Do you guys like self serve checkouts? Do you use them, do you scam them? I personally can't stand them, retailers are like it's convenience but I say having someone behind a checkout to serve me is convenience! Consumers already have to pack the trolley, pack it when they get to the car, then unpack it when you get home and now they want us to pack it at the checkout as well. Maybe there should be a discount for using them? I know for a fact coles bosses were like that's 6 fulltime staff I don't have to pay for in each store they apply
Do you use/like self serve checkouts?
TRENT86 on 18/12/2013 - 18:42
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I try not to use them as they mean less jobs for people.
The reason they are heaps quicker is that only two or three registers are open. Not because humans are slow or because machines are faster.
This. I try to keep up my sense of working class solidarity but often I succumb to convenience. Yeah I know everything is computerised out the back anyway.
Yes, granted there are less jobs for people. However, i'm pretty sure most people in check out jobs would rather be in a more productive and stimulating job. By having the self checkouts its merely forcing people into other less mundane fields of work.
Or onto welfare… Which isn't exactly cheap for tax payers
I would have thought so as well but after working overseas as a checkout dude I‘d say despite the repetitiveness it‘s more fun and less mundane in some ways because you can spend the day laughing and interacting with people (with no expectation to sell). Ironically, technology has created more mundane jobs by turning us all into computer operators and reducing the expectation of creativity or the need for social interactions with strangers. Soon enough most of us in Sydney won‘t need human interaction to recharge transport costs either. My only wish was that angry people were forbidden from customer service roles worldwide ;)
http://m.smh.com.au/national/public-service/the-modern-pheno…
There is always going to be demand for cashiers. Even in Germany, which is years ahead of us in shopping convenience still maintains conventional lines. Just as there will always be work for people restocking items, collecting trolleys, cleaning up, etc. Self-serve checkout is just another option.
The self serve are definitely forced on everyone. People are saying they use them because it's faster but faster would be for retailers to open their checkouts but they knew all along if we close our checkouts and keep only 1 or 2 open everyone will love the self serve!! And that's what's happened. My local coles had about 3 express staff on express lanes and about 3 or 4 on the big lanes before the self serve came in and now there is only ever 2 or 3 checkouts open out of 10.
Nope. They've never been forced on me, and I don't use them.
I`ve been asked in coles to use the self checkout, I politely declined much to the ladies bemusement.
In the early days at my Coles, the staff certainly used to ask me if I wanted to use them, but they haven't done that for quite a while now. Perhaps they remember that I don't want to.
I'm sure they were asked to encourage people at first.
Has anyone tried those new smart ATMs where you can put cash or cheques into your account or someone else's? I hadn't had a cheque in years and used one recently.
I work with them and love them! The fact that cash is in the account instantly is excellent - previously any ATM deposits would be manually processed so could take several hours to hit the account.
scan/weigh the stuff, chuck it all into bags, tap the your pay pass and you're off. brilliant. any hitches? just call over a helper and they swipe their card and finger some stuff on the screen and no problems. very quick.
How I wished my local aldi had these bad boys.
Actually Aldi checkouts scan so fast that you can't keep up with them bagging. The main problem with Aldi is the long queues because nearly everybody seems to be buying a cartful and they only have two or three lines max open.
I feel pressured to bag them quick at aldi, people stare at you like why is the line so long, hurry up, the person scanning has the easy job, bagging stuff properly how u like it takes time, everyone has waited 10m just to pay, it's a terrible experience to pay at aldi.
The solution if you're fast is to put them all in the cart and bag later. Another thing I do is leave bottles of drink inside the reusable bag so they scan one, hit the multiple button and give it to you.
One feature I've seen in Europe but not here is a swinging divider to allow two people to bag at the same time, but this requires more space at the checkout.
The solution could also be, have the person bag them too, instead of the customer feeling pressured to bag them, or carry them else where to bag.
Either that or self check outs, if aldi had self checkouts I'd consider shopping with them more
I think it's a cultural thing. People are just not used to it. It's very easy to "beat" he Aldi checkout person.
