Discussion of the Day
Self service at checkout
Tui12-Aug-23
So I have a daughter who worked at a warehouse in customer service. Her hours have been cut so low because she's not needed at the checkout since self service is available. As a matter of fact it's all self service there now. What do you think about machines taking over some people jobs? I find it quite frustrating
Comments
  • I avoid using self-checkout. I do not work for free, except at home.
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    • Ever since the industrial revolution, machines have been taking jobs and it is not new. I refuse to use the automatic checkout with employed spies rather than tellers.
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      • All in the name of progress but there is still a need for customer service . I am sorry for your daughter hopefully she has more opportunities where you live.
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        • I do not like self serve checkouts ,,,they can be a pain ,i would rather have a real person ring up what im buying
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          • Self service checkouts are awful and take jobs away but unfortunately they are here to stay. Personally, I think that the items should be limited to under 12 and any more than that should have to go through the proper checkout. I refuse to use the self service as it's taking somebody's job away.
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            • Self service is not about customer convenience its about company saving costs and bigger profits. I only use then if no other option, I'll wait for a person or use service desk. While many stores want you to use machines some dont trust you and as you are about to leave someone comes up and wants to see till receipt to check against the goods you have, I just wave receipt and keep on walking
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              • I think the self service check outs need to be discontinued, as these self serve checkouts take away employment.
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                • After reading the other posts, I have concluded that we all agree. There are a lot of things going on that we are all against. I think we can agree on that also. The truth of the matter is that we are being forced to used them. My pet peeve is being forced to have to have a cell phone when I don't want to use one except for traveling alone. The point I'm getting to is that we have no control over these changes, or do we? Should we be protesting like we did back in the 70's or are we to just continue to complain on forums! I'm not able to do anything, and I think the younger people are more acceptable to change because all they see is the convenience. They see no problem or even stop to think about the ramifications of these new devices. That's why companies and government can get away with this. In conclusion, I suppose it is all revolution, and a lot of us won't be around to see what happens in the near or far future. Perhaps, I'm just stuck in my ways and every generation has gone through this, but I don't think so. For hundreds of years, there was little or no change or progress. Now we are progressing at the speed of light. It's a bit fightening to me, but I think my insight is correct. If you agree, give me a like. Thanks for reading this! Love and God bless us all!
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                  • I refuse to have a smart phone, and I don't answer 03 or 04 numbers so if you want to have a conversation with me leave me a message. If someone sends me a link I delete it because I have no way of opening it. Any business telling me to download their app I disengage myself from. I'm tired of all of it. The aim is to make you their slave.
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                • None
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                  • In one of our local shops we have no choice but to use the self service but if there is a checkout service in other places I will always use them
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                    • Target went all self service and I guess customers did vote with their feet because Target now has to merge with Kmart.
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                  • It's scary!!
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                    • It's wrong and demeaning and difficult for disabled and elderly.
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                    • I refusé to use them The other day at our local supermarket they had just one checkout operater on and a lady at the front of the queue was filling all the products for her dairy I went to the superviser and ask if they could have another operator on checkout She told me sorry short staffed So I said why can’t you operate it for a moment Shortly another lady came and opened another checkout It’s the squeaky wheel that gets thevoil
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                      • I recently had our store change to all self service. So I voted with my feet. I walked out and haven't been back. All this rubbish about it doesn't cost jobs is wrong. I have the feeling that stores are trying to force people out so they can become home delivery only. The writing is on the wall. Of course they will then collect a nice sum for doing the delivery. So once again the custormer will be screwed. You will either pay for your groceries to be delivered or you won't get any. There will be far more groceries going missing. 1 or 2 people can't keep their eye on everyone. Shoplifting will become rampant as it has already crept up.
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                        • I will not use them. It is a penny-pinching idea for these big companies
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                          • I will not shop where there are no girls
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                            • View all 3 replies
                            • Should one assume that you only shop where there are yes girls then ... yes/no??
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                            • Robert T 597718Maria B 89860
                              If there is a male server that is adequate but a miss the smile omly a girl can give
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                            • Maria B 89860Robert T 597718
                              So gentlemanly of you "kind sir".
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                          • Sorry it has happened to your daughter. I do hope she will find a better job.
