Business Walmart joins other big retailers in scaling back on self-checkout - Retailers are ditching and limiting shelf-checkout at some stores, particularly those hit by theft and customer complaints.

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Walmart is joining the ranks of retailers rethinking self-checkout, with the industry giant in the process of removing the self-service lanes at a store in Missouri.

The return to registers staffed by humans at the Walmart store in Shrewsbury, a suburb of St. Louis, comes a month after Target announced only those buying 10 items or less could use the self-checkout lane at its stores, and Dollar General reduced self-checkout at thousands of its locations. The latter removed the option entirely at 300 locations most-impacted by shoplifting.

Retailers are pulling back, but not abandoning self-checkout, according to Neil Saunders, managing director, retail, at GlobalData. "They are trying to see how does this play a role in the future, but it's not going to be the same thing they've done for decades, where it's a free-for-all, and anyone could use it," he told CBS MoneyWatch. There is a lot more caution."

Walmart cited customer feedback as among the factors in its decision to remove the self-checkout kiosks at its store in Shrewsbury.

"As part of our announced plans for additional investments and improvements to stores across the country, we're converting the self-checkout lanes at our 7437 Watson Road store in Shrewsbury, MO., to traditional checkout lanes," a Walmart spokesperson emailed CBS MoneyWatch. "We believe the change will improve the in-store shopping experience and give our associates the chance to provide more personalized and efficient service."

Self-checkout increased in popularity among retailers and customers during the pandemic, allowing shoppers to limit their contact with others and helping to relieve a labor shortage that made staffing registers more difficult.

Still, as the pandemic wound down, many shoppers returned to their former habits, and the appeal of self-checkout lost some of its allure.

"It's a very love-hate technology. A lot of customers see it as a deterioration of the service, and they have to do more of the work. So it's not good for driving customer loyalty, " Saunders noted.

Still, rising theft — part of what retailers call "shrink" — is the primary reason self-checkout is being ditched in some stores and restricted in others, according to Saunders.

"Self-checkout is an area of the store people can steal things," said the analyst, who noted that shoppers also make genuine mistakes, such as not scanning items properly. "Retailers are very actively trying to reduce it, or in Target's case put more restrictions around self-checkout to try to reduce the losses they incur from it."

Costco in November added more staff in self-checkout areas after finding that non-members were sneaking in to use membership cards that didn't belong to them at self-checkout. Costco said shrink had increased in 2023 "in part we believe due to the rollout of self-checkout."

Another approach is adding a receipt-scanning gate at self-checkout areas, which Safeway has done at multiple locations in California, in addition to shutting down self-checkout entirely in some stores.




Remember what they took away from you.
 
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Thankfully this is unlikely to hit where I live soon, as retail theft is not a big issue. Anyway, they'll have to pry my self-checkout privileges from my large, absurdly sensual, well-moisturized hands. I am more efficient than any cashier, and things get bagged like I want. I will not go back to the inefficiency of assisted checkout. I will not stand in a line like a rube. It's wasteful. It's bad for the environment. Global warming. Entirely anti-semitic.

Come at me, try me, let's fricking go.

This guy at the store I go to never seems to be doing anything, always stands around the bottom of the self checkouts to monitor you (AKA not do shit) and he's about 400 pounds. I hate him. I think about him every few days that's how much I hate him.
There was some former military guy doing that job at one place I frequented. He was so vigilant that he would eye everyone and even peer over shoulders to make sure nothing got by him. I hated him so much.
 
Always figured theft would be the downfall of SCOs, just surprised it took this long to reach the point that hiring was the cheaper option.
Probably can't write off the metrics for it any more, my guesstimate is that with the recent issues regarding shipping and product acquisition, they have to actually count their pennies closely. Lot of segments of the industry aren't making feasible amounts to be able to paper it over.
 
"I don't work for Walmart! It's not fair I gotta scan and bag and not have a wagie do it for me!"

Yeah, labor is still the main controllable expense at store level. Totes looking forward to going back to waiting in lines at the few open registers for 25 minutes to buy a few things when it's Family Grocery Shopping Day.
 
As someone in the trenches so to speak, I can confirm this is happening. And it's super annoying. My place of employment doesn't want us to use Self Checkout to cut down on its use metrics. Yeah, I'm not going to wait behind someone with a full cart with my one item for lunch. And of course, they don't have enough manpower up front(whether due to lack of payroll or lack of people applying for that sector I don't know) so when things get busy, they call for help, acting like that doesn't have knock back effects on stocking the floor.
 
