Sainsbury self check out camera and screen

[Kim]

Where is the STFU button? And which supermarket's machines are we talking about, as I guess they vary a bit. I've never noticed it. (And is there a way of remotely operating it on all the machines in the shop?  )

Depends on the flavour of machine, but look for a loudspeaker / volume icon on the opening screen before you start scanning items.

[jsabine]

And I don’t know how they deal with alcohol, unless it’s by dint of you paying by cc, but most supermarkets operate a minimum 25 years old policy these days.

It's not "be 25 or we won't sell you boozohol," it's "look 25 or we'll ask you for ID that proves you're over 18." (Also applies to fireworks, fags, solvents, knives, certain DVDs ...)

[ian]

Maybe there's a Chope-Davies variant (deviant) self-checkout that has a camera to surreptitiously film up your skirt/dress/kilt/excessive voluminous trouser leg as you discharge your shopping responsibilities. It's only reasonable to assume that as such machines become inevitably sentient they'll adopt some of the less pleasant manners of the people that programmed them. When the T100 came back, well, letting it all hang out in Griffith Park. A perfect facsimile of LA behaviour. You think that was accident of programming? No. I suppose it could have been worse, I figure leather bondage wear meets the organic tissue requirements of time travel.

I live down the road from the Anne Summers Dildo Proving Grounds, basically an Area 51 for sex toys and lingerie. I'm mostly scared about what happens if they get free and I end up being chased back from the pub by a scantily clad life-like sexbot intent on just two things, only one of which is world-denomination. Come on, the first reason someone will invent a proper humanoid robot is for sex. It's our first and primary motivation. Self-checkout is just a stepping stone and still people insist of putting unexpected items in the bagging area. You have to wonder if that's why aliens are so keen on travelling the galaxy in search of bumfun. It makes sense that aliens created their own robot explorers and they, as they do, took over and now scour the universe looking for orifices to probe.

There you go, from Sainsbury's self-checkout to alien sex probes in one post, and it's not even lunchtime.

[Kim]

I wouldn't worry.  Any sexbot from Ann Summers is likely to fall apart shortly after negotiating the surprisingly tricky transition from carpet to wood at the front door.  And even if it doesn't it'll deplete its expensive chosen-for-obscurity power source before much in the way of probing can be done.

[Beardy]

As an alternative to manned checkouts or self-service ones, many supermarkets now have the hand held scanners. No need to interact, no bagging area, and suitable for a large shop. Given that you have to weigh and price your own fruit and veg, it may not save more than 2 or 3 minutes. And I don’t know how they deal with alcohol, unless it’s by dint of you paying by cc, but most supermarkets operate a minimum 25 years old policy these days.

It's mostly a fine thing, scanning as you shop. Purchase of age restricted goods have to be approved by a real person.

[orienteer]

Been using self-scan as you shop at Waitrose for years, Saves queuing at a checkout and having to unpack and repack all the items. Get a largely free set of bags, think you have to pay for the cool bag.

Occasionally the final automated checkout calls for a check by staff, about once every two years in my experience.

[ian]

I wouldn't worry.  Any sexbot from Ann Summers is likely to fall apart shortly after negotiating the surprisingly tricky transition from carpet to wood at the front door.  And even if it doesn't it'll deplete its expensive chosen-for-obscurity power source before much in the way of probing can be done.

Standard military/government contractor then.

[hellymedic]

I occasionally see mums with a (probably) 3 or 4 year old who is eating his way through something she has picked off the shelf. It keeps him quiet and occupied while she shops. I have seen a couple of times when mum has to explain to the cashier why she is paying for an empty wrapper. I wonder how self-checkouts would handle that.

[OT] I was in the habit of eating wares whilst in the garage check-out queue on nocturnal Audaxes, presenting empty wrappers for payment.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Is self-scan a thing anywhere other than Waitrose? I've never seen it in any Sainsbury, Tesco, etc.

[SteveC]

Is self-scan a thing anywhere other than Waitrose? I've never seen it in any Sainsbury, Tesco, etc.

They have it in our big Tesco Extra.

[Mr Larrington]

Self-scan exists in the big branch of Mr Sainsbury's House Of Toothy Comestibles near Fort Larrington, in leafy Surrey, but not in my local one in pikey-haunted E17.

[Cudzoziemiec]

All the supermarkets round us, apart from the big Waitrose in Henleaze but including the little Waitrose in Clifton, are small and pikey, so I won't be expecting any soon!

[Mrs Pingu]

Where is the STFU button? And which supermarket's machines are we talking about, as I guess they vary a bit. I've never noticed it. (And is there a way of remotely operating it on all the machines in the shop?  )

Volume button is at the bottom of the screen, at least in Sainsbury's. I don't think I ever noticed it myself because being shouted at discombobulated me such that I was in a rush and never spotted it...

