Ease of walking off without paying by accident at self checkouts?

[najaB]

There is a clear sign before entering the payment area. The choice remains open to queue normally at a manned checkout and avoid that gate.

This can't be stressed enough. Unlike things like the Amazon convenience stores, there's always a staffed checkout as well so you're free to line up there and wait instead.

 

[Cdd89]

I assume you do this with railway ticket barriers as well which must make train travel a bit exhausting. Else I am just treating this sort of account as "stuff people say on the Internet sometimes".

That's quite a spurious comparison, given that it would be illegal to tailgate through a railway ticket barrier! A gate in a random shop does not have nearly the same legal status.

There is a clear sign before entering the payment area. The choice remains open to queue normally at a manned checkout and avoid that gate.

Well that's fair enough.

 

[AlterEgo]

That's quite a spurious comparison, given that it would be illegal to tailgate through a railway ticket barrier! A gate in a random shop does not have nearly the same legal status.

You didn't mention tailgating. But I can imagine how inconvenient and annoying the railway must be to be endlessly inconvenienced by ticket barriers.

I have a different way of coping with the self serve tills with barriers; what I do is I take the receipt and scan it and then the gate opens, which I find more convenient and quicker than waiting for someone else I can tailgate.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I have a different way of coping with the self serve tills with barriers; what I do is I take the receipt and scan it and then the gate opens, which I find more convenient and quicker than waiting for someone else I can tailgate.

The whole way the objection you quoted is written it sounds straight off a Half Man Half Biscuit lyric!

In all seriousness it might have been annoying the first time I encountered one of these if I didn't take the receipt, but now I know they exist having a glance to see what there is is an easy part of deciding whether to take one or not.

 

[Cdd89]

You didn't mention tailgating. But I can imagine how inconvenient and annoying the railway must be to be endlessly inconvenienced by ticket barriers.

Of course I'm inconvenienced by (and would like to tailgate through) railway ticket barriers! Do you really enjoy the process of proving your entitlement to travel at the most inconvenient moment? But I accept (even agree) that it is the law and do not think I'm more inconvenienced than anyone else.

This doesn't apply to a supermarket barrier, if I can save a few seconds of time and effort by exiting improperly then I will. Same for things like exiting via the entrance if I haven't made a purchase which lots of stores dislike. To be honest I'm surprised this is controversial...

 

[Flange Squeal]

My local ‘big Sainsbury’s’ recently installed these barriers at the main entrance and at the exit to the self checkout areas. I did have an issue when only going in to use Argos, as I walked back to the main entrance with a heavy box to get out and couldn’t work out how to get out of the shop if not making Sainsbury’s purchases! I therefore just pulled the entrance gate open, which set off an alarm and naturally attracted the attention of the security guard, who it turned out had dealt with this many times before. There was actually a discreet exit gate at the main entrance but he said no one knows it’s there, and it has since been moved to a more visible position and signed. The funny thing was I’d actually looked for an exit gate first and couldn’t find one!

While the periodical full or partial rescans can be annoying when you’ve packed your bags perfectly as you’ve gone around the shop only to have them rummaged through, I just have to accept that’s a risk if I choose to use the self scan system. I must admit though, if I’m following someone out the checkout area then I don’t stand and wait for the gate to close to then scan my receipt to open it again. I do just walk out behind them, as it just seems a waste of time given how long the gates stay open. Before anyone says it, no I don’t do that on the railway, but then I’ve never seen a gate on the railway that stays open so long after the person in front has passed through it before it closes. No one has ever pulled me up on it, but then I guess if they do then I’ve got the receipt as I pass through, until I get to the bin (which they’ve installed just past the gates as they were getting people just chucking them on the floor after going through the gates).

 

[londonbridge]

At my local Morrisons I've attempted to go through without buying anything and couldn't - I had to ask staff to let me out.

I had this a couple of years ago on my last trip abroad (I was in France). Hadn’t come across having to scan a receipt to exit the store before, went into a supermarket but couldn’t see what I wanted so walked through the checkout area behind a woman who was paying and found the gate wouldn’t open. A staff member looked at me so I said “I’m not buying anything, you don’t have what I need”. She answered, in English, “you need receipt, wait there”. When the woman who had been paying went to scan out the staff member directed me to follow her through the barrier, saying “ok you can go now”.

 

[The exile]

I

This can't be stressed enough. Unlike things like the Amazon convenience stores, there's always a staffed checkout as well so you're free to line up there and wait instead.

If only! “Someone will be with you in a minute” - then, five or six minutes after you’ve put your stuff on the conveyor at one till, surly staff member slouches up to the next till along and opens it.

