Maplin administration

[melmerby]

 

Try going to a local supplier and buying good, seasoned timber, for example.

Fortunately I can as there is a saw mill close by, although even some of what they sell isn't as good as it used to be.

I needed replacement newel posts for the staircase and they were not a standard size, so they made them to my specification. They are absolutely straight and square.

On the down side they now get their plywood from China and it is total crap, the previous Malaysian stuff was far, far superior.

 

One thing that has to be said about “shopping locally” is that, with or without online shopping, the periodic recessions of the period since the late 1970s were already destroying choice.

 

Hence the dearth of proper hardware shops, where they had everything from the proverbial "fork handles" to tap washers. They were common at one time but now as rare as hen's teeth

High streets are now filled with charity shops, coffee bars and Asian fast food outlets.

 

Keith

[Bucoops]

Hence the dearth of proper hardware shops, where they had everything from the proverbial "fork handles" to tap washers. They were common at one time but now as rare as hen's teeth

High streets are now filled with charity shops, coffee bars and Asian fast food outlets.

 

Keith

 

My local hardware shop is now split into 4 small units - a barber, nail salon, some holistic rubbish and something else. How depressing.

 

The local fishing shop (of no personal interest to me but I know it's a popular hobby) looks to be going the same way.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Bucoops

[ruggedpeak]

Given the overall mileage of OHLE network worldwide, compared to diesel traction, the debate seems to have been over for a long time. America still uses diesel traction for its system of extremely high power consumption over very long distances, sometimes in arduous terrain, but the Trans Siberian and other long-distance networks are electrified, as are the new Chinese-built lines in various locations

 

A lot to do with China and Russia generating large amounts of electricity from coal fired power stations, cos it's cheap and they don't have to import it from other countries.

 

62% of Chinese electricity is coal generated. Not exactly helping on the global warming/climate change front.

[hayfield]

One of the glass door pivot hinges broke on our bathroom cabinet, tried local shops, UK internet firms to no avail. In the end good old China came to the rescue. Not quite the same, but with a bit of adapting the holes in the cabinet and slight grinding of the double sided mirror door all fixed and working for the grand total of £5 and a few days wait

 

No local shops stocked the pivot hinges, the UK ones were too thin, And we looked at replacing the cabinet from local stores but could not find one we likes under £90. Sometimes we are forced to shop outside the UK, let alone locally  

[melmerby]

My local hardware shop is now split into 4 small units - a barber, nail salon, some holistic rubbish and something else. How depressing.

 

The local fishing shop (of no personal interest to me but I know it's a popular hobby) looks to be going the same way.

The nearby fishing tackle shop became a barber.

 

 

Keith

Edited April 3, 2018 by melmerby

[frobisher]

WTF are they wasting money putting pantographs and all the associated electrical gubbins on a pefectly good DMU.

There are many that would dispute it's the latter...

[298]

I seem to have missed this earlier.

 

Yes, it is true that shopping habits have changed.

 

But we need to ask whether that is a good thing or whether the long term benefit is being lost in a short term rush for selfish gain without consideration for the impact on others.

 

Just because we can does not mean that we should.

 

...R

Does that include the proliferation and use of self-scan checkouts at supermarkets? I'm not certain that those who prefer to go to a regular staffed checkout don't do so because they don't mind waiting an extra couple of minutes or because they want to see the cashiers kept in a job and an element of human interaction at the end of their shop, they're doing so because they don't want to learn a new procedure or haven't had much success with it.

[jjb1970]

A lot to do with China and Russia generating large amounts of electricity from coal fired power stations, cos it's cheap and they don't have to import it from other countries.

 

62% of Chinese electricity is coal generated. Not exactly helping on the global warming/climate change front.

 

Quite, but it'd be nice to qualify that by recognising that China is the biggest generator of renewable electricity in the world with something like a quarter of supply being renewable along with ambitious plans to keep growing renewable energy, decarbonise transport etc. One of the stock responses from critics of our move to renewable energy is "why should we do anything, China isn't", ignoring the huge investment the Chinese are making in clean energy.

