‘Unexpected item in bagging area’ is a phrase that strikes fear into the heart of many UK supermarket shoppers, and frankly, self-service tills often drive us mad.

However, while many big supermarket chains have embraced self-service as the future, one northern retailer has been bucking the trend, reportedly seeing impressive results.

Family-owned grocer Booths has embarked on a mission to remove self-checkout tills from the majority of its 26 stores.

According to its director, this move has led to a rise in customer satisfaction, a reduction in theft, less shrinkage, and other benefits.

Speaking to industry publication The Grocer, MD Nigel Murray said customer satisfaction was up, saying: ‘We’re at 74 now, up from 70 (out of 100).’

‘Not all of that is due to the fact that we’ve taken self-service checkouts out of many of the stores. But when you look at things like service, into the “promise of things to come” section, we’ve scored brilliantly.’

Murray was also ‘absolutely convinced’ that Booths had seen an uptick in custom due to the coverage surrounding the move, which began in November 2023.

Why has Booths removed self-service tills?

Booths removed self-service checkouts in all but two of their busiest stores in a move they originally hoped would cut costs and speed up the time it took to serve their customers, who were expressing frustration at the self-service tills.

‘At the time, it was very much that our customers were telling us they didn’t really like them’, Murray said.  

In response, instead of installing more self-service machines, Booths chose to increase the number of manned checkouts and invest in staff training.

Murray went on to say: ‘In really simple terms, if you’ve got somebody who is doing a job repetitively for six, seven, eight hours a day, they are going to do it faster and better than if you are just turning up to do it once every three days.

‘So, in terms of speed of service we made sure we invested in having people at the tills to serve customers, and the results are clear.’

While the move was predominantly made with customer experience in mind, a reduction in theft was also described as a ‘happy consequence’ by Murray, as so-called ‘middle-class’ shoplifters incorrectly scanning, weighing, or simply avoiding paying for goods had been a rising problem.

The self-service checkouts will now only be found in their Windermere and Keswick stores, which can see large numbers of tourists during peak season.

If it means we never have to look up our own bakery items again, then, frankly, we’re all for it.

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