 

[Starmill]

This can't be stressed enough. Unlike things like the Amazon convenience stores, there's always a staffed checkout as well so you're free to line up there and wait instead.

Some large supermarkets have been trialling hours of the day when there's no staffed checkout, to much consternation on social media and from some older shoppers.

A larger Asda I occasionally go to is now unstaffed at the main checkout lanes in the mornings and evenings. They usually won't have anyone available to open one either.

Boots often do this too in larger and smaller shops, however they're pretty customer-focused so they'll usually quickly serve you at a staffed checkout if you ask them to.

 

[najaB]

If only! “Someone will be with you in a minute” - then, five or six minutes after you’ve put your stuff on the conveyor at one till, surly staff member slouches up to the next till along and opens it.

And in that five or six minutes one could have self-scanned and left. Customer choice.

A larger Asda I occasionally go to is now unstaffed at the main checkout lanes in the mornings and evenings. They usually won't have anyone available to open one either.

To be honest, I'm not surprised about this from ASDA as their customer service and general quality seems to be on the slide, based on my local locations. The larger Tesco locations here always have at least one staffed till open, and are quite quick to put out the "All relief cashiers to the tills" call out over the tannoy if it starts getting busy.

 

[Farang]

If you want to avoid the hassle of scanning your receipt to exit, just get a mate to hold open the barriers at the shop entrance. Simples!

 

[Starmill]

To be honest, I'm not surprised about this from ASDA as their customer service and general quality seems to be on the slide, based on my local locations. The larger Tesco locations here always have at least one staffed till open, and are quite quick to put out the "All relief cashiers to the tills" call out over the tannoy if it starts getting busy.

Yes it does seem to be going poorly. And it does seem that Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose do have a policy of always offering staffed checkout if needed, at least in a full size shop.

 

[The exile]

And in that five or six minutes one could have self-scanned and left.

If one is confident of ability to use the things or hasn’t found that the only ones that take cash are all showing “card only”. The situation I was referring to was occasioned by poorly- printed and applied reduction stickers (creased barcodes and illegible numbers)and a desire not to stress the one person on the self-checkouts any more than they already were.

 

[Yew]

Meanwhile, I regard this as a trivial imposition in which, by cooperating, I and the store can gain.

That seems in disagreement with Hadders post earlier.

The theory is the barriers are a deterrent. They won't deter everyone but they deter some, although industry research I was involved in a few years ago suggested they weren't effective and the retailer I was working for at the time decided not to install any more.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Sep 2026 ==

And in that five or six minutes one could have self-scanned and left. Customer choice.

Lets not pretend that en****tification of a service is choice.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Lets not pretend that en****tification of a service is choice.

That word can be overused and in this case is. It was originally coined to refer to online services getting worse for reasons of profit, e.g. stuff like social media no longer being a reverse chronological of your friends' posts. It can probably be extended to other things such as LNER tickets becoming less flexible yet more expensive on the "trial" routes. But this? Nah, it's a sensible measure if it works and a simple mistake if it doesn't, and the auditor-style "we will not comply" is just frankly a bit silly when it's being done as much for the benefit of the honest person as it is for the shop - we all pay if people nick stuff.

 

[Yew]

That word can be overused and in this case is. It was originally coined to refer to online services getting worse for reasons of profit, e.g. stuff like social media no longer being a reverse chronological of your friends' posts. It can probably be extended to other things such as LNER tickets becoming less flexible yet more expensive on the "trial" routes. But this? Nah, it's a sensible measure if it works and a simple mistake if it doesn't, and the auditor-style "we will not comply" is just frankly a bit silly when it's being done as much for the benefit of the honest person as it is for the shop - we all pay if people nick stuff.

Are you really suggesting that waiting 5 or 6 miniutes for a checkout to be staffed is not a degradation in service? Tesco famously used to have their "two in front" rule.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Are you really suggesting that waiting 5 or 6 miniutes for a checkout to be staffed is not a degradation in service? Tesco famously used to have their "two in front" rule.

I thought we were talking about the scanning to get through exit gates.

I don't by choice use staffed checkouts so I frankly don't care about them, though for reasons of disability (not stubbornness*) it should really be easy and quick to have one staffed. Another reason to shop at Aldi as they always are in my experience - their whole model is great provided you play along with it properly, which I'm sure the gate moaners won't and will insist on slowing it for everyone packing at the till instead of the packing shelf for example.

* People who don't like self checkouts, do you also look fondly back to when you went up to the desk with your list and they got it for you? Of course that service is still offered - but you rightly have to pay a little extra (and it is only a little) if you want it.

