Self service checkouts: love them or loathe them? Yesterday Gizmodo had some fun debate around just that, and today we follow up with some tips from the pros that will help you get through the checkout faster. This is a guest post from a Woolies Insider…
I work at Woolies, and I’m a regular on self service. Here are some common problems that I help customers with:
1. Bag Opening
Funny at first, but man this wastes a lot of time. Usually each machine will have a wet sponge somewhere near by: press your index and middle finger in, then pinch (thumb and first two fingers) the opening of the bag on each side. Slide up and down, and the bag will open instantly (it’s how operators do it). If there’s no sponge, you can lick your fingers, or just ask the supervisor.
2. Weight Check
Ensure your basket isn’t leaning on the scales when weighing fruit and veg: you wouldn’t believe how often this happens and you get charged too much. Always put the fruit/veg on the scale first, THEN select it on the screen.
If you run out of room in the bagging area, once the lights are green above the scanner, you can take a bag off, or there’s usually a “new bag” button which lets you take a bag off.
Most issues are caused by items not scanning properly and other items leaning or being placed in the bagging area, so keep an eye out and pay attention.
3. Assistance Required
It’s expected that you might need it. Light items (like chilli peppers) won’t register properly in the bagging area, and will need assistance, signatures etc. Don’t just stand there looking busy, at least make it obvious that you’re waiting for assistance, or you’ll never get help (again you wouldn’t believe some people).
4. Scan and Bag
Put items straight in the bag after you scan them. Don’t place them in the bagging area and bag them when you’re done. It’s just a waste of time, and keeps you (and everyone behind you) in the store for longer.
5. Using your own bag
The machines have their own expectancy for what an eco bag will weigh. If you want to pack the groceries into your backpack or gym bag, the machines won’t like it, so just call the supervisor before you start.
Most importantly! Just ask for help if you need it or if you’re stuck. Forget your pride and stubbornness just ask. It’s easier and will get you (and everyone else) out of the supermarket quicker.
So yeah, just my tips after reading the comments over at: Opinion: Self-Checkout Luddites Are Damaging My Calm. Hope this helps you get out of the store faster.
Allan
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:29 AMI have to say I’ve never thought of asking a supervisor to link my fingers.
Sam
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:05 AMBAHAHAHAHAHA! That just made my day!
Gish
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 5:19 PM+1. I lolled, hard.
Mike
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 9:42 PMI’ve had this article open all day just so that I could show my wife this comment when she got back from work.
You, sir, are a genius.
Danny Allen
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 12:15 AMThis is possibly the comment of the week. Well played sir, well played.
Adam
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:30 AMI hate the self-service checkout. It’s just a way of phasing out jobs people rely on so that rich supermarket chains can get even richer. Boycott them.
spiderlama
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:45 AMI hate slow checkout workers who don’t know how to pack items into a bag! I am 5 times quicker using the self-service checkout. Boycott regular checkouts!
MDolley
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:04 AMI am with you on that. “Wait checkout operator, did you really just put my fresh fruit in with dishwashing liquid, floor cleaner, and a can of soup?”. You can’t just chuck everything in a bag as you scan it, a little common sense people!
DK Son
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 2:15 PMThere was this one guy at my local Woolies, in Chullora, Sydney.
Credit to the guy. I stacked up a big load of shopping of all sorts of things; boxes, packets, single produce items, bottles, etc onto the belt in as best order as I could manage when unloading the trolley. When he was scanning the items he would scan down the belt for items of similar use/packaging and ask me to hand them to him.
I had no issue with this, the guy was on the ball and packing the bags like a gun even if he did have to ask me to help.
I haven’t seen him in ages, hopefully promoted to something better :D
twiryn
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:42 PMwhen i worked in a supermarket, we were taught from our first day to group foods and items, and to put soft things on top. it was really drilled into anyone who didnt think logically about that anyway. I’ve since moved on, but it still makes me cringe when i see a checkout person pack things stupidly. it is not that hard to do right!!!
Tim
Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 11:21 PMMy partner is a coeliac and I am not. The best bag packer/scanner dude I ever had actually asked (extremely politely) if it was okay to pack the regular bread in with the gluten free bread, when he noticed they were different.
I was overwhelmed by his thoughtfulness, and wanted to proclaim in a loud voice “Get this man a promotion!”. Instead I smiled casually, laughed and said “nah it’s fine”… But I wish I’d said something. That’s something even I would forget in self-service.
Matt
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:48 AMI disagree, I love self serve, I don’t always want to wait inline for ages, or talk to someone I don’t want to. I just want to get my stuff and get out, and I’m generally faster than the checkout chicks
epilogue
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:58 AMI work at coles and I love self service. Somehow I doubt that Coles spending hundreds of thousands on self checkout machines (The note scanner itself costs $10000) will cause them to employ less minimum wages workers. We are much cheaper than the machines.
zag
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 5:31 PMNot over time say your wage was 15,000 with in 2 years the self serve scaner will have done your job plus be cheaper to buy as it was only 10000 where as your 15000 every year and rising.
