Morrisons and Asda announce an update on self-checkouts Britons have been waiting for
Asda and Morrisons announce a major change
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Major supermarkets Asda and Morrisons will be prioritising manned tills instead of self-checkouts.
This comes as the chief executive of Morrisons, Rami Baitiéh, said that the chain "went a bit too far" with self-checkouts.
While he revealed that self-checkouts "drive productivity", he admitted that "some shoppers dislike it, mainly when they have a full trolley".
The Morrisons boss also added that the rise in self-checkouts correlated with increased shoplifting.
Morrisons 'went a bit too far' with self-checkouts
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Mr Baitiéh said: "We reviewed the whole estate and it appeared that 20 stores must balance the number of self-checkouts versus the number of tills."
Making steps to right the balance at one store in Brough, Yorkshire, Morrisons has removed some of its self-checkouts and replaced them with four manned tills. He revealed that both staff and shoppers were pleased with the change.
Asda has also made a similar realisation about self-checkouts. Asda’s chief financial officer, Michael Gleeson, told The Telegraph that technology had now reached its limit.
He announced that £30million would be invested into putting more staff on tills.
He said: "It's not more checkouts, it’s more colleagues on checkouts."
This comes as Booths scrapped self-checkouts in nearly all UK stores in a supermarket first last year.
A Booths spokesperson said: "We believe colleagues serving customers deliver a better customer experience and therefore we have taken the decision to remove self-checkouts in the majority of our stores.
"We have based this not only on what we feel is the right thing to do but also having received feedback from our customers."
One wrote: "If I lived near a Booths this would make me a loyal customer." Another said: "Let’s hope a few more supermarkets go down this route."
The changes made by Morrisons and Asda will likely delight the shoppers who enjoy a chat at the checkouts or require more personal assistance.
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As for other supermarkets, the jury is still out. Last year, the chairman of M&S, Archie Norman, blamed self-checkouts for an increase in "middle-class shoplifting".
However, Tesco’s chief executive, Ken Murphy, said: "We genuinely believe, at the end of the day, it provides a better customer experience."
In other supermarket news, Aldi announces that a 99p "sell-out" product will return as a Specialbuy.