 

[Yew]

I thought we were talking about the scanning to get through exit gates.

I would recommend reading posts thoroughly before responding to them, we are unlikely to have a productive and interesting discussion if you don't.

 

[najaB]

Lets not pretend that en****tification of a service is choice.

The customer choice was using the supermarket that doesn't have a policy of staffed checkouts. Both my local Tesco Extra and Lidl have self-service options (scan as you shop in Tesco, and self-service tills in both), but they also always have at least one staffed till. Hence if I wanted to use a staffed checkout I would use them in preference to a supermarket that does not.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The customer choice was using the supermarket that doesn't have a policy of staffed checkouts. Both my local Tesco Extra and Lidl have self-service options (scan as you shop in Tesco, and self-service tills in both), but they also always have at least one staffed till. Hence if I wanted to use a staffed checkout I would use them in preference to a supermarket that does not.

In the end the problem is people wishing to use budget supermarkets, designed for minimum cost and passed on in low prices, and receive premium service. If you want premium service Waitrose, Booths or even Fortnum's is more for that person, but that will of course cost you for the quality because those supermarkets prioritise good service over low prices.

Not that Waitrose don't have self checkouts of course (though Booths only do at two of their busiest stores, Keswick and Windermere) but that's because some of their customers prefer them, there are always loads of staff around to open a manual one if one isn't open, but I don't think I've ever seen a Waitrose where one wasn't, though late at night it's sometimes just the customer service desk doing both roles.

(Booths for the uninitiated is a North West supermarket chain not entirely dissimilar to Waitrose - and with a supply chain agreement with them for some things - but that little bit classier, and prioritising high quality, fresh local food over packaged stuff and ready meals, though it also does sell those things. Expensive but superb service and superb quality. Almost Fortnum's level).

 

[35B]

Are you really suggesting that waiting 5 or 6 miniutes for a checkout to be staffed is not a degradation in service? Tesco famously used to have their "two in front" rule.

It is of course a reduction in service, though I think using "en****tification" to describe it stretches the concept beyond its original limits to the point of meaninglessness.

But it is also a symptom of our collective revealed preferences, which mean that the Great British Public choose price reductions over quality of service. Even, I suggest, as we also moan about the consequences of our choices. Supermarkets risk more market share by not holding prices down than they do by compromising service - hence the reduction in front line roles and shift to DIY.

Personally, that's a bargain I'm generally happy to make - though the hypersensitivity of self checkout tills is bad for my blood pressure

 

[Bletchleyite]

It is of course a reduction in service, though I think using "en****tification" to describe it stretches the concept beyond its original limits to the point of meaninglessness.

It's a reduction in service that exists because of price pressure. It hasn't happened to the same extent at the premium brands where they just put the prices up more instead.

I wouldn't call that ens*****fication. That's where quality/service reduces purely for the company's benefit. LNER's fare "trial" is as I note a better example.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Sep 2026 ==

But it is also a symptom of our collective revealed preferences, which mean that the Great British Public choose price reductions over quality of service.

Worse than that - they want Fortnum's quality and service at Aldi's prices and whine when they find that to be impossible.

If people accepted say Ryanair for what it is it'd be fine, but they don't. They want Etihad service at Ryanair prices.

 

[35B]

It's a reduction in service that exists because of price pressure. It hasn't happened to the same extent at the premium brands where they just put the prices up more instead.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 15 Sep 2026 ==



Worse than that - they want Fortnum's quality and service at Aldi's prices and whine when they find that to be impossible.

If people accepted say Ryanair for what it is it'd be fine, but they don't. They want Etihad service at Ryanair prices.

"En****tification" though is about the offer of something great for free, and then switching to make it necessary to use a paid service to get the original quality - it's more than just price pressure.

Other than that, I completely agree - though I don't think that gets Ryanair or anyone else off the hook of being expected to work within the law at all times, rather than just when they can't avoid being caught.

 

[Bletchleyite]

"En****tification" though is about the offer of something great for free, and then switching to make it necessary to use a paid service to get the original quality - it's more than just price pressure.

I didn't realise the definition was that specific, but if it is then self checkouts aren't an example because the service of using a staffed one isn't chargeable. You could argue that the move from giving your list in at the desk in the 1930s via no picking service for a long time to charging for one sort of is, but a large supermarket is so much better than a small grocery store of the 1940s so I don't think that can really be argued, and in real terms the prices of the goods are much, much lower than back then.

Other than that, I completely agree - though I don't think that gets Ryanair or anyone else off the hook of being expected to work within the law at all times, rather than just when they can't avoid being caught.

