In the UK there is usually one person looking after all the self scan tills in that part of the shop. In big stores they have two or three self scan points. So there never is anyone looking over your shoulder.
And of course the scan as you shop is not supervised as you scan but one person looks after all if that group of tills.
Best
David
The handheld scanners in Waitrose work the same as everywhere else described above. Their random check policy seems to be quite variable though - every so often, you âget a rescanâ which is where you have to decamp all your stuff to a conyevor belt where an employee scans it all again. If it doesnât tally, they donât tell you (the person on the checkout has even said to me that even they donât get told!) but you can tell if it doesnât, because you then get rescanned for your next few shops.
Whatâs a bit inconsistent is that when we lived in Berkshire weâd get rescanned fairly regularly - once every few months, perhaps. Now weâre in Wiltshire, I havenât had a rescan in six years of (more or less) weekly shops. There could be a number of reasons for this, only some of which would be geographical.
Mark
Obviously I am proper dodgy considering the number of times I get a spot check after doing self scanning at Tescoâs. Nothing more irritating than doing their work for them then having to clamour for the attention of the limited number of staff, and of course you are going to need assistance if you have bought alcohol or meat products. Why meat products? However, Tescoâs scanners are better than Waitrose.
Hi, meat products are a high level shrinkage issue throughout the UK and so tend to be security tagged these days.I used to work for a high profile wholesaler ,and if not monitored correctly stock losses on fresh meat could run into thousands in say a month timescale.
I come at this from a slightly different angle.
Running a till is exhausting; often demeaning /(everyone has an opinion on how you ought to be doing your job even when youâve been doing it great for 25 years) and physically damaging. Twisting and reaching can take a significant physical toll.
So, from that angle alone Iâm happy to see the back of checkouts.
The harsh reality is that supermarkets have always based checkout numbers on peak times so there will never be as many staff as there are checkouts bar maybe Christmas Eve.
Queues for me are a nuisance. Partly from the perspective of my spine and partly because Iâm a cane user. Mostly the cane is a protection but you would be shocked to learn the proportion of people who see a cane user; assume total lack of vision and decide theyâll just casually sidle ahead of you. Iâve ceased to be polite about this and will call out anyone who dares; accidentally colliding my cane with their ankles should the opportunity arise.
Initially I really wasnât a fan of self-service and itâs still not perfect but on balance I prefer it comfortably to the queue and the checkout.
Smaller queues to get to one. Poor to shocking signage as to which side you should place your bags and screens that woukd rarely pass an accessibility test.
That said I almost always use them now; have few problems scanning and notice that those who do are either people with a fantastic lack of patience or little insight into some of the delays needed for inputting. In my case it only happens when itâs not obvious to me as to which side I should place items before scanning. Easily solved if I put the basket on the floor and the scanned item straight into my bag (not all shops software is so naff as to allow this).
My only issue with receipts concerns people who want a receipt but then leave it there sticking out. Several people later and thereâs a mess of them on the machine itself or on the floor.
As regards needing a receipt I really donât see the point. Anyone wants to know whether I paid for something theyâre welcome to watch me unlock my online banking app to see the updated balance. Iâve had an instance where a shop once tried to decline a refund as Iâd no receipt so I showed them the law as regards proof of purchase and then my bank account. That ended that discussion.
As regards receipts at self-checkout then Apple Pay is ideal for many with a VI. I donât have to worry about fumbling in my man bag for a wallet and then a card when I canât immediately see whoâs to the right of me and then thereâs an instant receipt as a notification on screen as soon as the payment goes through. No more faffing with contactless cards. Phone the right way up. Enter my pin and job done.
Ah ! Now I know why people behind me at the manned checkout get a bit touchy when I get my checkbook out 
Just for a carton of milk Dude. 
Itâs the old people. Theyâre a real pest on the normal tills, fiddling about, trying to locate that last sixpence from deep within the folds of their ancient purses, suddenly realising theyâve forgotten something and disappearing off for a few hours whilst leaving us standing around in the queue, tapping our feet in frustration.
Thank heavens for the self-service tills, the greatest invention since the wheel. Straight in, grab your stuff and straight out again. Or even better, order from the internet & have your shopping delivered. Fab!
Or the the ones who dig loads of coupons out, then the till operator has to scan them all to see if theyâve bought the item or itâs out of date.
The first time a young lady offered me a seat was at J âburg airport. I was ***so embarrassed 
***
But it was very kind of her
Ah, I do need a receipt. My credit card is Amex, each pound equals a BA mile. Therefore I collect the receipts and balance it out using on line banking.
And if that seems a faff then I have currently enough for London to Nairobi and back and not travelling at the back either.
A rather unkind comment. Youâll get old yourself one day - and Iâm no spring chicken either 
Iâve never had problems with lack of seats at Jâburg airport! They canât be running short of them now, surely?!
My only annoyance is standing amongst those who seem to have no concept of personal hygiene.
Yebbut I am old - older than you I suspect.
Do you have a nurse? Oops, typo - a purse!
This was on a bus from a plane to the arrivals I was just under sixty at the time .
Not that long ago my daughter was home from Uni and we went to the supermarket for a general shop and amongst our items bought a bottle of wine.
The checkout operator refused to sell me the wine saying that I could be buying it for my daughter and as my daughter had no ID she could be under 18.
Needless to say I was not happy. Eventually I was able to speak with the duty manager and after extensive persuasion was permitted to purchase the wine but had I not beenâŚassertively persistent would have been thwarted.
That is utterly ridiculous.