Do you prefer to use self checkout?

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The nature of the local supermarkets themselves dictates my choice, or lack of choice.

At Asda, the biggest supermarket in town, there are usually only two or three checkouts in operation, and sometimes none at all at quieter periods. This makes the self-checkout the usual logical choice, and to be honest, it's fine - the machines are pretty reliable and I can get my shopping processed within a minute or two.

At Aldi, where I shop fairly often because of the prices, there's only the cashier option. This also is pretty good - Aldi is known for encouraging its checkout staff to get stuff scanned with a minimum of delays, and they'll also open up other tills if there are too many people in the queue.

One thing that's always annoyed me about the supermarket cashier system is the way they always have to send for a manager if there's a problem with the transaction or with a product. It sometimes takes several minutes for the manager to arrive, and all he or she then does is to stick a key into the till and make some minor adjustment. Why on earth can't the cashiers be trained or trusted to do this themselves? It would get rid of quite a few hold ups.

Another thing that used to be a problem with cashiers at some supermarkets was their tendency to chat with customers, slowing down the scanning process and leaving several people in the queue (like me) fuming with exasperation. This doesn't seem to happen much these days though, and never has at Aldi, as previously mentioned.

The sainsbury's ones are funny because the voice says 'do you want a recieeeeeeeeeept?' like how an British mother would say it

The way the 'lady' says "Goodbye!" is also quite funny.

I personally will use them although find it annoying when I have cash to pay with as they only accept cards/phone payments. I have issues talking to the staff there and some have said I seem suspicious or something and checked my bags due to lack of eye contact maybe. Self checkout is too loud and small with area to place your items imo. like others said tetris with finding ways to place stuff.

Not really. I feel like I should be getting a discount for doing someone else’s job

I don't really like using self-checkout or lining up in front of a sales assistant. I prefer to just walk away with the stuff without paying. Unfortunately, there are too many obstacles to that particular method of shopping.

I to prefer the self checkout, idk it's just easy and quick and I don't have to worry about being social. Not all places have self check out and I don't mind having to go through a cashier and always try to be polite and nice to them. But its kind of stressful and I certainly get second thoughts like if I seemed friendly enough and hoping I didn't do anything that hurt their feelings.

Like today when I checked out a dress I bought for attending my sisters wedding the cashier said it looked good on me(she had been doing some dressing room cleaning and just saw me with it on when I was showing my boyfriend). But yeah, I didn't really say anything, and she was all like 'i wasn't spying/creeping whatever just was back there' or something like that and I was just like 'ah right on'. But yeah it just confused me because I did not recognize her from being back near the dressing room so I was confused how she'd know it looked good on me. But like I feel kinda bad about sort of brushing off the compliment because I was confused about how she knew it looked good on me.

So yeah even now I am still thinking about hoping I didn't seem rude or anything, and also hope she doesn't feel bad for complimenting how it looked on me. Because I appreciated the compliment but it just threw me off a little because intially I didn't see how she would know.

Self-checkout always has people hovering over you, walking up and taking over the checkout process because they think everyone is too dumb to know how to scan items, or they think certain items must go in certain bags, or how to pay. If you need help, ask for it. If you're acting suspicious, sure someone's gonna approach you. Otherwise, leave people alone.

I get that there has to be some security/supervision over self-checkout since without it, there would be rampant shoplifters. But I'd rather do the usual checkout even if its a longer wait, and have to deal with interacting with them. That is less stress than having someone walk up uninvited and pluck your products out of your hand and do it themselves. Especially in Covid, part of the idea was to minimize touch interaction.

I try to avoid self-checkout as a personal preference.
- Less work on my end.
- Someone does the bagging for you!
- I am wary of the socioeconomic impacts of automation of low tier service jobs.

However, I increasingly find myself turning to them, because whatever my paranoias about the impacts of automation on social stability and inequality... they don't outweigh my strong aversion to lines.

sigh. Oh well. That's just me

I don't. I find it overwhelming to juggle my items, it never seems there is enough bagging space either. The screens are loud. And I'm super aware of the people behind me just waiting on me and my dog to get done.
Once I tried to turn down the automated voice, and instead it changed the language. So it was not only speaking loudly, but it was also in a language I didn't understand. I panicked and left.
I find it much easier to just use a normal checkout. Once the cashier realizes that I don't speak, it's a lovely quiet thing.

Not all cashiers start chatting to you unless you know them or they're extremely chatty, which I don't mind, in fact I like friendly, chatty cashiers because when they seem cold and unfriendly I feel anxious. I don't have social anxiety going to a cashier, but ironically I do have social anxiety going to the self-service check-outs. I always think everyone's looking at me and watching me even though they probably don't even notice me except as one customer of hundreds.

I always worry about my posture when using the self-service check-outs because the bit where you put your shopping into the bags is so low down and I feel like I've got to bend awkwardly to pack the shopping. And my boyfriend is the worst at self-checkouts. He scans the items so fast and shoves them into your hands before you have a chance to put them into the bags, and it confuses the machine. Yet if you go too slow the machine times out. You've got to be a precise speed; not too fast and not too slow.

To avoid such hassle, I always go to a cashier. Machines are too literal.