Either my local shops have better versions
or else I'm somehow blessed with special skill, or you lot are all retards, because I find them a piece of piss to use. the only thing that annoys me is not being able to buy booze without it being approved.

But then, I actually follow the instructions and don't try and do something that clearly isn't going to fucking work, like putting a rucksack onto a bagging area that consists of a set of scales so well calibrated that it can tell whether you've actually bought one leek or two. You idiots. It's a machine. Yes, it's flawed, but the fact that you can't use it properly is down to your incometance/intolerance, not the machine.

It's like buying a lawnmower and then moaning it can't hoover the carpet. Jesus.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 20 Oct 2009, 14:44, 2 replies)

It's not really
In some stores there is an option for you to collect points when you use your own bag. So the person who invented the machine should have thought of a way round this fairly major flaw. In fact, I've just thought of it myself.

It's quite simple really, when you start, you put your bag on the scales and it internally zeros the weight and from then on it can work out how much weight you've put on.

Quite easy really.
(Bazongaloid, Tue 20 Oct 2009, 15:00, closed)

not seen that on function on my local ones
but, it's just a validation of my point. follow the instructions. Don't assume it should work the way that you want it to. use it the way it's supposed to be used.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 20 Oct 2009, 17:54, closed)

Calm down, madam.
Yes, the machines come with an "I've brought my own bag" option, but that's fairly useless. The "unexpected item in bagging area" happens all the time, not just to me, but to lots of people using carrier bags. It is not obvious that putting a rucksack onto a bagging area isn't going to work - there's the space for it, and it does indeed give you the option to say that you're using your own bag.

However, this is not the point. My point is that supermarkets have spent a lot of money tearing out most of their "manned" checkouts and replacing them with self-service machines, in an attempt to employ fewer people and save money: these machines have to have several members of staff hovering around at all times to verify alcohol purchases, or to reset the machine when it's arsing up; the shop ends up employing nearly the same amount of people, whilst giving the impression that they are happy to fire a lot of checkout-staff and replace them with machines. They end up with a lot of stressed shoppers getting frustrated at the machines and other shoppers getting annoyed because the amazing "time-saving" self-service tills don't actually save that much time in the long run.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Tue 20 Oct 2009, 16:00, closed)

Like I said
maybe my local shops are different from yours. The nearest Tescos to me employs one person to happily keep 6 of these buggers running smoothly, and they are a huge amount quicker than normal tills, for small numbers of purchases anyway.

And as for being told to calm down by someone who's massively losing their rag with an inanimate object? "Mr Pot, I've got a Mr Kettle on line 2. Something about the black account?"

Chill. Internet, Seriz Bizness. There are a million things more annoying then self-service machines.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 20 Oct 2009, 17:51, closed)

Yes.
Yes there are.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Tue 20 Oct 2009, 22:05, closed)