Walmart, Costco and other companies rethink self-checkout, some stores removing them

I like self checkout as an option, almost everywhere.

I DON'T like REQUIRED self checkout.

O green peppers are 99 cents each but red and yellow are 1.29? That's so weird all these peppers I'm buying are green.

Fuck you, I'm the cashier now.

At Costco it's great minus the membership checks. Thanks this was a quick process, now let me stop and take my card out so you can see I'm not stealing deals.

Walmart, fuck you hire more cashier's why am I waiting 10 minutes to checkout at self checkout when you have 50 closed fucking lanes!

I have no sympathy for companies losing money due to theft at self-checkout, it's a cost saving measure that's bitten them in the ass.

They also suck for alcohol, or anything that doesn't have a barcode, as mentioned in the story. I never buy either of those products at self checkout.

Remember kids, if you see someone shoplifting or switching the barcodes at your big-box self-checkout: No you didn't.

No they aren't they are gonna lean in even harder what a dumbass story. One time fixed cost will always win over paying people in perpetuity

unexpected item in the bagging area. place items in the bagging area. unexpected item in the bagging area.

In my experience, self-checkout started with the weight sensors, rather than adding them later. I've noticed some stores have a system now without the weight thing, which probably cuts down on confusing and time-consuming error situations, but it makes it seem chaotic. My parents use them in the most fucked up way - leave everything in the cart, scan stuff, bag it, then put it in the cart, and I'm just WHAT? Aren't they going to accuse you of stealing? Some walmarts aggressively pursue claims of theft from self checkout, like in the case of this lady who was awarded 2.1 million after being accused of stealing, which she said was not true. This article details the story of a lady who said she was arrested after not scanning things by accident, and the article notes "Sixty-two other people were cited and released by police at the same Tucson Walmart between January 2021 and April 2022."

During the civil trial, which lasted about three weeks, the judge criticized Walmart for the “intentional loss” of the security camera footage, according to court records. The judge, James T. Patterson, said that the court would advise the jury that the videotapes “were destroyed by the defendants with the intent” to deprive the plaintiff of the benefit of seeing them “and that the jury therefore is to presume that the content of the missing videos would be adverse” to the defendants.

Walmart also is starting to use 'AI' to detect self checkout theft, which I'm sure will be foolproof and work out great.

And if you're wondering which item causes the most problems, it's milk. O'Herlihy explains, "People find it hard to scan milk ... Sometimes they get frustrated and they just don't scan it."

What?

Anyway, I'm sure they love not paying employees to do this, but it seems like more trouble than it's worth.

At my Walmart the employees don’t stop people from stealing food. They told me as much.

Jokes on them, I shoplift at the staffed checkout too.

Walmarts's self checkout is the only one in my area that doesn't frustrate the hell out of me. I've stopped going to certain other stores simply because I don't like their self checkout systems.

Don’t get it. Sam’s and BJs both have scanning apps on the phone. Most amazing tech ever! Costco… HURRY UP! Also, Sam’s and Bjs don’t check my card because I WOULDNT BE ABLE TO BUY ANYTHING WITHOUT THE CARD ANYWAYS… Costco!!

As long as shrink stays below what they save by removing cashiers they will stay. It may be location specific removals at high shrink stores.

The only reason for Costco to do this would be theft prevention or to make sure members are the only ones using their cards.

Literally the opposite is happening. Look at any busy store: self checkout can handle like 10 people, compared to registers which are significantly less at any given time. Registers account for much less business, and corporations are going to try and get by the minimal amount of employees as possible to function. Handling physical cash also adds more complexity with tills having to be deposited, audited, and withdrawn daily.

Replace them with “no chit chat” lanes. I’m just buying some pasta, I don’t want to talk to you.

I avoid self-checkout as often as possible. In my mind, that’s taking a job away from a physical person, it’s a cost-savings for the retailer, but customers never see any benefit from it. I choose the person checkout everytime as my little bit of solidarity with my fellow humans.

yeeeeah. They'll have to hire people to work the checkout lanes in that case... which means paying enough to compete with other employers who offer more. Case in point, here it's like 12/hr here to work in a grocery, vs 16/hr at Amazon. But even if they do this, people will still shoplift. Self checkout didn't create the problem, it rather treats everyone like a suspect.

