I'm currently in Palmerston North, as I'm attending a course this week at Massey University and I went to the local PAK n Save

They have a portable SHOP'nGO handheld barcode scanner that you can pick up when you enter the store and use it to scan all the barcodes on all the products you are buying. It simply adds up everything and is instantly charged to your card.

Has anyone used this scanner to shop yet?

I'm in Auckland but I haven't seen it in use there

I have heard of these and that they were coming, but had no idea they had arrived!. I wonder if they are being trialled in P North, being a smaller main centre?

I can see the convenience of these - imagine not having to queue. But then what if you scan and then change your mind about a product. Do they use the same trolleys and what is to stop people being dishonest? Also purchasing from the bulk bins? And of course the biggy - more jobs will be lost.

Interesting!!

Irene I too feel for the loss of jobs, so I really go out of my way not to use the self serve options. As I feel it generally hits the students who just want to earn a bit of pocket money, or families again that just need a few part-time hours to suppliment income. What really irks me though, is that now with the self-serve you find a few staff just loitering around behind the checkouts whilst there are queues, instead of serving!

I agree Karen. I loathe using the self-service facilities; because of the loss of jobs, because they never work smoothly, and because they don't suit anything but plastic bags. And the staff who spring forward to help are always so bad tempered they must hate the job.

I recall friends in Wellington talking about Shop N Go about 5-6 years ago, so they've been around for a while now and it doesn't seem they've migrated out of the lower NI. I imagine if they were going to, they probably would have by now...

Yes I know there are two Pak N Save's in Wellington with them.

I am with TPandav here. I much prefer to be served by a real person. I regard myself as relatively competent but find the scanning, packing and manoevering a right pain in the backside.

Yep yet more jobs lost, makes me wonder what the future holds for jobs. Nothing any govt can do to stop these sort of things & it makes their jobs even harder to try &get employment for those looking. This was an ideal job for school kids because mothers with children to get home to, could knock off once the school kids arrived. Good learning skills for them.

Yes - I agree - more jobs lost. I bet the savings made there are not passed on to make our grocery costs any cheaper though!
Regards,
Dawn.

The very same people and companies who want to do away with as many staff as possible seem to forget that it is people who buy their products, use their services and support their businesses. The more people who lose their jobs and income equals less spending power.

Hi, When I shopped today at P&S in Pukekohe, I used eftpos and after sliding the card, that was it. No password needed?? I'll be going to the bank to find out more, tomorrow. The checkout woman said it was a new thing.

I talked to a supervisor at the Pak N Save and she said Foodstuffs didnt want them in Auckland because they thought they would lose too much money - as in its too easy to get away with not paying for something. I thought their was a scanner when you left the supermarket that buzzed if you hadn't scanned a product?

Will be interesting to see if it takes off - obviously if its been in Wellington for 5-6 years, its obviously not working in the supermarkets favour.

The self service checkout is a bit hit and miss. I always find I need a human to sort something out for me!

Call me selfish, but I love the self-checkouts. There's rarely a queue, I can pack my groceries the way I want them packed and I find them reliable and easy to use. The only time a staff member has to be involved is if I buy wine: they must verify that I am old enough (without just a visual check - one look would tell them that!)

Like Lorna I also like the self checkouts and use them all the time without any trouble. I don't do trolley-full shopping so the self checkouts allow me to buy what is usually not much more than half dozen or so items without having to sometimes spend more time waiting in a queue behind full trolleys than it takes me to actually get what I want off the shelves. As to self checkouts causing job losses, if I had no other option than to stand in a queue behind those full trolleys the loss would be me (and others I'm sure) as a customer, and I imagine the supermarkets factored that in when they considered introducing self checkout.

My local PnS (New Plymouth) has had shop and go ever since I can remember and, while I don't use it myself, from what I've observed it's very popular. Aside from the convenience of not having to wait in a queue to have your purchases scanned individually, I can see they'd be a great idea for those on a strict budget. The hand held scanner gives a running total as you shop, and if necessary unwanted items can be scanned off. PnS apparently do random manual checkouts in an attempt to keep the punters honest, and state that only 1% of shoppers are intentionally dishonest.
Lynne2

I like the self-service checkouts as packing my own bags makes it so much easier when I come to unpack them. I don't see there's any loss of jobs, as there's always a staff member there, as there would be if it was a normal checkout.

Self checkouts for me.Jobs have already gone as there are often more closed checkouts than open ones. For those of us here in Auckland, standing in checkout queues that snake all the way down the checkout aisle and then down the food aisles to the back of the supermarket for 15+ mins is not how I want to spend my time.

I too am a fan of the self-serve checkouts and the Shop n go concept sounds really neat. The self-serve checkouts are easy to use and I've always found the assistants really friendly and helpful. The secret is to let the lights turn from red to green after scanning an item and before scanning a new item and just buzz for assistance instead of letting yourself get frustrated if you can't see how to do something. The only thing I dislike about them is the reduction in jobs.

We've had barcode scanners in Masterton for several years, although I've never actually used them. I do use the self serve check outs and don't mind them, except that we always have to be ID'd by our son's friend when buying alcohol! (Small town life). I don't really think they reduce jobs though, as they always seem to have two staff on supervising their usage when I'm there, likewise there is a dedicated aisle/staff for barcode scanner payments/checks.