Wow I hate self-serve checkouts.

[Deactivated] on 08/11/2017 - 21:48
Last edited 08/11/2017 - 22:02 by 1 other user

Shop opens til 10pm but if you're there any time past 7pm, you have to self-serve yourself or wait a few minutes for them to turn on a register…

This is one of the biggest shopping centres near me too.

Then I have to proceed to self-serve myself a whole shopping trolley full $100+… That's okay, it's relaxing.

But then the checkout chick who's meant to be on the registers comes up behind me and starts just watching me… (profanity) , I didn't want to self-serve.

Next time I'm just going to wait til they turn a register on.

[/rant]

Food & Grocery

Comments

    • belongsinforums on 11/11/2017 - 12:56
      -2

      oh looky here. mr bigshot woolcoles deal poster coming in defending woolcoles :P

    • belongsinforums on 13/11/2017 - 08:36
      +1

      geez people don't recognise sarcasm, even with emoji added

  • hedonistic on 11/11/2017 - 12:49
    +1

    at least the woolies ones work alright. the coles/kmart ones are absolute f ucking garbage. i hate those pieces of s hit with a passion

    • decr on 11/11/2017 - 14:12
      +1

      Care to elaborate on that? While not the best user experience but still better than queuing for a small purchase on a normal checkout or an "express" one.

      • hedonistic on 11/11/2017 - 16:05
        +1

        the coles group ones are very slow and are very buggy with the whole "place item in bagging area". half the times it doesnt recognise the item and it takes forever to actually scan all your iteams. its extremely frustrating. the woolies ones at least are pretty seamless to use, and they seem to have regular upgrades with the software. the coles group ones have the same software from a few years ago.

        • Soluble on 11/11/2017 - 17:26
          +1

          I have the opposite result, the woolies/big W ones lag way behind. They are frustratingly slow to click through! Also I don't know when the last time you used a Coles one, but the place item in the bagging area hasn't been an issue for 2 years as opposed to the woolies ones.

        • decr on 12/11/2017 - 07:07

          @Soluble: same here, I don't think I have ever had an issue with the bagging area thing.

        • hedonistic on 12/11/2017 - 15:45

          @Soluble:

          wow that's interesting that we've had the exact opposite experience. i used one about 2 weeks ago, and it was exactly the same as the ones i've used 2 years ago.

          i've noticed that woolies have been doing major upgrades to their stores in my area and this included the self checkout upgrades

  • Dogsab on 11/11/2017 - 14:27
    +23

    I spent five years working as a self checkout attendant and the attitude displayed by some people on this thread is pretty rich.

    Yes, for you the introduction of self checkouts may be an inconvenience but for the workers who have to deal with people telling them that we are treating them like thieves when we are just doing our jobs gets old pretty quickly. It may seem like polishing a pole is an irrelevant task, and I agree, but these are the sort of ridiculous jobs that we are given during extended trading hours as it is often so quiet and the tasks we can do are limited to the general vicinity of the self checkout area.

    We have to be constantly engaged in some sort of task otherwise the regional managers cut staff because one staff member was 'standing around doing nothing.' Do you think that staff member actually wants to be polishing a pole?

    Self checkout is also one of the more difficult areas of the store because:
    A) you have to listen and engage with people who complain to you about not having more checkouts open (there should be at least one open at all times I give you that) when it is so bloody outside of your control. If you want something to change don't complain to the staff member at self checkout on $18/hr who has no sway in budgeting constraints or the roster, go to the service counter and ask to speak to the manager on duty or better yet write a letter to head office. Trust me, fielding these sorts of complaints is as annoying for the staff member as the customer because it reminds the staff member how little control they have over being the verbal punching bag of customers due to higher level management's own greed.

    B) you have to serve 6+ people at once, and before the machines got a bit more user friendly most customers had at least one enquiry per transaction. You also have to deal with people yelling 'excuse me' at you while you are clearly already engaged with another customer. Excuse me isn't a bandaid for being impolite.

    C) people seem to have the attitude that it's ok to steal because they're serving themselves. No.

    It really frustrates me that this poor employee has been called dumb for no reason at all. The office job I now work is a hell of a lot easier/more enjoyable/more benefits than watching other people shop for 8 hours at a time.

    Not expecting a whole lot of support for this post but if you're not stealing you have nothing to worry about. Get over yourself we don't care if you're buying condoms or lube, we have more important things going on in our life.

    • jlogic on 11/11/2017 - 16:45
      +2

      You need to take the above and feed that back to your superiors… if they don't listen then stiff. Work with it.