Aldi has long belts at the checkout … for a reason: You need to think upfront what to place where on the belt … it needs to be weight sorted. Heavy items like bottles, cans, square big packets go first - meat, eggs, bread, chips last. You can put some fresh produce in between (gives you some time to pack faster - they need to weigh it and it takes longer). You can then faster load the trolley after the item is scanned.
When you buy multiple items you only put one on the belt (right at the beginning - the rest of the items stays nicely sorted in the trolley). Fast!
You have no chance of putting it in a plastic bag - keep the speed up - you don't want that they have to hire more check out people! I pack everything in a big foldable plastic box at the car.
Only pay cash …. eftpos takes too long … and don't you dare to do a cash out (have the money ready before the last item is scanned.)
Ahh well … you see that I am from Germany … lots of years of Aldi shopping experience … :)
No, I`m not an employee. Treat me like the customer I am, here we are buying their products making them rich and they want us to scan our own shopping, I don't think so.
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I don't like them but I find myself using them sometimes.
Sometimes at Woolworths they don't have any regular checkouts open before 9am and I have to use the self serve. I think Woolworths have recently turned the weighing program back on as I've had several "bagging errors" in the last week or two.
I use the self serve at Coles if I only have a couple of items. My 4 year old loves scanning the shopping and taking the receipt out. She also goes looking for coins in the change slot.
I think I got some cheaper potatoes than usual once because I couldn't figure out how to select specific types of potatoes. I haven't used this trick on purpose though.
I like being able to reuse coupons although I didn't get to reuse the $10 off coupons that I ended up with recently as the staff members who got the coupons to work kept them after I had completed the transaction.
I much prefer them. I do small shops a few times per week and I feel I'm a lot faster and can pack things how I want. Also there are rarely queues and I hate small talk.
I like them because I can split payments and not feel like I'm holding people up or causing more work for the operator.
It's great for avoiding queues. Sometimes I see queues for the cash only ones but I prefer to pay with credit card and I rarely get more than a few items, so it's much faster than it used to be.
Post office self service is great too since hardly anyone seems to use them. The post office line can be out the door but no one using the self service machines. Unfortunately the auspost machines don't take paywave and if you sign for cc payment then you still need a staff member to verify it.
Hate it when… All the card only checkouts are empty and all the cash/card checkouts are full and someone (selfishly) uses a card in the cash side :/ I see it all the friggen time as I only have cash to use.
My experience is that cash takes longer to pay for than card…
Card you swipe and that's it.
With cash, they gotta fumble around for coins, unsuccessful in finding it, continue rummaging around their purse, notes get rejected a lot and they have to try again and again.
Or you pay with a 20 for 10 bucks worth of goods and its much quicker
Yes it's much quicker. 6 people can be served at once so you don't have to wait as long.
I use self serve checkouts whenever I can, and get annoyed when they're closed sometimes late at night at Coles.
- I generally buy one bag of groceries per visit (maximising the benefit to get fuel discount vouchers while only buying items on special).
- The line to the self serve checkouts is usually much shorter
- I don't need the empty 'hello, how are you today?' greeting from the bored staff member that's forced to say the same thing to 200 other customers that day.
Caveats:
- I hate it when someone blocks a self serve checkout by taking in a trolley load of groceries and they have absolutely no idea on how to efficiently use the service.
- Sometimes items refuse to scan. A recent example was nori wrapping for sushi that had the actual barcode incorrectly printed so it had no chance of scanning. Summon assistance… wait… wait… get the staff member over to key in the product code.
- Some checkouts have a real problem if the bag already has an item (Woolworth's systems chucks a fit, Coles' system requires the bag to be checked by a minion).
- The scales are sometimes inaccurate or refuse to weigh light items (packet of panadol).
