Metropol

Sorry to be dumb, are there any pictures of this central panel you’re talking about? I can’t picture it.

I'm of the opinion that the whole scale thing is more of a faff for all concerned than it is a deterrent against nicking stuff, especially in places where they have scan-as-you-shop and similar.

Philip wrote: ↑Wed 20 Jul, 2022 14.00 Sorry to be dumb, are there any pictures of this central panel you’re talking about? I can’t picture it.

It's just a touchscreen, often as @Pete mentioned it's often out of sight. In Co-ops and Tesco Express stores it's somewhere in the kiosk facing staff so again out of sight.

In Tesco supermarkets it tends to be mounted on a pole on the corner of the main bay of self checkouts directly across from where you enter as a customer (the idea being that the friendly checkout person stands there, greets and directs customers to free checkouts and sorts problems where possible from that one station).

Philip wrote: ↑Wed 20 Jul, 2022 14.00 Sorry to be dumb, are there any pictures of this central panel you’re talking about? I can’t picture it.

top right

WillPS wrote: ↑Wed 20 Jul, 2022 14.20 I'm of the opinion that the whole scale thing is more of a faff for all concerned than it is a deterrent against nicking stuff, especially in places where they have scan-as-you-shop and similar.

One thing I don't get is the fact that you can't remove items for yourself on a self scan checkout without staff approval, yet when you use the handhend scanners you can?

What is the reason for such disparity?

BBC TV Centre wrote: ↑Fri 22 Jul, 2022 22.24

WillPS wrote: ↑Wed 20 Jul, 2022 14.20 I'm of the opinion that the whole scale thing is more of a faff for all concerned than it is a deterrent against nicking stuff, especially in places where they have scan-as-you-shop and similar.

One thing I don't get is the fact that you can't remove items for yourself on a self scan checkout without staff approval, yet when you use the handhend scanners you can?

What is the reason for such disparity?

It depends on how it's set up. In the Morrisons up my end, you can remove any loaded bags into the trolley without staff approval.

bilky asko wrote: ↑Sat 23 Jul, 2022 08.30

BBC TV Centre wrote: ↑Fri 22 Jul, 2022 22.24

WillPS wrote: ↑Wed 20 Jul, 2022 14.20 I'm of the opinion that the whole scale thing is more of a faff for all concerned than it is a deterrent against nicking stuff, especially in places where they have scan-as-you-shop and similar.

One thing I don't get is the fact that you can't remove items for yourself on a self scan checkout without staff approval, yet when you use the handhend scanners you can?

What is the reason for such disparity?

It depends on how it's set up. In the Morrisons up my end, you can remove any loaded bags into the trolley without staff approval.

But you can't remove the item from the transaction, e.g. if you accidentally catch an already-scanned barcode while removing a bag.

The only reason I can think that they might be alright with letting customers do it on SAYS but not on a self checkout is there's an element of trust-built-up with SAYS since the customer identifies themselves at the point of handset release. I've found that dicking about with the handset, scanning random things like SELs and barcodes on outers, adding things then removing them tends to make it more likely that you get selected for a service check.

Ah yes, I'd misunderstood. I have also found that removing items makes a rescan more likely.

Speaking of Scan As You Shop, the Sainsbury's system of picking any handset and then scanning your Nectar card is quite convenient to prevent a queue at the docking station. But it does mean - on more than one occasion - that I've picked up a handset that's almost out of battery.

It probably doesn't help the used scanners aren't taken back too regularly at Sainsbury's.

I suppose the tesco one (theoretically) gives the handsets enough time to charge.

The asda technique of typing in your phone number is awful.

Two other ways to get a rescan
- trying to skip the queue at self-checkout by picking up a handset at the end and scanning your whole lot in one go
- taking a leisurely hour long wander through the shop but only buying two things

A new one for me yesterday, a small M&S Food/WHSmith hybrid on Tottenham Court Road. Didn't go in but from the outside it looked like the sort of thing you'd get in a hospital or service station. It's pretty close to a larger M&S Food and isn't coming up on Google Maps so I assume it's only just opened.

gottago wrote: ↑Mon 25 Jul, 2022 17.44 A new one for me yesterday, a small M&S Food/WHSmith hybrid on Tottenham Court Road. Didn't go in but from the outside it looked like the sort of thing you'd get in a hospital or service station. It's pretty close to a larger M&S Food and isn't coming up on Google Maps so I assume it's only just opened.

They opened a load of them in 2019 I think. Some only had the M&S Food bit for a matter of weeks.

In M&S [Simply] Food (travel) stores news, I noticed one of the St. Pancras ones now has a small selection of clothing and just has the M&S logo over the door rather than food. I don't know if this means it's not run by SSP as all other railway station locations are?