Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrison's, they all have them: Are self-service checkouts really the future of shopping?

Sometimes it feels like an insult; we to stand in a queue that does not seem any shorter than it was before the manned tills were replaced, and we have to scan them ourselves, only to be told there is an “unexpected item in the bagging area”, which is an item that we scanned just seconds ago...

I have had a number of exasperating experiences myself; in Waitrose some of the self-service checkouts only let you pay by card so suddenly you find yourself in the wrong queue, in Marks and Spencer you have to pay for the carrier bags you use, but in Sainsbury’s you get rewarded if you use your own bag – surely that is a more encouraging way to combat the battle against plastic? In Morrisons the self-service checkouts don't accept £2 coins, so after trying to enter the coin numerous times I tracked down the member of staff monitoring the self-service checkouts (who was assisting another aggravated customer with an "unexpected item in the bagging area") and asked what I needed to do. They told me that I needed to go to one of the staffed check outs and get two £1 coins, I asked him kindly (as kindly as I could at this stage) if he would mind doing this for me as I didn't want to leave my shopping (and I assumed his job was to assist?!). This incident seemed so backwards I would have laughed if I wasn't so frustrated. 

After a few irritating experiences, on my following visits to the supermarkets, I observed other customers to see how they got on with using these machines. I saw a number of people spending a long while trying to locate where to put the notes in, until the customer behind them in line pointed it out to them, and many times when there were customers waiting for a member of staff to override the "unexpected item in bagging area" message. Customers also waited for staff to approve their age when buying alcohol when they were clearly over 40, or searching the images to find the correct bread roll.

The design of the self-service checkouts vary a great deal between stores, and with each one the customer has to work out how to use it – I’ve never known buying something to be so challenging. However, there is a variation used in some Waitrose stores which actually seems to work effectively, where customers are provided with hand scanners and scan each item as they go round the shop. This minimizes queues at the pay point, and only slows down if you are subjected to the random spot check, though this is very occasional so no complaints.

So, I’m interested to know what are your experiences of self-service checkouts? Do you brave them, or stand in line to get the cashier to do it for you? Post a comment, and watch this space for future research into the user experience of the self-service checkout.  

Images from Google.co.uk

Comments

[Ben]

These machines are a really interesting case study in human factors. Like everyone else I have had the frustration of the "unexpected item", although by now I can complete the process just about as fast as the machine will let me. As a technophile, I suppose this is to be expected.

I am, however, very interested in the experiences of other people. There is invariably a good sized queue of people (of all ages) who steadfastly ignore the machines despite repeated encouragement by the nearest checkout assistant. Whilst these machines have significant imperfections, they are functional. I'd love to have a better understanding of the psychology of those who are willing to wait minutes in a queue rather than use these machines.

[Jennifer Walters]

Thanks for your comment Ben. Generally I have managed to get to grips with the self-service checkouts... but there are still these irritating instances. Yes I have observed people acting in the same way, not wanting to use the self-service checkouts but prefer to stand in a queue, there is definitely room for some research here. Perhaps these are the same people that would rather book something over the phone than online... maybe human communication makes the process more pleasant or they are technophobes... or perhaps it is just laziness!

[Richard Anderson]

I've experienced similar and additional problems with self-service checkouts in the U.S., yet I seek out stores that have them as I've figured out a couple of workarounds and have just gotten used to several of the problems. What I've been seeing (and what I've been surprised by) is an increase in the number of people with LOTS of and a wide variety of groceries using self-service checkouts; it must take them longer, but...

I'd love to learn of the process via which these things were designed. Anyone know of where such a process is documented?

@Riander