For deity's sake, PLEASE do not take a full trolley load of groceries through self serve checkouts and proceed to fumble with every single item for 5 seconds before bagging it… and summoning help every time a bag is changed. These checkouts are designed for speedy access for a few items at a time. Learn how to use them efficiently.
Overall I think Bunnings' system works the best. There is no silly scale to satisfy and you can scan several items per second and get out of the store really quickly.
Petrol discount?
You do know that's a scam right?20c per litre for spending just 80$, plus paywave 5%, plus fb points, plus bonus offers on receipt. Some guys just wont learn how to research down on correct pump and maximize rewards.some are not bothered, they have too much money.
You get the Paywave 5% whether or not you shop at Coolies.
You can get 1000 points for doing the survey even if it's for one item.
That 20c often turns out to be less because the Shell/Caltex servos have jacked up the price compared to an indie. The other day Shell servos were selling at $1.57 while my local indie was at $1.41. Coles was having a 17c rebate. Coincidence?
Not all of us buy $80, or even $30, at higher prices. Not all of us burn a lot of petrol.
Not doubting that you can get some benefits but not everybody can and not as much as you claim.
The items I buy are almost always on special and the prices beat the local IGA/Foodland (there is no Costco/Aldi here). Yes, the groceries do subdisise the LPG purchase but in my case the savings are real and not a scam.
The price of LPG is within 2c/L across all service stations in my city, so it's not like Coles/Woolworths jack up prices to compensate for their fuel discount vouchers. And I know I can always use PayWave to grab another 2% off, unlike at most Mobil stations.
I'll need to use one very occasionally, and when i do, i have forgotten "EXACTLY" how they work, so , i am not going to be moving at light speed.
Between that and wrappings having the barcode underneath a flap of extra material, or somewhere where i need to find it first then scan it, i'm going to be slower than an average person.
I try my best to use the staff manned checkout as much as possible in an attempt to try to help them keep their job whilst it is still around as an option.. before the checkout chick goes the way of the dodo. It's probably my way to offset the ludicrous amounts of stuff i purchase over the internet.
Depends on the lines. There is usually less wait for the self serve so I use them if I only have a small amount of stuff. Also if my kids are with me I don't get a choice as they love doing the scanning etc!
However, I'm not that excited about the idea of them. They do leave it open for less honest people to steal and also take jobs away which is never a good thing in my book. What's wrong with more modest profits and more jobs for people?
Scanning Cherry as carrot :D
Just had another frustrating time at the self serve. Lots of bagging errors. The attendant helped me with the fresh fruit however and I learnt the quick code for bananas. Got to keep my coupons.
I love the self checkout, in fact, if I could do all my shopping without interacting with a fresh faced teenager who mumbles through their gratuity's or being annoyed by the hopeless milkmaids (http://tinyurl.com/k9zyk4c), terrible trolley drivers and general grocery store meanderer's I would be a very happy man.
If woolworths/coles didn't charge delivery from the online store, and I could see/confirm the expiry date of products on-line I would exclusively shop that way.
But for now, the self serve checkouts are great, except when complete numpties are trying to use them…if you aren't comfortable using them then wait at the normal checkout and allow those with the gift technological prowess continue towards the advancement of the human species. Its not rocket science, its a cash register.
They usually work for me, except when I have a lot of stuff or there's a scanning issue and the solitary staff member is busy or absent. So I try to use the automated checkouts when I only have a small, uncomplicated bunch of things to scan.
Bill Burr doesn't like automated checkouts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxINJzqzn4wAldi checkouts have trained me to be fast, so I often avoid staffed checkouts at other supermarkets because they're a lot more leisurely and I have to stand there doing nothing while my groceries are being slowly packed into bags which have to be double-handled into the trolley anyway.
Often when I go to NQR the operator insists on handing me all my shopping before letting me hand over my card even though I've got it my hand ready to go and it could process while I'm grabbing the shopping instead of doing one thing at a time and dragging it all out.
