Quite frankly by the time I've finished my shopping at the local supermarket all I want to do is pay and get out. It seems that supermarkets have taken this thought on board are some are becoming till free.
There are so many ways you can pay at the end of a supermarket shop that you are spoilt for choice. If you've used the super doper scan your shopping yourself you can pay at your very own special till. If you want to scan your shopping yourself you can pay at your very own till. If you want to take your time, (unless you are at a discount supermarket where it's been said that the cashiers are checked on how many items per minute they scan everything through so the shopping is pretty much flung at you) then you can visit the manned checkout. Lots of choice of where to pay, but you can guarantee which ever one I chose is going to have the slowest queue!
When the unmanned, self service tills were installed in supermarkets I remember the outcry they caused. The tills would put cashiers out of a job. How irresponsible when jobs are hard to come by. What a travesty. Strangely enough the outcry didn't last long because they were actually a good idea. No more feet tapping by the office workers who want to whizz in and out on their lunch break. No more being held up by the lonely person who wants to chat with the cashier for a couple of minutes. No more grabbing your shopping trying to pack as fast as you can as it's thrown down the checkout at you. They were a revolution. Pack at your own pace. Scan at your own pace. You don't have to talk to anyone.
I never thought I would use those sorts of tills. I've always been firmly in the 'don't put cashiers out of a job' camp, but to be honest I pretty much always do self scan or use those fabulous little handsets. It's all about choice. I choose that I'd rather not talk to anyone as I'm checking out my shopping because I work in a supermarket anyway. Silly isn't it, or maybe not? I spend all day chatting to customers, solving problems and complaints and generally helping people. The last thing I want to do is aimlessly chat about the weather, which is the bog standard chitchat I use when stumped for what to talk about. Neither, I suspect, do my colleagues want to hear me either. As for using the self scan in other supermarkets? Yep I'd rather not talk to anyone there either! Okay, I'm a totally antisocial supermarket shopper. Anyone trying to analyse my shopping habits would have a field day!
If you want to be super up to the minute modern you can actually use your phone to do your shopping! In fact you can use it, scan all your shopping and even pay at the end, all using your mobile. Just make sure you have enough battery, and that your phone is charged, unlike I did once!
Completely till free supermarkets? Well Sainsburys has led the way, stating there is a call for being able to shop this way. The trial started at the end of April this year and is set to last three months. All I can say is watch this space...…..
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