Unless somebody invents a means of carbon capture and storage which is both effective and economically viable (currently CCS is neither) then coal is yesterday's fuel. And I really can't see the point of developing all sorts of weird and wonderful technology with a high parasitic load and probably using nasty stuff like amine sorbents when you can just not make the pollution in the first place.

[Dagworth]

Try going to a local supplier and buying good, seasoned timber, for example.

That's as maybe, but try buying it online where you can't look at it first!

 

Andi

[rockershovel]

Does that include the proliferation and use of self-scan checkouts at supermarkets? I'm not certain that those who prefer to go to a regular staffed checkout don't do so because they don't mind waiting an extra couple of minutes or because they want to see the cashiers kept in a job and an element of human interaction at the end of their shop, they're doing so because they don't want to learn a new procedure or haven't had much success with it.

That’s an odd one, actually. For all the unemployment about, I can’t help noticing that an increasing number of checkout staff (and supermarket shopfloor staff generally) appear to be 50-plus. Is this because like so many jobs, it simply doesn’t pay a living wage and is only attractive to the semi-retired?

[caradoc]

Does that include the proliferation and use of self-scan checkouts at supermarkets? I'm not certain that those who prefer to go to a regular staffed checkout don't do so because they don't mind waiting an extra couple of minutes or because they want to see the cashiers kept in a job and an element of human interaction at the end of their shop, they're doing so because they don't want to learn a new procedure or haven't had much success with it.

 

When buying a single item at say WH Smiths, I use a self-scan checkout, because it is easy, quick, and there is sometimes nobody working at the staffed checkouts anyway ! However at supermarkets I use a staffed till, even if I have to queue, partly because I can't be bothered to scan everything myself and then wait for someone to turn up when it goes wrong, and partly to help keep a decent number of staff employed.

[meil]

That’s an odd one, actually. For all the unemployment about, I can’t help noticing that an increasing number of checkout staff (and supermarket shopfloor staff generally) appear to be 50-plus. Is this because like so many jobs, it simply doesn’t pay a living wage and is only attractive to the semi-retired?

It's more likely to be because they are reliable, turn up on time and actually do work.

[Jol Wilkinson]

That’s an odd one, actually. For all the unemployment about, I can’t help noticing that an increasing number of checkout staff (and supermarket shopfloor staff generally) appear to be 50-plus. Is this because like so many jobs, it simply doesn’t pay a living wage and is only attractive to the semi-retired?

 

Either 50+ or in their late teens/early twenties. Part time work or management trainees?

 

I prefer to use the staffed checkout, as invariably something goes wrong at the DIY version, and have never got around to trying the hand scanner approach. Also, unlike several friends, also retired, we prefer to shop rather than buy online where we can avoid it. With clothes, electronics, white goods, etc. I prefer to check it fits, feel the quality, inspect the product, etc. The idea of ordering several items of clothing to try on and then sending back what I don't want at no cost because that's what the vendor offers seems as much or more hassle than actual going out to buy stuff. Further, it minimises actual interaction and real communication with other human's, skills some young people seem to be losing while perpetually glued to their mobile "small world" devices.

 

As others have said, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Although, as Cardoc says, with WHSmiffs, it is often the only option, especially in our local store where the "normal" checkout is invariably staffed with only one assistant who is usually tied up dealing with those more involved purchases or those in society who can't cope with the check outs. 

[phil-b259]

When buying a single item at say WH Smiths, I use a self-scan checkout, because it is easy, quick, and there is sometimes nobody working at the staffed checkouts anyway ! However at supermarkets I use a staffed till, even if I have to queue, partly because I can't be bothered to scan everything myself and then wait for someone to turn up when it goes wrong, and partly to help keep a decent number of staff employed.

 

I prefer self service checkouts, particularly at supermarkets as it means I can scan and pack stuff at my own pace rather than having it all shoved down the convayer faster than I can deal with it.