I'm not sure if self-serve checkouts at Aldi would speed things up much, they're pretty quick as they are and you don't have anyone not familiar with self-serve checkouts to slow you down.
they should REALLY LIMIT the amount of shopping items people can take to these self serves.
They are the easist thing to steal from in the world
Tips on how to use the Coles self-serve checkouts:
- Notice that there are 3 green lights right above the scanner. 3 green lights means you can scan. 5 red lights means you can't, usually because you haven't put the previous item in the bagging area
- Pressing the "I don't want to bag this item" button means you don't want to put the item you just scanned in the bagging area. If you press the button, then put it in the bag, you will get an "unexpected item in bagging area", so only press if you plan to put the item straight into the trolley (eg. a slab of Coke)
- Check to see if your fruit and veg have a barcode first. If they do, scan it instead of looking up item
- Check to see if your fruit and veg have a little sticker with numbers on them (usually on apples, oranges, etc). If so, it's easier to press "Key in code" then type the number in so you don't accidentally press the wrong variety of a fruit
- If your fruit or vegetable is charged by quantity and not weight, try to put all of the items in the bagging area at the same time. Eg. If you buy 2 mangoes and you put them in one at a time, the second one may become an "unexpected item".
- If your bagging area gets full and you want to take the bags off, wait until there are 3 green lights above the scanner. Remove your bags and wait 3 seconds for the 3 green lights to reappear. Don't press the "I removed item or bag" button because if you remove more than 3 bags, you will get a "non-bagging error" and you MUST wait for the self-serve assistant to scan their barcode for you to continue.
- Following from the previous point, say you were trying to rearrange something and put it in a bag but you lifted it up for more than 3 seconds. If you try and put it back, you will have "unexpected item" so just put whatever you lifted up back into your trolley
- If something is very light and its weight isn't recognised (eg. a card), just press the "I don't want to bag this item" button.
- If you get "I'm using my own bags" on the screen, it means you put something in the bagging area that shouldn't be there. Remove the last thing you put there. If that doesn't work, press the "I'm using my own bags" button, then when you get the error message, remove everything in the bagging area and you should be good to go.
- You can only get the following values of cashout on self-serve: $20, $40, $50, $70, $90, $100
- You cannot get cashout without buying anything at Coles self-serve (I think you can at Woolies)
- You can buy gift cards on self-serve
- Using the Tap and Go facility means you are paying via a Credit account. You cannot get cash out on a credit account. So even if you say you wanted cash, tapping will override you wanting the cash, so you must insert your card for cash out.
You cannot get cashout without buying anything at Coles self-serve (I think you can at Woolies).
Correct about Woolies. I use their checkouts as handy ATMs. I even enter by the exit when there are no people waiting to use a checkout station. Plus there's 50c rebate from IngDirect when you withdraw >= $200.
Thanks for the tips. The whole removing bags thing, and "I don't want to bag this item" thing are just plain annoying. Coles would make their checkouts far less annoying by removing those checks.
I prefer using a human. Youngsters / the Underclass need jobs and I don't like to pack my own bag.
"If you have a Flybuys Card, please scan it now."
"If you have a Flybuys Card, please scan it now."
"Unexpected item in Bagging Area."
"Please Wait for Assistance."
Never use, and never will, I like to be served by a person and keep them employed, I rather stand in que than use auto check out.
I pay a price for the product and service, if I'm going to use self-serv checkouts, then I want some sort of a discount.
I agree, we are in my opinion an employee whilst scanning so I want a wage.
I use them to avoid social interaction :(
forever alone :(
I use them to take the awkwardness out of buying Lubricant/small Condoms and tampons for my wife.
I recommend a gimp mask with a zip mouth, wear this and you will feel no shame buying these products…I don't.
