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Have supermarkets reached peak self-scan?
BBC ^ | Aug 25 | Emer Moreau

Posted on 08/25/2024 4:30:21 PM PDT by RandFan

After years of encouraging shoppers to scan their own groceries, some supermarkets are checking out a move back to traditional tills.

Asda said it would put more staff on checkouts, while Morrisons admitted it might have "gone too far" with self-scan. Northern upmarket chain Booths has got rid of them altogether.

The dreaded "unexpected item in the bagging area" announcement is among a list of customer complaints about self-service tills.

But some shoppers told the BBC they're happy to skip the queues and the chit chat if it speeds up their shop.

The debate over staffed versus unstaffed tills has continued to rumble on as the number of self-scan tills has increased over the past 20 years to some 80,000 in the UK.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
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To: ansel12

Walmart sells free delivery for an annual Walmart + fee, and then they badger you to pay the suggested 15 to 20% tip to the driver.

Out here in LaLa land the minimum tip is 18% even for just a pickup.


61 posted on 08/25/2024 5:26:19 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (The most expensive vehicle I drive, is my weekly grocery cart.)
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To: RandFan

I never use self service checkout. Don’t like them and feel good giving someone a job.


62 posted on 08/25/2024 5:26:46 PM PDT by McGruff (Are you better off than you were four years ago?)
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To: ansel12

Walmart sells free delivery for an annual Walmart + fee, and then they badger you to pay the suggested 15 to 20% tip to the driver.

Out here in LaLa land the minimum tip is 18% even for just a pickup.


63 posted on 08/25/2024 5:28:10 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (The most expensive vehicle I drive, is my weekly grocery cart.)
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To: Fuzz

I don’t want to be suckered, businesses need to run their own business and handle payroll on their own and without bothering me.


64 posted on 08/25/2024 5:28:19 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: 1_Rain_Drop

I’d be happy with 1% of my purchase being discounted.. I don’t mind the work. I’m sick and tired of cashiers and baggers that have no idea how to do their JOBS. Sick of it.


65 posted on 08/25/2024 5:29:24 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: bigbob

You and me.


66 posted on 08/25/2024 5:30:08 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: RandFan

I use self-scan if I HAVE to go into Walmart for anything - I really like ordering on-line and they bring it out to my car. Easy-Peasy. ‘Grocery shopping’ takes me about 45 minutes, round trip. I LOVE that.

My local Piggly Wiggly still does it the old fashioned way. I like their prices and markdowns and products but have to listen to one crazed Senior Cashier (she’s like 72, tats, grizzled smoker face, lots of rings, still WORKING at age 72!) rant about the EVILS of President Trump and the other kid (probably in his 30’s) talk incessantly about rock bands. *Rolleyes*

‘I love Mankind - it’s PEOPLE I can’t stand!’ (Quoting Linus, from Charlie Brown)


67 posted on 08/25/2024 5:32:11 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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To: RandFan

As a seasoned citizen, I much prefer self-checkout.


68 posted on 08/25/2024 5:35:36 PM PDT by newfreep ("There is no race problem...just a problem race")
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To: RandFan
Our Super Walmart just added more self scanners (with cameras) and changed how you enter the checkout area....complaints are enormous! Employees an customers alike hate it.
69 posted on 08/25/2024 5:37:04 PM PDT by caww (O death, when you seized my Lord, you lost your grip on me......)
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To: Coleus

“people cheat and steal.”

It is corrosive. People at the top are getting more blatant in stealing and lying. People coming across the border, not obeying the law and the law not being enforced. Elimination of cash bail. The crimes the establishment are concerned about is J6 and “disinformation”.


70 posted on 08/25/2024 5:42:13 PM PDT by alternatives?
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To: RandFan

i scanned about $300 of groceries while having a heated discussion with my teenager

i forgot to pay and was loading the groceries into my car when i realized i had not paid

no one noticed no one came after me

i went back into the store and explained to the manager

he said oh i canceled that sale so i would have to rescan everything


71 posted on 08/25/2024 5:43:12 PM PDT by joshua c
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To: ansel12

I don’t understand why you feel you’re being suckered by this service, but it also doesn’t effect me in the least.


72 posted on 08/25/2024 5:46:13 PM PDT by Fuzz
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To: HIDEK6

I stopped using paper plates when they exceeded $0.05.


73 posted on 08/25/2024 5:47:07 PM PDT by alternatives?
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To: Telepathic Intruder

They treat me like I’m a shoplifter. At least at one grocery store. The lady they have stationed there at self checkout, Mary, used to be a regular cashier, so I started going to self checkout to avoid her. They have reassigned her. Now she works at the self check out lanes. She’s a total dipshit, incompetent weirdo. You wouldn’t believe her idiosyncrasies, but she is a very nervous person. I’m guessing that she may actually be on the autism spectrum, but it’s hard to say because she’s older than I am, and there are very few people my age that are autistic. She is VERY annoying, and I try to be kind, sweet and forgiving person.

Because of HER, I have stopped shopping at that little chain grocery store in my town that has been a mainstay for years, before Walmart showed up. Walmart is the second closest grocery to me, so I have started going there more often. I’m so done with my little Kroger. I know there are 100 good people to her one, but she’s the one I interact with the most often, so sorry to Frank the butcher, Kristen the floral lady, Alicia the produce manager, Dale the dairy guy, and Greg the assistant manager. Mary has ruined my shopping experience with you.


74 posted on 08/25/2024 5:47:07 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
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To: OldHarbor

Sundays the worst day to shop Walmart IMO.....I go Tues .Wed. or Thurs. just so I don’t have to deal with the crowds.

However if you go during church hours it’s not quite as bad.


75 posted on 08/25/2024 5:48:58 PM PDT by caww (O death, when you seized my Lord, you lost your grip on me......)
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To: Fuzz

“The tip is worth it for me. I avoid the hassle, the travel, the gas, carrying everything from the car.”

We are charged for our order and a service to fill our monthly Costco order list and then having that order brought to our door in our carport.

It is worth not traveling, buying gas and then dealing with the other and often unhappy customers in our local Costco.


76 posted on 08/25/2024 5:51:54 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (The most expensive vehicle I drive, is my weekly grocery cart.)
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To: mass55th
I live in NY State. They don't allow the sale of liquor in grocery stores, only beer.

In California you can buy everything from beer to whiskey at the supermarkets 7 days a week.

But California also has liquor stores which perplexes me, especially since booze at a liquor store in California is quite a bit more expensive than it's priced at Vons or Walmart.

77 posted on 08/25/2024 5:52:25 PM PDT by Drew68
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To: alternatives?

I wait until end of season.....they slash the price.....so I load up then. Foam plates last time were a buck a stack of 50.


78 posted on 08/25/2024 5:53:11 PM PDT by caww (O death, when you seized my Lord, you lost your grip on me......)
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To: Grampa Dave

Agreed. The older and grumpier I get, the more I love it.

Avoiding large groups of annoying people is worth the tip and fees for me.


79 posted on 08/25/2024 5:55:34 PM PDT by Fuzz
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To: Fuzz

We haven’t been back to Walmart via the phone or computer
for 3+ years due to screw ups and just rude idiots.


80 posted on 08/25/2024 6:01:20 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (The most expensive vehicle I drive, is my weekly grocery cart.)
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