Imagine The Mayhem !

[StreetCowboy]

Tesco's are well-established in Thailand, are a hard-headed commercial organisation and know their customers. If they decide to introduce self-checkout tills, it will be because they believe there will be a benefit to their operation, and they are more likely to be right than a bunch of self-opinionated muppets on an internet forum.

So you reckon Tesco Lotus strategic management board is not following this thread closely? Look at the evidence - 4 members monitoring this thread, and 4 guests. Who do you think they are?

Are Tesco thinking about introducing self-checkout? ONly one poster suggested that they might be, and he advised against it on grounds of trivial cost-saving.

TF kindly noticed something on his unfortunate trip back to the Old Country, and shared with us his cheery imaginings on what might happen here in similar circumstances; I suppose, in his trying times, he seeks a glimmer of cheer wherever he can.

In a similar vein, imagine what would happen if snow fell in Thailand? Or if you drove your motorbike minority direction up a one way street in London.

Imagine the tedium if posters refrained from inflammatory abuse about their fellow posters; would the sudden serenity tip some of us over the edge?

SC

[meatboy]

this would be hilarious imagine thais asking farangs for help,i would do what they do shake my head and say [mai kow jai]

has anybody asked a thai for directions if it was 10mts.away they would frown and not tell you,have you ever tried to pick something off a supermarket shelf when one or two thais are looking at the same items,come back in 5mins.and they will still be there,pick it up, put it back, check the price,look what others are buying,trolly across the isle,come on you think this is going to work never mind customers what staff will be able to understand the system,what about clearing lines and reduced items,i like to shop at 7am.so i wont be available for help.

[TheWalkingMan]

I must be living in the dark ages as I have never seen nor heard of self checkouts at all. After seeing this thread I went to the bastion of all knowledge, youtube, to get the story.

Looks interesting!

TheWalkingMan

[ukrules]

One of the interesting things about these self service systems is they weigh every item placed into the bag as it's scanned, if it doesn't tally up and someone scans one item but places two items or a different item into the bag on the scale part of the system a red light comes on and requires an override from a supervisor. These systems have been around for years.

The real revolution which has been a long time in coming is RFID based systems whereby every product in the store has a tiny cheap RFID 'price label' on it.

In a system like this the basket / shopping cart can be wheeled through a scanner and the bill will pop up on a screen instantly. They also tout RFID based payment on some of the concept systems although I suspect initially payment would be via a normal credit card transaction and require a pin number to be entered.

This technology will massively increase throughput at any supermarket that has it installed. The first major chain who rolls a system like this out will be a big winner and if it's one of the smaller chains of stores I suspect word will quickly get around about the 'no queue' supermarket.

There's some old but interesting concept videos on youtube :

[garycm]

Not going to get into any of this silliness but I'm reminded of how on my last visit Stateside (4 years ago) I came across a fast food joint where you had to place your own order on a touch screen...

Each screen had an employee standing by it to direct the customer which button to push. Think about it.

(And I still had trouble doing it right)

Delhi Airport has a lady sitting next to the coffee machine. You give here a coin, she puts it in the slot, waits, gives you the coffee. In the bathrooms, same story. When you go in a booth a lady sitting next to it, hands you toiletpaper.Good service!

[happyrobert]

...This technology will massively increase throughput at any supermarket that has it installed. The first major chain who rolls a system like this out will be a big winner and if it's one of the smaller chains of stores I suspect word will quickly get around about the 'no queue' supermarket.

Naaah, myself and a number of people I know changed to another market with cute check-out girls.

[tw25rw]

I use them in Tesco in the UK.. They were good when new as most people opted not to use them and it meant I was out of the store quicker. Now people are used to them, you get shoppers with full trolleys using them and the staff let them (they look to have been designed for bakets only).

Generally, I find using Thai supermarkets to be a less stressful experience than in the UK.

[Richard4849]

It will take people a while to get used to them, then it will be fine. Just like anywhere else.

[Mirth]

apart from other things i can think of, i have this one image in my head of Mrs Somchai trying to get hubby to scan through his religious Buddhist tattoos in the hope of earning double club card points. that is once she has actually figured out what a bar-code is !

I found out today my 50 year old housekeeper never scanned any item before, not even if the price are not listed on the item or shelf. She simply puts the item into the cart and walks to the counter to pay. And she does this whilst doing groceries for her own place!

[samran]

Tigerfish.

Sorry to hear about your father. Strangely enough, I'm in a very analogous situation.

But as I tell my wife, I don't have ESP. So unreserved apologies if any offense was made on that front.

But in all honesty, you OP fell into that common category of 'those Thai's are so stupid' which we see here on TV. Re-reading it, it still does.

Naaah, your retort against tigerfish was uncalled for. We, if on a forum in our own countries, would be beating up fellow citizens unrelentingly. We happen to be in Thailand, so that is who we beat up on.

Ah, to 'beat up' someone, is that what you call it? I get it now.

So do please explain, when a person 'beats up' another in return, why you are all of a sudden so thin skinned? All of a sudden it is 'uncalled for'?. Is what is good for the goose, not good for the gander? Or are you expecting meek submissive acceptance?

[StreetCowboy]

Tigerfish.

Sorry to hear about your father. Strangely enough, I'm in a very analogous situation.

But as I tell my wife, I don't have ESP. So unreserved apologies if any offense was made on that front.

But in all honesty, you OP fell into that common category of 'those Thai's are so stupid' which we see here on TV. Re-reading it, it still does.

Naaah, your retort against tigerfish was uncalled for. We, if on a forum in our own countries, would be beating up fellow citizens unrelentingly. We happen to be in Thailand, so that is who we beat up on.

Ah, to 'beat up' someone, is that what you call it? I get it now.

So do please explain, when a person 'beats up' another in return, why you are all of a sudden so thin skinned? All of a sudden it is 'uncalled for'?. Is what is good for the goose, not good for the gander? Or are you expecting meek submissive acceptance?

Imagine the anarchy if people went out of their way to make a passing semblance of relevance to the topic in their antagonistic-bickering posts?

Chaos!

People miht lose track of who had insulted whom, whether they wore saffron or stout glasses, bitter and mild might become indistinguishable...

Was it tigerfish or cowboy who talkeabout beating up his compatriots, or was it a confusion on my part between moonrakers and roberts?

Has anyone had much experience with non-contacting credit cards (like Visa Wave) accidentally paying for things when they walk past the checkout?

SC