Mundane News

[deptfordmarmoset]

Boots have removed all the staffed tills in their Poole branch and gone over to self service ( apart from the till at the Pharmacy counter) Wandered in and straight back out again as it was chaotic.

I was in a big Boots a couple of days ago because the lanyard for my glasses had given up the ghost. Their self-service tills don't let you buy Boots Opticians goods. This meant that I had to queue twice - first to find out where they were and second to pay for the damn thing after the self-service till refused to go beep. They only had one lanyard there and I wanted two so I was sent upstairs to the non-Opticians eye-wear (!?!?) section. Which of course meant faffing around at another self-service till. It would have been quicker to buy some rubber bands and make one for myself. Cheaper too.

 

[Reynard]

Had a lovely luncheon of a chunk of Melton Mowbray pork pie, a bagel with lox & a schmear, an apple, a tangerine and two

Spent the afternoon cutting firewood and databasing. Downstairs litter tray now topped up with sawdust.

Anyways, time to feed the cat, and then it will be time to feed me.

 

[tom73]

I feel especially sorry for the elderly and/or lonely. Sometimes chatting to someone on the tills is the only contact with others some people have all day.

They'd be even worse off if keeping all tills made the site uneconomical and closed. They are planning to axe 700 stores this year the 1st handful have already closed or will be shortly.

 

[Mike_P]

Another battle with the self serve at M&S. This time the Simply Food where the gift voucher on the mobile app did scan but only after the attendance of two staff to resolve a non credited sparks 50p voucher. The first one was not authorised to credit so I had to go through the whole thing again with the second. Then, after "paying", the receipt got jammed. Hello to staff member 1 again who then failed to manage to open the paper holder and had to call on another, different, colleague. Crucial thing was there's £7.59 left on the gift card.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Another battle with the self serve at M&S. This time the Simply Food where the gift voucher on the mobile app did scan but only after the attendance of two staff to resolve a non credited sparks 50p voucher. The first one was not authorised to credit so I had to go through the whole thing again with the second. Then, after "paying", the receipt got jammed. Hello to staff member 1 again who then failed to manage to open the paper holder and had to call on another, different, colleague. Crucial thing was there's £7.59 left on the gift card.

The self service tillas should issue a seperate paper token after each transaction, once you have accrued a certain amount then you should qualify to attend the Staff Christmas Do, after all, we've been doing the work that their employees used to do.

 

[classic33]

They'd be even worse off if keeping all tills made the site uneconomical and closed. They are planning to axe 700 stores this year the 1st handful have already closed or will be shortly.

They've been planning on closing a number of stores for years. The chemists are losing money hand over fist.

 

[tom73]

Another battle with the self serve at M&S. This time the Simply Food where the gift voucher on the mobile app did scan but only after the attendance of two staff to resolve a non credited sparks 50p voucher. The first one was not authorised to credit so I had to go through the whole thing again with the second. Then, after "paying", the receipt got jammed. Hello to staff member 1 again who then failed to manage to open the paper holder and had to call on another, different, colleague. Crucial thing was there's £7.59 left on the gift card.

The one in our new/replacment food shop work every time they are brand new so maybe work better than others. If you use sparks card app you get automatic e-receipts. Just wish they'd let it work via apple watch it's 2rd nature just using it to do stuff. The annoying things is it show up in wallet app but it's not useable.

 

[tyred]

I don't understand why anyone would go to Boots anyway. My local, independent pharmacy sells most of what they sell and sell it cheaper.

 

[Mike_P]

The Boots in the local Co-Op is closing, the Co-Op already stocks a lot of chemist stuff so its more of an impact on prescriptions. However the doctors at the local health surgery merged with one in town and most appointments are in town so the use of Boots must have dropped.

The one in our new/replacment food shop work every time they are brand new so maybe work better than others. If you use sparks card app you get automatic e-receipts. Just wish they'd let it work via apple watch it's 2rd nature just using it to do stuff. The annoying things is it show up in wallet app but it's not useable.

Presumably that's if you link your card to the app.

 

[tom73]

They've been planning on closing a number of stores for years. The chemists are losing money hand over fist.

Yes they are, They've now centralised repeat perceptions via branches being done via the online part of business and delivered to stores.. one option the American owners are now looking at is spinning them off all together. They've already tried selling them with no luck. The store closers are now in place just not yet all been published. Pharmacy is a hard business to be in even with dispensing volume you've a 3 month wait for NHS payments.

 

[Gwylan]

I have a clear policy over loyalty cards. No!

Your chain has a loyalty card then you don't get my business.

 

[classic33]

Yes they are, They've now centralised repeat perceptions via branches being done via the online part of business and delivered to stores.. one option the American owners are now looking at is spinning them off all together. They've already tried selling them with no luck. The store closers are now in place just not yet all been published. Pharmacy is a hard business to be in even with dispensing volume you've a 3 month wait for NHS payments.

They still require checking and signing off by a dispensing chemist. Which is what's costing them. That and a few cases where the wrong medications have been handed over.

 

[PeteXXX]

Did Boots go downhill after they finished being a Family company? They were quite philanthropical around Nottingham, i believe.

 

[tom73]

The Boots in the local Co-Op is closing, the Co-Op already stocks a lot of chemist stuff so its more of an impact on prescriptions. However the doctors at the local health surgery merged with one in town and most appointments are in town so the use of Boots must have dropped.

Presumably that's if you link your card to the app.

No it's via the sparks/M&S app no need to link any payment card as long as you scan your sparks card it show up automatically.
If you mean a physical sparks card then maybe so but I've never had one. They also no longer issues replacements

 

[Andy in Germany]

I feel especially sorry for the elderly and/or lonely. Sometimes chatting to someone on the tills is the only contact with others some people have all day.

We get that at work; it can be a bit of a pain, especially at closing time.