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                            • I hate self service and will queue if necessary to be served. You don't get reduced prices for serving yourself and you are doing someone out of a job. I have decided to ditch any business forcing me to download an app and I will hang onto telephone banking rather than serve my self. It's the thin edge of the wedge. You adopt self serve everything but then when the services vanish you complain. You can't have it both ways. Look at all of the scams, there wouldn't be any without apps. What about identity theft? I bet you have never heard of anyone breaking not a business and running away with a filing cabinet which contained customers details. No, I am being obstinate, not just for me but all of the other people who aren't able to serve themselves or are too old and frail for internet banking and apps.
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                            • I NEVER use them
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                              • I refuse to use them, firstly, why should I take someone's job and work for a company for free?
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                              • We are forced to use them
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                                • Yes very frustrating. This is precisely the reason I have avoided them.
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                                  • It is always. Many history demostrated unemployment due to computer/machine/robots etc. But only limited option. We can avoid automation. We need to discover more opportunity of employment using automation, computer etc.
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                                    • I try never to use them but unfortunately sometimes they are the only ones open. I always have a problem as these machines just don't seem to work properly and I have to call a staff member to help. Now at Woolworths the camera above also scans your trolley and if there is anything in it like shopping from another store or even empty shopping bags you have to call someone before you can continue.
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                                    • hi ty pamela
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                                      • We humans are slow doing our self's out of jobs and it is not good. Every where I go there are more self service . You get in the wrong row as card only or other row cash . The poor staff are getting left behind.
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                                        • I use them because I actually don't mind doing it - I think because it takes me back to my childhood where I loved playing shops and I only ever worked office jobs in my career. I also like packing my own bags. BUT I do NOT like that it takes away jobs from normal staff - that part I think is wrong and I also think that customers who use self service should get some sort of discount for doing the work of the cashiers/staff...
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                                          • Well it looks like I might be the only one here who loves them. I have a busy life and I don't have time to waste standing in a long line of shoppers, only to hear the cashier ask the same questions of each person: How are you today? Do they really want to know, NO! What have you been upto today? Do they really expect you to tell them exactly what you did for the day, NO! I would much rather they concentrate on scanning the groceries so they can serve more people, but because they don't, I avoid service checkouts. I don't have trouble using the self serve checkouts, and I can scan my big weekly shop and pack it all sensibly quicker than most checkout operators. The bonus is that I don't get asked stupid questions and I don't have my groceries packed in the dumbest way possible, which all makes a happy me.
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                                            • I am totally with you, is not fair to people that need to work, every tikme we are taking over more and more by machines or robots, there is no more human social contact. Myself I do not like to cash out through those machines, prefer 1000 times to deal with people.
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                                              • Love him or loath him, Karl Marx prophesied that in the eighteenth century (the production tool would replace the worker) he used the term alienation as the working class will be alienated from their production tools
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                                                • I love them! Can do everything the way I want it at my own pace, and I don’t have to have an inane conversation with someone who does not really give a shit about how my day is going. I get my cash out at the same time if I need it.
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                                                  • I love them, you get lots of free expensive things, you put them on the bottom of your shopping bag and the pay for all of the cheaper items. My grocery bill has halved.
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                                                    • Brilliant!...lol
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                                                  • They suck , always at the Coles supermarket the human checkouts are always preferred .
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                                                    • It's the way of the future. We will be replaced by machines and robots. How any one is supposed to live with out work is beyond me and as the time goes on this is only going to be getting worse. I don't like it but what can we do about it. Another issue I have if companies productivity is increasing so much because some machine can spit out a thousand things while a human can only do a hundred of them in the same time, then why do we still have to pay so much for the product. It's all greed and some people don't care who they hurt to get their next billion. So shameful and disappointing.
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                                                      • It sucks hate the idea of Robots taking over bring back the old days the simple life
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                                                        • We refuse to use them
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                                                          • I refuse to use self service
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                                                            • Bring back the "human touch"
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                                                              • I have written head offices and told them if they want be to bag my groceries they need to pay me, so, I just stand in line and wait to be checked out,,
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                                                                • I as well refuse to use the self check out. These companies are making money Hand over fist already. How else can they make multi-million dollar bonuses for their do nothing C series executives? Lots and lots of people need these jobs just to get by. Eliminating them is as short sighted as possible. Who’s going to buy their overpriced stuff if people don’t have jobs?
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                                                                  • I agree with user Tog. I will now avoid self checkouts.
