Sainsbury’s shoppers are saying that they want to ‘boycott’ the supermarket after it introduced a change which many believe is the wrong move. One store, located on Bath Road in Chippenham, has increased its number of self-service checkouts to “meet customer demand”.
The Chippenham Sainsbury’s store is among a number of shops opting to cut back on staffed checkouts in favour of an increase in self-service ones. At one location in Warlingham, Surrey, just five traditional checkout lanes remain, much to the dismay of certain shoppers, particularly older ones.
But by doing so, the move has sparked frustration among customers who are complaining about longer queues and a poor shopping experience, calling for the return of more staffed tills instead. Customer Andy Bowman expressed his annoyance, saying: “I get why they’re doing it…but it’s now a very annoying and poor experience”.
Having been a loyal customer at the Chippenham Sainsbury’s for over 33 years, Bowman is now “seriously thinking of going somewhere else” saying “I will not use the self-checkouts. I prefer dealing with people, not machines.”
His dissatisfaction has even led him to contemplate switching his allegiance from Sainsbury’s to Tesco, Morrison or Asda, according to Birmingham Live. Steven Pope echoed Bowman’s sentiment saying that there is indeed a lack of manned tills: “Just been to Sainsburys in Chippenham… half the tills have been removed to install self-scan tills, big queues at every place to pay.”
Jo Linzinger, another unhappy customer, added: “It’s awful. I went there the other day for a big shop, the queues were down the aisles for the manned tills. It’s definitely not a great experience in there now.”
However, not all customers were angry by the increase in self-service checkouts, with Anna Maloney saying: “I’m fine with the mix. Often I have a really limited time to shop and if I have a trolley I have to use the manned checkouts which can be slow as understandably people like to chat. Now I can use the self-scan tills and go at my own pace.”
Donna Farrier, 67, from Whyteleafe, Surrey, exclaimed: “As a senior citizen I find it extremely difficult to use a self-checkout till to pay for a trolley load of items. It’s clear Sainsbury’s is not concerned with the discomfort of their customers; they’re just after increased profits”, she concluded.
Meanwhile, advocates from the group Silver Voices, which speaks for senior citizens independently, have cautioned that big retailers are making a grave error by phasing out personal interaction in shopping, labelling it the “dehumanisation of retail.”
“Older people in particular want a friendly helping hand from the till assistant, a chat and a smile as the goods are clicked through and probably help with payments and vouchers”, added Dennis Reed from the organisation.