The grocery I go to never has more than one staffed checkout lane at any time, typically a very long line of people too old, too stubborn, or with too many items to do it themselves. During the day it's 8 or 16 self-checkout lanes (minus broke ones), and they close in the evening, so everyone is forced to use the slow staffed checkout.

I don't use self checkouts because I hate trying to get those fucking bags open.

Also give cashiers chairs.

I guess there is good and bad with either style. I generally prefer the self checkout because I can bag my own stuff

My costco "self checkout" is really just an employee scanning your things and then you box them. Does move quicker than the standard lanes, though.

Prefer self checkout because no talking and I'm typically faster than most cashiers. Nothing sucks more than waiting 3 mins while a new cashier tries to figure out if you handed then a turnip or a rutabaga lmao.

Several times, but not recently, Walmart self-checkout machines would reset after I scanned the first item, I dunno why. But I figured I did my part by scanning it, so I didn't re-scan it, even though I knew it had reset. I could just play dumb, which isn't hard for me, if anyone asked. No one ever asked, but they upgraded the software, and it stopped doing that.

The employees seem a bit happier as attendants than cashiers, so I guess that's a good thing. I don't know how many lost their jobs to the machines, though.

I'll admit that I'm happier with self-checkout, because I almost never need to wait in line anymore.

Yes finally burn them all down let me grab my sledgehammer I'll help

I heard about strategies to print your own barcodes and stick them on merch to get a "discount". And that was intended to fool cashiers.

Imagine if I don't have to think about a cashier doing this transaction. $2 steaks for everyone!

I really hate this crap. Pay people to ring up and bag my groceries. Heaven knows you're charging enough for them that you should be offering me this courtesy.

I hate self-service checkouts SO MUCH. Especially as my local supermarket has phased out ones that take cash. On the other hand it is cost-effective being able to put artisan cheese through as potatoes.

If you have the privilege of being able to walk to and from your grocery store then self checkout is great. I get why people hate it in suburbia tho

I used to hate self checkout. I was a cashier at a grocery store back in 2004-2005 and I found self check out slow and finnicky.

I've gotten used to them now and it seems like newer ones have resolved most of the speed and weight sensing issue. Now I prefer them with small trips.

My biggest problems now are that I still need a person for booze and coupons. If I could just scan my damn ID when I'm buying beer, and then scan and insert my own coupons, I'd be set.

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I rtfa. For all the wrong reasons of course, not because we’re not on their payroll so why should we give them free labor?

I like them because it means I don’t have to talk to people. Sadly they did this only to save on salaries so I guess that I’m ok with them going away since it will create jobs for people.

Good.

Oh come on; I don't want to go back to having to make small talk with the slow old woman running the register.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The backlash against self-checkout is growing, and stores are starting to dial back on the technology after it exploded over the past few years.

Customers at Booths also frequently misidentified which fruits and vegetables they were buying when prompted by self-checkout machines.

One study of retailers in the United States, Britain and other European countries found that companies with self-checkout lanes and apps had a loss rate of about 4%, more than double the industry average.

Stores have tried to limit losses by tightening self-checkout security features, such as adding weight sensors.

But additional anti-theft measures also lead to more frustrating “unexpected item in the bagging area” errors, requiring employees to intervene.

Wegmans last year ended a mobile app that allowed customers to scan, bag and pay for groceries while they shopped after reporting losses.

The original article contains 602 words, the summary contains 132 words. Saved 78%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Back when I was doing a weekly shopping trip on my bike with panniers, I tried self-checkout once when the cashiers were busy. Never again. The tall bags just screwed with the sensors too much. Now I'm maybe a bit more inclined to use it because I moved to a house just a quick walk to the store. It can make sense to just dump all of the items on the weighing platform and put them in my backpack and reusable bags later.

A lesson for AI enthusiasts.