OT-ish B&Q automated checkout

[David.WE.Roberts]

I daren't go into B&Q if I am feeling at all out of sorts.

I know I will end up in trouble.

They don't person the row of tills any more, just have one attendant on the four station automated checkout.

So you have to use the damn thing.

It is voiced by some kind of neurotic harpy with the vindictive timing so that just as you are lifting the next item out of your trolley, she whines about you putting the next item through the till.

After a few items I fell like continually shouting

"Shut the f*ck up!!!!!!!!"

One day..........

"Please swipe the next article"

"14 pound sledge hammer"

"No"

"Ouch!"

"Stop that!!"

"Grrrrkkkkkk"

On a related note, if they can't get enough footfall through a massive store/warehouse/hanger to keep the tills busy then the can't be making a profit on the stock they hold.

As with HomeBase, their days must surely be numbered.

Cheers

Dave R

[Nightjar]

Or they want to make more profit than they do. Reducing staffing by one person in every store for every hour they are open, assuming adult minimum wage, will save them around £10 million a year.

The usual indicator is when there is noticeably less stock on the shelves.

Colin Bignell

[Andy Cap]

I went into Marks early one day last week and having filled my mini-trolley, found a queue at the DIY tills "Because the manager has decided not to open the checkouts." I guess until 9:00AM ! On getting home I emailed Customer Services and told them it was ridiculous and I wouldn't be going back unless they had a checkout available. Within 15 minutes I had a reply saying that the local management team had been contacted and thanks for letting them know. I actually haven't been into B&Q since they were introduced. As a *choice* they are fine and with a few items I will use them but if enough people complained and voted with their feet perhaps they would at least maintain the option. It should be about what the customer wants, though I can see them eventually adding a surcharge for use of a checkout!

Andy C

[David.WE.Roberts]

To be clear, I'm not at all against automated checkouts - when properly implemented they can be very good and fast.

It is just that the voice and the timings on the B&Q checkout are immensely irritating.

[Tahiri]

It is noticable in my local Tesco that there is often heavy useage of the staffed 'Basket' checkout, despite all the self service tills being free.

[Bill]

In message , Nightjar writes

Saved me a bit of cash, too.

Last time I took SWMBO there for her to look at the potted plants or something, I picked up a bag of stainless bolts thinking they would do for the electric winch. Got to the checkout to find no staff, just a machine. They must have had to carry the bolts back to the shelf, and I came home and bought them for 25% of the price off ebay.

In my current paint quest, I have been actively ignoring all those saying to me "Everyone else just goes to B & Q and buys it off the shelf".

[Nightjar]

Obviously good Trade Unionists, who realise that if they use the self-service tills they are stealing the jobs of other people.

Colin Bignell

[whisky-dave]

A checkout girl in sainsbury asked me to use one of those automated tills and I said that's OK I'd rather to stay in this queue and she asked me why, so I said I don;t want to see you loose your job, and a look of shock came over her face.

Yes I can see a time when no staff are in supermarkets simnilar to train stations at night.

[Martin Brown]

I don't mind them all that much. Often quicker than queuing.

M&S clearly have a death wish. The last three stores I have been in had the new layout designed by someone who must have severe difficulties comprehending the world around them. In one there is no way for people to get to the quick service tills because the long queues for the main tills and people trying to get into the shop bar the way. In another the main down escalator to the food hall dumps you on the exit side behind the checkouts and everybody then has to fight their way out.

Quite possibly as the people are a variable cost that can be eliminated and replaced by robotics. Same is happening in libraries too.

[Phil L]

They can't possibly be more irritating that the ones they have in Morrisons, as soon as you start scanning, it starts squawking, 'put the item in the baaag' beep 'put the item in the baaag' beep 'put the item in the baaag' - there's not a fraction of a second between the beep of the barcode and the incessant drone of the most hideous voice you've ever heard - imagine Janet Street-Porter holding her nose....I can't believe there were choices and someone at head office decided, 'ah, that's the one'

[Jonathan]

If you are buying spirits someone has to take the security thing off

[Jethro_uk]

I once bought a bottle of scotch as a Christmas present - it came in one of those cylinders.

It was only when the FiL unwrapped it, we saw it still had the tag on. We puzzled over how it got past the scanner, until I realised the cylinder was some sort of foil. Really I should have told the manager, so they could amend their staff training.

[Nightjar]

Why not? If the voice is annoying enough, you will get through the process faster, making room sooner for someone else to pay them.

Colin Bignell

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I tend to use those as a first choice. Actually doing something makes the time pass faster than waiting while someone else does it. I'm obviously good at ignoring nagging women. ;-)

[Jethro_uk]

It's impossible for SWMBO to get around our local M&S in her scooter. Because the had to open a coffee shop, but keep the same stock level, all the racks are very close. Luckily they are on wheels, so very easy to move out of the way ;)

However, of late, we've both been disappointed with M&S, a very poor ranger, and I had a stand up row with a *manager* (not assistant) over whether a button breaking after 4 days use was fair wear and tear or not.

However, the nearby Primark is always busy.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Bit like the mines "I'd rather have no job at all than work there"

[Bill Wright]

I find B & Q's offers rather surprising. Three times now I've been told at the till that items have a 3 for 2 offer, and there's been no indication on the shelves. On Weds (OAP day) I bought six different items (all vaguely paint related) and got two of them free, then got 10% off for being old. This meant that I spent £45 less than I thought I was going to.

In Dec I bought some Christmas tree lights that were marked up at £49, but at the till they were £33.

Bill

[Another Dave]

It's Sainsburys who get up my nose. Each and every bottle of wine comes with an "authorisation needed" message. Surely one would do and much less loudly. Anyone would think I drink too much.

Another Dave

[The Medway Handyman]

They must be struggling;

Landlord deal saves B&Q's Athlone store

B&Q Ireland's Athlone store has been given a reprieve after the company managed to negotiate a better rent deal with its landlord.

[Clive Page]

Agree with you on the voice and timing, but I don't think they are at all well designed or implemented. Last week I need just some tap washers and B&Q were near at hand and had them on the shelves. Unfortunately the packet of them weighed I suppose only 20 grams or so, and would not register on their scale. I tried dropping them on various points on it and pressing down with my hand, nothing worked. Eventually I pressed the help button and after an even longer delay somebody came over to override the infernal machine. It must be equally difficult if buying something too large or heavy to fit on the scale.