Yahoo Lifestyle Woolworths with no self-serve checkout praised but small detail will enrage those customers
While many celebrated Woolies for keeping it old-school, eagle-eyed viewers noticed something in the background.
A Woolworths supermarket in Queensland has been praised for only having checkout counters manned by humans. Self-serve checkouts have copped a lot of criticism recently, with one Aussie claiming customers should be paid to scan and bag their own items.
There has been an outpouring of hatred for the self-service checkouts, with many customers telling Yahoo Finance that they are clunky and invasive because of all the anti-theft measures that have been installed. Shoplifting at these counters have become so rife that another supermarket is axing them altogether.
But you won't have to worry about any of that at Woolworths in Sunnybank.
Do you have a story about self-serve checkouts? Email stew.perrie@yahooinc.com
A picture was posted on social media showing a row of checkout counters without a self-service spot in sight.
"Oh, that's an old location. Still has those pneumatic chutes, even," said one Aussie.
“I’d forgotten how good supermarkets used to be," wrote another,
While some celebrated the old-school vibe of this supermarket, the celebrations ended quickly when an eagle-eyed viewer saw a sign in the background.
It said a "fresh new look" was coming to the Sunnybank Woolies and Yahoo Finance understands this supermarket will be renovated this year and have self-serve checkouts installed.
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"We know some customers prefer to be served by a team member, and that’s why we always have a staffed checkout open at all times in our supermarkets," a spokesperson said.
"Our self-serve checkouts offer a fast alternative for smaller shops and millions of customers use them every single day. Most customers with 20 items or less in their shopping basket opt to use our self-serve checkouts, while the majority of customers with more than 20 items choose to be served at a staffed checkout."
Customers rage about self-serve checkouts
These self-serve counters seem to divide Aussies all over the country. A Yahoo Finance poll of more than 4,000 readers found an overwhelming majority (82 per cent) prefer to use a checkout lane that is manned by a human.
Some shoppers like the idea of keeping people employed, while others believe it's much easier than doing it yourself.
"I am getting old, I am unable to do the job by myself," one told Yahoo Finance. "It takes a lot of time and other customers who have to wait for me to scan the products at self-checkout machines. I always ask help from staff to do the job quickly."
Another customer said some supermarkets require you to do things their way when scanning and bagging.
"They now insist on putting your heavy items through but not anything else," they explained to us. "If they do’t trust us to do these items (slabs of water, boxes of coke) then don't have self-serve and go back to manned registers."
A third told Yahoo Finance they're sick of constantly asking a staff member for help.
"Self checkout is okay for a few items. However, even with this 'convenient' option, there are glitches and problems with the computers and the staff must assist, often more than once," they said.
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