Certainly my understanding, and the intent of my comments so far too. I
think it's important (generally) not to blame ticket machines for not
selling something that ticket offices don't sell...

It's a bit of a red herring, as on this occasion I needed a London
Terminals out and a Travelcard single back, it would have had to be
the TO. However, it is another reason for disbeliving SWT's position
that they don't have to open the ticket office because you can buy all
the tickets from the machines. Which is self evidently untrue.

From some time this month you are going to be able to order on line
and collect from the machine, so hopefully that will cut down the lag
in getting the tickets (will you be able to log on, buy tickets, and
collect them 10 minutes later? Somehow I doubt it)

However in this case, whilst checking to find a station near Fleet, such as
Basingstoke, that might have 'open tickets', when comparing the price from
Fleet I now find the NR OJP shows Fleet (36 miles) to Waterloo has:
Super Off-Peak Day Return - £13.20
Off-Peak Day Return - £16.20
Off Peak Return - £24.20
The latter is the same price as the Anytime Day Return.
Has Philip just not found the ticket on the machine after all, or not
realised that the 'Off-Peak Return' is valid for a month?

I haven't found it on the machine, I do plan to spend some time
checking it out. When buying "period returns" from the TO I am fairly
sure I have been sold two singles so I didn't realise it existed.
However I have checked on NRE for going out today and back tomorrow,
and as you say, an Off Peak Return to Waterloo is priced at £24.20
which is cheaper than two singles £25.40).

As I've implied earlier, the Off-Peak Return may not initially appear if not
many are sold, the top screen on most ticket machines only shows the most
popular tickets bought at a particular location.

Tks, I will check