The stress of Lidl checkouts
Have you used Lidls’ check out tills before? I’m not talking about the self-checkout ones but the ones manned by staff. So impractical. You pile all your groceries on the conveyor belt to get them scanned by the staff and placed on the other end of the till. These conveyor belts have been designed to hold a lot of items, thus this helps staff to scan things quickly and easily.
Unlike every other supermarket such as Asda, Morrisons, and Waitrose, Lidl has the smallest bagging area to put stuff there. Maybe it is to ensure checkouts are done quickly and efficiently. Although it doesn’t seem at all efficient. These areas typically are an area that is of decent size to fit lots of things, ready to be bagged.
Usually, at Morrisons, there is a relaxed feeling as you take your time packing up your bags. However, as these Lidl ones have been designed to only hold only one or two objects at one time, you are frantically trying to keep up with the staff as they scan all your things. It’s stressful keeping up with them as they seem to rush scan all your things and then sit there and watch you struggle to put everything away in your bags. As they wait and watch you, it is almost like they are forcing you to hurry up and pay so that they can move on to the next customer. The second they are done scanning, they tell you your bill, even though you have a ton of things still to bag and struggling, nonetheless. You feel pressured to stop what you’re doing to pay there and then. But that only slows you down. You try and pack your produce in an orderly manner, making sure the bananas won’t get squished by the potatoes, or the bread not flattened by the cans of soup. But your mind is stressing, and you end up leaving with terribly unorganized bags of food which probably take too much space because it wasn’t packed right.
Don’t get me wrong, the checkout tills are essential in a shop. They are a good design concept, convenient for both customers and staff. However, Lidl could redesign them to be like every other supermarket. I understand that they want to stand out and be different. But having decent-sized tills would be more logical. Maybe they are saving space on the shop floor? Or maybe they are trying to discourage people to buy lots in one shop? Either way, Lidl should rethink the effectiveness of their tills so that their customers don’t feel stressed every time they come to buy their weekly shop.
