View Full Version : Carrots or Avocados
Do you put avocados in your basket and select carrots at the self service checkout? I once put 2 Coxes in and payed for Braeburns, beat that. (Complete accident of course).
I refuse to use self-service checkouts, end of, Mark. If you insist on being served by a human being instead, which is a privilege you're being charged for, then you won't ever encounter that problem! ;)
Marco.
mad-moon
02-06-2018, 12:52
paid Argos for an epson expression xp-235 £34.99...collected the printer at the pick up point an when I got home...the printer is an epson expression xp247...priced at £44.95...did I take it back and tell them?...erm...no...
I refuse to use self-service checkouts, end of, Mark. If you insist on being served by a human being instead, which is a privilege you're being charged for, then you won't ever encounter that problem! ;)
Marco.
My thoughs exactly Marco - but I think Mark is refering to the latest 'scam' at self-service checkouts, whereby customers have been selecting "carrots" to weigh and price vegetables, but have been placing avocados on the weighing platform. Weight for weight, avocados cost considerably more than carrots, so the customer is buying avocados on the cheap and defrauding the supermarket.
This scam was discovered by one supermarket as it had apparantly sold more 'carrots' in a month than it had in stock! It is one of the reasons why CCTV cameras have been set up close to self-service checkouts in supermarkets.
Ha - I wasn't aware of said 'scam', simply because I've never used a self-service checkout in my life, so know nothing about them.
I'm completely against what they stand for [maximising profit at the expense of jobs, and indirectly transferring the job of checkout assistant onto the customer], so refuse to use them, unless I'm offered a worthwhile discount on my shopping as a suitable incentive!
However, I have no sympathy for supermarkets being 'defrauded'. It's up to them to put the correct systems in place, so that customers can't misuse them, and moreover, they themselves should stop 'defrauding' their customers, by effectively turning them into non-paid employees, scanning and packing their own groceries - even though they've effectively paid for that service!!:doh::rolleyes:
Unfortunately, sheep will always follow other sheep - and the supermarkets know it....
Marco.
I use self service as often as possible.
because it is always quicker than waiting in line to be served by someone behind a till.
never heard of the scam though !! Just out of interest , you understand, does anyone know how many carrots would be the equivalant weight to a litre of Bacardi ?
I use self service as often as possible.
because it is always quicker than waiting in line to be served by someone behind a till.
Not in the one near me. Quite a lot of times there is a queue to use the self service whilst the manned checkout has no customers. Handy for me since, like Marco, I refuse to use the self service.
I'm guessing their popularity is due to the scams. Someone already figured out the old carrots/Bacardi swaperoo.
As with so many things, I'm a pragmatist and will either go to the checkout with the shortest queue, or use self-checkout unless I've got a trolley full. It's not something I feel that strongly about.
Never tried the avocado/carrot malarkey. Firstly, I'm scrupulously honest. Secondly, I don't like avocados.
I use self service as often as possible.
because it is always quicker than waiting in line to be served by someone behind a till.
That wouldn't be the case if supermarkets hadn't slowly been reducing the amount of manned checkouts, and replacing them with self-service ones. That's what's causing the queues!
If folk boycotted the self-service checkouts and insisted on being served by supermarket staff instead, then quite simply, the former wouldn't exist, but then supermarkets have slowly succeeded in 'training' you to use them [for THEIR benefit, not yours], with the inevitable result that there will very soon be no more manned checkouts left.
I simply don't like being 'controlled' in that way [it's a slippery slope, trust me], and will do everything I can to fight it.
Just out of interest , you understand, does anyone know how many carrots would be the equivalant weight to a litre of Bacardi ?
:lolsign:
Marco.
I understand the anti-self-service comments but wonder if the same feeling applies to buying petrol - seems like the same sort of trick by big business to make us do the work and reduce labour costs etc.
The principle's the same, of course, but the circumstances are different. With all the cars on the road these days, it would be completely impractical to have manned petrol pumps. It's also different serving yourself, when buying only one product (fuel), as opposed to multiple items in a supermarket.
Marco.
Minstrel SE
02-06-2018, 17:34
The security at my supermarket seems fairly lax and there only seems to be one young lad with a security uniform on covering a massive area...actually he just stands at the tag bleepers now
In the checkout machine area there is usually one attendant watching eight machines but I would have thought they have some training in spotting theft. I dont know if they have a camera room or if the cameras are mainy dummy domes.
