h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's no wonder so many of us find self-scanners infuriating, because quite apart from their intrinsic shortcomings, we as customers receive absolutely no training in how to use them. I only learned today that the quickest way to scan apples is to key in their barcode rather than search through the little pictures, so there must be plenty of other tips we could share.

I'd particularly like to know what strategy people use in putting more than a few things into several bags, because if you move a bag once it's full, you risk getting the dreaded UIitBA (I'm sure you can work that one out)message from the dispassionate computer voice.

I never use them because it's just a way of getting rid of jobs (the supermarket I use has 4 with one overseer, presumably 3 people are now no longer employed there although charitably, they may have been deployed elsewhere)

the second reason is that the tills they have insist you use a plastic bag (in the bagging area). I object to that but on the occasions where I have used a self scanner, I have transferred my purchases from the (free and flimsy) bag provided to my own bag and been harassed by the shop staff for doing so.

the third reason is that - well, if I'm providing the work, the supermarket should at least give me a euro off my shopping

plus all the usual "unexpected item in the bagging area malarkey"

I will use them at the local supermarket where I get odd bits and pieces, but no way when I'm doing the main weekly shop at the big supermarkets in town. I would spend more time waiting for the one harassed assistant to deal with the error messages than queuing for a normal till.

In Ireland, nobody likes to use plastic bags because there is a tax on them, so everybody uses their own bag. There's a special "own bag" button on the scanning machine to confirm that the weight it detects on the scales is not you trying to smuggle out stuff without scanning it.

The own bag button sometimes has to be confirmed by the store employee who looks after all the scanners. They also have to confirm that I am over 18 so that I can buy alcohol, and they usually have to correct a few things that didn't scan correctly, so they've their work cut out, running from machine to machine.

During my university years the high street banks started to install ATMs and it was common, until the banks realised the success of these labour saving (job destroying) devices, to find a queue of half a dozen people at the ATM outside the bank and three deparately bored cashiers indoors. I used to pop in for a chat and still get my cash before the queue had moved.

If you want supermarkets to go the same way then just carry on being abused by the automated lady in the self-scan area. Many older members of our society have few opportunities for human contact. The milkman doesn't deliver any more, the postman hasn't the time and anyway only delivers the junkmail on a Thursday, the bus driver has to drive and there is no conductor. Shop cashiers are one of the few remaining outposts of human contact; protect them.

Anyway, all of the usability issues with these devices are due to the paranoia and mistrust of the business people who are only looking at the bottom line. If the assumption is that I'm trying to steal stuff when I'm self-scanning, I'd rather not do it.

>>Many older members of our society have few opportunities for human contact.

Ironically, I interact much more with the staff when using a self-service till, because they keep having to come over to help me.

<>

Post 5 was excellent!

As were all the others.

I suppose I would use the self-checkout line if I had to, but for now I'm avoiding it.

My local library has a self-checkout for books. It's easy, and I use it often. If they make something easy and problem-free, customers will use it.

I'm fine with the library books self-scanning, because it works. But on the three occasions I *have* used the self-scanners in shops, they had a terrible effect on me - I turned into the sort of ranting horrible customer that people tweet and blog about. And as I'm normally everybody's loveliest customer that day, I ended up hating myself *as well*.

So I don't use them in shops.

Mol

The WH Smith ones annoy me. You're generally in a hurry at railway stations, so to replace all but one cashier with self-scanners increases the angst when you've only got a few minutes before the train leaves.

And they still charge you 2p for a tiny plastic bag.

The worst of my three experiences was at WH Smiths. I was livid - I ended up scooping everything up and storming over to the till. My children were appalled - 'You can't just leave the scanner like that, what about the next person?' - and I snarled at them that this was WH Smith's problem, not mine.

I did *not* rant at the unfortunate 17 year old who then had to serve me but I wasn't my usual sunny self either. There was a lot of grumpy muttering and I told him to tell the managers that the self-service tills were useless.

I'm getting wound up again just thinking about it.

Mol

Just caught a visual from the 1981 classic film "Scanners". I hope it wasn't that bad tho'.

I loved that film, weird though it may have been. If self-service scanners made people's heads explode, customers would disappear fast.

I can confirm that these scanners also bring out the very worst in me too. I behave like a petulant child with anger managment issues, who has been drinking caffiene drinks all day. It's something about the fact that you are helpless when things go wrong. Like when a computer crashes; you can't shout at anyone or achieve anything by reasoning with the machine so you just go ballistic.

Through necessity, I am however getting better at using them. I tend to shop at a 24-hour asda around 3am for supplies for my forthcoming week of nightshifts. There definately aint no cashiers around at that time, just a wary security guard and harrassed and grumpy shelf-stackers.

To answer one of the OP questions, I have discovered that the scales are not only weight sensitive but also horizontally position sensitive, hence you *must* tell the machine when you start using a new bag as it will detect the weight is being added in a difference place and cry foul. Really big things like toilet-roll multipacks I just place on top of the current bag last and sort out the niceties of bag packing arrangements when the goods are paid for and the machine is none the wiser.

having to re-arrange bags defeats the object of having self scanners (except that we all know the real reason for them is to shaft the staff...)

I simply refuse to use them. Full stop.

I think the trick is not to let it know you're in a hurry. Once it senses your anxiety, it knows it's in control.

I walk up to it in a nonchalant manner, affecting an insouciant air, casually whistling the Nolans classic "I'm in the mood (for dancing)" and rarely have any problems.

" we all know the real reason for them is to shaft the staff..." [Sho/Flo]

I'm with you on that one! I've seen checkout aisle clerks reduced to tears by the nasty things some customers say to them, but they carry on because at least they're earning some money. [They can get their revenge later when they base their novels on those same customers ] Take even the money away, and where are they?

oh i hate to see that
I try to be nice to people who are in jobs that take a lot of that from customers.
I read, for example, that the train conductors here are all depressed because customers/passengers only talk to them when they want to complain etc. So I always say "hello" and "goodbye" when I get on or off trains and buses. They always smile back. Which is nice.

Meh... I'm ambivalent toward self scanners. Some days I prefer them, some days not. There are only a few places I find them. A few supermarkets and DIY centers are the main places I find them and in both those venues, I like the option of using them. And that's important. I like that they're an option. In the places I find them, there are still human cashiers as well. If I have more than a bag full of items or any fruits or veg, I always use the humans. (And I never complain 'at' them as I used to do a similar job.)

But, yeah. Once the self checkout has a problem, my mood can go south quickly as there is Rockall you can do to fix it. The phantom UIitBA is the bane of all shoppers.

I worked with the general public for decades, so I am sensitive about the way people treat one another. Sometimes I'm part of the problem, as I have a way of lecturing people . Still, I don't intend it in a meanspirited way.