Was in Waitrose yesterday, queueing for the self-service checkouts,
when the power went off - lights (most) and all the chiller/freezer
cabinets all stopped. Only for a few seconds, but long enough to
reboot anything which wasn't on a UPS, so it was interesting to see
what was on a UPS.

All the attendant tills and the self-service checkouts carried on
without noticing. The self scan checkouts (where you carry a hand
scanner around the store with you, and just download it into a
dedicated till at the end) all died and people had to wait for
them to reboot.

Initially I though that a bit strange, but actually it made sense.
The tills where you take time to scan each item through were
obviously on a UPS, so staff didn't have to unpack the scanned
goods and start again. The self scan checkouts which are a single
operation to upload all your goods were not on a UPS, but in this
case you still don't need to unpack the shopping, as it's all held
in the battery powered hand scanner.

Anyway, interested me that someone designing the system had given
it this much thought.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
Was in Waitrose yesterday, queueing for the self-service checkouts,
when the power went off - lights (most) and all the chiller/freezer
cabinets all stopped. Only for a few seconds, but long enough to
reboot anything which wasn't on a UPS, so it was interesting to see
what was on a UPS.

All the attendant tills and the self-service checkouts carried on
without noticing. The self scan checkouts (where you carry a hand
scanner around the store with you, and just download it into a
dedicated till at the end)

What check is there that you scanned everything ?

all died and people had to wait for
them to reboot.

Initially I though that a bit strange, but actually it made sense.
The tills where you take time to scan each item through were
obviously on a UPS, so staff didn't have to unpack the scanned
goods and start again. The self scan checkouts which are a single
operation to upload all your goods were not on a UPS, but in this
case you still don't need to unpack the shopping, as it's all held
in the battery powered hand scanner.

Anyway, interested me that someone designing the system had given
it this much thought.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On Sun, 11 Oct 2015 15:38:43 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

Was in Waitrose yesterday, queueing for the self-service checkouts,
when the power went off - lights (most) and all the chiller/freezer
cabinets all stopped. Only for a few seconds, but long enough to
reboot anything which wasn't on a UPS, so it was interesting to see
what was on a UPS.

All the attendant tills and the self-service checkouts carried on
without noticing. The self scan checkouts (where you carry a hand
scanner around the store with you, and just download it into a
dedicated till at the end) all died and people had to wait for
them to reboot.

Initially I though that a bit strange, but actually it made sense.
The tills where you take time to scan each item through were
obviously on a UPS, so staff didn't have to unpack the scanned
goods and start again. The self scan checkouts which are a single
operation to upload all your goods were not on a UPS, but in this
case you still don't need to unpack the shopping, as it's all held
in the battery powered hand scanner.

Anyway, interested me that someone designing the system had given
it this much thought.

UPSs are useful devices. We had a powercut a few days ago and I could
shut down *this* PC gracefully with ample time to spare (about 8
minutes on battery - I needed 30 seconds). But the other PC running
Windows 7 *doesn't* have a UPS and I had to run chkdsk on two hard
drives later, finding several correctable errors.

MM

On 11/10/2015 20:41, MM wrote:
On Sun, 11 Oct 2015 15:38:43 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

Was in Waitrose yesterday, queueing for the self-service checkouts,
when the power went off - lights (most) and all the chiller/freezer
cabinets all stopped. Only for a few seconds, but long enough to
reboot anything which wasn't on a UPS, so it was interesting to see
what was on a UPS.

All the attendant tills and the self-service checkouts carried on
without noticing. The self scan checkouts (where you carry a hand
scanner around the store with you, and just download it into a
dedicated till at the end) all died and people had to wait for
them to reboot.

Initially I though that a bit strange, but actually it made sense.
The tills where you take time to scan each item through were
obviously on a UPS, so staff didn't have to unpack the scanned
goods and start again. The self scan checkouts which are a single
operation to upload all your goods were not on a UPS, but in this
case you still don't need to unpack the shopping, as it's all held
in the battery powered hand scanner.

Anyway, interested me that someone designing the system had given
it this much thought.

UPSs are useful devices. We had a powercut a few days ago and I could
shut down *this* PC gracefully with ample time to spare (about 8
minutes on battery - I needed 30 seconds). But the other PC running
Windows 7 *doesn't* have a UPS and I had to run chkdsk on two hard
drives later, finding several correctable errors.

MM

One of the nicest things about laptops is the built-in UPS.

--
Rod

On 11/10/2015 20:51, polygonum wrote:
On 11/10/2015 20:41, MM wrote:
On Sun, 11 Oct 2015 15:38:43 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

Was in Waitrose yesterday, queueing for the self-service checkouts,
when the power went off - lights (most) and all the chiller/freezer
cabinets all stopped. Only for a few seconds, but long enough to
reboot anything which wasn't on a UPS, so it was interesting to see
what was on a UPS.

