them

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PhilipMarc

If they expect me to work for free then I'll leave the store.

Plus, those darn machines always run into problems and make you wait for a *human* employee to fix it. So much for everything being handled by robots. 🙄

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jms19

I used to always use self serve as I usually only have a small number of items and don’t want to take my headphones out.

I’ve noticed recently though that people are taking full trolleys through which is causing problems.

Worse than that, a lot of supermarkets near me have put those gates in which a staff member has to open. I’ve waited numerous times whilst they have a chat with their colleagues

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SamGoodship
LD Team

jms19 some supermarkets have a self serve section for baskets and another one for trolleys which is helpful!

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jms19

SamGoodship yeah i’ve seen that and it seems to work well. The normal self serve is supposed to be for people with a few items not those with a massive trolley filled with stuff. It just creates a delay for everyone cause there isn’t enough space for all the items on the packaging area

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Hana12

Manned till but because thee stupid shops have 2 tills I am forced to use self services if I have a small amount of shopping but still have to wait ages as alot of the time you run into an issue 🥴

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JLouM

I prefer manned for a medium shop but I will use self service in a rush or if I’m only buying a few products but I don’t like them. I always have to call over a staff member anyway as there is always a problem with the machine. Then I get all pennies for change - which is NOT convenient!

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jam45

JLouM It has be a manned till for me because I cannot get the money off vouchers to work if I use a self served till.

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SamGoodship
LD Team

jam45 If you have vouchers, it's definitely easy to use a manned till.

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Pjran

I like the self scan because you place your shopping in your bags as you go. No need to unpack the trolley and repack everything.

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eyeballkerry

Pjran I am totally with you on this one and what I like you can scan the goods and see the correct price, so many times the price shown on the shelf is wrong or in the wrong place.

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Pjran

eyeballkerry I prefer self scan so you can pack as you go.

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Mango4

Self scan for me, or if I can Scan and shop, items straight into the bag. I remember back when all the tills were manned, in my local Morrisons had about 26 till, never more than half open even at busy times

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Imnotcheap

I'm usually in a hurry so use scan and go but nightmare if things go wrong

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SamGoodship
LD Team

Imnotcheap I wish Morrisons had a scan and go in my store!

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Imnotcheap

SamGoodship it does seem strange that they haven't as the other big supermarkets do. They can be very handy to check the price of items too.

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Jerseydrew

Self service as j hate people

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SamGoodship
LD Team

Jerseydrew That's very honest lol

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MelissaLee1

Staffed check outs and flesh and blood staff on decent wages.The sell serve tills invariably go wrong for me anyway. Image

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SalmaS

Self scan. As I don't need to interact with others and feel like I get done faster.

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comriegold

It's the poor staff manning them. The exception on them is unattainable

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comriegold

Customers need choice. Not to have supermarket cutbacks affecting the purchase experience

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SueWard

I was always concerned that the self service machine would put check out staff out of a job.For this reason I always use the check outs where there is a member of staff.

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Caggie

Always self serve, I much prefer them.

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martinlufc5637

Absolutely manned, used self checkout a few times and always issues

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coupons12a

Depends on which queue is shortest

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Nadiaparveen

Self serve save me a lot of time and I am an introvert so I love the not having to make small talk with a person lol

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didbygraham

I hate using self serve and will only use it if in a real hurry of the manned tills have really long queues. My local Asda has 5 manned tills left - but its rare to find more than two open at the same time, and often its only one till - with a lot of people waiting. Really annoys me but I will wait.

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slightfoot

Prefer manned tills when possible but they are getting less and less

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janphoenix51

I prefer to have someone serve me but my partner & our daughter don't mind the Self Service tills...

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tumblespots

I much prefer the manned tills as :-

I can't keep twisting from left to right to pick things up, scan them and put them down on the other side

I'm not paid to be a cashier

The self service till invariably has to call for a real person anyway

I think that they are unhygienic

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jam45

tumblespots Disagree with you concerning the self service till being unhygienic. The cashier is the unhygienic one - touching their hair, biting their nails, coughing into their hands and serving me!

I mainly use the self service tills for fruits and vegetables.

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tumblespots

jam45 You have a very good point. I had been thinking from the angle of how many people have touched the screen before me but yes, cashiers can have 'odd' habits too and then they touch every item in your shop! I will have to reconsider which till I prefer now 🥴

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jam45

tumblespots I'm glad you will reconsider using the self-service tills. Yesterday in my local Iceland store, the cashier did all the above while waiting for the customer before me to pay by card!!

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tumblespots

jam45 I think perhaps the way forward is for me to wear plastic disposable gloves and use the self service till, then I am protected from the germs others have deposited on the screen 👍

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Gromit22

I use manned tills to keep people in work. I also don’t go into McDonald’s and cook my own burger and I don’t see why I should scan my own shopping - same principle.

Self scan and scan and go also encourages shop lifting which the rest of us ultimately pay for- it’s certainly not the shareholders of these stores. My local Asda loses £800K a year due to theft and last week I was told only that morning, a full trolley went through scan and go without being paid for!

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jigsawx3x

Manned tills for me keep the staff in a job the self service till are a waste of time always have to call a member of staff to authorise something

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sallylester1

I must say I like to use both. It depends on how much time I have to where I check out. I am definitely one if those people that like a chat at the till. The public forget these are human beings sat behind the till doing their job , nice to pass the time of day with them.

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KAW18

Manned tills are best. Hate the self serve ones never work right so frustrating and take longer. The unexpected item in your baggage area is irritating to say the least. Really bad if you have lots of items too as have to try and balance everything on top of each other. It's ridiculous!

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SueWard

As of now, there are approximately 12 members supporting manned tills and the rest self scan.I think manned tills have the edge.I quite like a friendly chart with the checkout staff but I suppose it depends on what sort of person you are if you don't like too much interaction.

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Midnightflower

I think having both is best, self service for quicks shops buying a few items but also manned tills for bigger shops and for people that don't like them.

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SamGoodship
LD Team

Thanks for your responses, it's interesting to hear everyones opinions 🙂

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nadinegregg70

Manned till every time. If you make a mistake at the self sevice till, you have to wait for a person to sort it, so basically you're using both. Plus sometimes you get a helpful cashier who also helps you pack. Win win.

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chlobo85

I have huge anxiety so for me personally self service means I don't have to communicate lol each to their own I think there should always be a few self serve in shops. But not go completely self serve

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Deleted87328

Self Serves In most places ,Some store don’t have any then we have to buy from the till 😊🙏🏻

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Insight

Self scan for a small shop, manned for a large shop. I like self service when it works, but it can be frustrating when it doesn't (and it often doesn't or comes up with a issue).

I suspect the Amazon model I've heard about will become the standard, where everything is scanned automatically and you're charged after leaving.

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