      If people call you dumb then thats wrong.

      • Dogsab on 13/11/2017 - 11:47
        +2

        I've had people grab me by the front of my blouse and shakd me and yell at me (because they didn't want to (or refused to see the) queue at christmas), call me a c**** and tell me that I've personally ruined their 4-year-olds christmas because I denied them entry into the store 15 minutes after we closed at 9pm on Christmas Eve. I've also had a parent allow their 5 year old child to smack me across the face from the trolley seat and not even apologise for it.

        You truly don't meet the low life scum of the world until you work in retail and/or hospitality and it teaches you a hell of a lot of humility and gratitude, especially when you are finally able to escape it.

        Unfortunately for the managers within the store there's not a whole heap a lot of them can do (although they could probably have a bit more backbone and stand up for their staff a bit more) as it is mainly pressures coming from the state or area head office and managers are require to try and meet budgets that are completely ridiculous. Fortunately, the store I was at had a very supportive environment and we all stuck together through all the bs.

        • jlogic on 14/11/2017 - 08:26

          Now that is stupid… people shouldn't need to deal with that shit. Understand if management had their hand tied due to whatever, but they really need to get security involved to remove those tossers from the store.

    • Savas on 11/11/2017 - 17:17
      +5

      I never use the self serve checkout to help support jobs

      • Tony76 on 12/11/2017 - 22:35

        I'm with you. I don't like the idea of mechanising jobs, it's happened in my industry (manufacturing - bye bye Aussie car industry, along with tens of thousands of jobs) and I don't want to see it happen any more.

        I was powerless to stop it happening with the car industry (I can't afford a $30000 car every few years) but I sure as hell can afford a few minutes of my time to wait for a checkout to open.

        If you all get on board they'll close the self checkout area because the only ones using it will be thieves.

        One of my favourite sayings comes to mind.

        "No single raindrop thinks that it is responsible for the flood".

        • ssyl9 on 13/11/2017 - 14:32
          +3

          I don't like the idea of mechanising jobs

          By this thinking we should then

          never use ATMs, who took away the jobs of many bank tellers

          never use drinking machines in hungry jacks/subways/ikea or other restaurants who took away jobs of those waiter/tresses

          never use self check in for airports as it take away jobs from the ground staff in airports.

          Machine is here to stay unfortunately whether you like it or not. People who loses jobs to machines is just how economic works. Why should a company employ a human who asks for benefits/complains/gets sick/strikes if they can just employ a machine to do the same job?

        • Tony76 on 13/11/2017 - 14:33
          +2

          @ssyl9:

          One battle at a time.

        • Quantumcat on 14/11/2017 - 08:18

          @Tony76: read about the Luddites

        • Tony76 on 14/11/2017 - 14:26
          +1

          @ssyl9:

          Why should a company employ a human who asks for benefits/complains/gets sick/strikes if they can just employ a machine to do the same job?

          You have only listed the negatives of employing humans. Being able to think for themselves and being able to put money back into the community are two positives I can think of.

          I worry about the future if this is the attitude of people.

        • Tony76 on 14/11/2017 - 14:28
          +1

          @Quantumcat:

          Exactly, now their work is being done for 0.000001c per garment in Bangladesh. I couldn't agree with you more, although I don't think we should be trashing the self serve checkouts. Boycotting them would be a good start though.

        • eug on 14/11/2017 - 15:11
          +1

          @Tony76:

          I worry about the future if this is the attitude of people.

          Should we never have gotten rid of servo attendants? Lift operators? Textile weavers? Packaging/bottling staff at factories? How did being able to think for themselves helped the person pressing buttons in a lift, or filling jars with pineapples?

          Machinery relieves humans of tedious, repetitive jobs. There are other jobs that are more fulfilling to the worker than serving customers at a checkout all day. Freeing up humans from repetitive manual labor has only brought benefit to humans - that's the whole Industrial Revolution thing.

          Society didn't fall apart when petrol attendants lost their jobs, train conductors were replaced with ticket machines, or when tea ladies were replaced by Birko urns or ZIP taps. Jobs will always go as society progresses. It has been happening for centuries and will continue to happen.

        • Tony76 on 14/11/2017 - 19:38
          +1

          @eug:

          Machinery relieves humans of tedious, repetitive jobs.

          Yes, but don't forget you're paying to shop there. The corporations are shifting the paid job of scanning items on to you, the paying customer.

