Martin Smith wrote
On 17/09/2012 15:17, wrote:

Or use another supermarket. It seems only to be Sainsbury's that
have
perpetual "unexpected item in bagging area" messages.

No, I have heard that little message quite frequently in our local
Tesco
Metro.

That message is triggered by a lot of things.

The scanner can bleep without actually registering and so "unexpected
item in bagging area".

In Tesco it's been known to take seconds to make up its silly mind and
then bleeps so it may be the same response time problem with the bleep
set to different stages.

--
Mike D

Tim Roll-Pickering wrote

Well if you have a rucksack you have to do that or else call the
helper
for everyother item as it does not register as the sensor does not
really hold a rucksack.

At all of Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons I've regularly placed my own

backpack in the bagging area. Once the supervisor flicks a switch
it's
perfectly okay to load up the bag directly without having to verify
every
single item. Maybe some other supermarkets use less flexible
equipment?

I tried it several times with a ordinary reusable bag but never got it
to work and gave up - there is no indication that supervisory action is
needed.

Same with "Press to begin or swipe card" - do you have to press AND
swipe ?

--
Mike D

In article , () wrote:

On 17/09/2012 09:27, Neil Williams wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:

At the supermarket self-checkout yesterday I observed someone paying in
coins, one at a time, looking at the display in between each one to see
how much more was required. She was putting in over a fiver in small
coins! Even if you over-pay, they return the balance to you as change.

More modern ones have a hopper you can just pour coins in. It's how I
get rid of my change jar contents these days - do a big shop at Tesco,
lob them all in, then pay the balance by credit card.

I noticed that the self-serve tills don't dispense 50-pence coins at
supermarkets. Is that because of their size and their shape?

Size maybe but the shape is constant diameter so shouldn't cause a problem
with mechanisms.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article

, (Neil Williams) wrote:

wrote:

My local main Tesco's seems less problematic. Sainsbury's is at
least once every time.

I suspect differences in how much tolerance there is on the scales (they
work by weighing the goods to ensure you don't forget / sneak something
in).

I hang my bags on the prongs for the store's plastic bags.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In message , at 21:58:02 on Mon, 17
Sep 2012, " remarked:
The first question Tesco ask you is "Have you brought your own bag", at
which point you can put it on the bagging area and it re-calibrates the
weighing scales.

The machines at my local Sainsbury's don't seem to get on with rucksacks
whenever I've tried that. They can cope with normal cloth shopping bags
of the sort I seem to acquire at conferences.

Perhaps because a rucksack might not properly distribute the weight
when placed on the sensor, whereas it's easier with a cloth shopping
bag?

It's possible it's an anti-theft measure, to make sure you don't put
your own bag on the scales with some [un-paid for] items *already* in
it. I might try that next time I'm in Tesco (go in with my own bag but
also a brick or some other item I could not have bought in the store).
--
Roland Perry

wrote:

I hang my bags on the prongs for the store's plastic bags.

If you are having issues that may be why - the prongs are not weighed. So
when you put an item in, it registers weight of item plus weight of some of
your bag (which is heavier than one of theirs) and it gets confused.

You're better putting the full weight of your bag onto the base and having
the assistant correct so it balances.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK. Put first name before the at to reply.

wrote in message
...
On 16/09/2012 23:56, Neil Williams wrote:
Ken Wheatley wrote:

I remember when many London buses had a ticket machine inside the
right-hand leaf of the entrance door, so those with the right money
could
bypass the queue for the driver. The really slow ones were the worst at
having a go at 'queue jumpers".

It would to me make sense to have an Oyster pad there. Hamburg is
slightly
similar - driver side leaf for paying cash, other side for getting past
while people pay cash (you don't have to show your ticket). It is
extremely efficient, and as London has disabled access at the rear door
the
centre rail could be reinstated to help "marshall" it.

Neil


I have wondered if they would install automatic fare counters on busses,
rather than having the driver count them.

A passenger would simply the deposit coins into a chute, after which a
ticket would be issued.

The counter would be mounted on the interior of the driver's door and the
receptacle would be where passengers now place their coins when paying for
a single fare.

Exact fare only -- no change, no banknotes. Just think of how much extra
revenue would come in from people overpaying their fares.

Or would it just be too much cost in time, labour and maintenance when so
few people pay for single fares?

Ahh, the American model!

Neil Williams wrote on 18 September
2012 09:17:38 ...
wrote:

I hang my bags on the prongs for the store's plastic bags.

If you are having issues that may be why - the prongs are not weighed. So
when you put an item in, it registers weight of item plus weight of some of
your bag (which is heavier than one of theirs) and it gets confused.

You're better putting the full weight of your bag onto the base and having
the assistant correct so it balances.

Sainsbury's ask you right at the start "Are you using your own bags?",
and if you respond "Yes", it asks you to put your bag in the bagging
area, which then defines the starting weight. Seems to work quite well,
and without the need for an assistant to be involved.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

On Thu, Sep 13, 2012 at 11:13:26AM +0000, d wrote:

Very few people pay by cash because the *******s at TfL racked up the cash
fare to a ridiculous amount compared to paying by Oyster precisely to
discourage people paying that way. Now they have the gall to say , oh , not
many people want to pay by cash so we'll get rid of that service! Talk about
self serving bull****.

Actually it says that people will be able to pay cash on the bus, so
it's actually going to become less inconvenient to pay cash.

--
David Cantrell | Enforcer, South London Linguistic Massive

[OS X] appeals to me as a monk, a user, a compiler-of-apps, a
sometime coder, and an easily amused primate with a penchant
for those that are pretty, colorful, and make nice noises.
-- Dan Birchall, in The Monastery

In article ,
(Richard J.) wrote:

Neil Williams wrote on 18 September
2012 09:17:38 ...
wrote:

I hang my bags on the prongs for the store's plastic bags.

If you are having issues that may be why - the prongs are not weighed.
So when you put an item in, it registers weight of item plus weight of
some of your bag (which is heavier than one of theirs) and it gets
confused.

You're better putting the full weight of your bag onto the base and
having the assistant correct so it balances.

Sainsbury's ask you right at the start "Are you using your own
bags?", and if you respond "Yes", it asks you to put your bag in the
bagging area, which then defines the starting weight. Seems to work
quite well, and without the need for an assistant to be involved.

That's what I do. "Unexpected item in bagging area" every time.

--
Colin Rosenstiel