Published on 12, July, 2020
I love self service tills in shops. They are much more hygienic than manned tills. The only unhygienic part is pressing the button asking how I'm making the payment and if I want a receipt.
On manned tills the operator touches every item of food I buy and on a recent visit I saw an operator sneeze all over herself and her hands and food items.
Now some shops are going into reverse, Booths are ripping out their self service tills, and my local branch of Iceland has gone back to manned tills only.
All opinions are welcome.
I’ve started to use my phone to scan items in the supermarket, I put the items straight into a carrier bag and when finished aim my phone at a QR code on a screen, I don’t have to take the items back out of my bag and the self scan area is normally less busy. I do understand that it’s losing people jobs but as a ‘time and motion’ study it makes sense not to take items back out of a bag, scan items or put them on a conveyor belt to only repack them again. The use of a phone scan also offers extra discounts as a ‘carrot’, to use the system. I get to be in the building for the least time possible.