Ive seen cases in the papers where people have just walked out with loads of big electrical items
Most people are very honest and just want to get their shopping in a bag fast. I like the machines because they do save me time with just a basket of items.
Yes its open to fraud but they have obviously done the calculation that its less than the wages of checkout staff or extra security. They are quids in really and we still pay the markups to cover the running costs
I fancy some avocados tomorrow :)
walpurgis
02-06-2018, 17:39
The Saudis and Chinese know what to do with thieves.
whip off their avacado's :eyebrows:
The way I see it the more people who thieve from the self checkout, the quicker the supermarkets will abandon them and go back to proper tills.
Or even better the supermarkets go broke and we can go back to walking down the high street and calling in at the baker, grocer, greengrocer, butcher like we used to do when the world was still normal.
walpurgis
02-06-2018, 17:52
when the world was still normal.
The world is always "normal". What is happening now is the norm. :)
The world is always "normal". What is happening now is the norm. :)
No, the world ceased to be normal around about 1979 and it's been getting steadily worse ever since. You're older than me you should have noticed it happen.
Yes its open to fraud but they have obviously done the calculation that its less than the wages of checkout staff or extra security. They are quids in really and we still pay the markups to cover the running costs
Indeed - and that's the bit I vehemently object to, which is why if they want me to use self-service checkouts, then they can discount the cost of my shopping accordingly, reflecting the savings they've made on the above!
Plus, as I've said, I abhor being surreptitiously 'controlled' in that way.
The fact is, if you analyse it, you've been brainwashed into using self-service checkouts, under the guise that it's saving you time, when in actuality it would almost certainly be quicker going through manned checkouts, *providing* that there were enough of them in existence, and also open, populated by competent and efficient staff, ready to meet the demand of their customers paying for goods.
*That* is the way it should be, as WE are paying the buggers handsomely for the privilege!!
Also, looking at the bigger picture, it sets a dangerous precedent simply sitting back and passively 'accepting' being made to behave in certain ways by large organisations and the government (Big Brother). If they can succeed in applying mind control in (seemingly) small ways like that, then what next?;)
You may scoff, but the concept is worth considering. My view? Defend your free-thinking to the death, as one day sooner than you might imagine, it could be taken from you!! :trust:
Therefore, if it can be avoided, never allow 'the system' to control you.
Marco.
The principle's the same, of course, but the circumstances are different. With all the cars on the road these days, it would be completely impractical to have manned petrol pumps. It's also different serving yourself, when buying only one product (fuel), as opposed to multiple items in a supermarket.
Marco.
Sorry Marco, not convinced .... Quite often I only buy one or two items in a supermarket so there's not much difference there compared to petrol. Quite often too, in a shop when buying one item I have had to wait for service and I would dearly like to just leave the money and get out, I think self service goes some way towards helping this situation (while the people who want the personal touch can have it). Also filling a petrol tank is a potentially dangerous activity in a dangerous place the way people zoom about these days even parks and petrol stations, I'd much rather someone did that for me than operate a till. However, in the name of progress we will both have to bear these burdens as best we can I guess. ��
the big supermarkets have cut 25 thousand jobs this year. a lot of that is people using the self serve tills. the rest, is them wanting a bigger profit. It may be the case they are overstaffed, although I mostly dont see it, but the waste they fling out would feed an army
walpurgis
02-06-2018, 18:03
No, the world ceased to be normal around about 1979 and it's been getting steadily worse ever since. You're older than me you should have noticed it happen.
Well The Buggles were in the charts in 1979. Not certain that was 'normal' :eek:!
The way I see it the more people who thieve from the self checkout, the quicker the supermarkets will abandon them and go back to proper tills.
Or even better the supermarkets go broke and we can go back to walking down the high street and calling in at the baker, grocer, greengrocer, butcher like we used to do when the world was still normal.
Hear, hear! :yesbruv:
And get far better produce, to boot.
Marco.
Marco knows what I'm talking about.
Supermarkets have destroyed the character of our towns, fragmented the social structure and made essential shopping a weird and de-personalized experience. They are extremely unpleasant places to be in for any length of time, pretty much every aspect of their design is hostile to our senses. Having to do your own checkout is just a new low in an experience that was already rock-bottom.
The only advantage is that food is a little bit cheaper. Was it really worth all we sacrificed to save five pee on a bag of potatoes?
And while I'm on the subject what about all the plastic packaging they generate? In the old days you got a paper bag with your tomatoes in it, not a mass of plastic wrapped round them. You chucked the bag on the fire when you were done, or used it to keep spare screws in it or something. No plastic carrier bags.
