I see Yeading Tesco now has a self scanner area. So far not seen anyone using it. The Mrs has said she saw one person in there and they were still in there after she'd been round the store and paid via normal checkout.

I have so far refused to use the self service checkouts both on principle and also on the basis that I've seen others struggling:

"Please remove the bag"
"Please wait for an assistant"
"Please remove the last item"
etc


If this scanner system is anything like Safeway trialled some years ago then forget it. Yhe Safeway system was that you scanned your own goods and then you paid what the scanner said you owed.
To help stop people 'accidentally' not scanning goods they stopped people at random and pushed them through a proper checkout as a double check.

So you've gone round doing their job, you've entered and used the scanner dock only to be told it won't accept your scans and you must go, with scanner, to a proper checkout for confirmation.

The Safeway trial ended in it being removed as at the end of the trial no one was using it due to frustration.

With all the profit they're making what's wrong with paying staff at normal checkouts ?

If it ain't broke .....................

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Lets be careful out there !

All part of the drive to mechanisation. All those till operators cost money you know.

Savings are to be made if they can train the serfs to do it themselves.

Today it may be the simple till operators job but tomorrow it may be yours. Refuse to use them out of principle.

There used in a lot of stores on this side of the pond. Mainly in DIY stores and grocery stores. They are handy if you only have one or two items. At least you are not standing in a line, while the cashier is nattering to the customer in front.

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Posts often deleted................Why? I don't know.

I did notice on Sunday that the queue for the 10 items or less was considerably longer now they've removed some of them to make room for the scanner area.

The only way I would ever use the scanners (and do their job) is if they gave me a compatible discount for my services.

I wonder how many scanners will be 'accidentally' dropped ?


I've had a few instances in Tesco:

I've had a request to take my trolley to the 10 item queue when I'm third in the cashier queue and therefore breaking Tesco's quote about more than 2 in the queue and they will open another checkout. I've stated that I will if they come with me to fend off the ones who join the queue after me and start moaning I'm in the wrong queue = they walk away.

I've been asked to go to the self checkout area (same reason as above) to which I tell them I'm not very clever and I'll need from start to finish = they walk away.

I've been in there with one bag and half a dozen items or less and asked if I need any help with packing

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Lets be careful out there !

I used to work in Paddington ner to where Tescos built a small (Metro?) supermarket in a new office development. They would often have two members of staff helping people on about 4 x self service tills, while the 2 x old fashioned tills were unmanned, thereby forcing you to use the self service area.

I refused one day and asked for a member of staff to man a till and serve me. She explained it was a management directive to 'educate' shoppers

Call me old fashioned, but if I want educating I'll join the OU. Its customer service I want from a supermarket or I will go elsewhere. In fact I did, and stopped using this Tesco shop.

My usual ploy if they start to get forceful is to explain that I haven't got my glasses with me and I can't make out what I'm doing so I need some assistance.

B&Q isn't too bad as I never get that much since they stopped giving out carrier bags (their loss).
I'm always needing an assistant to check that I'm over 18, then when they walk away I scan my B&Q club card and that sets the alarm off again as they have to approve it

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Lets be careful out there !

So you prob go to B & Q on a Wednesday, Kremmen?

Really annoys me when I go into the bank and there is a que and 2 of the 5 available windows are open.

Only reason I ever go into the bank is to pay money in, everything else I can and will do online, hell if I could somehow pay cash in online I would do so.

Banks today of course have self deposit drawers and they will send a member of staff down the que (who could be sat at the counter) to 'encourage' people to use the deposit drawer.

Some time ago I was in a hurry and did so. Put the bank notes in the envelope and wrote the amount on the paying in slip and popped that in. Turned out a day later they reckoned it was £20.00 short. It may well have been but if it had gone across the counter I would have watched the cashier count it and would have been happy when it was pointed out.

Of course no argument no comeback the Bank is always right.

When the lady comes down the que now I say now as last time I used that you ripped me off.

There is no way I would pay in to a bank using those drawers. Yours is not the first time I've heard of problems with missing cash.

Banks is another of my pre defined speeches. "I see you are due for a financial review, should I book one"?

I had a financial review a few years back and it was plainly obvious that the reviewer only had commission in her eyes as she constantly recommended accounts that 'the value in your account can go down as well as up'. I just kept saying I wanted their best accounts with a published positive interest rate. She was getting annoyed but I told her that the counter assistant initiated and booked the review not me.

That was early 2008 and if I'd followed her advice with these share linked schemes I'd still be out of pocket.

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Lets be careful out there !

I thought the thread's subject was "Tesco scammers" after they were fined £300,000 yesterday for fake "sales" of strawberries.