          If they offered a discount for doing so, at least I'd understand it, but they are offloading the job to you with no compensation or discount. Are you happy to be doing this work for free? As soon as you do, you have devalued someones job. It's all part of the problem, and perhaps you won't open your eyes to it until all the supermarkets use RFID and you'll walk through and it will automatically take payment from your NFC chip, and there's only one bored security guard in the place….and no other jobs there. Where will the low skilled workers make their money?

        • eug on 14/11/2017 - 19:43

          @Tony76:

          Yes, but don't forget you're paying to shop there.

          Hmm? No, I'm paying to buy items. I'm not going there for the shopping experience, I'm going there to get something I want and get out.

          If they offered a discount for doing so, at least I'd understand it, but they are offloading the job to you with no compensation or discount.

          You're probably aware that staffing costs are a very large part of a business' overheads. If they had to hire more staff, or their staff wages increases after industrial action or something, their overheads would increase. Who do you think will end up paying for that increase?

        • Tony76 on 14/11/2017 - 22:10

          @eug:

          If they had to hire more staff…

          They'd have the staff already had they not sacked them to make way for the self serve checkouts.

          Look pal, I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree. You seem like an idealistic kid fresh out of uni with an economics degree, I'm a 42 year old bloke who has seen unemployment more than enough times than I'd like, and I'm worried about where my 2 young girls first jobs are going to be. Maybe you can offer them a job because they certainly won't be checkout chicks…you'll have made sure of that!

        • eug on 15/11/2017 - 00:35

          @Tony76:

          I'm a 42 year old bloke who has seen unemployment more than enough times than I'd like,

          Sorry to hear that, but that could be why you have a more pessimistic view. Different people have different experiences, so they will see things differently. However it's important to keep in mind that the world isn't just what you experience within your bubble. There's a whole other world outside your social circle.

          Maybe you can offer them a job because they certainly won't be checkout chicks…you'll have made sure of that!

          Do you drive a car? If so, you're the reason why horse carriage drivers lost their jobs.

          Do you use a myki card? What about those poor train conductors who lost their jobs? Are you going to offer them a job?

          Do you buy plane tickets online? If so, maybe you can offer tour agents a job as you would have made sure they lost theirs.

          Progress is inevitable. At the end of the day, society benefits from it.

        • Tony76 on 15/11/2017 - 06:58

          @eug:

          Progress is inevitable. At the end of the day, society benefits from it.

          This isn't progress, and noone, apart from the supermarkets bottom line, has benefitted from the introduction of self serve checkouts. It's not progress, it's a backwards step, however you seem intent on having the last word, and I'm bored by your short sighted attitude. May you have a long and prosperous career, one that is not touched by the introduction of labour reducing technology.

        • eug on 15/11/2017 - 07:46

          @Tony76:

          one that is not touched by the introduction of labour reducing technology.

          Just like cars, petrol station self serve, train ticket machines, and computers? All of them contributed to a loss of jobs when they were introduced, and now you yourself use them without even thinking twice about it. What a "short-sighted attitude" you have there.

        • Tony76 on 15/11/2017 - 08:14

          @eug:

          There is a fundamental flaw in your argument.

          We still have a choice with self serve checkouts. I choose to at least try and save a few jobs. You are resigned to taking the path of least resistance, and yet conversely have much time to argue about it on an internet forum. Some people talk, and some people do.

        • eug on 15/11/2017 - 08:38

          @Tony76:

          We still have a choice with self serve checkouts. I choose to at least try and save a few jobs.

          Have you ever used an ATM? Why? Why don't you go into your bank and withdraw money over the counter instead? ATMs only serve the bank's bottom line - they should be simply opening more branches everywhere and hiring more staff to dispense cash over the counter. Instead, they opt for the cheaper solution - installing ATMs. Banks have such a short-sighted attitude.

          You can buy train tickets over the counter in major stations. Do you? Why not? You have a choice not to use myki cards which took away jobs from train conductors. Did you just sit back and accept it? Was that the path of least resistance? Did you lead the charge to go against such labour-reducing technology?

          and yet conversely have much time to argue about it on an internet forum

          You realise you're doing it too, right? :)

        • pennypincher98 on 15/11/2017 - 08:48

          @eug: In NSW you have to use an Opal card, presumably same as a myki card. The people selling tickets lose jobs yes (although they have their station shop), but the damn machines of all kinds are going wrong all the time its an increase in jobs to fix them there.

          But good points, I agree.

        • Tony76 on 15/11/2017 - 09:54

          @eug:

          You are very tiresome in the way you ask me questions and then answer them for me, when you don't even know me, as well as using pathetic straw man arguments to strengthen your paper thin posit. You have raised ridiculous counter arguments such as horse carraige riders losing their jobs! What that has to do with supporting checkout chicks is anyone's guess.