If they keep the scaner for 5 years than machine is really $2000 a year if it’s for 10 years then it’s a $1000 dollar machine.
Think you could get by on a $1000 for the whole year?
epilogue
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 8:06 PMThe machines cost a lot more than $10000 dollars. Also the sheer amount of upkeep on them is insane.
Danny Allen
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 12:18 AMSo I know I’m the editor of Giz and everything, but I hate them, too. Not because I’m a luddite and don’t know how to use them, and not because I’m not quick at them (I’m okay). The reason: After 15-20 mins of mindless shopping, I’m on auto-pilot (or thinking about what I’m cooking for dinner). The last thing I want to do is switch gears into man vs machine mode. But that’s just me. :)
Nads
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:44 AMI hate them also, If you want me to do your job scanning and packing the groceries then give me a discount!
I refuse to use them.
Greg
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:54 AMon a few items, you are getting a discount – time. usually worth more than money.
epilogue
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:59 AMI think you should travel to Europe mate where checkout operators don’t bag anything for you.
Jim
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 7:07 PMNo need to goto Europe, just head to Aldi for that experience.
Bob
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:45 AM@Allan, I do it all the time. They are normally quite obliging. At my local Coles express they have actually employed dedicated finger lickers. They have especially wide tongues allowing them to service several customers simultaneously. Works really well.
james
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:00 AMi’m willing to bet that with a tongue capable of servicing several customers at once they could earn more money in other work environments.
Owen
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:54 AMI’d rather do it myself than have the service I got from some idiot at Revesby Woolies last weekend. Puts the milk in the cold bag I provide, then 3 warm bottles of coke to fill it, then puts my frozen meals/ham/margerine in a normal bag.
IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE. COLD THINGS WITH COLD.
Jeff
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:59 AMstealing jobs…. have food prices come down since these were introduced…. No… just making woolies more $$$
lushr
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:00 AMone other thing is to watch the red and green lights above the scanner. it’s red when it’s weighing the item, wait for it to turn green before scanning the next item.
Sam
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:11 AMThere aren’t any self-service checkouts around Launceston where I live (except K-Mart), so I’m not often prone to using them lately. They were, however added to the local Woolies when I lived in Sydney last year. I found them generally pretty quick and easy to use – and soon found that I quickly learnt most of the tips that Woolies Insider has offered (why the anonymity? Are they offering us secrets Woolies management don’t want the consumer to know?). The self-serve checkouts actually became my default ATM – I didn’t have to make any purchases, could withdraw any amount in any denomination from 5 cents upward, and didn’t get whacked with any ATM fees.
Main problem I found with the self-serve checkouts though – is that they’re geared towards shoppers who can carry everything they’re buying. Morons with trolleys full of groceries would use them (even though the normal checkouts weren’t particularly busy), holding up the queues and taking up a lot of valuable space in what was already a limited area.
Anthony
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:18 AMIn regards to the Assistance Required point. I needed assistance for a signature check. When that appeared I looked around, found the self-service person and waved to make it clear I needed assistance. She told me that she’s not a slave, and if I just stood there waiting she would come to assist when she was free. That waving won’t make it any quicker. I had no idea if the assistance required alerted them in any way or not, so that’s why I pointed it out to her.
Graeme
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 6:09 PMThat’s when their little name badges come in handy. Wander over to the service counter and ask to speak to the manager or supervisor. Tell them exactly what happened and say you’re very unimpressed. Don’t get annoyed or irritable (unless you just want to blow off steam) and you’ll help make sure old misery guts doesn’t act like that in the future.
Choc
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:28 AMi am sure the teenagers love them. They can buy embarassing items easier than ever before
if only we had these when i was a wee lad ;)
Wgong
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:43 AMA couple more time saving tips!
1) You don’t have to hit the ‘Start’ button – just scan the first item and the register will jump to the scanning screen.
2) When paying cash, you don’t have to navigate the boring ‘how to pay’ maze of buttons – just stick in money and it will assume you are paying by cash!
Penmonicus
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 12:30 PMYup. I’ve picked up on these, too.
I like them. I’m in my twenties, live and work in the city, and it’s easy to duck in and grab something on my way home. I’d rather scan them and pay for them myself and get out, than have someone do it for me.
I hate the “It’s costing jobs” excuse. How many people really enjoy working as a ‘checkout chick’?
patrick
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 3:06 PMNo one enjoys being a checkout chick, but most people would prefer it to the dole.
james
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:47 AManyone feel like supplying ways to rort the system? after all, we are doing the work of an employee.
Matt
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 12:12 PMThere is a couple of clever ways to rort the system. The easiest is to weigh expensive vegetables as cheap vegetables. For example – you have a $8.00per kg banana in your trolley. Put it on the scale and weight it as a $1.80per kg onion and so forth. Obviously not legal. If you’re game enough you can do the same thing with meat (or any item), just don’t scan it and then put it through as a weighed vegetable instead.
