Supermarket giant Tesco appears to be moving away from manned checkouts. The high street retailer has been reported as being set to give a greater emphasis on self-serve tils in the future.
Tesco has said that larger self-checkout areas had been successful and its bigger self-checkout areas for trolleys were three times longer than standard sizes, meaning that six bags can be packed at once. The multi-national firm gave its reasoning for removing traditional manned checkouts as due to "lack of customer demand". However, when Birmingham Live reported on the story, readers weren't happy with the suggestion.
One shopper wrote: "There's lack of demand because there's lack of checkouts open!" with another adding: "…and so it begins. This was predicted years ago. The phasing out of till staff and having to pay for the additional staff. The other supermarkets will be following suit."
The news comes as many people have been petitioning for Tesco to bring back staff. Over 218,000 frustrated customers signing a petition calling for the supermarket to stop adding the self-service checkouts to their stores on change.org.
A Tesco spokeswoman told The Grocer : “We are proud to offer customers choice when it comes to checkouts, and after successful trials we are introducing new trolley-accessible self-service checkouts in some of our stores, which have more room and are easier to use for larger shops,”
“Our colleagues and the friendly service they provide are absolutely vital to our stores – they will always be on hand to help our customers, and will continue to operate attended checkouts so that customers can choose the option they prefer.”
Some shoppers agreed with the move. One reader wrote: "Sainsbury's and Waitrose have apps for scanning now, that means that, at the till, you don't have to touch every item anymore. Tesco has handsets that allow you to do the same thing. Checkout is a breeze, I'm at the till for a few seconds, then out of the door. The only time I have to wait is if someone hogs a till and laboriously counts coins into the slot, which is why I welcome card only tills. Checkout is so much quicker that way."
Grocery Insight chief executive Steve Dresser told The Grocer the move was in-line with an increasing trend for moving to focus on self-service checkouts.
“[Supermarkets] are moving to dedicated checkouts rather than empty manned checkouts, which naturally are linked to the hours given to the front end,” he said.
“Of course, there are savings to be made losing the manned checkouts, but the reality is, you rarely see checkouts open these days en masse anyway, so it’s underutilised space. It’s not always positive for customers, however, as some may feel forced into self-service options.”
What do you think of self-serve checkouts and the prospect of more in stores across Nottinghamshire? Let us know in the comments below.
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