[hubner]

OK, I'm not going to use Sainsbury's self checkouts anymore, the last time I tried to turn the screen, it was done up tight and wouldn't move. I will now only use Sainsbury and use the normal checkout for stuff not available in Lidl or Aldi.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Self-scan: I saw an advertorial in a Polish news site about it. It's now a thing in the Piotr i Paweł chain too, in case you ever happen to be there. Guess it's the growing trend.

[chrisbainbridge]

Our Tesco extra gives away free fruit to children.  I regularly see the children queuing up to get a banana or small orange to eat as they go round the store.  i think this is an excellent idea.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That is a very good idea. 

[hubner]

Asda has them now (I mean the cameras and screens).

I've been in a couple:

large store in newish residential area with more self checkouts than staffed checkouts.

high street store, self checkouts only except for one cigarettes/lottery till.

[hubner]

My local Royal Mail collection office has the screen!

OK, cctv are everywhere but they've put a screen behind the counter on the wall.

Is this the future, everywhere you go outside of your home there'll be monitors and screens on public display showing everyone going about their daily business?

[Greenbank]

My local Royal Mail collection office has the screen!

OK, cctv are everywhere but they've put a screen behind the counter on the wall.

Is this the future, everywhere you go outside of your home there'll be monitors and screens on public display showing everyone going about their daily business?

Having a big screen that is visible to customers has been shown to greatly reduce aggression to staff (and other customers). More so than "Warning: CCTV" stickers/posters.

A system that records and keeps the data for 30 days is quite expensive, but a simple camera and screen (with no recording capability) works equally as a deterrent.

Obviously the efficacy of this will be diluted if they start appearing everywhere, or it becomes known that certain systems don't have any recording capability.

[hubner]

FFS, Lidl has the camera and screen now!

Or at least the one Lidl store I went to last week has them. My previous visits were more than a month ago but they were in a different area. I don't know if it's a trial or they're just starting now to introduce them to all stores.

My local Royal Mail collection office has the screen!

OK, cctv are everywhere but they've put a screen behind the counter on the wall.

Is this the future, everywhere you go outside of your home there'll be monitors and screens on public display showing everyone going about their daily business?

Having a big screen that is visible to customers has been shown to greatly reduce aggression to staff (and other customers). More so than "Warning: CCTV" stickers/posters.

A system that records and keeps the data for 30 days is quite expensive, but a simple camera and screen (with no recording capability) works equally as a deterrent.

Obviously the efficacy of this will be diluted if they start appearing everywhere, or it becomes known that certain systems don't have any recording capability.

Or people will wear masks. From now on, it will be acceptable and normal to wear masks in public if you feel ill, just like in the far East.

[peterc]

I went to our local Wilcos recently, (who I think have been open all pandemic, because food)
Half way through the "self checkout" I was thinking this user interface is functional but not good at visually indicating the next action etc.
It turns out they had just turned the screens round on the "manned" tills to face the customer, I assume locked the cash draws and moved on.
I asked the assistant who confirmed it by saying "Yes, you work for us now" in a way that sounded just a touch dystopian.
I hope they go back to employing people, but who knows.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I went to our local Wilcos recently, (who I think have been open all pandemic, because food)
Half way through the "self checkout" I was thinking this user interface is functional but not good at visually indicating the next action etc.
It turns out they had just turned the screens round on the "manned" tills to face the customer, I assume locked the cash draws and moved on.
I asked the assistant who confirmed it by saying "Yes, you work for us now" in a way that sounded just a touch dystopian.
I hope they go back to employing people, but who knows.

See discussion starting here: https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=115182.msg2526740#msg2526740

[rogerzilla]

If you want to nick stuff, it's probably easier to use self-scan.  They very rarely do re-scans and you could pretend it was an honest mistake.  I bet this had an effect on shrinkage and they offset that against the cost of the cashiers they could dispense with.

FWIW, the time the system screwed up and I needed a total trolley rescan, the bill came to £5 less than I'd had on the phone app.  Cashiers make mistakes too.

[rafletcher]

Our local M&S food hall (which I've been using for the weekly necessities since the queues at Tesco were ludicrous) has recently (in the last 3 weeks) removed the three "basket only" tills and one of the conventional tills, and replaced them with 6 self-service tills.  Which is fine for baskets but not so much if you have a trolley load. They still have 3 conventional tills but each time I've been since the change, at 5pm they only have 1 of them operational, and they seem to shut that around 5 - I get to the till around that time.

Given the usual demographic of the customer base there - which is generally elderly - I'm not sure of the rationale for the change.