Woolworths checkout change has shoppers smoking

Food shopping to me is a bit like a trip to the dentist. The quicker it’s over, the quicker the pain stops.

I’m not there to loiter and sift through the tin tomato specials in aisle five. I get in, I get what I want, and I get the hell out of there.

Why prolong the agony?

That’s why I’m proud to out myself as a rusted-on fan of the self-serve checkout and the announcement that Woolworths is rolling out a new “front of store experience” recently, which essentially combines self-serve checkout and manned registers, hasn’t struck me as such bad news.

Why would you bother lining up to have someone else scan your groceries and pack your bags when you can do it yourself and be out of there in the time it takes Ariarne Titmus to swim a lap?

I get self-serve is not for everyone, especially the elderly and those doing a big shop. That’s where the manned checkout comes into play. Let the supermarket do the heavy lifting for you.

Those manned registers should never be removed. We still need humans catering to shoppers’ needs.

But for your 5-10-20 item shop, I don’t see the point in going the long route. Scan your own stuff and move on.

But, apparently, I’m in the minority – not for the first time.

Shoppers slam Woolworths self-serve checkouts

A Yahoo News Australia poll asking readers whether they liked using Woolworths’ self-serve checkouts had only 12 per cent support.

A staggering 75 per cent preferred going via the manned cash register.

I say staggering because so much of our life is now DIY. We no longer have petrol pump attendants filling your tank and checking your tires. You don’t queue at the bank to withdraw cash.

We don’t sleep out overnight at a Ticketek outlet to be first in line for concert tickets.

You can even check in and board a flight without speaking to anyone at the airline.

Haven’t these technological advancements – on the whole – made life a lot more convenient and saved us precious time?

So why are self-serve checkouts a bridge too far?

Woolworths new front of store experience sounds like win-win

Woolworths says they are only meeting customer demand in rolling out the new “front-of-store-experience” for shoppers.

I’m not sure about it being an “experience” – chalk that up to corporate speak – but Woolies insists its reformatted hybrid checkouts has the right mix of self-serve and manned registers.

“For a basket with 20 items or less, 83 per cent of our customers choose self-service checkouts, whereas for a basket with more than 20 items, the majority of our customers select a staffed checkout,” a Woolworths spokesperson told Yahoo News.

“But we know there are some customers who prefer to be served by a team member and we’re gradually rolling out a new front-of-store experience where we are using data to ensure we have the right choices of checkouts for customers in each local community.”

Sounds like a win-win to me.

Or does it just make me an out-of-touch basket case?

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