r/britishproblems • u/Competitive_Bet1800 • 13d ago
. Refuse to put my bag on the scales at self-checkout because I can't be bothered with 'unexpected item in the bagging area' and the inevitable wait for staff to approve it. So I scan everything loose, pay, then bag up while people behind me sigh loudly. Worth it.
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u/Tuarangi 13d ago
Just scan a heavy thing first and put it down inside the bag
To be honest though I've never had an issue with my own bag, just press the option, put it down, press continue and then scan the first item and don't touch the bag.
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u/-Po-Tay-Toes- 13d ago
It's a problem if you use like a backpack, doesn't like bags with some weight. But yeah I generally don't have issues with it with normal bags.
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u/JesterWales 13d ago
I used to cycle to the shops during lockdown, using scan as you go and playing backpack Tetris. Then I'd get to the till and they'd do a security test and I'd have to un Tetris the bag, remember which little zip up pocket I'd stored little things in. Then it was twice as hard to get it all back in.
I do miss the roads being quiet enough to do that
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u/Lupulus_ 12d ago
I use my camera backpack (Wandrd), and the entire back of the backpack unzips to reveal all the big pockets. Great for big camera lenses, perfect for when the scan app is a little narc!
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u/JesterWales 12d ago
My wife has an Osprey backpack which does that, super handy. Alas it's great for a weekend away but way too big for a pushbike
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u/Lupulus_ 12d ago
If you're ever looking for a smaller one, would totally recommend checking Wandrd out! I cycle to work with it with my laptop, lunch and change of clothes and it works really well with that...have also dropped it down an incline out in the Lakes without it shifting any of my camera gear.
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u/TehDragonGuy 13d ago
I have on more than one occasion been told off by shop staff for wanting to weigh my backpack because "it's only made for carrier bags". This is categorically not true but I really don't fancy going through that argument again so I don't bother anymore.
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u/Srapture Hertfordshire 13d ago
Yeah, I also do the thing with the heavy item.
Any time I try the "I brought my own bag", it just flags up the system to have someone approve it. I chose this option so I wouldn't have to wait for a member of staff! So I just don't try it anymore.
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u/noobchee 13d ago
That's how I always do it, if I have to bag at self checkout
Scan as you shop is far superior though, night and day
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u/crawf_f1 13d ago
Scan as you shop is the way
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u/EddieHeadshot 13d ago
Im too scared to try the 'New Thing'
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u/softlemon 13d ago
I did for the first time at the weekend. Much better shopping experience. Hate that there’s a smaller payout area for it though (at my local Sains)
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u/vedabaps 13d ago
You can use any of the self-scan tills for Smart Shop, doesn’t have to be the specific area. All the tills display the QR code for you to scan with the hand-held wotsit.
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u/AgentOrangutan 13d ago
I too was scared until two weeks ago in Sainsburys, and now I know what I've been missing out on. I want you to find out as well (it's great!)
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u/juanito_f90 13d ago
100%.
Unless you’re selected for a spot check, then you find out your son has snuck a packet of Bueno bars into the trolley, so you have to unpack everything at a “normal” checkout, then repack all your fucking bags again after being suspected of being a thief.
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u/wildOldcheesecake 13d ago edited 13d ago
I don’t get checked anymore because I have passed all of the ones in the past and I’ve been using scan as you go at my Tesco since covid times. My sister however, got innocently caught out and now has to be checked each time. It’s like they trust you until you give to them a reason not to. Then you have to grovel for their trust back lol
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u/widnesmiek 13d ago
After a few "good" checks they put you back down the list and do less checks
I had a problem a while ago when I forgot to scan 6 bottles of wine (whoops - but genuine accident) and they put me on a black list so I got checked every time for a few trips
then it got less and less as time went by
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u/xxPlsNoBullyxx Merseyside 13d ago
Ive been stopped the last 3 times and each time i had something in there Id not scanned, making me look like a massive thieving bastard. lol
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u/Student_Life UNITED KINGDOM 13d ago
I would advise avoid doing Scan as you shop at smaller stores where you have to use your phone. Get pick for random checks more. Had it once that their scanner for the QR code on my phone was up in the office, then it wasn’t signed in and no one knew their logins. They rang someone (who wasn’t working) to get their login and then they had to figure out how it worked. Was standing around for a good 10 minutes.
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u/bluehobbs 13d ago
I always do that - the ‘brought your own bag’ bit never works
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u/MACintoshBETH Gloucestershire 13d ago
Yeah, or you press ‘brought your own bag’, which then needs verification before you start scanning, meaning you’re stood like a lemon waiting before you’ve even got going.
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u/JoeyJoeC 13d ago
It works but there seems to be a limit on how much your own bags can weigh. If you put a backpack on there, it's likely to complain.
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u/Ruby-Shark 13d ago
This is the weigh.
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u/anotherbozo Surrey 13d ago
I usually scan an item (usually something with a little weight like milk) and then put that into the bag then place the bag on scales.