Milk, beer and pop all came in re-usable bottles, milk was delivered by a zero-emission vehicle, there was no need to have 5 different dustbins and Christmas didn't start until December.
And yet now we are supposed to be going green? After we got rid of all the green stuff and replaced it with not green at all stuff? I mean, who is kidding who?
In a way, we've gone full circle with grocery shopping. When I was a nipper, most of our weekly food supply was delivered to our door by the Co-op. There were also bread, fruit, and meat delivery vans doing the rounds. Nowadays, a lot of people have gone back to home delivery.
We used to have 'Tom the Greengrocer' who had a big van with one side open. He'd just park at the kerb and beep his horn and people would flock out to buy fruit and veg.
He had a proper shop too, it didn't have a sign so everyone just called it 'Tom's shop'. Then when the son took over he put up a sign saying 'Tom's Shop' which ruined it a bit.
Digressing slightly, my uncle opened a corner grocer's shop way back in about 1960. Everything was 'on tick' and he kept a record of orders in his little black book hoping to get paid at the end of the week (month, year... Who knows, it was a pretty poor area in a South Wales mining community). Eventually of course there was a break in, no cash to nick but they didn't want that, they wanted his little black book. He then had to rely on people's honesty in remembering what they'd had. Suddenly everyone had gone off ham, corned beef, cheese, chocolates, fags... All some could remember having bought was carrots and spuds. That was the end of his business.
We used to have 'Tom the Greengrocer' who had a big van with one side open. He'd just park at the kerb and beep his horn and people would flock out to buy fruit and veg.
He had a proper shop too, it didn't have a sign so everyone just called it 'Tom's shop'. Then when the son took over he put up a sign saying 'Tom's Shop' which ruined it a bit.
We actually had two bread delivery men, known as 'the thick man' and 'the thin man'. The butcher who did deliveries was very rude and swore a lot. He had a young assistant whom he only ever referred to as 'gobshite'.
walpurgis
02-06-2018, 21:05
In the fifties, our baker and milkman had horsedrawn 'carts'. The milkman was a smashing friendly bloke that everybody thought the world of. He didn't like it when he was given an electric float. That was around 1960.
We actually had two bread delivery men, known as 'the thick man' and 'the thin man'. The butcher who did deliveries was very rude and swore a lot. He had young assistant whom he only ever referred to as 'gobshite'.
Did you have an 'insurance man' who would call once a month? And someone who came round to collect your Pools coupon? And the pop van come to collect your pop bottles. Window cleaner coming round for his money … must be some more I can't remember.
When I think about it we must have been answering the door all the time.
used to have a lot o vans... all coop obviously... butchers, greengrocer, baker, milk, plus a pools guy... mum washed her own windows.
We had the van thing going on too, back in the day, (although we rarely used them and preferred to go to our own local shops, or those in Glasgow city centre), but no pools or insurance guy. Mum and dad weren't into doing the pools and sorted out their own insurance.
Marco.
used to have a lot o vans... all coop obviously... butchers, greengrocer, baker, milk, plus a pools guy... mum washed her own windows.
Americans are going to get that wrong I think.
How is the outdoor swimming in Scotland at the moment?
Did you have an 'insurance man' who would call once a month? And someone who came round to collect your Pools coupon? And the pop van come to collect your pop bottles. Window cleaner coming round for his money … must be some more I can't remember.
When I think about it we must have been answering the door all the time.
Yes, plus the Co-op man used to come round and I had to remember our 'Divvy number' (90747) because my mother was always busy. Every Sunday I was sent to the newsagents to 'pay the papers'. Inevitably there'd have been a missing Liverpool Echo one evening, so I'd end up arguing the toss with the newsagent over how much we owed.
Yes, plus the Co-op man used to come round and I had to remember our 'Divvy number' (90747) because my mother was always busy. Every Sunday I was sent to the newsagents to 'pay the papers'. Inevitably there'd have been a missing Liverpool Echo one evening, so I'd end up arguing the toss with the newsagent over how much we owed.
We never used the Co-Op. If it was ever mentioned the first thing my mother would say was 'The Co-Op is expensive.' In fact I'm sure she still says that now.
You know the thing I could never handle about going over to Birkenhead was that the buses were blue. It was just wrong.
We never used the Co-Op. If it was ever mentioned the first thing my mother would say was 'The Co-Op is expensive.' In fact I'm sure she still says that now.