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                                                                    • I have no issue with AI/technology taking mundane jobs I do however take exception to "self scanning" When the store pays/give me discount equivalent to store's check out staff then I will happily serve myself till then I expect to be 'served' by a human
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                                                                      • Hate it and refuse to use them as it takes peoples jobs away
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                                                                        • i make myself into a staff member and give myself staff dicount
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                                                                          • I only use if I have 1 item ( paper or magazine) as in and out in a flash. Use checkout chicks for other buys.
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                                                                            • There are pros and cons on this issue. First, they are putting many people out of jobs, especially young people with no other job opportunities, On the plus side, the checkout process is much faster and there are fewer errors , as we tend to pay more attention to the process.
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                                                                              • If I cannot go into the Staff Room for a cuppa or a toilet break they should not be "employing" me as a check out person. I will never use a self checkout as I think jobs are so important and are a real part of the word "service". And I tell the businesses too when I get their "How did we do" surveys!!
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                                                                                • And then they want you to 'evaluate' their customer service
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                                                                                  • I prefer to have banter with the cashiers, I like a friendly face, and yes, like that, it keeps people in a paid job, also I like others to pack for me.
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                                                                                    • I don't like it...
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                                                                                      • I like using self-service at checkout at all stores that I go to is because it faster for me to leave the store.
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                                                                                        • I don't like self checkout!
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                                                                                          • I prefer self serve checkout, there is only one or two checkouts open and usually a queue waiting.
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                                                                                            • i like self serve and happy to use.
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                                                                                              • I loathe them BUT in Australia Supermarket Chains, and probably in time others, such as Coles, Woolworths etc. are introducing stores which now have NO SERVICE CHECKOUTS at all and precious few Staff to help you if you need it. I HAD to use a SS Checkout but something went wrong during the Payment Time. I had the Funds, the check-out told me "Your Payment has been accepted, Please wait for finalisation". I waited and waited and waited. Eventually one of the staff checked and told me that, in fact, my payment had NOT gone through so I went to One of the Two SERVICE CHECKOUTS (this on a very busy Saturday around midday) so my purchases were put through manually by the Checkout Staff and I had to pay again. On getting home I checked my Bank Account and, sure enough, BOTH payments had gone through. Now I have to wait until Monday until I can get my Refund. Just what will happen when there are NO Staff on duty is anyone's guess, we'll probably have to wait a Month, or more, to get problems sorted by some invisible, nameless, faceless, uncaring clerk at Head Office who, despite being sent copies of bank Statements and the Only Receipt you have, won't believ you and refuse to give you your Refund. It really does stink.
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                                                                                                • I refuse to use Cindy the Checkout Robot if I'm going into a shop I want to deal with people not Robots. And to those who say they are better and cheaper I draw your attention to a recall I got this week where Tony The AI Controlled Tig Welder has had all it's products recalled because the spare wheel carrier you see on the back of those Big 4 wheel killers break and the spare falls off to kill someone as it bounces down the road. Tony isn't paid does work for free and then gets programed to do it as cheaply as possible so the weld breaks and real people die.
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                                                                                                  • I don't mind them. My favourite way of getting groceries though is to do the click and collect online, saves a lot of time.
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                                                                                                    • We only use operator checkouts. A girl asked us one day to use the self serve and hubby said no I rather pay for your wages
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                                                                                                      • It's the inevitable the greedy ugly companies who if they could automate all jobs so that they can increase profit at the cost if the young who need that money to pay for books and fees and running a car if they can. I hate self serve but since they close most of the check out aisles you have no choice. Again greed greed greed and more greed. Kmart in most places is all self serve total bull sh... mcdonalds hungry jacks are going that way as well. A youth job is important for self esteem and an understanding of what a dollar is worth. Automation is inevitable. How we integrate it into our lives will depend on you. Our stupid backward governments have failed to see the writing on the wall over and over again. God help the young the poor the poor vulnerable. With progress come pain. Go the matildas
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                                                                                                        • I refuse to use them, I'm not paid to scan my groceries & it's doing people out of work!
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                                                                                                          • I refuse to use them, taking some ones job.
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                                                                                                            • I WILLNOT USE SELF CHECK OUT
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                                                                                                              • I don’t like it. People needs the money no mechines!
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                                                                                                                • I prefer to use the checkouts over self-serve as it keeps people employed in Coles and Woolworths. I like technology, but only if it improves our lives not make it hard for people that want to work and earn money.