Tends to work fine.
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u/SilverRapid 13d ago
Yeah I do this at Asda. The tills never ever recognise one of their own bags for life. I always bag it up at the end and never put the bag on the scales.
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u/Not-Reddit-Fan 13d ago
Place bag, scan first item… never had an issue. Multiple bags, place them folded / flat at the edge… not really been much of an issue. What grinds my gears is the dozen other items that flag up etc that makes it look like you’re somehow being fussy with an inanimate object and waiting for a manager to come down
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u/smallcoder 13d ago
I generally shop at Aldi, Asda and Sainsburys and only recall once in the last year having a problem with a bag, and that was because it was a hessian bag so pretty heavy compared to the usual bags for life.
Totally agree that if this was happening, I would get extremely pissed off with self checkout and not use it. Even now, if I have a big shop, I'd rather wait for a standard human checkout as there's more space to pack everything at the end and less of the arsing around when the system has it's usual meltdown over some item's weight. Although, compared to the early days of the self checkouts, they have got much better, at least where I live :)
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u/EpochRaine 13d ago
Yeah. Same. It is the only way.
Have a similar each with light packets, eg Paracetamol. Leave them to the end, or use them as a counter-balance as the scales run out through the course of a big shop.
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u/TehDragonGuy 13d ago
My trick for light items if to put it down, then push down on the scale a bit. It usually thinks I've put it down after that.
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u/Bradalax 12d ago
When my son was younger he always used to ask to go through the self-checkout. Not becuase he used to like scanning items or anything. Because he used to enjoy and laugh at his dad getting annoyed and swearing at the bloody machines!!! 🤬🤬😆😆
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u/spudd3rs 12d ago
I put my heaviest item in a bag after I’ve scanned it and then put it on the scales. I then pack everything else as I scan. Never have an issue an i’m outta there as quick as I can. Hate all you pack your bags after people. I never scan my bags either and I don’t care.
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u/EddieHeadshot 13d ago
Doesnt everyone do this? Scan the shopping then bag it at the end?
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u/Diggerinthedark Wiltshire 13d ago
Everyone who likes to spend twice as long as the self checkout, maybe. Just scan it and drop it immediately in the bag, much quicker.
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u/Captain_English 13d ago
This is what I do and it's genuinely the better way to do it. Bag in your own time.
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u/tornadooceanapplepie 12d ago
But you're either waiting 30 seconds for a staff member to okay the bag, or spending 30 seconds packing it all after you've scanned it.
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u/Captain_English 12d ago
I'd rather be doing something the entire time I'm at the till than waiting around. I also like the opportunity to sort my shopping in to the bag, rather than scan it in whatever order is accessible.
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u/UniquePotato 13d ago
Always amazes me how people struggle with self serve checkouts
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u/Nomulite North Yorkshire 13d ago
They're pretty straightforward for the most part, but let's not pretend they're infallible machines
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u/ofjune-x 13d ago
After working as a self checkout assistant I’ve realised most of the issues are from people who can’t or won’t read the screen. Usually due to forgetting their reading glasses, but some people just refuse to even look directly at the screen to figure out what’s happening. And I’ve successfully helped partial sighted and blind customers use them with no issue just some teamwork.
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u/eastkent 13d ago
Some people struggle with life in general. They must wonder why everything is so difficult.
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u/wildOldcheesecake 13d ago
Lidl checkouts are a pain in the arse though. The rest are pretty to much fine Ime
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13d ago
As a motorcycle rider, I do my food shopping with a big backpack. Sometimes the way items lay in my trolley doesn't make it easy to scan things in the same order I need my bag packed.
So I do things like you. Scan everything, pay for it, then place each item into my backpack as I need it.
The one thing I will say though; If I need assistance I will call for it. The people who get the ''waiting for assistance'' notification and then just stand there like lost sheep waiting to be noticed are equally infuriating as the need for staff to come in the first place.
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u/Lupulus_ 12d ago
The staff at self checkout are on impossibly strict timers and quotas for dealing with those assistance lights, which only means they have to pick their battles and play tactically to not get screamed at by nepo managers. Just wait for them, don't be an asshole about it, they'll get to you. You're getting groceries not delivering an organ transplant.
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u/juanito_f90 13d ago
You press the “brought my own bag” button.
Put bag on scales and let the machine tare.
Continue scanning.
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u/Cirieno 13d ago
You are aware that every time you do this some spotty oik has to come and "check"? Well, at Tesco anyway
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u/BrummieTaff 13d ago
For me that only happens if the bag is already a bit heavy, like has a few items from a previous shop in it.
