General News
24 June, 2023
DIY checkout lanes a helpless way out
A decision by one of the town's major supermarkets to reduce the number of assisted checkouts has ruffled the feathers of a few shoppers, according to a snap poll by The Horsham Times. One seasoned customer said she was disappointed Coles in Horsham...
A decision by one of the town's major supermarkets to reduce the number of assisted checkouts has ruffled the feathers of a few shoppers, according to a snap poll by The Horsham Times.
One seasoned customer said she was disappointed Coles in Horsham had installed four new self-checkout lanes - replacing four that had been assisted.
“Coles is my favourite, but it's changed over the years, and I don’t want them to make any additional changes that make it harder for the elderly to use the checkout or other areas of the store,” she said.
“It's not going to get any easier with these self-checkouts. I always prefer supervised checkouts – it’s better to have a bit of help.”
Lyn Wentworth said she preferred to shop at Woolworths as it was more accessible and convenient.
“The supervised checkouts of Woolies are better, and even in the self-ones there has always been a staff member,” she said.
Coles now has four new self-checkout lanes, six monitored lanes and 10 express self-checkouts, following the change earlier this month.
Danielle Simonsen said that even though she liked Coles, she would shop somewhere else if the checkouts continued to change.
“I’m loving Coles but everything’s expensive everywhere," Ms Simonsen said.
"I shop at Aldi for certain things and then mostly at Coles.
“I think it’s probably easier to find things and better parking and it’s a nice-looking store. It looks nice and clean.
“Staff get paid to work on checkouts so I shouldn’t have to do my own. I think they're just kicking people out of work and we’re forced to do it.
“If they keep changing it I won’t shop there again – I’ll go where I get served.”
Jennifer Albrecht said she had no preferences for checkouts.
“I shop at Woolies as it's convenient for me because I’m always in a rush, and the main reason is I know everything there,” Ms Albrecht said.
“I don’t need to ask any staff about something. If I can’t find something, I slip to Coles, but I hardly ever go to Aldi.
“I don’t have any preference about checkouts. I normally go to whichever is quickest as I am always in a hurry.”
Caz Forster said it took her longer to shop at Coles early in the morning as the store often had fewer staff available then.
“I find that Woolworths is very quick if people are waiting at the checkouts," Ms Forster said.
"The managers are quick to put people on cash registers to get people in and out of the supermarket as soon as possible.
“What’s happened at Coles is they’ve got one person on the checkout in the morning.
"It’s six o’clock in the morning and you cannot go through the other checkout area because that's closed.
“That's one person working on that one checkout for eight or nine items, and often you get two or three people standing in front of you with a whole trolley-load of groceries and you can be there for an extra 10 or 15 minutes.
“This is why I go to Woolworths, as they always have plenty of staff to accommodate."
The duty manager at Coles was unable to comment.
All three major supermarkets are currently either in the process of removing or phasing out their reusable plastic bags in favour of paper or recyclable materials.