Supermarket self service checkouts.

[frank_begbie]

Just read this on another forum.

Just been in to the little Asda which has just opened in Swinetown.

Got to the till and the bird asked me to use the self serve till which I declined as I had loads, and I don't like the fact they are doing people out of their jobs.

Next lad up gets asked same question, and he refuses as like me he doesn't like the fact that they are taking peoples jobs.

2 staff there then start to tell us the following.

The staff have been told they have to get people using the self serve tills at the rate of 3500 per week so they can reduce the number of staff.

If they don't reach that number, they do not get their 'bonuses' one of which is they are 'allowed' to work overtime, without which their wage is *****.
Obviously if they do reach their targets then some of the till staff won't be needed.

Talk about digging your own grave?

[snow hope]

Yep - that stinks Frank. Corporate shites!

What really angers me is that the top dogs are giving themselves 49% pay rises on average, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15487866

Whilst the rest of us struggle to survive. Fat cats will get their comeuppance.....

Muse have a song called Uprising and one line in that song says. "It's time that the fat cats had a heart attack" - sounds fair enough to me....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8KQmps-Sog&ob=av2n

[madibe]

+1

Very annoying

[biffvernon]

Some while ago the B&Q in Lincoln went totally self service. I must have got out of bed the right side that morning because I had a conversation which demonstrated that if they didn't want a human being to take my money that was their problem but I was off with the goods. The store manager took my payment manually! I haven't been back to that shop since.

[careful_eugene]

Just read this on another forum.

Just been in to the little Asda which has just opened in Swinetown.

Got to the till and the bird asked me to use the self serve till which I declined as I had loads, and I don't like the fact they are doing people out of their jobs.

Next lad up gets asked same question, and he refuses as like me he doesn't like the fact that they are taking peoples jobs.

2 staff there then start to tell us the following.

The staff have been told they have to get people using the self serve tills at the rate of 3500 per week so they can reduce the number of staff.

If they don't reach that number, they do not get their 'bonuses' one of which is they are 'allowed' to work overtime, without which their wage is *****.
Obviously if they do reach their targets then some of the till staff won't be needed.

Talk about digging your own grave?

What [expletive] dreamed this scheme up? Do they not consider how morale crushing this would be?

[DominicJ]

why stop at self service tills?
Shall we do away with prepackaged cheese and have a man in top hat and tails expertly cut you a slice?
Why just cheese?
Lets go back to the days of giving the storekeeper your shopping list and waiting for him to get it for you?
Epos tills are job killers too, lets get rid of bar codes, even a humble calculator puts someone out of work.

Dont get me started on tractors

jobs are not good.
Jobs are the bad things we have to do to to create value/wealth, the good things.

[frank_begbie]

Just imagine the number of jobs that are going to be destroyed with this short sighted action in a couple of years.

There's many a married couple just keeping their heads above water because the wife has a little part time job in the local supermarket.

This will be devastating.

[cubes]

Ideally, those people who lost their jobs could be put to more productive use elsewhere in the economy. Pity it's not ideal and they'll just be claiming JSA/whatever

[SleeperService]

Just imagine the number of jobs that are going to be destroyed with this short sighted action in a couple of years.

There's many a married couple just keeping their heads above water because the wife has a little part time job in the local supermarket.

This will be devastating.

Completely agree with you. I know of three couples in exactly that position. Our local ASDA has got twelve of the dammed things with two operators running around helping people. I mostly shop at the Coop or Sainsburys now.

[emordnilap]

The few times I've used supermarkets in the last few years, I've always gone to a human checkout, even if I only had one item (which again is the norm for me in a supermarket) and I always make a point of mentioning something along the lines of 'At least it's a wage, no matter how small; I'd hate to see you replaced by a machine.'

We've also got a battle going on with Tossco wanting to open a "$hitco Extra" or something just outside the town centre, a town which has dozens of empty premises. It seems like everybody I talk to who is against it - wait for it - shops at the existing Te$co!

Not withstanding the 'using a human-operated checkout' issue, let's face it, if you give Trashco money, then you are to blame for job losses, whether at their tills or in independent shops.

[frank_begbie]

The few times I've used supermarkets in the last few years, I've always gone to a human checkout, even if I only had one item (which again is the norm for me in a supermarket) and I always make a point of mentioning something along the lines of 'At least it's a wage, no matter how small; I'd hate to see you replaced by a machine.'

