Atomic Systems

So you go down your local supermarket, and get a 3 for n GBP deal. You use the automated checkout. Bad Idea.

If you went via a human check out, they would apply the deal automatically for you, and bag it for you. With the automated checkout, despite you have to keep pressing you are interested to continue whilst you try and open the plastic bag, you never automatically get the deal. You have to request for the sub total otherwise you pay full whack.

The big deal for me is, that the computer can automatically work this out and give you the best deal. But you don't get it unless you can know how to work the system.

The big deal for me is that the computer is clearly programmed to take advantage of maximising the cost for you, whilst its existence is keeping the cost of the supplier to a minimum.

paulz6 wrote:So you go down your local supermarket, and get a 3 for n GBP deal. You use the automated checkout. Bad Idea.

If you went via a human check out, they would apply the deal automatically for you, and bag it for you. With the automated checkout, despite you have to keep pressing you are interested to continue whilst you try and open the plastic bag, you never automatically get the deal. You have to request for the sub total otherwise you pay full whack.

The big deal for me is, that the computer can automatically work this out and give you the best deal. But you don't get it unless you can know how to work the system.

The big deal for me is that the computer is clearly programmed to take advantage of maximising the cost for you, whilst its existence is keeping the cost of the supplier to a minimum.

We use the handheld do it yourself scanners at Waitrose. As you scan each item in, if there is a special deal it will give a little tone to alert you to the fact. Often it is not clear on the shelves that there is a deal so you basically never miss out on special offers. Check-out is a doddle and fast at a special counter as you do not need to unpack your bags unless there is a random check which happens occasionally and the goods are re-checked at a normal checkout. Alarmingly when this has happened on two occasions, in both instances the cashiers made errors and come up with differences. Once when a bag we took in was scanned making the total 10p more than it should have been and on the second occasion only one of two newspapers was scanned making the total £1.50 less than it should have been. The manager was so embarrassed that they gave the paper to us.

On both occasions our totals were 100% correct but goodness knows how many mistakes are made when you go through a checkout normally.

I can imagine some people who have seen my pre-historic mobile phone wondering how I can be using such modern technology. The answer to that is I have always been ahead of the crowd in adopting technology that is really useful and not just a gimmick.

Was that a buy one pay for two alert.

I use self checkouts in Tescos and Sainsbury's all the time and have never missed out on any deals I've seen on the shelves, and always check the receipt to confirm just in case. I've never had to press anything other then the 'pay now' option.

Call me old fashioned,but I always use humans at supermarkets and banks

Quicker that way,encase there is any mistakes

MARTIN

I only use the self service tills at my local Tesco if I don't have any products that require security tags removed, because you can guarantee that the person who is there to keep an eye out for them is always off gassing to one of their colleagues and so the process is slowed down until you eventually manage to attract their attention, most are quite apologetic but occainsionally you get the one who looks quite put out at having to interrupt their gossiping session!

Are there any supermarkets, other than Waitrose, that have the do-it-yourself hand scanning system. i. e. you scan the product as you put it into your trolley as you roam around

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I think it is only Waitrose that operates that way - their customers must be perceived to be more trustworthy

I'm intrigued as to which supermarket is running this bizarre scheme as I'm pretty certain that whenever I've used the self-service checkouts at both Tesco & J Sainsbury that discounts have automatically been applied - not neccessarily on screen as you're scanning, but definitely when you hit the "pay now" button.

I would have thought that the software involved for both the self-service & cashier operated service checkouts should be pretty much identical?

gswindale wrote:I think it is only Waitrose that operates that way - their customers must be perceived to be more trustworthy

That's the reason Sainsbury's exists.

To keep the riff raff out of Waitrose !

Perhaps I should just hit pay now after looking at the on screen total. If I hit request sub total before hand though, it tends to knock a few quid off. I'm not saying that you may be surprised that the agreed check out price is less than that you thought you had agreed with though. And it is the agreed check out price that overrides the majority of consumer pricing perceptions of what you are entitled to pay.
The software may be the same as others use, but most business software can be configured to behave as you expect it to. All I am saying, is that it appears that the software is programmed to be disadvantageous to the customer, so I blame the marketing department for not quashing the myth.

Hi
I too have found that the discounts don't always show up on Sainsburys self scan.
Did do tonight when I was buying cream eggs, which scanned as 52p each, but should have been 3 for a £1
So I press pay , then cancel, then pay again.
Although to be fair I tend to only buy a couple of items at a time, so maybe on a larger shop, the discounts get added later.

Cheers
Jon

Did do tonight when I was buying cream eggs, which scanned as 52p each, but should have been 3 for a £1

26p each in Waitrose

My discount wasn't a SBRY discount. But hey, at that price I could sink a cream egg faster than a share price.

26p each in Waitrose

20p each in Sainsburys

If regulation is not needed, than why behave in manner that needs regulating?
All I want is a plastic bag that can be opened. What is the point of a bag that cannot serve its usefully designed purpose? And what is the point of an express check out, if a bag opener has to be employed to do the simplest of things we should all be able to do? Better still, employ them on the checkout. It might just be faster and cheaper for us all.
Does anybody know what the regulator of stupid bags that cannot be opened is called?