[grandadbob]

If they chuck it down fast I tell them not to, politely but firmly. If they persist I just stop packing and tell them I'll take all day about it. They usually get the message. I know that they are told they have to scan so many items a minute but as I  point out to them that won't get me to move any faster, in fact the opposite applies.

 

Stroppy of Sutton.

Edited April 4, 2018 by grandadbob

[Horsetan]

Wow, this really is the thread that keeps on giving! :jester:

D'you think the Russians interfered with this topic?

Edited April 4, 2018 by Horsetan

[hayfield]

It's more likely to be because they are reliable, turn up on time and actually do work.

 

Supermarkets are going through a massive reorganization as both customer shopping habits have changed, competition from abroad, food deflation in prices and employee legislation have all had impacts on their bottom line

 

Online shopping has had a impact on footfall within the stores, the need for a more flexible workforce and increased costs in getting what was a self service option delivered to the door.

Then during the weekdays most stores are empty till the afternoon school run, with Friday, Saturday and Sundays the busiest shopping days.

 

Supermarket prices are set up for self service, the internet delivery costs the retailers money as they have to pick, pack and deliver the items all for the same money. with substitutions and returns also eroding potential profits Very few retailers are making money with this service for various reasons, the main driver being market share. No one wants to be the first to put up prices, or stick to a delivery charge

 

Part time workforce in this sector is seen as the best option for flexible working with many happy doing extra hours when the need arises. Also survives on those in further education  who can return from uni to cover for peak times of the year etc. Whilst most older folk can be reliable, so are most of the youngsters as it happens, many of whom have a good work ethos

[Robin2]

I prefer self service checkouts, particularly at supermarkets as it means I can scan and pack stuff at my own pace rather than having it all shoved down the convayer faster than I can deal with it.

Jeez, it really pisses me off when there is a slowcoach ahead of me using a self-service checkout. If you can't scan as fast as the machine allows and then take your stuff somewhere else to do the packing go to the operator operated checkouts. Jeez.

 

...R

[ejstubbs]

at supermarkets I use a staffed till, even if I have to queue, partly because I can't be bothered to scan everything myself and then wait for someone to turn up when it goes wrong

 

 

I prefer to use the staffed checkout, as invariably something goes wrong at the DIY version

 

This 100%.  Calling them "self-service" checkouts is a wild exaggeration, since the damn things always seem to find something to complain about which then requires the attendant to come over and wave their electronic tag thing at it to make it behave.  (IME they almost never investigate the problem the machine thought it had detected, they just wave their magic wand to make the error message go away.)

 

Example from a few days ago at Sainsbury's when I had only a few items (and no alcohol, which is obliged by law to require human intervention).  In trying to pay for a half dozen or so items the attendant had to intervene three times.  The first time I did exactly as the machine requested and it still complained:

 

Machine: Are you using any of your own bags?

Me: <presses "yes" button>

Machine: put your bags in the bagging area and press this button.

Me: <does as requested>

Machine: Wha!!!  Don't like it!!!  Make it go away!!!!!  (or words to that effect)

Me: <thinks: Oh FFS.>

 

The next incident was when it decided it didn't like the barcode on one of my items and asked me type the number in - then without any further action from myself it changed its mind and reverted to "sullen refusal co-operate" mode.

 

The last one involved some alleged irregularity with my Nectar card, which I had actually had replaced a week or so previously because the old one was getting worn and difficult to scan.

 

The resolution for each of the above apparent show-stopping calamities was for the attendant to wave his magic dongle at the machine and walk away.  This seems to be the self-service checkout equivalent of "have you tried turning it off and turning it on again?"  But computers have noticeably improved since that first became an IT support in joke.  I get the impression that self-service checkouts are still running some early version of embedded Windows on a Pentium 4.

