Good News stories

[eighthobstruction]

Here's some good news : The Undertones have got a mural in their honour erected. It's true! It's on the BBC News! And people are truly overjoyed!

Walled City Passion - 700 School Children Sing 'Teenage Kicks' - YouTube

Cockney Sparrow [I think it was] yesterday was saying his wife had been invited to a Pat Jennings Commemoration (he's still alive) Statue unvailing....

[teamsaint]

Here's some good news : The Undertones have got a mural in their honour erected. It's true! It's on the BBC News! And people are truly overjoyed!

Walled City Passion - 700 School Children Sing 'Teenage Kicks' - YouTube

My favourite band for a number of years, and the first band I ever saw.. Still love them. The cover of the first album speaks volumes.

a pity really that Teenage Kicks dominates their profile so much these days, as they have produced a lot a lot of fantastic songs.

[Sir Velo]

Not that there's a Booths that nearby, but I call this good news!

Booths supermarkets to ditch self-checkouts in north of England stores

Each to their own: I strenuously avoid the humanned tills if only to avoid the cringeworthy interactions that take place, particularly with younger operators: "Y'all right mate" "you doing anything this weekend" "Yes, shopping, isn't it bleedin' obvious?"

No doubt there will come a time when the hand eye co-ordination isn't what it once was and I'll be all fingers n'fumbs, but until that day comes...

[french frank]

Each to their own: I strenuously avoid the humanned tills if only to avoid the cringeworthy interactions that take place, particularly with younger operators: "Y'all right mate" "you doing anything this weekend" "Yes, shopping, isn't it bleedin' obvious?"

No doubt there will come a time when the hand eye co-ordination isn't what it once was and I'll be all fingers n'fumbs, but until that day comes...

If I haven't got a bottle of wine I prefer the self-scanners. Otherwise I have to "Please wait. An assistant is coming to verify your age" and wait and wait. So then I go to the kiosk to save time (where if it's a Tuesday I get "I 'ate Tuesdays" from Jane because it's the day all the TV magazines are replaced). There's something quite reassuring about these rituals.

[gurnemanz]

Each to their own: I strenuously avoid the humanned tills

I'm with you there. If I go to a supermarket I mostly have a very small number of items and those self-service tills avoid queues. If I had a massive trolleyful I would no doubt prefer to let someone else scan the whole lot, but luckily for me I am able to avoid huge grocery shopping exploits since my wife freely volunteers to do them herself, not trusting me a) to buy the right stuff or b) pay the right price.

[Pulcinella]

Almost invariably, my own bag isn't recognised, if I buy any alcohol it gets flagged for approval, it's not obvious at what point any loyalty card gets scanned; the list goes on.
By the time all that gets sorted out, I would be better off at a staffed checkout.
Besides which, that means there is a paid job for someone to have.

i'm not saying that Booths customers are an untrustworthy lot, but I wonder if part of the (hidden) agenda is to try to cut down on shoplifting.

[Old Grumpy]

.
Besides which, that means there is a paid job for someone to have.

i'm not saying that Booths customers are an untrustworthy lot....

[french frank]

Good news: at the third (somewhat delayed) attempt, my hawthorn jelly has finally set, after the addition of the juice of three (more) lemons. The rosehip only had to be reboiled once. Tasted both side by side to see if I could distinguish a difference. I fancy the rosehip is a 'lighter' taste, the hawthorn with its darker berries has a deeper taste. Both good with cheese, though.

[oddoneout]

Almost invariably, my own bag isn't recognised, if I buy any alcohol it gets flagged for approval, it's not obvious at what point any loyalty card gets scanned; the list goes on.
By the time all that gets sorted out, I would be better off at a staffed checkout.
Besides which, that means there is a paid job for someone to have.

i'm not saying that Booths customers are an untrustworthy lot, but I wonder if part of the (hidden) agenda is to try to cut down on shoplifting.

That will come as a benefit but to what extent it is the main reason will remain speculation. It's possible that a business such as Booths gives more weight to customer preferences than other chains, since service is part of what their customers are paying for. I note that they will retain such tills at their Windermere and Kendal stores to deal with tourist numbers.
The increase in shoplifting rates for self-serve tills is apparently quite considerable, something which all shoppers end up paying for even if they don't use them.

[oddoneout]

Yes! This got a mention on the BBC 1 1pm News, where the store chain CEO was interviewed. Our local Sainsbury's has re-introduced one single walk-through checkout. I would dearly like to think it was after I had assailed the store manageress (with whom I am normally on friendly terms) saying that the expensive branch refurbishment had put me off using it ever again. She said, "You can always use our complain facility", to which I replied that Sainsbury's would be unlikely to reverse their decision on grounds that some unfortunate old bloke was finding the new arrangements difficult to negotiate!

But if lots of disgruntled customers complain, especially if they then take their custom away from the store, it might get noticed. It does seem as if the retailers have to go through a process of all or nothing(at considerable expense) in order to find out what they could have found out by other means. If reducing the number of manned tills results in long queues at those that remain and customers declining the invitation to use the "much quicker" unmanned ones( even when help to do so is also offered), it might just possibly suggest that further increasing the number of selfservice points might not work. Taking the view that if that's the only option the customers will resign themselves to it is risky if there are other stores available that still offer choice; blind brand loyalty isn't so much a certainty and safety net as it once was.

[Serial_Apologist]

Each to their own: I strenuously avoid the humanned tills if only to avoid the cringeworthy interactions that take place, particularly with younger operators: "Y'all right mate" "you doing anything this weekend" "Yes, shopping, isn't it bleedin' obvious?"

No doubt there will come a time when the hand eye co-ordination isn't what it once was and I'll be all fingers n'fumbs, but until that day comes...

:p

Does that make you a misanthropist?

[Bryn]

We have two large Tesco stores here. The larger one has around 6 staffed checkouts and two sets of self-check-outs, one for baskets and the other for shopping trolleys. I tend to quickly survey the queuing situation obtaining at the time and head for whichever seems sot offer the shorted wait. I am happy to cheat and use the trolley self-service machines for products I have in a basket.

[Pulcinella]

Each to their own: I strenuously avoid the humanned tills if only to avoid the cringeworthy interactions that take place, particularly with younger operators: "Y'all right mate" "you doing anything this weekend" "Yes, shopping, isn't it bleedin' obvious?"

No doubt there will come a time when the hand eye co-ordination isn't what it once was and I'll be all fingers n'fumbs, but until that day comes...

Growing up, I always wondered at what point the barber might ask: Anything for the weekend, sir?

[kernelbogey]

...I tend to quickly survey the queuing situation obtaining at the time and head for whichever seems [to] offer the [shorter] wait...

A young man (so goes this 30+ years-old story) in a supermarket in Boston, Mass. wheels his very heavily loaded trolley up to the humanned () checkout which bears a large sign '8 items or fewer'.

He smiles beatifically at the assistant, who doesn't reciprocate but deadpans: 'You from MIT and can't read or from Harvard and can't count?'.

[Bryn]

A young man (so goes this 30+ years-old story) in a supermarket in Boston, Mass. wheels his very heavily loaded trolley up to the humanned () checkout which bears a large sign '8 items or fewer'.

He smiles beatifically at the assistant, who doesn't reciprocate but deadpans: 'You from MIT and can't read or from Harvard and can't count?'.