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                                                                                                                  • Good points and hello from Bingo.
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                                                                                                                • I only use self checkout for 1-2 items. For my weekly shop use the checkout person, I like to talk to them and make them smile. If no checkout person, leave trolly at the checkout and leave.
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                                                                                                                  • I hate self service with a vengeance!! Due to illness, I usually shop on line these days but when I do venture into a store, I ALWAYS use the checkout. When I was growing up, a job at the checkout was one you did in school holidays and at uni or if you weren't academically inclined but wanted to work. I don't work for the company so why should I have to take a job from somebody else? Bring back the checkouts with REAL people please. Machines suck!!!!! .
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                                                                                                                    • This is modern man.We praise every new bit of machinery that takes away the possibility of engaging with another human and letting a soulless piece of electronics talk to us instead.Thanks for shopping with us!!
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                                                                                                                      • One thing is if you look at any retail outlet (big ones) like Coles, Woolworth, Target, and Kmart most of their self-serve checkout are more cards than cash. Not many people especially the elderly have difficulty understanding how to operate these checkouts. These self-service machines always have problems and waste a lot of people's time. So they should bring back the checkout operators, giving them a job.
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                                                                                                                        • yes we eventually lose most of our jobs to this crap then what will they do i think it really sucks I have not used one and refuse to I have left trolly loads because they won't open a checkout have done in many stores
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                                                                                                                          • I am another customer who refuses to use self service and will do so until I receive a decent discount on my purchases.
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                                                                                                                            • I never use self service checkout because it's too impersonal. I hated it when gas stations quit servicing our cars, and they went to self service. There is one place where I live that still pumps gas for customers and does what servers used to do, but I don't use it because they are higher. I know this is off subject, but I'm terrified of "AI"! ;-o
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                                                                                                                              • View all 4 replies
                                                                                                                              • You're not alone there! Will not touch an Amazon Alexa thingy, or even think about using, Grammerly or GPT or whatever the hell it is, because it is the introit to the end for normal, everyday folk. Artists, writers, song writers etc are complaining now that AI is taking away their livelihood ... what did they think was going to happen?! Even when they were inventing the stuff, they saw the future of all things... and it wasn't pretty. yeah, sorry off topic a little but....let's hope your daughter can find something else
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                                                                                                                              • Amen! Thank you for acknowledging my post. ;-D
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                                                                                                                              • I'm going a bit off topic too but when Covid hit my mum was at a loss at well as my partner. You needed a phone (which neither had nor wanted) to 'scan in' at the supermarkets, order through apps... So we did it for them. But three weeks later the stores started implementing the old pen and paper formats. And from the looks of it a lot of people didn't have phones because their boxes were usually full of strips of paper.
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                                                                                                                              • writerrochelleLachelle B
                                                                                                                                I don't own a cell phone either, and don't want one, but I do have a little laptop and a very old desktop computer! ;-D
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                                                                                                                            • I hate, hate, hate them
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                                                                                                                              • The thing i hate about self-serve is they are never wiped down. I think with covid they should be. I brought it to walmart attention. They laugh at me
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                                                                                                                                • Absolutely hate them and WILL NEVER USE THEM unless I am forced into it. So sorry about your daughter - would be one of many.......
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                                                                                                                                  • prefer human service
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                                                                                                                                    • I refuse to use them no matter how long the normal human service ones are! The only time was when my son was with me and he put the shopping through and we ended up paying $9 for one capsicum because his elbow was resting on the scale!!!
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                                                                                                                                      • View all 3 replies
                                                                                                                                      • Haaha! That beats my " You have an unexpected item in the baggage area " complaint hands down 😄
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                                                                                                                                      • That's pretty funny too! Were you allowed 3 guesses, animal, vegetable or mineral?
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                                                                                                                                      • Liane H Maria B 89860
                                                                                                                                        Unfortunately no., lt was probably a few choice words that had slipped out the side and fallen in after the other items had failed to scan properly , my car keys , , ooh an extra couple of plastic bags?Rotten things r so sensitive!
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                                                                                                                                    • I prefer to go through a check out with a human putting my shopping through the register, but i find in some stores they simply do not have humans manning the registers or the staff that are working do not have the experience or training to competently put my groceries through quickly and precisely, so i just go thru a self service machine and do it myself. (I used to be a check out chick. I had the fastest, most accurate scanning rate in the store and could ID all the produce the store sold). I don't think staff are even expected to know the names and varieties of produce anymore, they seem to rely on the sticker and if it has no sticker, they take a guess at what it is.