All the attendant tills and the self-service checkouts carried on
without noticing. The self scan checkouts (where you carry a hand
scanner around the store with you, and just download it into a
dedicated till at the end) all died and people had to wait for
them to reboot.

Initially I though that a bit strange, but actually it made sense.
The tills where you take time to scan each item through were
obviously on a UPS, so staff didn't have to unpack the scanned
goods and start again. The self scan checkouts which are a single
operation to upload all your goods were not on a UPS, but in this
case you still don't need to unpack the shopping, as it's all held
in the battery powered hand scanner.

Anyway, interested me that someone designing the system had given
it this much thought.

UPSs are useful devices. We had a powercut a few days ago and I could
shut down *this* PC gracefully with ample time to spare (about 8
minutes on battery - I needed 30 seconds). But the other PC running
Windows 7 *doesn't* have a UPS and I had to run chkdsk on two hard
drives later, finding several correctable errors.

MM

One of the nicest things about laptops is the built-in UPS.

Took the words out of my mouth.

In message , Hanny Z
writes


"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
Was in Waitrose yesterday, queueing for the self-service checkouts,
when the power went off - lights (most) and all the chiller/freezer
cabinets all stopped. Only for a few seconds, but long enough to
reboot anything which wasn't on a UPS, so it was interesting to see
what was on a UPS.

All the attendant tills and the self-service checkouts carried on
without noticing. The self scan checkouts (where you carry a hand
scanner around the store with you, and just download it into a
dedicated till at the end)

What check is there that you scanned everything ?

A lot of it is trust I guess.

Tesco sometimes ask you to scan the stuff through as normal as well as a
check/deterrent I guess
--
Chris French

On Sunday, 11 October 2015 21:22:31 UTC+1, Chris French wrote:


What check is there that you scanned everything ?

A lot of it is trust I guess.

Tesco sometimes ask you to scan the stuff through as normal as well as a
check/deterrent I guess
--

I got pulled a week last Saturday in Waitrose. I have been using the self scan for some time (probably 10 visits). When I went to the till to check the shopping in and pay, a message came up on the screen to say I would be having a check.
Basically they had to re-scan all my shopping. The assistant couldn't tell me if what she had scanned matched what I had (I couldn't remember exactly how much the shopping was). She told me that if there was a discrepancy then next time I used the service I would have to have it checked again and only when there was no discrepancy would I be able to check out myself again (which I was able to do the following week so I must have been OK).
When I used to shop at Tesco I would randomly get picked and they just used to scan 7 items to check if you were being honest. If you weren't would be easy to bury the non scanned items at the bottom of the shopping as the assistants would not normally dig around to find items.
When using the self pay checkouts in Ikea (Milton Keynes) after they first opened I asked them why they were now being supervised after customers were initially being left to do it themselves, the assistant told me they had had £15k of goods stolen in the first week of unsupervised operation.

Once burned Twice Shy as a wellknown song proclaimed , I'd imagine.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
Remember, if you don't like where I post
or what I say, you don't have to
read my posts! :-)
"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
...
Was in Waitrose yesterday, queueing for the self-service checkouts,
when the power went off - lights (most) and all the chiller/freezer
cabinets all stopped. Only for a few seconds, but long enough to
reboot anything which wasn't on a UPS, so it was interesting to see
what was on a UPS.

All the attendant tills and the self-service checkouts carried on
without noticing. The self scan checkouts (where you carry a hand
scanner around the store with you, and just download it into a
dedicated till at the end) all died and people had to wait for
them to reboot.

Initially I though that a bit strange, but actually it made sense.
The tills where you take time to scan each item through were
obviously on a UPS, so staff didn't have to unpack the scanned
goods and start again. The self scan checkouts which are a single
operation to upload all your goods were not on a UPS, but in this
case you still don't need to unpack the shopping, as it's all held
in the battery powered hand scanner.

Anyway, interested me that someone designing the system had given
it this much thought.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 11/10/2015 16:38, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Was in Waitrose yesterday, queueing for the self-service checkouts,
when the power went off - lights (most) and all the chiller/freezer
cabinets all stopped. Only for a few seconds, but long enough to
reboot anything which wasn't on a UPS, so it was interesting to see
what was on a UPS.

All the attendant tills and the self-service checkouts carried on
without noticing. The self scan checkouts (where you carry a hand
scanner around the store with you, and just download it into a
dedicated till at the end) all died and people had to wait for
them to reboot.

Initially I though that a bit strange, but actually it made sense.
The tills where you take time to scan each item through were
obviously on a UPS, so staff didn't have to unpack the scanned
goods and start again. The self scan checkouts which are a single
operation to upload all your goods were not on a UPS, but in this
case you still don't need to unpack the shopping, as it's all held
in the battery powered hand scanner.

Anyway, interested me that someone designing the system had given
it this much thought.

Probably an accountant involved in keeping installation costs down.

--
Colin Bignell