Self-serve checkout launched

Shopping will be weighed to cut the risk of theft

A supermarket check-out is being launched which will let shoppers scan, pack and pay for their own shopping - without a cashier.

The new system even allows customers to request cash-back when they pay by debit card.

The first of the check-outs have been installed at the Sainsbury's store in Hazel Grove, Stockport, Greater Manchester, and will be followed by a wider trial in six more branches.

The chain says if the concept is a success they will roll it out across the country from later this year.

Customers fill up their basket or trolley and go to one of the special check-outs which has an interactive touch screen.

They have to pass the barcode on the product over a scanner and then place it into a carrier bag on a set of scales.

'Orderly queue'

Every item in store has had its exact weight entered into a computer, allowing the check-out to tell exactly what has gone into the bag and cutting down any risk of theft.

Customers can either pay with cash by inserting a note or debit or credit card.

Malcolm Davies, service manager at Sainsbury's, said: "As a nation, we are famous for our talent of the orderly queue, with the average person in Britain spending two hours in queues every week, even with Internet banking and shopping.

"However, I think many of our customers would happily break the habit for the added convenience of self-service."

The self-serve checkouts are already in use at the Sainsbury's-owned Shaw's chain of supermarkets in the United States where they process more than £1bn transactions a year.