I WAS interested to read that some supermarkets have gone to as much as 90 per cent self-service checkouts, saving the expense of employing staff who would have manned those conventional checkouts.

I also read recently that, owing to the shoplifting epidemic - fuelled to some extent by self-service checkouts - shops are having to put their wares behind locked cabinets, therefore needing more staff to open these cabinets.

To me, it is a little bit more than ironic that shoplifters have created jobs for girls who once worked the tills.

They say what goes around comes around, a saying that seems very apt at this turn of events.

Paddy Maxwell

Lordshill