Mr Biggles
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 12:27 PMOh gawd, there’s millions of ways… Like if they still sold bananas, scan them in as a lettuce.
Simple.
Perry
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:51 AMI refuse to use them. The groceries aren’t any cheaper, and someone is put out of a job.
Sir
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 11:52 AMPoint number 3. I thought all had lights above the checkout so that if assistance was required it would either flash or glow red? Surely this is enough of a signal for the person to take action? As someone said yesterday though, I still can’t believe we don’t have trolleys that photograph/scan things as they go in the trolley. Coupled with a card scanner on the trolley handle we could remove the checkout altogether! I’m still waiting
epilogue
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 12:02 PMThe Self checkout units that Coles are using have a set of lights on top that tell the supervisor the status of the customer using the machine. Clear means open, Green means being used, Red means they need assistance and green flashing means the machine has a jam or needs paper :P
rico
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 12:25 PMI find it easier to steal items the old fashion way – use a trolley at a regular checkout and leave a few things in the trolley. Nobody checks the bottom of the trolley.
Stealing from the new checkouts is harder because you really have to pocket stuff to get away with it, which you may as well do in the aisles.
Danny Allen
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 12:19 AMLol. That’s a whole different sort of Top 5 (finger discount) story. Boom tish.
Rob G
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 12:31 PMWhat an exercise in stating the obvious. Can’t say using the self-serve checkouts has really been that much of a struggle…
DodgeyBrothers
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 12:51 PMTry not to weigh the Cashews as Peanuts, or scan the 250G can of tuna and put the can of caviar in your plastic bag.
Btw; I’ve heard if your transaction is less than $x you don’t have to use a pin number. Similar to mcdonalds credit card transactions under $35.
Jon
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 12:56 PMOk here is what I have worked out so far:
1. Don’t press start – Swipe your first item.
2. If you have an Everyday rewards card – have it ready and scan this when you scan the items – the machine works it out.
3. The pay by cash method suggested by @Wgong
4. For the same queue length – the professional express lane tellers are much faster.
Brian
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 1:58 PMWhat a juicy discussion, very emotional. Self-serve check-outs, 1. I watched the staff at introduction get training, yet we are the ones who use them, duh! 2. How can a self-serve check-out be out of service, duh again! 3. Yes where is my automatic discount for not using a paid staff. I’m being robbed again paying normal price for something that cost less to purchase. 4. They can stick the green and red lights and bagging are where it belongs, I hate it. The staff eventually come over and give you the dirtiest look for stuffing it up. You talk about hurry through the process yet it still takes forever for a few items. If buying one item I still have to use a bag and ‘place in the bagging area’ where’s the greening in that crap? 5. I still have to queue up there as you are lucky to have one human check-out open as a choice. Irrespective of the mechanisms used to pay for goods it takes longer to get of the the stores than it does to select. For a customer focused business they don’t practise their mission statement often.
DodgeyBrothers
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 2:28 PM@Brian – ‘If buying one item I still have to use a bag and ‘place in the bagging area’ where’s the greening in that crap?’
Don’t put it in the bag, just put it on the machine where the bags are. Still weighs your item, and hey presto, you aren’t killing the environment with plastic. :)
Mathew
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 2:04 PMTo all the people bitching about wanting a discount for using them, go away. Self serve is an OPTION, you do not have to use it. Believe it or not, they have *created* jobs in supermarkets, not taken them away. They require permanent staffing for self serve areas, and think about all those NCR technicians, I can promise you, they have created a lot of jobs in that field. (employee of Woolworths, opinions are mine, not those of my company)
Danny Allen
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 12:22 AMI’m sure I’ve been to supermarkets where there’s like one token regular checkout attendant vs 6 or so open self-service. Might have been close to midnight, though and maybe I’m not remembering right. Will have to pay attention next time.
Donny
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 2:24 PMdon’t like them. they fill up with wankers who are slow and take forever.
Mathew
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 4:51 PMYeah, I’m with you on that one.
zag
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 5:35 PMThese self serve machines are far too slow for me.
I normally run about 5 steps ahead of the machine and it’s stalls wasting extra time as it’s still thinking about what to do 5 steps ago.
The last time I used one the whole money bit screwed up and it couldn’t be used at that point.
It had to be fully reset to fix it up.
Matt
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 6:28 PMMy tip? Don’t try and put a trolley-load of stuff through them!
Rhu
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 7:56 PMTHIS TIMES A MILLION.
I can’t stand it when there is a line of people in the queue, and half of the scanners are being used up by people with a trolley full of groceries.
I do small shops, but I sometimes have to use the trolley when I am picking up milk and juice at the same time. If not, I’ll use a basket for the 10 things I pick up and get through self scan quickly.
HotPhil
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:35 PMCouple of tips you missed
- you don’t generally need to click the “start” button, just scan your first item
- you don’t generally need to press the “cash” button, just feed a note in when you’re done
Danny Allen
Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 12:22 AMNice additions Phil!