Re: B&Q self checkout machines

[Bill Wright]

Neil, You're a born something or other. I take off my hat to you.

Bill

[Clot]

Loved it. That's my experience!

[Bill Wright]

I'm sorry if I caused you any inconvenience.

Bill

[Frank Erskine]

On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:06:20 +0000, Clint Sharp had this to say:

I 'like' Seabrook's (plain (salted)) crisps.

Not that I use crisps on a regular basis.

[Clive George]

For those who live in a Seabrook's free zone, they do internet order boxes at a not-unreasonable price - and you get to choose the mix of flavours.

(thought I'd mention it since I was recently surprised to see Walkers being sold at 50p a bag, which just seems wrong to me).

[Frank Erskine]

On Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:39:28 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)" had this to say:

What's the alleged advantage of an automated checkout? Clearly it does away with a humanoid (although they still need to be such around for, say, alcohol purchases). In RL they seem to be much slower than a checkout manned by real people. Is it just that most purchasers hate the idea of having to speak to a real life human cashier? If so, that's very sad.

[Clint Sharp]

The requirement to weigh everything is to stop you nicking stuff, the machine knows how much an item should weigh and it stops until it can see that weight on the platform before you can scan the next item. Of course, the obvious scam is to show it a cheap tin of own brand product (beans for instance) and put the equivalent weight premium brand product in the bag.

[Clint Sharp]

In message , Frank Erskine writes

Hmm, I like the prawn cocktail ones and look forward to the new 'spicy' range they have appearing.

[Clint Sharp]

In message , Owain writes

Duct tape.

[Andy Burns]

What they need is faster humans, such as the ones in Aldi, who are equipped with tills designed to be fast, rather than pretty.

[Andy Burns]

The Safeway ones are for basket only, but have the shelf for your basket and the shelf with the scales/carrier about 6' apart, how convenient ... and they have the droid voice that tells you do insert your debit card AFTER you have already done so, and is still telling you to take your receipt about 5 seconds after you've done so and set off on your way to the exits.

[dennis]

The second set of scales are the collection area. Its supposed to stop you putting stuff on without scanning it.

The ones with two conveyers?

[Neil]

Steady on Bill, high praise indeed from the author of A Riggers Diary !

Neil

[Tim W]

Bill Wright wibbled on Tuesday 27 October 2009 00:39

No offence intended :-o

More to do with the lack of staff to help customers

[mogga]

Tesco's are rubbish if you want to use your own bags.

the B&Q ones - the technique is to stuff up the first item and get the girl to come and assist you with the rest of it.

[Dave Liquorice]

Probably borrowed the programming from those dreadful chip 'n pin machines. You know the ones that say "Please insert card" you do so, wait several seconds then it says "card inserted too early", you then have to tell the checkout operator who has to reset the system. Absolute crap, it shouldn't matter when in the process a card is inserted, if it's to early just wait FFS, it should need the reset or the card to be removed and reinserted. The prompts on some have been changed but no all.

Yep, I some times feel they have less processing power than a ZX81, they are so slow and labourious.

[Dave Liquorice]

So I have to handle each object twice? Once to scan and place on platform, then again to take off platform and place on conveyor so I can put the next item on? This is progress?

I suspect the Tesco ones are (trying) to be a bit more clever. They complain about "unexpected item" and there are what look like little cameras looking at the conveyor. I suspect it can tell the difference between Tesco Value beans and Heinz...

Which then begs the question why not just have a conveyor onto which you place the goods, that then trundles the goods through a scan/ID area? Conveyor could have regular marks down it on which each item should be (more or less) placed.

I'm all for technology and it helping but I detest technology for technologies sake or technology that is "the tail wagging the dog". Zooming windows and animations as they are changed/opened/closed look pretty for the first couple of times but then just become a PITA as you have to wait for them. Or lists that "helpfully" move about, normally just as you are about to click on the one you want. Or scrolling that doesn't scroll the contents of the sub-window the mouse is over.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It's even sadder that the average checkout person would rather be doing absolutely anything other than serving customers. I can understand that, of course - must be one of the most boring jobs ever invented. But at least a machine doesn't find the need to chat to someone in front of me when all I want to do is get out of the damned place and on with my life.

[Dave Liquorice]

One humanoid can look after 4 or 6 self op checkouts, instead of just the one they are sat at. It's pure profit motivation from the store, it's nothing to do with customer service. Proper customer service would have someone to unload your trolly, someone scanning, and someone packing(*) into store (or your bags) and then back into the trolly.

Which makes more profit? 1/4 of a person per checkout or 2 or three people per checkout?

(*) And I mean trained in packing, not just stuffing things into the bags willy nilly but placing neatly and tidyly in general product categories and taking into account the robustness of the goods. Fruit 'n veg in one bag, hard heavy things at the bottom soft 'n squidy at the top. Dairy/chilled in another again sorted by robustness, dry goods another, bread and other soft goods another etc.

[Dave Liquorice]

If I wanted to nick summat why would I bother taking it out of the trolly?

Not seen twin conveyor ones. Just a basket trough, scanner, conveyor to bagging area or basket trough, scanner, bagging area.

The other sang is that you then have a trolley load of goods you have paid for, all on their tod 8' from where you are just waiting for a tea leave to pass by... And as you are doing the (slow) scanning and making payment you then have to bag and load the trolly, a task that you do at the same time as a checkout operator is doing the scanning.