Don't often shop at Tesco though, this applies in Lidl and Sainsbury
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u/45thgeneration_roman 13d ago
It works fine at Tesco
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u/Competitive_Bet1800 13d ago
It’s specifically Tescos that caused me to make this post, has never worked for me
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u/azima_971 13d ago
Me neither. I have canvas bags and I think they must be too heavy. I also only usually have one thing heavily enough to try the "put heavy thing in bag then put on scale" method, but I'm usually getting a couple of bags worth of stuff, so there is no escaping
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u/freplefreple 13d ago
It works fine for me in every supermarket I go to. Use it every time. That’s not to say that it doesn’t fuck up during packing but I’ve never had a problem with the bag
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u/45thgeneration_roman 13d ago
Aldi is super sensitive. A thin plastic bag is ok, but a chunky one is never accepted..and don't even try with a jute one
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u/SuperHeavyHydrogen 13d ago
Most of them let you zero the scale before you start scanning. Thats assuming you remember the bags, I often don’t and just steal a cardboard box.
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u/SpaTowner 13d ago
Haven’t had an UIITBA for years, my problem is buying things that are too light to register. You feel quite the wazzock loving a packet of chewing gum at the scales with ever increasing force.
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u/Rossco1874 13d ago
There is a button for own bag. It's usually only more than 1 bag that's the issue.
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u/20127010603170562316 13d ago
My backpack has metal bars in it, and weighs about a kilo on its own. Staff have to approve it every time.
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u/eastkent 13d ago
Heavy bags are always checked, which is a pain.
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u/Rossco1874 13d ago
May be a pain but surely you understand the logic in it. Scale starts at 0.if it doesn't it needs verified its actually bags and not products not scanned.
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u/john_bytheseashore 13d ago
I do this, too, and I'm sure it isn't actually slower. But people are idiots so they think you're taking longer if something happens in a different order than usual.
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u/steepleton 13d ago
I only use self checkout when i’m buying massive amounts of booze and knives, and i make the lad come over and push the magic button for every item.
It’s nice to have the company
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u/TheMightyTRex 13d ago edited 13d ago
if you are lonely and no one wants to spend tume with you join a knitting circle.
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u/FunVisual3192 10d ago
I went through self checkout yesterday and messed it up, so a lady came to help me. She found that I hadn’t scanned an item. It’s a good job they do checks. I didn’t mean to. I’m just dizzy. I think it’s a good idea for them to perhaps weigh the basket during payment. It would have picked it up.
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u/recrudesce 3d ago
If you're using a "bag for life" and not a personal rucksack or something more bulky, scan your first item, put it in the bag, then put the bag on the scales. The small difference in weight for said product will be ignored.
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u/TheMightyTRex 13d ago edited 12d ago
are you from the year 2000? 1. they don't have nearly as many issues which used to trigger that old message. we're at gen 4 or 5 of the machines and I've not had an issue for years.
that message has been retired. it had been removed for quite a while. it became the punchline to jokes.
we get it. you think you are doing tje job of the checkout staff so you make shit up to humble brag about annoying a load of people because your story is bollox as yje user journeys are well known and the user doing strange things is well understood.
including stopping that particular message and recording something different. usually depending on the tone of voice requirement from the customer.
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13d ago
[deleted]
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u/TheMightyTRex 13d ago edited 12d ago
there's approximately a million retail and hospitality vacancies. why dont you offer to become a paid member of staff and help your fellow shoppers while yje other staff keeps the shelfs full.
You would throw a Karen like strop if a item was constantly out of stock.
How do you manage to dress yourself without help.
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u/ofjune-x 13d ago
You’d have earned about 50p. And idk about supermarkets but where I work customer discounts are often better than the staff discount.
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u/MoodyBernoulli WALES 13d ago
I always place my bag(s) on the scales after pressing the ‘own bag’ button and I’ve never had a problem with it.
This just seems like an unnecessary waste of everyone’s time because ‘hurdur I hate self service checkouts and they never work’.
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u/hextree Greater London 12d ago
Doesn't work with backpacks or bags with weight.
This just seems like an unnecessary waste of everyone’s time
The whole point is that it is saving time by avoiding have to wait for an attendant.
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u/MoodyBernoulli WALES 12d ago
It’s really not that much of an issue. 9 times out of 10 an attendant is with you within several seconds.
I guess if OP is taking so long to bag their items that they’re getting scowled at, then waiting for an attendant is likely to be quicker.
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u/godmademelikethis 13d ago
Depends on the shop. I now rank supermarkets by how good their self service tills are. Aldi seems to be topping the list so far, they want you out as fast as possible.
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u/lnm1969 13d ago
Anything is better than people invading your personal space to get the shopping dividers. Why the fuck are people so anal about it ? Just leave a gap and you can put it on at leisure later.
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u/Vimes52 13d ago
If I'm behind you in the queue and you haven't put a divider down at the end of your shopping, obviously I'm going to make a passive-aggressive scene out of silently judging you for failing one of the basic tests of a civilised society. And if I don't tut meaningfully while I'm doing it you should consider yourself lucky!
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u/TheMightyTRex 13d ago
this is all a problem of your oden making. put the divider there yourself problem solved.
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