First introduced in the UK in the 1990s, the number of self-service checkouts is set to double in the next few years. This is because they offer supermarkets quick cost savings and in today’s economic and highly competitive retail climate, that has got to be a good thing.

Tesco, the UK’s biggest supermarket, leads the do-it-yourself checkout league, with self-service counters in 256 stores. The tills process 25% of all transactions in those shops. Sainsbury’s has them in 220 stores and is planning more.

BBC looked into the self-service checkout phenomenon, discussing why consumers are still not embracing them fully, and here’s a selection of user replies…

“I love self-service checkouts. I can buy those embarrassing items without anyone knowing, don’t have to stand behind women or old people fiddling with their purses, and can avoid all form of contact or ‘conversation’ with the checkout assistants.”
Mike Wright, Birmingham

“I always use self-service checkouts, I rarely have issues and it is much much quicker. I don’t understand why people moan about these tills, after all its a choice, if you don’t like them, don’t use them.”
Sarah, Essex

“I use these machines for small amounts of shopping. What annoys me most about them is the way that they make you jump through their hoops – the back and forth with the bag and the ‘unexpected item’. I needed a staff member to swipe their card to allow me to use my own bag last time. Lastly, I’ll add they’re too talkative for me. Sometimes I just wish they’d shut-up and let me get on with it – ‘unexpected item in the bagging area’, ‘do you have a loyalty card’, ‘please take your shopping’, etc. You can turn it off – but it never seems worth it for 5 items or less.”
Barnabyp, London

“I always opt for the self-checkout if I’m not doing a large shop! It really annoys my wife who would rather wait for longer and be served by a person but I quite like it. Not having to answer questions like: ‘what’s the weather like?’ (look for yourself the window is just there!)or ‘are you having a nice day?’ (I’m in the supermarket on a Saturday – NO!) I know that the machine telling you off is patronising but I’d rather a machine patronise me than a real person. ”
Alex Cootes, London

A couple of weeks ago, we told you about the new Tesco store in Northampton that has self-service tills only – the first of its kind in the UK.

The Sun also reported the news, dubbing the store ‘Roboshop’ in true tabloid style, and some readers submitted their opinon on The Sun’s website. On the whole, feelings were fairly mixed – here’s a sample of them:

Glaucon wrote: “These tills are the future, profits will be up for the supermarkets so they’ll be happy. They don’t have to employ staff with all the problems that that forces on them.”

Rosie said: “These tills are good when you have just a few items but drive you mad when they have problems and on a busy day, one worker for every five tills is not going to be enough. Keep them as express lanes and don’t get rid of the workers, I say.”

Bermuda commented: “The self service tills can be good at times, however they do wind you up! They tell you to place things in your bag when you already have done.”

Tesco says the assisted service store is an open-ended trial and there are no current plans to roll it out across the rest of the country.