Welcome to the self-service machine

As shops, libraries and cinemas install more and more self-service machines, Daniel Wainwright finds out just how possible it is to not have to speak to a single human being:

I'll be honest. Sometimes I wish the world would just go away and leave me on my own for a bit.

I'm a very sociable person and I love talking to people. I have to be in my job. But after a week being cheery and mild mannered the last thing I want is to be in a queue for the supermarket checkout.

So when some of the giants of the retail trade started bringing in self-service checkouts over the past decade I was over the moon.

I can stick my iPod on and play the themes from all the James Bond movies, pretending that I'm buying fabric softener for MI6, without having to take my ear phones out when it comes to paying.

At Sainsbury's, it took me less than a minute to get through the self-service scanner.

One member of staff looks after four tills at once – talk about multi-tasking.

If you're buying alcohol or you've put an 'unexpected item' in the bagging area, he comes over and keys in a little code and you're off again, so it's not entirely a solitary experience.

But it's not just the supermarkets that are getting in on the self-service game.

Many local libraries are now also equipped with particularly swish machines which can scan your membership card and tell you how many books you can borrow.

I dropped my copy of Jeffrey Deaver's Bond novel Carte Blanche (yes, I have a bit of a 007 fixation) into the slot, and that was it. All done in about 30 seconds. If you have to pay a fine, there's a slot for cash. If you're returning the book, it drops into a little box.

On the day I went there staff had retrieved 30 books from the box that morning to put back on the shelves.

I must admit, I did suddenly get a little pang of nostalgia. As a lad I'd go to the library and watch fascinated as someone with an old-fashioned ink stamp would put the date my books were due back on a piece of paper at the front of the book.

The inside cover would be stained with the smears of ink where people had closed the book too quickly.

But this is the 21st century. You can even borrow something that does not physically exist. A digital copy on an e-book goes to your e-reader and then gets deleted.

If you need to pay in a cheque at the bank you don't have to queue and wait to speak to someone. You can just scan it into the machine.

Buying petrol is easy too. At supermarkets across Shropshire, there is no need to venture more than a few steps from your car. Just put your card into the slot, fill up, and go.

There's no more queuing at the cinema, either, where the likes of Odeon Telford and Cineworld Shrewsbury have introduced automated ticket machines. And it is the same at the train station, where in most cases there is now a 'Fast Ticket' service.

Recently I even ordered a pizza from Dominos on my iPad. I chose what I wanted, paid with my credit card then tracked its progress until it was dispatched. All I had to say to the delivery man was 'thank you'.

Like it or not, technology has changed forever the way we do business. But Sainsbury's says it has no plans to convert its stores entirely to self service, insisting traditional checkouts 'are very much part of the future too'.

A spokesman says: "We know that our customers like choice and to vary their shopping habits depending on the amount of time they have and what they're buying. The introduction of self-scan has not led to anyone losing their jobs, as people are redeployed to other areas of the store."

Self-scan is a hot topic in libraries, where campaigners fear more self-scan machines will lead to job losses among librarians, who can help you find what you are looking for.

Shropshire library service already offers a selection of e-books which can be downloaded and used without any time limits; these are available in a variety of formats, and cover authors associated with Shropshire and the West Midlands, or that feature descriptions of the area. Again, no human interaction required.

Telford & Wrekin's libraries offer an online reference service giving access to a host of online information. As they say: "It's like having a library in your living room."

Why customers still like the personal touch

Self-scan machines may be the future, but former Beatties worker Mary Boddy urges businesses to remember that customers like the personal touch.

The 92-year-old spent 34 years working for the department store where she was the catering manager until her retirement in 1980.

The grandmother-of-two, says: "These new self service machines are very confusing to me.

"I'm sure they're very good for youngsters with their plastic cards but they're not for me and I don't use them.

"I suppose I'm old fashioned. I get my money out of the bank and I settle my bills that way. That's how I've always done things and how I always will.

"It's good that the supermarkets still have people on the checkouts and I hope it stays that way because the customers will want that.

"One of the reasons that Mr Beattie was so successful in his day was that he treated everyone as an important customer. He would welcome people into the store and he treated the staff as family.

"We would always make sure people were looked after and I think shops should always remember to do that."