 

IMO the worst thing about these self-service tills is that they are so badly designed from a process and ergonomic point of view.  They demand that things be inserted in randomly-located orifices, then spit bits of paper at you from multiple other inconveniently positioned openings.  And I still don't believe that there is any kind of point to the "unexpected item in bagging area" nonsense.  It's my shopping.  Sorry if that comes as a surprise to you.  (I note that the self-service tills in IKEA do not have weight sensors in the "bagging area".  If they can manage without, I bet every else could too.)

 

As far as I can tell most of these devices are all made by the same company so they probably feel no impetus to improve or innovate.  The machines certainly don't seem to have changed much since they were first introduced; any differences between them in different retailers are miniscule and mostly down to software tweaks.  The only significant differences in terms of user experience that I am aware of are the Morrisons ones, which give cashback, and the aforementioned IKEA ones which by some miracle manage to do their job without getting paranoid about the "bagging area".  Meanwhile, consumers become increasingly hacked off at the utter failure of bricks-and-mortar retailers to do anything worthwhile to alleviate the irritation and tedium of their shopping experience, and increasingly turn to spending their money online instead.

 

I prefer self service checkouts, particularly at supermarkets as it means I can scan and pack stuff at my own pace rather than having it all shoved down the convayer faster than I can deal with it.

 

I find the exact opposite: because the machine insists that every item scanned then has to be placed in the "bagging area" before the next time can be scanned (otherwise it throws a tantrum and wails for Mummy yet again) it's the machine that controls the pace at which I can work, rather than it accommodating me.  You can't take advantage of having two hands to scan with one and pack with the other (perhaps the idiot who designed the things in the first place spent some much time with his thumb stuck up his *rse that he never noticed that most of us have that capability).

 

The machines are painfully slow in most of their other functions as well.  I almost always find that the voice prompts are a few seconds behind what the screen is telling me to do, but that doesn't stop the doris from piping up while I'm already doing what needs doing, or I've already pressed the button that needed pressing.  The only time she catches up is when I've finished and paid, when she takes advantage of the few seconds it takes for me to put my receipt away in my wallet to remind me take my shopping and my receipt away with me, as if that particular thought had never occurred to me.

 

The whole implementation of the concept is tremendously tedious IMO - but as others have said you're often pretty much forced to use it by the retailer's decision not to employ sufficient/any human checkout staff.

[APOLLO]

And it all started with "Press button B to get your money back " !!!

 

 

Brit15

[Horsetan]

....the worst thing about these self-service tills is that they are so badly designed from a process and ergonomic point of view.  They demand that things be inserted in randomly-located orifices, then spit bits of paper at you from multiple other inconveniently positioned openings.  And I still don't believe that there is any kind of point to the "unexpected item in bagging area" nonsense.  It's my shopping.  Sorry if that comes as a surprise to you.  (I note that the self-service tills in IKEA do not have weight sensors in the "bagging area".  If they can manage without, I bet every else could too.)

 

As far as I can tell most of these devices are all made by the same company so they probably feel no impetus to improve or innovate.  The machines certainly don't seem to have changed much since they were first introduced; any differences between them in different retailers are miniscule and mostly down to software tweaks.  The only significant differences in terms of user experience that I am aware of are the Morrisons ones, which give cashback, and the aforementioned IKEA ones which by some miracle manage to do their job without getting paranoid about the "bagging area".  Meanwhile, consumers become increasingly hacked off at the utter failure of bricks-and-mortar retailers to do anything worthwhile to alleviate the irritation and tedium of their shopping experience, and increasingly turn to spending their money online instead.

 

 

I find the exact opposite: because the machine insists that every item scanned then has to be placed in the "bagging area" before the next time can be scanned (otherwise it throws a tantrum and wails for Mummy yet again) it's the machine that controls the pace at which I can work, rather than it accommodating me.  You can't take advantage of having two hands to scan with one and pack with the other (perhaps the idiot who designed the things in the first place spent some much time with his thumb stuck up his *rse that he never noticed that most of us have that capability).

