Paying for things in the co-op by us (park road Liverpool) was an experience, your purchases were listed on a piece of paper which was then put inside a sort of tin can which was attached to a pulley system, the shop assistant then pulled the string until the tin reached the cashiers office, there the value of the purchases was added up and the paper returned back to she shop assistant by the same pulley system (hope your following this, we're not there yet) you then handed over your money, which the shop assistant put into the tin, this was sent back to the cash office where your change was placed into the tin and sent back to the shop assistant. PHEW !
You almost had to write off a whole morning just to buy a quarter of mantuna tea!
In later years the co-op went all posh and replaced the pulleys and string with a space age vacuum system.