'Enough!' Queue backs up at Sainsbury's as shoppers turn against self-service checkouts

A supermarket shopper stuck in a queue vowed to wait till Christmas rather than use a self-service checkout. The Sainsbury's customer took to social media to vent his frustration, posting a photo showing people queuing down an aisle waiting to be served at a check out manned by a human being.

X user Steve wrote on the platform: "Only one till open at Sainsbury’s in Bell Green... Sainsbury's, I don’t give a f*** I’ll queue till Christmas. I am not doing self service."

The supermarket giant responded with an apology, telling the angry customer his comments had been shared with the store manager for an internal review.

A Sainsbury's spokesperson said: "We regularly review the services available in our stores to make sure we offer the most convenient experience to our customers.

"We offer a range of ways of paying including through serviced tills, self-serve checkouts and SmartShop. Our colleagues are on hand to help anyone who may need support."

Steve's experience sparked a heated debate on X, with users describing similar issues at Aldi, Tesco, Boots and Morrisons branches.

X user Dec Brennan said they left their trolley of shopping in a store when the same thing happened to them in Stoke, adding: "I refuse to use the self checkout."

Tweeting from an account named Phil Page, the X user fumed: Done exactly the same at Newbury Park and Barkingside! When I questioned the manager about opening more tills (three were empty) she happily informed me the plan was to do away with them altogether."

Another X user didn't hold back, raging: "Boils my p*** this, go back to basics Sainsbury’s. It’s not rocket science."

Lorna wrote on X: "A lot of shoppers in our local store are still queuing on principle since they got rid of most of the manned checkouts and replaced them with self checkout. We’re a stubborn bunch!"

Others, however, came out in support of self-service checkouts. Nathan commented: "I’m not against self serve and use it a lot but there needs to be a choice.

"What if one day I choose to go for a manned till rather than a self serve? I should be able to have that choice."

X user Mr Wingless tweeted: "I actually like the self scanners that supermarkets have. If I'm doing my monthly shop which is large being able to scan as I shop and then just pay with my card is actually very convenient instead of queing for ages and have someone scan them all and then I have bag them up."

AJP tweeted in reply to Steve's post: "I like to self scan as I shop and then go to the designated automated tills.

"The other night they were roped off. I asked why. I was told there was no one to operate them. I laughed. And said isn’t the point of them that they are instead of a person. She didn’t find me funny."