 

The machines are painfully slow in most of their other functions as well.  I almost always find that the voice prompts are a few seconds behind what the screen is telling me to do, but that doesn't stop the doris from piping up while I'm already doing what needs doing, or I've already pressed the button that needed pressing.  The only time she catches up is when I've finished and paid, when she takes advantage of the few seconds it takes for me to put my receipt away in my wallet to remind me take my shopping and my receipt away with me, as if that particular thought had never occurred to me.

 

The whole implementation of the concept is tremendously tedious IMO - but as others have said you're often pretty much forced to use it by the retailer's decision not to employ sufficient/any human checkout staff.

 

They can be a bit hit and miss, depending on who programmed them in the first place. I use Sainsbury's self-checkouts and, on the whole, don't have any trouble with them - the ones in the Apsley (Hemel) and North Watford branches are very efficient.

 

I wish the same could be said of the checkouts in the Sainsbury's Local branch in Ealing - the touchscreen often doesn't pick up the heat source / pressure of your finger, so you end up stabbing it repeatedly until something happens. A year passes by if you have Nectar coupons to scan. Then, when it does register that you have got to the payment stage, it then takes an age to activate the debit card reader. Maybe it's just a symptom of being in Ealing.

[Pandora]

If they chuck it down fast I tell them not to, politely but firmly. If they persist I just stop packing and tell them I'll take all day about it. They usually get the message. I know that they are told they have to scan so many items a minute but as I  point out to them that won't get me to move any faster, in fact the opposite applies.

 

Stroppy of Sutton.

Q:  Why are the chucking it down the conveyor?    A: The check-out systems  of my local supermarket (a major name  beginning  with the letter of the alphabet  after S) monitor and measure the productivity of the worker,  there is a weekly" "name and shame" list for the staff noticeboard of those who are deemed by management to be under performers, just another example of the bullying culture of the high street nationals.

Edited April 4, 2018 by Pandora

[Pacific231G]

Q:  Why are the chucking it down the conveyor?    A: The check-out systems  of my local supermarket (a major name  beginning  with the letter of the alphabet  after S) monitor and measure the productivity of the worker,  there is a weekly" "name and shame" list for the staff noticeboard of those who are deemed by management to be under performers, just another example of the bullying culture of the high street nationals.

I generally prefer staffed checkouts unless I'm just buying one or two items (as in WHS) Quite apart from the self checkouts' frequent hissy fits they are far better check-out operators than I will ever be. It's not the operators that annnoy me so much as the customers who carefully pack all their stuff then, as if actually paying for it is a totally different thought process, hunt slowly in their bag for their cards before finally getting round to paying. I can forgive the elderly, infirm or those with small children for that but it's those who are very slow because they're chatting to someone on their phone that really drive me mad.Perhaps they should name and shame their slowest customers.

 

For a friend of mine who had to wait over a year for her "urgent" hip replacement, online shopping has been a boon. The thing you have to watch for though is that the products tend to be near the end of their shelf life. In my local supermarket I've learned the trick of finding the later use by or best befores hidden at the back of the shelves but online ordering even with Wa**r**e seems to go the other way.

Edited April 4, 2018 by Pacific231G

[Colin_McLeod]

Reading the last few pages of this thread makes me believe there is a market for shops and for on line; for cashiers and self service checkout. So everyone is catered for and needed.

 

What's this thread all about anyway? Oh yes. Maplin, checkouts and Chinese electricity generation.

[chris p bacon]

Q:  Why are the chucking it down the conveyor?    A: The check-out systems  of my local supermarket (a major name  beginning  with the letter of the alphabet  after S) monitor and measure the productivity of the worker,  there is a weekly" "name and shame" list for the staff noticeboard of those who are deemed by management to be under performers, just another example of the bullying culture of the high street nationals.

 

 

Never seen or heard of that in our local store of the same name. The employees all seem to enjoy being there and there certainly isn't  a 'get it down the chute faster attitude', in fact if you look like your having trouble they will help at your pace.

 

As an employer, Having such a policy and it being visible,  breaks so many employment laws it would take too long to quote them

 

I'll call that as b*llshit