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                                                                                                                                      • It would be good that beside every machine there would be a human helping other humans to use the always malfunctioning machines!
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                                                                                                                                        • I work on a checkout and omg I get sick of people saying to me. You look board or I’ll keep you in a job. Get use to self serve, it’s easy and fun. And no I’m not board and I will always have a job
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                                                                                                                                          • I prefer self serve checkouts....I can scan faster and pack better then the staff...
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                                                                                                                                            • I hate those machines, they always break down, beeps at you, then you gotta wait for staff to help! I mean...what's the point!. Bring back the humans... they're nicer to talk to.
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                                                                                                                                              • I don't mind self service at supermarkets but I don't like them at The Warehouse or other retailers.
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                                                                                                                                                • It saves a lot for the large supermarkets. Well, in some ways. They must losing heaps with theft. you need to speak up and tell them their checkouts stink
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                                                                                                                                                • In times of economic hardship, I resent people losing their jobs so as to make more profit for large companies. People before profit, I say ! I like the human contact, and the interaction.
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                                                                                                                                                  • Should only be a few not mostly
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                                                                                                                                                    • They’re asking me to do a job that I’m untrained for and don’t get paid for so they can save money, then they still want to check my receipt at the door.
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                                                                                                                                                      • Not a big fan of them, while they might be getting the crowd through quickly, it actually, putting staff out of a job, and people like me that can't use the bigger trolleys, you can't go self serve with a trolly full to the brim. there is no room to unload and pack the shopping
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                                                                                                                                                        • I so agree about the "no room" ... perhaps they are really leading up to their next money saver, for the supermarket of course, of once you touch an item it's automatically added to you list of purchase and taken out of you bank account.
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                                                                                                                                                        • Imperia SMaria B 89860
                                                                                                                                                          funny that with all the savings, nothing is passed to us, their bread and butter sort of speech
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                                                                                                                                                      • I think that if we use the self service registers we should have a discount of some sort. The shops have saved a lot of money by cutting down their staff due to self service so it’s the least they can do!
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                                                                                                                                                        • Last time I waited to not use self service the young lad asked why I did it - I told him I preferred to see him in a job and he thanked me!
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                                                                                                                                                          • I will not use self serve check outs if possible
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                                                                                                                                                            • Never use them. If I do the staff ask to see your receipt as you walk out to which I say "I've just done your job for you & now you want to see that I've done your job for you...no way" & I walk straight past them.
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                                                                                                                                                              • Here some of the store LIKE COLES overnight remover all checkout and installed self-service. I left all the groceries their and went to the shop that still employees people. THEY will remove more and more, and we have to move onto those that are not removing staffs, in the end we might have to not go to the shops at all and go to market etc,,,, They will keep reducing staff if we let them.
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                                                                                                                                                                • REFUSE TO USE SELF-SERVICE. If that is the only option I call a staff member in to do it for me on the rare occasion that I have to visit that store simply because there is no other choice in the town I live in. I never do self service at a supermarket. The prices have wages built into them so darn well employ someone! 90% of my groceries are now home delivered, so for the same cost, I am employing the computer/ order person, a supervisor, packer, checker, delivery driver and website developer/ managers - and still the supermarket is making mega millions each year. GOOD BYE SELF SERVICE and HELLO HOME DELIVERY
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                                                                                                                                                                  • Good points
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                                                                                                                                                                • If there’s a cost effective way to do it, why not? There’s plenty of work around, do something else.
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                                                                                                                                                                  • I do not like the self check outs as it takes jobs away from people and most of them only take debit cards or credit cards not cash
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                                                                                                                                                                    • I think all this automation will create more problems as it becomes more popular. The greedy will prosper, like always, and the rest of us have to look for new jobs.
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                                                                                                                                                                      • I am not employed by the company why should i do there work for them?
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                                                                                                                                                                        • People can do one thing a machine can never do and that is fix the problem or mistake in the first place.
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                                                                                                                                                                          • I find them great - as long as there's enough staff if there are any problems. Never have to wait long unlike staffed checkouts, so no queues. It's a boring repetitive job anyway, don't know how they stand doing it all day long.
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                                                                                                                                                                            • Retire - don't care!
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