Originally Posted by
AviationMoose
Scanning your card will earn you the points from any saved offers, and you can do that either at the check-out or on one of the handheld devices.
The 'plus' of using the handhelds is that in addition to offers for points, you can get 'Nectar prices' which are reduced prices on 6-10 items per week, separate to your Nectar points offers. But you don't get those if you just go to a checkout, even if you scan your card at the end; you have to tally up on the handheld device.
That's true for the personalised My Nectar Prices. Nectar Prices which are shown on the shelf-edge labels are available to everyone, and can be obtained at checkouts normally by scanning a card.
For completeness, you can also use the Sainsbury's SmartShop app (which is separate to the grocery shopping app, the Nectar app, and the chop chop express delivery app) to scan as you shop and get My Nectar Prices. Confused yet?