SELF-service checkouts are sending supermarket shoppers off their trolleys, data shows.
Many find them too troublesome to use — meaning they make queues longer at the few remaining staffed tills.
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It means service satisfaction levels have dipped by nearly eight per cent to 13.9 out of 20, mystery shopper testing shows.
Kien Tan, senior retail adviser at consultant PwC, said: “Checkout operators are having a tough time because customers are more demanding, more flustered and more p****d off by the wider experience.
“The queues are longer because there’s fewer manned checkouts.”
Self-service tills are often unsuitable for shoppers who want help with packing or need to pay by cash.
Their arrival has also meant supermarket chains are cutting back on staffed checkouts.
But the research by trade mag The Grocer shows their queues are getting longer and slower — at a time shoppers are enjoying super-fast checkouts at budget chains.
Mr Tan said: “Aldi and Lidl are amazing at getting customers through the till fast. So there is a changed expectation of how long it should take.”