Re: SCAMS
There are ways. Hanging around overseas backpackers in Sydney recently, I found their shopping at self-checkouts shocking. The bill came to about $100 lower on 1 docket I saw & there were the same number of items as in bags - so no theft. Ethically, I could not copy them, so won't post details. But I have been told by a regular scammer that detection seems very rare, and there was no penalty (other than full payment) as staff just indicated that a scanning error occurred & try again.Discussing this technology with a food industry person (in a Japanese hotel), he pointed out (untrained) users have not sighted nor agreed to T&C for self-scanning. (We do that to use many web sites or operate bank accounts.) Without that, his opinion was it would be hard to use more than in-store verbal coercion to 'encourage' correct use of these complex devices.
An important point, and easy to implement in the self-checkout queue with signage similar to that at the entrance to many car parks. (But as with many areas of unwanted financial loss, industries are afraid of making too big a deal about it, as it may alert the public to an opportunity!).
[Substitution & payment of say Scanning Cherry as carrot (by weight) is not theft but could be fraud, as a payment is made - just a lesser amount. Fraudulent intent may be hard to prove. It may have been an honest mistake in using unfamiliar technology.]
I think they've improved much from the earlier models that used to error every time I used one, but they're fast, less waiting time is always good, so I'm happy with them personally.
NEVER.
I'm surprised at the number of people that are anti self-checkout.
Just giving an alternative perspective on the "I use the human checkout to keep them employed" way of thinking (I worked at a supermarket for a number of years):
- When the store gets busy, people from a bunch of departments get called to open a checkout. This takes them away from their job of filling stock, ordering etc. resulting in less stock on show and more aggravated customers wondering why the store looks like shit. Plus more pressure on staff to get their actual job done.
- If you're going through human-checkouts, treat the checkout operator like a human. They've no doubt dealt with a hundred self-entitled, aggravated, ignorant jerkoff customers (who are probably more irate for having had to wait 2 minutes in the queue).
I'm not saying self-checkout is perfect for everyone; both methods have their advantages. Just don't be a dick about it.
My local IGA (no self-serves) is closing. I asked my favourite "check-out chick" what will become of her - unemployment! She has been working there for 15 years & I will miss her smiling face & the fact that she remembers her customers. The IGA could not cope with Coles opening in the Westfield, on top of the Wooies & Aldi. But the IGA staff always gave the best service.
(But I use self-service when queues are too long at the Big Boys & my basket small - its a choice.)I'm surprised at the number of people that are anti self-checkout.
When the store gets busy, people from a bunch of departments get called to open a checkout. This takes them away from their job of filling stock, ordering etc. resulting in less stock on show and more aggravated customers wondering why the store looks like shit. Plus more pressure on staff to get their actual job done.
So instead of spending tens of thousands on fandangled self serve checkouts they could actually employ another staff member or give more of their casuals some more hours and the problem will be fixed.
I love self-serve checkouts. Maybe it's because I do bachelor shopping (about one hand basket of food at a time), so I don't need a trolley, but it's so convenient. A store can fit about 6 of these kiosks into about the space of two conventional lines and the line always moves briskly. The people still reminiscing about Doris the checkout chick and demanding service sound like the Footloose dad.
I almost always use the self-checkouts except for when it's really busy because if the line at the express lane is similar then the express lane will always go faster especially if there are a few staff manning it.
Just be careful and check your expected change as the other day the self-checkout short changed me and it was only by chance that I noticed. Happily the girl didn't question me and simply got into the machine to check something (maybe the type of note I claimed to have put in) and she sorted it straight away. Bit scary though as usually I don't even look at the change (or cash out) and just chuck it in my wallet.
Unless I have heaps of items, I prefer to use self checkout.
It saves me having to deal with the majority of incompetent and rude staff.
Trained staff? yeah right. most of them are so slow and disinterested in what they do.
You should try going to a supermarket in SE Asia and compare their checkout register staff to here.
It's night and day as to how fast they are over there.I must be lucky. Most of the staff I've dealt with in my local Coles and Woolies are quite fast and friendly. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I usually shop at quiet times, when they're not so hassled. Or perhaps it's an Adelaide thing :)
Self serve are the best thing since sliced bread. Much faster and hassle free.
