Are self-service tills too much bother?
EVER since ‘cost-saving’ self-service tills were introduced, I have been of the opinion that supermarket staff directing customers to use them are turkeys voting for Christmas.
Far from being quick and easy to use, as claimed, they cause hold-ups and confusion when they malfunction.
The only beneficiary of these devices are supermarkets: not having staffed checkouts means a lack of personal service and fewer wage packets to fill.
PETE WILLIAMS, Hayes, Middlesex. IF YOU are too stubborn to use a supermarket self-scanner, feel free to stand in a long queue at the till while I breeze past.
GEOFF LAIDLAW, Newcastle upon Tyne.
MY LOCAL Sainsbury’s opted for self-scan with fewer checkouts and long queues. I’m now doing my grocery shopping in markets, small independents and farm shops.
BARBARA LAKE, Rugby, Warks. I JOINED a short queue at the only manned supermarket checkout. A helpful assistant offered to take me through the self-checkout with my dozen items, but I refused politely. She expressed her annoyance, saying she had intended to put through my items for me. I told her it was not because I couldn’t process the items myself, but chose not to. Not all shoppers want to interact with machines. These innovations do nothing for the shopping experience. Self-checkouts are usually no faster than manned tills. If they were, staff wouldn’t be needed to assist.
JOHN BEKSA, chesterfield, Derbys.
I AM part of the generation who lived through the big technological advancement from manual typewriters and plug telephone exchanges to computers and smartphones. Yet so many people can’t get their heads around apps and the benefits of self-scanners when shopping.
It’s all so easy: what could be better than taking your time scanning your shopping and packing your bags as you go rather than loading a trolley, unloading it and then trying to pack your bags as the checkout assistant scans your shopping at lightning speed? None of this technology is difficult and, don’t worry, there are still people to chat to when you go to the supermarket.
MAGGIE NUNN, Bridport, Dorset.