We've also got a battle going on with Tossco wanting to open a "$hitco Extra" or something just outside the town centre, a town which has dozens of empty premises. It seems like everybody I talk to who is against it - wait for it - shops at the existing Te$co!

Not withstanding the 'using a human-operated checkout' issue, let's face it, if you give Trashco money, then you are to blame for job losses, whether at their tills or in independent shops.

Yes, some people could see this coming years ago when they first invaded our towns. We labelled them doom merchants.

They seduced us with their low prices and convenience.
Now they have been allowed to sell virtually everything, and as a result the character and many businesses have disappeared from our high street.

Its all gone to hell!

[DN65AF]

I always use the self service checkouts everywhere I find them.

At Tesco I always use the hand held self scanner, allowing me to put the groceries in the bag as I self scan........so I no longer need to stand in a checkout queue, take all the stuff out of the basket and put it on a conveyor, have it scanned, and then put it all back in my bags: result a considerable amount of time saved. Prior to the self scanners being introduced I was speeding more time in the checkout than doing the shopping!

As to the high street. Never go there...seriously I really do never go into my local city or the local town the same distance in the opposite direction - bar probably once a year to buy some more shirts.....and nor do most of my fellow local residents go anywhere near the places.

I once tried to explain this to a CEO of a small local building society, about why he required me to get in my car, drive to the town, find somewhere to park, pay someone for the priviledge, walk in the rain to his society, stand in a queue all within working hours and then do the whole thing in reverse - all to do a financial transaction. He seemed to think...I would 'enjoy' visiting his refurbished branch......errrr no thanks.

I can also just about remember the advent of cash machines. That also saved a huge amount of time. no longer did I have to make a special trip into the bank at lunchtime to get some money out haivng stood in a queue.

[UndercoverElephant]

why stop at self service tills?
Shall we do away with prepackaged cheese and have a man in top hat and tails expertly cut you a slice?
Why just cheese?
Lets go back to the days of giving the storekeeper your shopping list and waiting for him to get it for you?
Epos tills are job killers too, lets get rid of bar codes, even a humble calculator puts someone out of work.

Dont get me started on tractors

jobs are not good.
Jobs are the bad things we have to do to to create value/wealth, the good things.

It is not often I find myself agreeing with Dominic, but there is an irresistible logic to what he is saying here. Are we going to be anti-Aldi because Aldi have cut "frills" to the bone in order to drive down prices? The reason Aldi makes a profit even though it sells goods so cheaply is partly because it ensures that its operation requires the minumum number of the most expensive cost - staff.

There is a fundamental problem here regarding the globalised free-market system and jobs, especially in the US and Europe. Unless there is some sort of deliberate state intervention which is both anti-free-market and nationalistic, then the jobs crisis can only get worse.

This is looking more and more like a total failure of global free-market capitalism.

[frank_begbie]

why stop at self service tills?
Shall we do away with prepackaged cheese and have a man in top hat and tails expertly cut you a slice?
Why just cheese?
Lets go back to the days of giving the storekeeper your shopping list and waiting for him to get it for you?
Epos tills are job killers too, lets get rid of bar codes, even a humble calculator puts someone out of work.

Dont get me started on tractors

jobs are not good.
Jobs are the bad things we have to do to to create value/wealth, the good things.

It is not often I find myself agreeing with Dominic, but there is an irresistable logic to what he is saying here. Are we going to be anti-Aldi because Aldi have cut "frills" to the bone in order to drive down prices? The reason Aldi makes a profit even though it sells goods so cheaply is partly because it ensures that its operation requires the minumum number of the most expensive cost - staff.

There is a fundamental problem here regarding the globalised free-market system and jobs, especially in the US and Europe. Unless there is some sort of deliberate state intervention which is both anti-free-market and nationalistic, then the jobs crisis can only get worse.

This is looking more and more like a total failure of global free-market capitalism.

Exactly.
So all the big shops do away with their checkout operators, and they end up in the same position they were in the first place. Just like dogs chasing their tails.

[JavaScriptDonkey]

On the other hand a company that improves it profits usually sees a rise in dividend and a share price rise both of which are good for anyone whose pension fund is invested that way.

What is good for employees is bad for ex-employees and soon to be retirees.

It has long been thus and self-service tills are just a modern incarnation of Cartwright's loom.