          I have already made my position on self serve checkouts clear. If you want to be apathetic and lazy, that's entirely your perogative. One thing life has taught me - never argue with an idiot - they'll always beat you with experience :)

        • eug on 15/11/2017 - 10:50

          @Tony76:

          One thing life has taught me - never argue with an idiot - they'll always beat you with experience :)

          Damnit, I have no response to that. You beat me. :(

        • Tony76 on 15/11/2017 - 11:49
          -1

          @eug:

          Finally, some peace.

          Now, who's going to boycott the self serve checkouts? It only takes a few minutes of your time, and it can save peoples jobs, despite arguments to the contrary. Do it for the kids! Won't somebody think of the children?

        • joungs on 16/11/2017 - 23:40

          @ssyl9:
          ATMs add convenience, can have a lot more ATMs than bank locations. Again with the drink dispensers they were for convenience, no one was employed just to fill up drinks at Macca's it just saves the employees some time. Meanwhile at Woolworths people do just work on checkouts so are being replaced.

        • eug on 17/11/2017 - 00:08

          @joungs:

          ATMs add convenience, can have a lot more ATMs than bank locations.

          Self-checkouts add convenience, you can have a lot more self-checkouts than manual checkouts.

          For people with large trolley-loads, I can definitely understand why they'd prefer a manual checkout, so a number of manual checkouts should stay. But for people with fewer items, I think it's more convenient to have a bank of 25 self checkouts rather than 5 manual checkouts filled with people buying trolley-loads. I really miss self checkouts whenever I go to ALDI to pick up 1 or 2 items and have to wait ages for the bigger shoppers in front of me to unload their full trolleys.

          Again with the drink dispensers they were for convenience, no one was employed just to fill up drinks at Macca's it just saves the employees some time.

          The self-serve drink dispensers are only found in places where you can have unlimited refills. It wouldn't make sense to offer unlimited refills but require every single person to potentially spend minutes standing in line each time they wanted a refill, making the queue longer which would annoy customers who want to spend money.

  • Soluble on 11/11/2017 - 17:18

    I actually get annoyed when I can't use the self serve between 6 and 8 because they're not open.

  • sillyguy on 11/11/2017 - 18:01
    +2

    Better get served from the chick than self serve hey ;)

  • firedragon on 11/11/2017 - 19:15
    +1

    I don't mind self serve checkouts. That way, I get enough bags and don't end up with vegies and meat in the same bag or something.

    • dm01 on 11/11/2017 - 23:22
      +1

      Meat and veg fraternising in the bag…nothing worse…

      • silverrat23 on 12/11/2017 - 15:02
        +3

        Ahem, I've got one worse;

        Hot Roast Chicken and Ice Cream.

        • dm01 on 12/11/2017 - 15:10
          +3

          I stand (well, sit) corrected.

        • eug on 12/11/2017 - 18:23
          +1

          @dm01: I've had rat poison packed in the same bag as my foodstuff before.

        • dm01 on 12/11/2017 - 19:40

          @eug: Ugh….who wants food-flavoured poison….no thanks!

        • eug on 12/11/2017 - 19:45
          +1

          @dm01: Hmm, maybe the guy was trying to make the rat poison more effective by making it taste like food. I should have thanked him!

        • dm01 on 12/11/2017 - 23:52

          @eug: Maybe he just wasn't thinking…too busy daydreaming about polishing the metal poles.

        • eug on 12/11/2017 - 23:55

          @dm01: Good point. Maybe I should have waited till after his shift.

        • dm01 on 13/11/2017 - 10:39

          @eug: Maybe he was born with it…or Maybe It's Maybelline.

  • PVA on 11/11/2017 - 22:24

    Wait till they open a register. I'm not using a self checkout on eBay ever ( or as long as I can)

  • Steven Reece Lewis on 12/11/2017 - 09:08
    +1

    I'd rather they just employ more people and give them jobs then use these silly self serve checkouts

    • jlogic on 12/11/2017 - 10:33
      +2

      Considering the $1.1b of stolen goods taken from the self service.

    • [Deactivated] on 13/11/2017 - 09:24

      the kids don't like manning the cash registers. coles have hired more employees since they introduced self serve checkouts. most of the work is done out back, not on the shop floor.

  • Scab on 12/11/2017 - 13:57
    +1

    I love self serve checkouts, everything scans as carrots.

