Self Service At Tesco With Windows Kiosks

A while back the self service checkouts at Tesco (the largest grocery store in the UK) hit the headlines after they got hit with a virus. They had to shut them down in some stores until it was cleaned. This brought to my attention something I'd never wondered before; what is it running? It is of course a Windows kiosk. This alone has made me decide only to ever pay in cash when I use them, I do not trust any Windows PC with card details. At least cash can be physically verified if there's an issue, and the damage (for me at least) can't spread. Security is not the purpose of this post, but the design of the user experience is.

The whole point of a self service checkout is that customers can buy their goods without needing a paid member of staff dealing with them unless there's a problem to solve. This means more profit for the company. This means the design has to be as hands off as possible with built in safeguards to prevent fraud etc.

There is a sensible system using weight. The database knows exactly how much each item should weigh so it expects the scanned item weight to be added to the bag side of the belt. Anything that does not get added, it'll tell you pretty quick. This prevents people adding stuff without scanning it, either accidentally or deliberately. There's also a member of staff floating about the self service checkouts partly to deal with technical issues, or explaining stuff to people and partly to keep an eye for shoplifters. With an intuitive, working system their need for intervention would be vastly minimized but still required.

Like any automated system it takes a little time to get used to, but it's not all that bad, when it works. It does seem rather buggy at times which seems true to form for Microsoft. Other times it works well enough. There is one design flaw I've spotted however.

I take my own bags shopping, partly because I already have 1,000's of plastic bags I use as rubbish bags and I'll have plenty to last years, and partly to do my bit to help the environment. Every little helps as they like to say. As it works by weight, this causes a problem. I place my bags on the belt so I can scan my goods and pack them directly into my own bags, but the software doesn't like that. It detects the weight of my bags and refuses to go any further until an "unexpected items on belt" error is dealt with by a member of staff.

Sometimes it gives me the error message before I even press start, sometimes it doesn't, leaving me to wonder if it's had a common sense update since the last time I used it, only to find when I do press start, that it's the same old hassle. No problem I hear you say, you simply zero the scales before pressing "start" to start your session? You'd think so huh? Customers can't do that, you need to call a member of staff to do that which often goes along the lines of:

Me: "Excuse me, could you please zero the belt so I can start scanning my shopping?"

Staff: "Just press start"

Me: "It'll give me an error message telling me there's unexpected items on the belt" while pointing out my rather obvious bags.

Staff :"No, just press start" now pressing the start button.

Kiosk voice sample: "Unexpected items on belt"

Staff: "Oh" now entering an authorization code to zero it.

Since I know exactly what's going to happen when I press start, it can be understandably baffling for the member of staff to look at the screen and wonder what I'm asking them since all appears ready to go. It is however annoying to go through the same routine every time, when a simple update could solve all the problems. Well, it can't solve the fact that it's still Windows underneath but it can at least solve the scales zeroing problem.

So my question is this. Is it possible that you could set it so that when you press start it takes the weight already on the belt as it's zero so the staff don't have to get involved every time for a minor function? It's not rocket science. The hardware already has weight sensors built in, the software already uses those sensors for other functions. The staff are already watching in case people try to slip stuff from their basket or trolley into their bag before placing it on the belt, and the current electronic system does not protect against that either.

To put the blame at Windows is probably unfair, as it's really the fault of whoever designed the kiosk software they use as well as the buyers from Tesco in paying for flawed software. I have no idea who that is, it could be Microsoft for all I know.

Since Tesco, like all corporations think in terms of ROI (Return On Investment) rather than anything like addressing the customers needs, think about this. Time is money. How many people are delayed by useless stuff like this? How many more people could you put through your checkouts if this roadblock was removed with a simple update to the software? How much money does that represent? How much more money could this make for Tesco at busy times like Christmas where the checkouts are mobbed?

If you're in a position at Tesco to address this, please do so. If you're a Tesco shareholder, addressing this is in your interests. If you're a Tesco customer it's also in your interests. I know, using stuff like ROI is a low blow to get a pet peave fixed, but hey, I'm not just doing this for me, I'm doing it for everyone who uses self service checkouts. I've never used self service checkouts in other stores, they may also have the same insanity in their designs too. If so, the same advice applies to them too.