Sir, There have been some misleading newspaper reports suggesting self-checkouts have caused the increases in the queue times highlighted in The Grocer's research.

As you will be aware, self-checkouts were not actually looked at in The Grocer's research.

The facts are that compact self-checkouts help reduce queuing by doubling the number of till points. They also help reduce queues by up to 40%, particularly at peak times. As one member of staff can look after six self-checkouts, retailers can free up staff to help the one in 10 customers who leave without buying something they intended to because of out-of-stocks or difficulties in locating products.

John Curnow, NCR