I choose to go to a particular supermarket that provides excellent service at the checkout and packs all my purchases into bags and into my trolley. I’m aware that I pay a little extra for this in the price of their goods, but I’d rather pay more and get good service. But that very supermarket is now trying to guide me into their new self-service lanes and teach me how to check out my goods myself. I have no wish to do this. If I wanted to, I would go to the cheaper supermarket and pack the goods myself. Are they trying to have it both ways by selling more expensive goods as well as make customers do their own checkouts?
Oh, I love you, consumers. You make such good points. I hadn’t thought about this, so I asked my own supermarket if you saved money doing the checkout work yourself. They coyly said “no”. So, in a way, it’s a bit of a con.It seems a bit strange that a supermarket attracts customers through its service and assistance, then offers to take those positives away from customers for no financial benefit to them. There’s one advantage that was obvious when I watched it. At peak times, you can get through checkout faster in the self-service lanes – though not a lot faster, as there seemed to be some customers who struggled to deal with the system. If I were you – and I’m planning to do the same – I would continue to accept the excellent help at the standard checkouts and simply ignore the new ones. Who cares if it takes a bit longer? I’m sure you will have an excellent magazine, with superb columnists, to read while you’re waiting.