At the grocery stores I frequent this is built into the design. The scale that the bags sit on is so small only a couple fit, so you cant really take an full sized cart through. That doesnt stop retards, but it gives leeway for someone like me that uses the small cuck cart.

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I don't care what other people think, I love the cuck cart. It's so maneuverable.
 
I like the idea of self-checkout as it lets me get out of the store faster as the little more effort needed to scan shit myself is a non-problem for me, but of course in practice that's rarely the case because almost always every single self-checkout machine is currently occupied by double digit IQs who are checking out at the speed of an elderly person with Alzheimers trying to figure out how to use Facebook for the twentieth time.

My local supermarket is the worst offender where they've cut down from having 5 regular lanes to only 2 regular lanes and 6 self-checkout machines, and more often than not there's only one lady working the traditional lane WHILE ALSO, AT THE SAME TIME maintaining the self-checkout machines - and of course every other person always runs into some problem that needs the worker to come up to the machine and clear things up.
 
It is exactly the nigger issue that people are stealing with self-checkout.
babying on the issue that yes, leftists & lawsuits said they are allowed to be violent thieves.($500 thing is gay)
self-checkout I can agree with the issue of free labor & moving toward the warehouse.
warehouse is a terrible idea due to the quality & care of the product.
 
And of course, they don't have enough manpower up front(whether due to lack of payroll or lack of people applying for that sector I don't know) so when things get busy, they call for help, acting like that doesn't have knock back effects on stocking the floor.
Lack of people most likely, minor power level: locally the pool of applicants are rehires, multiple time ones, new blood is extremely thin, and often times cycles out before you learn their names.
 
Look, as long as "pulling back" means only getting rid of card-only lanes and limiting the number of items you can take through self-checkout, I'm all for it.
Before self checkout, the stores I went to usually had a 12 or less "fast" lane. Unfortunately, it was always occupied by the smoothest brained mouth breathers you have ever encountered, who would take minutes to figure out how to count out their coin pouch to buy a chocolate bar. I'll never want to go back.

I am more efficient than any cashier, and things get bagged like I want.
This is the biggest factor for me. I walk for my groceries and use a huge surplus bag for it all. Order of packing is very important to not ruin anything, but I've seen dumbasses at the checkout put canned goods atop the eggs, paper meat wrappings right over the veg, chips in the bag first, "Oh I though you'd just carry that case of cans" dumbfuckery all over. Meanwhile, I can pack it like a TARDIS in a quarter of the time, and everything gets home perfectly. The cashier just slows me down by scanning things out of order on the belt so I have to wait for them to stop picking and choosing so I can put the next shit in.

Of course, dumb fucks gotta ruin another option in life.
 
It's because you have hordes of people that learned that they could easily steal shit if they just went to the self-checkout lane.
They also don't bother review when the self check out system does flag a theft, iirc Walmart lost s lawsuit about filing a report against someone for a theft that didn't actually happen after they checked the associated footage that their automated system reported as a theft.
 
I was in a Walmart recently and noticed that they implemented this not by actually increasing the number of staff monitoring the self checkouts, and there were still zero regular ones open, they just allow the sole pajeet teenager they have working to only open 3 out of 20 self checkouts at one time while a massive line builds up. If they want my "customer feedback", every time I'm leaving the place my only thought is "wow, Walmart is for niggers."
 
"I don't work for Walmart! It's not fair I gotta scan and bag and not have a wagie do it for me!"

Yeah, labor is still the main controllable expense at store level. Totes looking forward to going back to waiting in lines at the few open registers for 25 minutes to buy a few things when it's Family Grocery Shopping Day.
Doesn't happen at Woodman's--at lest, not the one I go to.

And yeah, I DO NOT work for (insert store here). Not everyone is enamored of self-checkouts. I've never said a thing against those who like them, but I'm damn sick of the braying loudmouth jackasses going

EEEEYAWWW!! EEEYAWW!! Dem peepo who no liek self checkouts STOOPID!

NAWT liek me SMRT who don' liek stand in line for TOOOO checkouts, EEEYAWW!

Like self checkout? Great. Use them.
Don't like self checkout and want a cashier? You have the right to demand this service you pay for regardless.

This isn't a pissing contest and self checkout users aren't "better evolved" because of it. Look at St. Louis Schnucks.
 
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