Vocal Voices

Sainsbury's boss says we love the self-checkouts, but do we?

My ASDA has three types; ten for baskets only, six for the smaller trolleys and four for the juggernauts. It only has four cashier options but they are never fully staffed, usually only two are open and sometimes only one. There used to be 24!

I stopped doing a big shop years ago so it's the basket only tills for me and my few items. However, for all those self-checkouts mentioned there is usually only one member of staff to sort out the scanning problems and they happen all the time and often quite a few in one go.

So, I use self-checkouts, but I do not like them.

The site shares a courtyard with the local high school and lunchtime and kicking out time are to be avoided at all costs. All those pupils each with just a can and a bag of crisps make the queue for the basket only tills stretch right down past where those 24 cashier tills used to be.

I like the self serve checkouts, as it’s quicker - although I avoid the Sainsbury’s ones at lunchtime as it’s very near to a lot of offices and gets very busy then I even put a “big shop” through on the Tesco ones, as they have larger weighing areas. The manned tills tend to have long queues so I’d rather get myself through more quickly.

The only self checkout I like is the Tesco system where you have a hand held scanner and can scan and pack things in your bags as you go along. Payment is a doddle too, you just scan the code on the till which downloads the whole basket and lets you pay. In/out of the bagging area in a couple of minutes.

If you only have a couple of items the self scanning till makes sense.
Sainsbury's aren't being too honest here though.
Lots of times I've been in when the store has been very busy, but they only have a couple of manned check outs open; they try to make you use the self service tills.

We're still old fashioned up here, although down in the Algarve, most supermarkets, ikea and other shops have self service only.

jenniren wrote:The only self checkout I like is the Tesco system where you have a hand held scanner and can scan and pack things in your bags as you go along. Payment is a doddle too, you just scan the code on the till which downloads the whole basket and lets you pay. In/out of the bagging area in a couple of minutes.

Sainsbury do this too Jen. I like the self scan at Aldi they have massive bar codes and it really is a doddle

Sorry, this is going to be a rant.

I may have posted this before, but I had a big-time falling out at Waitrose last December over their self-service tills. I had an incident where one of their machines refused to accept not one but all three debit/credit cards I tried to use to pay for a small shop. I kept on having to call the till-manager over to clear the screen so I could re-try. And it just wouldn't take it. Not only that, it "declared" me a shoplifter and started publically filming me; I was staring at my mugshot on screen. The matter was only resolved when I had to take all my purchases over to the tobacconist's cash till and pay using her card machine - which accepted my credit card first time. In a busy store, I found it quite humilating.

I subsequently gathered from other forums that this constant rejection of all cards at Waitrose stores is not unknown. In fact, there's even a term for it - the card reader goes into a "logic loop of doom".

Now my philosophy - don't get mad, get even.

I keep records. Detailed records. I sat down and worked out how much we spent at Waitrose in 2023. It was £2,104. So I decided on four measures. (1) no more Waitrose cafe visits for coffee and cake. (2) no more use of the (useless anyway) MyWaitrose card; they're not getting any more marketing information from me. (3) I would only pay them in cash in future (the self service machines are card only). And (4) I'd halve my expenditure with them in 2024 - effectively "fine" them over £1,000 for breaching my human rights and publically filming me.

Incidentally, since then, all the Waitrose self service machines in our store now have a prominent yellow sign saying that you ARE being filmed - and your mugshot is on display. If that's their "new norm", quite honestly, they can stick it. Personally, I find it offensive.

Anyway, here we are at the end of April, and the "fine" is well on track - expenditure only £285.43 in 4 months. I am only using Waitrose if there is no alternative - Asda, Aldi and Iceland are the beneficiaries.

I do 95% of my shopping at Sainsbury's and I use their scan and pay facility. Because I know what I want and where everything is, I can do a fairly large shop very quickly - I scan everything as I go and then it's literally 4 mins (if that) at the checkout. I absolutely love the speed and convenience of it

Ossie; I am going to have to ask; if you managed to spend £2k at Waitrose in one year, then I assume the shop is actually quite convenient for you, and/or you really liked the products - so who are you 'punishing ? Waitrose (and most other shops) probably won't notice - and dare I say - actually not care that you're not shopping there as much. But are you missing out on your favourite items / treats because you're miffed at them?

We have our big shop delivered, started during Covid and never went back to physically doing the big shop. So anything we get now is usually a small amount and we’d mostly use a self service till.

meriad wrote:Ossie; I am going to have to ask; if you managed to spend £2k at Waitrose in one year, then I assume the shop is actually quite convenient for you, and/or you really liked the products - so who are you 'punishing ? Waitrose (and most other shops) probably won't notice - and dare I say - actually not care that you're not shopping there as much. But are you missing out on your favourite items / treats because you're miffed at them?

When we moved down here in 2016, Meriad, Waitrose was by far the biggest player in town. Very convenient, just off the town centre bypass, excellent parking. The other major supermarket, the Co-Op, burnt down in 2012 and is still an empty shell ; they relocated to one of the town suburbs where its little more than a convenience store these days. Asda and Lidl have small stores in the town centre with car parks operated by parkingeye, and both are subject to many moans from locals getting fined when they shouldn't be (even to the extent Asda has displayed a prominent notice along the lines of "We can't deal with parking fines in store so go complain to the operator". And trying to get out of Asda's carpark can be horrendous these days, thanks to the Council's recently-implemented one way system.

So when we arrived, having been used to shopping in Brum at what was arguably England's biggest supermarket outlet (Asda Minworth, only a mile from home), doing all our shopping at Waitrose became the norm. But we were paying nearly £5k a year for food, household essentials and treats, and I was starting to get uncomfortable with that - yes, we could "afford" it but like everyone else, we do have to manage our finances carefully.

Then around 2021, Aldi arrived on the southern outskirts of town, and that immediately became a game-changer. We transferred the bulk of our basic weekly shop there, and saved I reckon around £800 a year. So from then, we've been roughly 50% Aldi 50% Waitrose. But we were still aware we were paying over-the-odds Waitrose prices for brand goods which were not on sale at Aldi (although they are now doing Tunnocks Teacakes ) but which we could source from elsewhere if I (the "household shopper" made the effort!!

What the incident in December did was kick-start me into getting off my backside and make that effort to shop at Asda, Iceland, even the local Spar and town High Street shops, who probably welcome the custom more than Waitrose. To stop myself getting "lazy" again, I set that financial target of reducing our annual spend at Waitrose by £1k. And that's where we are today!

So, is it less convenient? Yes, but it keeps me active!
Do I really like Waitrose's products? There are some items you can't source elsewhere in town, like 55p tins of Pease Pudding, but most of our "liked" brand products I find I can get elsewhere.
Will Waitrose notice/care? Course they won't, I'm but a flea to them - but I can see quite a lot of fleas have readily deserted them for Aldi - that's the trend, you only have to look at the well-to-do pensioners furtively scurrying into that store. Waitrose certainly isn't as busy as it was, and I guess therefore Waitrose may eventually begin to notice/care to some small degree.
Are we missing out on favourite items / treats? No, as I've said, we're buying them elsewhere for less, and with the money saved, we've been having some nice meals out, including a lunch last week at the local up-market motorcycle cafe where scampi and chips (Mrs O) and a beef chilli and chips (Osiie) were partaken for quite a reasonable £35.90 ......