Oldun

It seems that everywhere you go to, pay machines are replacing humans.

I go to the big supermarket and when waiting to pay at a till I get a staff member trying to coax me to move towards a self-service checkout.

I go to get fuel and am faced with a pay by card machine at the pump.

The last straw for me is my bank, I go to pay in cash or cheque and am ushered towards an ugly machine that wants to ingest my hard-earned.

When are these organisations going to realise that not all customers want to use these pay points.
I like face-to-face.
I like chatting to the person that's taking my money.
I like it when the staff member recognises me and says hello.

The worst thing is that you can't oggle at or flirt with a machine.

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

It's the future!

I've never really felt the need to have a rapport with till staff, so I don't mind. Plus, it's getting rid of some pretty tedious drone jobs, which is a good thing.

Graz

I'm the opposite, the less interaction I have to have with the public the better

More machines please

corvid

The machines are so much better.

DYK

I know what you mean,its even better when happen to get a fit bird,and you can do a bit of light flirting...

EddScott

Only thing about the supermarket machines is when you have 4 machines for a shop the size of Bournemouth. You get one old dear that can't get her head round the system and the only assistant on hand is the one paying absolutely no attention to the job in hand and a simple task that should take seconds turns into this long, painful drawn out cuffuful just to get a tin of beans through the machine.

Other than that they are marvellous.

boxst

I quite like the machines in the supermarket. Admittedly, no light flirting as mentioned above but it is efficient and gets people paid and out.

bigredrob

I hate them...I would rather talk to and interact with a person, and keep them in a job.

Ant

They're perfect for an unsociable ****** like me

speedking

Unless you're buying a DVD, CD, alcohol, scissors, razor, lottery ticket, matches, knife and virtually any tool in B&Q, in which case you have to be visited by the one remaining member of staff to verify your age

Oldun

I've never been back to Buy & Queue since they introduced them, practically every customer needs verification causing a lot of problems.

Graz

That said, we tried the scan your own shopping thing in Tesco where you take a bar code reader round with you and scan it as you put it in the trolley. Unfortunately our toddler decided to puke just as we were finishing up in the booze aisle (nice job for someone to clear that up ). Thought to myself great just pay for this lot / no checkout and we're away. Got to the bit where you put the bar code reader into the machine - asks for assistant -fair enough - assistant comes scans some items from our trolley - no it now wants them to scan everything. Ended up on a normal checkout. Won't bother with that again

Fleetster

The self scan are a pain!!!

DYK

Maybe they should invent machines that have a sexy female voice.

Hi my names Mandy,how are you today.mmmm Mandy that's a nice name,I'm great and you have a sexy voice sweetheart.
Well thank you handsome,my voice isn't the only thing that's sexy..OH Mandy

Leslie

With a bit of luck,maybe you will never have to speak to anyone ever again eventually.

Les

magepaster

iTrader: (2)

How is getting rid of jobs-even tedious ones-a good thing?

davegtt

Other than the fact they are killing jobs for people I love the machines, quick easy and lets be honest, half of the till operators are dumb as pig **** anyway and I hate having to socialise with them - some are ok mind and this is from someone who genuinely likes talking to people. I always aim straight for a machines unless its busy and I'm buying alcohol. Pain getting age verification of the people who manage the self serve stuff.

Wish

iTrader: (2)

I refuse to use them.

Jamz3k

Given that my local Tesco only seems to employ benders who whilst scanning your shopping talk openly to their colleagues about how much they love dick in their ****, I'm quite happy to use self service.

dpb

I think they make morissons in particular ,difficult because they feel sorry for / want keep their till ladies/woofers employed

tubbytommy

iTrader: (20)

i just flirt with the machines, it turns me on when i scan beer and she wants proof of my age ....

Oldun

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_meqsano7BV1rwq4a3.gif

Lisawrx

iTrader: (1)

I was wondering the same thing

They do have their benefits, that I won't deny, but I think some stores are over doing it, and no doubt it is saving them money, but from a customer point of view, I could see it doing more harm than good.

Our local Asda had a few normal self serve checkouts, with a couple that could handle more due to having a conveyor belt. In their wisdom, they have decided to rip out even more of the normal staffed tills in favour of self serve. This now means the self serve area is backed up, as there is only one assistant handling a lot more tills, and the queues at the proper tills (for those with either too much shopping, or that favour them) are in turn even worse than before, as there are less of them.

There are a few problems with self serve (or too many of them, with companies trying to replace people), they are quite temperamental either in terms of reading barcodes or the whole 'unexpected item' thing, either of which usually requiring a member of staff to sort out, then age restricted items, again requiring a person to come over, these things may not seem too bad, but they can result in quite a hold up if there is only one member of staff manning a large amount of tills (more so at busy times) and of course relying on said staff actually paying attention to assistance being required. At least on a normal till, if someone is physically passing the stuff down, they are at least aware you are there. Then add in the fact any moron is free to use them, and no offence, but quite a lot of people seem to be too stupid to operate them properly, and are often a lot slower at processing their sale than the average cashier would be. Many times I have seen someone go through clearly having no idea what to do and the result has been the assistant scanning all of the goods through, and guiding them through the payment part, sort of defeats the object, and again causes hold ups.

So in a nutshell, I would say, they are fine in small numbers, if only the people using them could be controlled but they should never be implemented in large numbers in some hope of replacing people.

nyscooby

iTrader: (12)

i'd be happy to use the self serve tills if but for one reason.... no discount. if i have to do it myself... the task that a newly unemployed person was doing.. i want discount for my efforts..... my time isnt free

tubbytommy

iTrader: (20)

maybe there should be an aptitude test for the self service tills and if you pass you get a 10% discount and a licence to use the till.

DYK

Funny as i find that comment,you do have a point.
Perhaps if you offer to do some shelf stacking,you will get a further discount..

davegtt

Thing is, I find it quicker to use the self service thus saving me some time.

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

Good point!
But then other shops don't charge for bagging it for you, so, swings and roundabouts.

David Lock

I'm afraid the get your rail ticket machines just about defeat me. Fine if you know the place and don't have a queue of people waiting. dl

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

Nothing winds me up more then a Santander cashier asking where you got the £8k your paying in. Or why your withdrawing a few k.... Are we not allowed to buy expensive items?

I usually say its drug money just to see their reaction.

But on the flip side... Nothing worse then a machine when they go wrong.