I called into Tesco yesterday to pick up a few sundries to get us by until we next do a full grocery shop.  The local Alfreton store has brought in the new Self-Scan system (not the self-scan tills, the actual scanners that you carry around the shop with you) so, of course, it being a gadget I hadn’t yet played with I just had to give it a go.  To sum up, I think this whole system is a big EPIC FAIL!

First off, they couldn’t scan my Tesco Club Card because it’s also a Tesco Credit Card so the friend I was with had to use his (which made me lose all my club card points – the bastard )  We were then instructed by the Tesco bod that we had to make sure to scan everything – if things were on offer, to ensure we scanned all items included in the offer, etc – she gave us a load of bags to bag it all up as we shopped and that was it.  So off we went and did our small shopping trip, then stood aimlessly for ten minutes trying to figure out whether we had to go to a normal till to pay or somewhere else.

Eventually we found another Tesco bod and enquired.  We were pointed to the scan-till and set off.  To reach this till you had to weave up around a very narrow path with was lined with wine bottles – and when you’re pushing a crappy Tesco trolley, it can be a nerve-wracking experience!  But eventually we made it to the till, plugged in the scanner and waited while it churned through the list of shopping.  Once that slow process was complete, the till then flashed up that we had a restricted item and had to wait for a staff member (We’d bought some WKD).  Another wait ensued while the only staff person in the Scan area faffed around with someone else, but eventually she came over, checked to make sure I was over 25, then accepted the sale.  I passed her my money (in cash) only to be told that the scan system wouldn’t accept cash and payments had to be made by card and that surely we were informed of that when we picked up the scanner.  No, we bloody weren’t!  After much muttering on my part, Matt paid the bill on his card – and, incidently, he wasn’t checked for being over 25 (he’s not!) and the purchase made.

Overall, the system sucks, the staff aren’t trained properly in the use and it should be made clear that you can only pay by plastic if you want to use it.  Stupid system, not impressed!!!