I hate using them for fresh produce. I don't know the difference between different tomatoes and limes.
Hi All,
I agree with all who dis-agree, Looks like to get to the bottom of prices including super-specials etc, quality of service is down as well, I would definitely say " Prices are down,Quality is Down,Stock on Shelves-down,to meet budget-Hours of Work-(down)(in another way cutting hours for fellow workers).Not sure if Salary of 2nd and 3rd level or big boss ( always UP)……….
not sure if that is calculated in financial budget for company or not…..I have been with Coles from 2006 onwards, but now a days,
-Customer Service Level is going Down and Down, its not due to team member, its due to reduce staffing level. so previously it was logo we can say " TWO is a Queue"Now a days, No matter what is queue if you want to finish your shopping early, you are tempted to use self checkout,
I have notice this in many suburbs where team member are very helpful but management is scrap.. Poor Customer service Examples , their are many stores but here are few.
I do not prefer as all this Self checkouts as it reduces the employment opportunities.
Not only in coles, if you go to Kmart chadstone. previously u can notice at least 5 team member working on checkout. now hardly 1-2 .
I usually use self-serve if I have a basket regardless if there's a regular checkout open (unless self-serve is busy). I kinda like packing my own bags
Love woolies one, hates coles one. Never need help 80% of the time with the woolies one but need help 80% of the time with the coles one. I think it's something to do with their scale (too sensitive?). I prefer click and collect though (yeah I'm a lazy-ish ass).
Never scam any product.
Yes <15 items or less.
Much fast.
Wow.
Such convenience.Do you guys like self serve checkouts?
Still never used one to this day.
I hate having pretend conversations with shop workers. No offence but I'd rather walk in, get my crap and walk out as quickly as possible without having to talk to anyone if I can help it.
I love self-service check-outs.
No I don't use them. I'd rather queue for a little while and then interact with another person. Plus I find it easier to let the checkout person do most of the work. I work full time so I'm pretty tired by the end of the day, both mentally and physically.
Also, I've never had a rude or slow checkout person at my local Coles/Safeway. And at Aldi they're mega quick. Maybe it's a location thing and also I shop at non-busy times usually quite late.
I forgot to add an important reason why I sometimes use the self serve:
I use them to get rid of my 5c coins. However this will better done on a machine that has a bucket for taking coins rather than coin slots. The machine does take some time to count the coins though.
I use it at my local coles. there is rarely a long queue.DUP
It amuses me that ozbargainers are the first to jump in and exploit a pricing error but scorn the guy who upgrades some damn tomatoes.
Tissues are in aisle 3.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q8xrncc182f1dg8/coles.JPG
This is what I hate about self checkouts
Lots of middle aged women with full shopping trolleys trying to use them, while on the phone at the same time.
With about 20 people queued up behind them…
I love the self check outs. My weekly shopping doesn't include much so i smash through the self serves instead of waiting in lines. If i have a trolly full of item though, i'll get the checkout chick to do it for me.
I'm a big fan of self-serve checkouts.
Wayyyy quicker and I'd rather be doing something than twiddling my thumbs while the checkout person scans and packs.
I just use those so that I don't have to talk to a human. But sometimes it stops working mid-way, the red light turns on and then I have to try hard to seek the clerk's attention with everyone looking at me, that makes it worse, and awkward.
The irony of this: I work at a small-ish supermarket that doesn't have self-serve, but I jump at the opportunity to use one when it's available elsewhere. I know how to scan my own shiz so I don't need someone else to do it.
I used one today & tried to pay 50c in coins. It took all the coins but only gave me 30c credit. I had to call the attendant over, & explain the story several times. She eventually opened up the machine, took out a 20c piece & put it through the slot again. Pain in the neck to have to go through a fuss to retrieve 20c. I asked her if this had happened to other people & she said it had. I told her I'd never add coins to their machines again after this experience. You feel like a twit trying to convince somebody their machine has ripped you off 20c.
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Where are pennies still accepted in Australia?