Elderly residents in Bridgwater, UK, are boycotting self-checkouts, seeking human interaction and job security.
Self-checkouts quickly became common in many stores. Some people in Britain are unhappy, pushing back against the machines, one long queue at a time.
Marks & Spencer in Bridgwater illustrates this resistance. One local, Antony James, prefers waiting for a real person and a chat, as he told the Daily Telegraph. His view reflects feelings in Bridgwater, where the Senior Citizens’ Forum leads a protest against reliance on automated checkouts.
Glen Burrows, who leads the forum’s boycott, noted that tills might be someone’s only chat. She said staff cheer when she uses a till. Burrows started this in January to highlight job security after seeing no staff at Asda tills.
The group, with twenty members aged 70 to 90, plans to distribute leaflets to raise awareness. They say self-checkouts cost jobs. Bridgwater, with its industrial history, lost jobs when British Cellophane closed.
Bridgwater has Asda, Sainsbury’s, and M&S, where self-checkout tech is growing. For many, it’s about community, not just ease of use.
Ken Jones, co-chair of the campaign, values human contact. He lost his wife three years ago and says, “Isolation is a disease.” Talking to someone makes him feel human. Saying “hello” makes you feel better; money can’t buy that feeling.
Dave Chapple shares these concerns, noting staff tills are becoming rare. He observes many empty tills in supermarkets, often with only one or two staff.
Campaigners argue that fewer staff mean fewer jobs, a significant concern given retail job losses in 2024, a big increase from the year before. Bridgwater also has high unemployment, with census data showing many jobless residents, including high youth unemployment.
Young people are also against automation, with teenagers joining the movement to fight the changes. Ajay Barrow has seen job losses firsthand, as friends lost jobs due to self-checkouts, and Becky Mathews thinks young people lose work skills, missing chances for good experience.
Some argue self-checkouts are efficient, while others believe they lack real service.
Kris Hamer from the British Retail Consortium said changes are driven by consumer needs, with people wanting speed and ease. Retailers offer both types of checkout, aiming to provide great customer service.
Some supermarkets are reacting. Asda plans to add more staff to balance customer service. Morrisons admitted to using too many. Booths even removed self-checkouts entirely, preferring staffed tills.
Resistance isn’t exclusive to the UK. US laws might mandate staffed tills, and Walmart and others are limiting self-checkouts.