You know the thing I could never handle about going over to Birkenhead was that the buses were blue. It was just wrong.
We had to use the Co-op, because my mother was a Communist. Some Birkenhead buses were green (Crosville). Wallasey buses were yellow.
we used the coop coz dad was the boss. couldnt be seen in a non coop shop; it would be all round the town that the boss didnt use the coop etc. Was a big coop too.
and yes Joe, I had to go pay papers often...Davidsons; often a paper didnt turn up and a complaint by phone went down and he brought it up himself at lunchtime
Minstrel SE
02-06-2018, 22:15
Its gone too far now though hasnt it and the supermarkets seem too big to fail.
The business rates seem proportionately higher for the small guy and very few small shops are directly competing. We had one fruit and veg merchant in the market but they have closed now. Two small butchers and a fishmongers dont provide a lot of competition
Im conditioned to using a supermarket because I would rather see whats in the computer game shop than who has the juciest mangos. When buying food I just want to walk down isles and put stuff in a trolley on autopilot. There isnt too much thought about home cooking or the very best ingredients. That said I feel that the produce is more than good enough in Sainsburys.
The supermarkets are generally cheaper and I dont often buy the luxury, cheese, fruits and fish that the smaller shops may have. Then again some of the small shops are not very good and you know that. Just because they are small and promote a local vibe it doesnt necessarily mean that are good. They just cant compete on prices because they dont have the bulk buying and transport infrastructure.
Call me lazy but I suppose Ive got the shops that I deserve and it seems too late now
think our divvy no was either 241 or 231. think it was the first one. it did add up, coop owned half the properties in the town centre tbh and Scotmid who own the properties now, still have a lot of them. My dad also designed the function suites, that were the biggest in the country. Made a lot o money too, and were booked out for years by many big organizations; police was always a big boozy affair; as was the farmers.
Primalsea
02-06-2018, 22:41
Where I live we don’t have a lot choice of the type of shop for most of our groceries, other than 4 supermarkets to choose from. A while ago we did make the choice to support our local butchers and straight away noticed that for minimal extra expense we get much better quality meat. This encouraged us to spend a bit more in other areas when we get the opportunity to buy from independent shops. Dangerous slope though. Last week we visited a whiskey distillery while on holiday and jumped on the opportunity to blow £150 on alcohol from a small independent producer. Drinking some of it now and very nice it is too.
walpurgis
02-06-2018, 22:52
Actually, here in Southall which has a largely Asian population, you can buy just about anything you are likely to need from the Indian shopkeepers and they'll always do a deal that significantly undercuts any big name chains.
Where I live we don’t have a lot choice of the type of shop for most of our groceries, other than 4 supermarkets to choose from. A while ago we did make the choice to support our local butchers and straight away noticed that for minimal extra expense we get much better quality meat. This encouraged us to spend a bit more in other areas when we get the opportunity to buy from independent shops. Dangerous slope though. Last week we visited a whiskey distillery while on holiday and jumped on the opportunity to blow £150 on alcohol from a small independent producer. Drinking some of it now and very nice it is too.
what one?
Primalsea
03-06-2018, 07:22
what one?
Not had a coffee yet and it took me a while to see the bold text, I was wondering if you meant what supermarket or butchers for a bit, doh!
Penderyn Distillery in Wales. Quite new and quite an interesting process. They use a 2 columned still that achieves 90% alcohol volume which is then mixed with local spring water that flows under the building before being barrelled. You get Whiskey, but very much something different from other whiskeys.
ah Penderyn. THink I have a bottle of that; never got round to trying it, and probably wont now as I dont drink anyore
[Pedant head on] Could we please have 'whisky' spelled without an 'e', unless you're referring to Bourbon! Ta:thumbsup: /[pedant head off].
Marco.
[Pedant head on] Could we please have 'whisky' spelled without an 'e', unless you're referring to Bourbon! Ta:thumbsup: /[pedant head off].
Marco.
Or Ireland. They started the e. They didn't want their fine produce being confused with the tosh Scotland made in early days. Lol
Now of course it's the other way round.
PS. There are a few American whiskies without the e. They were started by Scots.
Boring story over
Yeah, all that's true. However, if you're talking about Welsh whisky, as Paul was earlier, there ain't no 'e':)
Marco.
Yeah, all that's true. However, if you're talking about Welsh whisky, as Paul was earlier, there ain't no 'e':)
Marco.
Yup. Presbyterians like the Scots. Lol
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2026 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.