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Tesco's self-service checkout machines are about to get much less trying.

Thanks to feedback from customers,Tesco is implementing changes to the vocals of its checkout robots in a bid to encourage people to join the self-service line, rather than queue for the one human-operated till.


It is news that any Tesco customer who has ever heard the dreaded words "unexpected item in bagging area" -- which seems to precede the checkouts going into internal meltdown until a human appears to soothe it with a swipe card and a magic code -- will be thrilled to hear.

Unbelievably, Tesco's self-service checkouts have now been around since 2003 and there are 12,000 of the blighters now stationed around the country. Tesco confesses that many customers have described the voice of its checkout "assistant" as "shouty" and "irritating". "Customers really like the convenience of our self-service checkouts, especially when they’re just popping into store to pick up lunch or a few items after work. But for some, the voice leaves them a bit frustrated," said Jame Dewen, self service checkout operations manager at Tesco. "It's listened to by millions of customers every week, so we've acted on customer and colleague feedback and worked hard to get the new voice right to improve the shopping trip."

The new voice uses what Tesco is calling "softer phrases". For example: "Unexpected item in bagging area. Remove this item before continuing," has been replaced by: "This can now be placed in your bag." "Clubcard accepted," is now: "All of your points add up." "Please take your change. Notes are dispensed below the scanner," has become: "Please don't forget your change -- especially notes." "Please take your items," is now: "Thank you for shopping at Tesco."

Interestingly the "shouty" and "irritating" voice that has been replaced belonged to a woman, whereas the new voice is male. Tesco doesn't want you to read too much into this however -- apparently it wasn't a conscious decision to replace the female voice with a male voice. "The gender of the voice happens to be male, but was not our main consideration. We’ve listened to customer feedback and opted for a friendlier, softer voice who most importantly is programmed to say fewer phrases."

The new voice has already been implemented in Hatfield, Peterborough, Edinburgh and Kensington and will be in all Tesco stores by the end of October.