  • bloobat on 12/11/2017 - 17:24
    -5

    I don't get people on about the scales etc. Here in Sydney the woolies and coles I've been to dont have any weight system and you can literally watch these Asians shamelessly stealing loads of stuff.

    Trollies full with final sum of 10 bucks… Not suspect at all. They need to enforce the 10 item baskets only rule properly.

    Imo they need to introduce tighter security in shops as it's a bit of a joke, these thieves are why everything costs so much in the first place.

    • Steven Reece Lewis on 12/11/2017 - 17:43

      Nah, they sacked all the staff to keep the item prices down. Everything is in balance.

      I for one like the idea of security guards following me around wollies and looking over my shoulder at the checkout.

      I think you're right. They shouldn't do away with the self serves and get more staff. They should spend a bunch of money on treating the customers like criminals with extra security

  • Pinchy on 12/11/2017 - 19:14

    Its opposite at my Coles. They shut the self serve and only have registers open.

    • cdaddy on 12/11/2017 - 21:09

      Same. Only the two registers either side of the tobacco/mobile counter are open late

    • dbun1 on 13/11/2017 - 10:31

      Yep - jumped in to say the same thing.

  • FatBlanket on 12/11/2017 - 22:40
    +3

    Self serve is good, but slightly humiliating when I don't know what potato I've bought or what the big white carrot I'm holding is called.

    • silverrat23 on 13/11/2017 - 21:07

      when I don't know what potato I've bought

      If it's covered in dirt, it's Brushed.
      If it's clean and white, it's Creme Gold.
      If it's massive and has weird shapes, it's Sweet.

      or what the big white carrot I'm holding is called.

      That's a Parsnip. Or a strangely-coloured carrot.

  • shaiguy on 12/11/2017 - 22:47
    +1

    Can understand in a way why stores have them. What is the wage for someone at a checkout late at nights and on weekends? I know my friend who has a cafe always tosses up whether to open up on a Sunday when you're paying $39/hr (including loading). I know supermarkets are large businesses but late at night when they have to pay loading then say the wages really eats into their profits (supermarket margins are very low).

  • Cleremy on 13/11/2017 - 00:00

    I feel your pain, after being too ambitious at the self-serve checkout too many times I got tired of having about three lots of people come and go while I bring more and more attention to myself from the staff member monitoring the checkout area the longer I stay there.

    Now I discipline myself to doing smaller shops (for me this is tough). I've never understood people who make the effort to go to a supermarket but buy less than three items, then act impatient when they have to queue up behind your 100+ worth of items.

    I find supermarkets highly anxiety-causing so self-serve checkouts at least take some of the pressure of having to go through the checkout (think opening scene of Midnight Express to get an idea of the amount of anxiety a checkout can create for me under the wrong circumstances). But provided I limit myself to one bagful of groceries, otherwise it's worse in ways and takes longer than a "full service" checkout.

  • shortgum on 13/11/2017 - 01:59

    Yeh!. Those new Woolies checkout machines is ever harder to press every buttons accurately. Time waste!

  • jacross on 13/11/2017 - 09:08

    It seems to me your anger is misplaced. You should hate self-serve checkouts, you should hate that the supermarket doesn't keep one manned checkout open at all times.

    I LOVE self serve checkouts but I also hate that the supermarket doesn't keep one checkout open at all times. We share that hate.

  • Trying2SaveABuck on 13/11/2017 - 10:39
    +1

    Since they change the scaling mechanism it has been shit it should just let you scan you items and not worry about bagging and all that BS.

    If it is to prevent theft then they really shouldn't have self check out in the 1st place

  • Jackkkkkk on 13/11/2017 - 14:19

    Just pretend you don't know how to self serve and get the attendant to do it and watch them like a hawk pretending to learn ;)

  • grabngo on 13/11/2017 - 16:32
    +1

    well I will be damned.
    I will not use the self check outs until I get 10 percent minimum discount on my shop

    • silverrat23 on 13/11/2017 - 21:08

      We'll be waiting a while then.

  • mxlegend99 on 14/11/2017 - 06:09

    I like the self serve checkouts as an option. But I have 2 issues with them:

    The first - self serve checkouts usually mean there's only one register open most of the time and if youre using a trolley doing a $50+ shop with 13+ items youre not supposed to use self serve… but if theres a few people with full trolley loads you can be stuck waiting a while when theres half a dozen unused self serve machines

    The second - the scales in bagging area. I used to have an easy time at my local Coles until one day they activated the scales. It slows down the process while trying to rush you.

  • reon on 21/11/2017 - 17:24
    -2

    why? self serve is best! i can buy imperial mandarin with the price of orange!

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