Absolutely, the law is the bare minimum, but too many people expect premium service at a budget price and that doesn't exist.

Lumo is an interesting case in point. I think it is OK for them to have uncomfortable trains with poor legroom, limited luggage allowance and inflexible tickets* in exchange for a cheap fare - not to my taste but it is to the taste of a lot of people. I don't think it's OK for them to have broken toilets and lots of cancellations.

* They don't - the fare range is the same as Avanti basically - but it's just an example.

 

[AlterEgo]

Absolutely, the law is the bare minimum, but too many people expect premium service at a budget price and that doesn't exist.

Lumo is an interesting case in point. I think it is OK for them to have uncomfortable trains with poor legroom, limited luggage allowance and inflexible tickets* in exchange for a cheap fare - not to my taste but it is to the taste of a lot of people. I don't think it's OK for them to have broken toilets and lots of cancellations.

This is the quality floor in action.

I like Greggs. It is consistent and cheap. I accept they do not keep foot hot to avoid tax and that makes the product cheaper for me (this problem becomes less an issue in busier branches which replenish stuff straight from the oven rapidly!). The taste is acceptable, the service is fine, and I know the experience never falls below a minimum standard.

And as you say, some people have unreasonable expectations. If I am paying £1.10 for a jam doughnut there and the filling is off centre and the sugar coating is a little thin, well that is fine for a quid and within expectations. I could get a Krispy Kreme for three times the price which is usually far better.

Greggs serving me a *stale* product or having a filthy store or hostile staff would fall below that quality floor. But it hasn't happened in a hundred or more visits to many branches. Which is why they are successful.

 

[35B]

I didn't realise the definition was that specific, but if it is then self checkouts aren't an example because the service of using a staffed one isn't chargeable. You could argue that the move from giving your list in at the desk in the 1930s via no picking service for a long time to charging for one sort of is, but a large supermarket is so much better than a small grocery store of the 1940s so I don't think that can really be argued, and in real terms the prices of the goods are much, much lower than back then.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En****tification for a discussion of the concept:

En****tification, also known as platform decay, is a process in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users. Over time, they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers. Ultimately, they degrade their services to both users and business customers to maximise short-term profits for shareholders.

It's very much through a technology lens, and describes the arc of a number of online services quite well. While the concept is being extended, I agree with you that it doesn't apply well to supermarkets - not least because the whole premise of the supermarket since its invention has been to move towards self service. As you say, if you want service, you go to Fortnums or wherever will provide that service in return for prices that are designed to carry the costs.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Greggs serving me a *stale* product or having a filthy store or hostile staff would fall below that quality floor. But it hasn't happened in a hundred or more visits to many branches. Which is why they are successful.

I have similar issues with Travelodge. I accept their rooms are basic and they have only one member of staff most of the time to keep cost well down. But hairs in the shower and broken fittings aren't acceptable.

In general I think it's fine to pick your market and pitch your product accordingly but it's not OK not to properly deliver the thing you're setting out to deliver. Cheap ingredients in a Greggs sausage roll e.g. the sausage being mostly rusk? Fine, it's about the cheapest takeaway food product available. Mould on one? Not acceptable.

 

[Starmill]

As ever in life, finding a happy medium that works for you is important. I have been served stale food in a Greggs, but only once in however many hundreds of times I've been in there for the past few years. I rolled my eyes and put the food in the bin, but I didn't complain about it because the price I'd paid was too low to have made it worthwhile to spend time going back to the shop. I still go to Greggs if I fancy it, as that hit rate is totally fine to me.

For some people that thought would actually be enough to completely put them off. And that's fine, for them, they should buy sandwiches from M&S instead.

 

[Egg Centric]

* People who don't like self checkouts, do you also look fondly back to when you went up to the desk with your list and they got it for you? Of course that service is still offered - but you rightly have to pay a little extra (and it is only a little) if you want it.

Wait what is this service called? It sounds great, a mix of the benefits of online shopping and doing the shop yourself.

(I hate self checkouts not because I am against them in principle but because they are usually poorly implemented and it's quicker for a human to do it)

 

[Bletchleyite]

Wait what is this service called? It sounds great, a mix of the benefits of online shopping and doing the shop yourself.

Click and collect. All the supermarkets that offer delivery offer it, usually by shoving it in a delivery van from which you pick it up in the far corner of the car park. Can be handy if you don't want to be in for a delivery and prefer to e.g. collect from near work, but can't be bothered walking round.

Yes, it does mean you have to set up your list online, so it's not quite the same thing as giving in a paper list. But it's close.