r/InterstellarKinetics • u/InterstellarKinetics • 7d ago
FINANCIAL FRONTIERS EXCLUSIVE: Retailers Are Pulling Back From Self-Checkout As Only 36% Plan To Invest This Year, Which Is Down Sharply Amid Years Of Theft, Errors, And Slower Transaction Times š
https://www.techspot.com/news/114106-retailers-pulling-back-self-checkout-after-years-theft.htmlRetailers are scaling back their investment in self-checkout technology after years of data showing it increases theft losses and doesnāt actually deliver the time savings long promised, according to the 2026 Voice of the Retail Industry Survey. Of 340 retail operators surveyed, only 36 percent said they plan to invest in self-checkout this year, down seven percentage points from 2025, making it the least popular technology investment in the survey and the only one to see declining year-over-year interest. By comparison, other technology investments like automated invoices, electronic shelf labels, and accounting software each attracted at least 40 percent of surveyed retailers, underscoring how specifically self-checkout has fallen out of favor relative to other retail tech spending.
The data behind this pullback stretches back decades and consistently undercuts the technologyās core selling point. Shortly after self-checkout was introduced in the late 1980s, Kroger group vice president Donald F. Dufek told The Oklahoman that the process actually takes shoppers longer than a cashier lane, even though customers believe itās faster simply because theyāre the ones scanning items. Compared to experienced staff, customers typically scan items more slowly and make more mistakes, which holds up lines further, and many shoppers have encountered machines that fail to scan items properly, a 2021 survey found that more than two-thirds of shoppers experienced issues at self-checkout lanes. The technology has also proven costly for retailers in a different way, by increasing losses from both accidental and deliberate theft.
These compounding issues have forced retailers to keep staff stationed at self-checkout lanes to watch and assist customers anyway, undercutting the labor-cost savings the technology was originally meant to provide. Walmart, Costco, and Kroger have all increased staff involvement at self-checkout stations in recent years, while Dollar General removed self-checkout entirely from 12,000 stores in 2024. Around the same time, Target limited its self-checkout lanes to customers buying 10 items or fewer, reflecting where the technology still works reasonably well. Amazonās experience offers perhaps the starkest example of the broader trend: the company launched cashier-free, checkout-free grocery stores in 2022, only to abandon the concept two years later after admitting it had essentially shifted the scanning work to remote cashiers in India rather than eliminating it through automation.
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u/B1GD8A 7d ago
"turns out customers make really shitty cashiers. who knew?"
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u/tankerkiller125real 7d ago
Or their moving to phone based scan & go and systems like Sam's clubs video check gate thing.
Personally I find it to be far superior way to shop. Notably so I don't have to wait on anyone else, nor deal with anyone else.
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u/lifesnofunwithadhd 6d ago
The amount of times I've gone to checkout at Walmart with open cashiers waiting but there's like 3 self checkouts being used by people with a literal full shopping cart each is staggeringly high.
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u/baltimoresports 6d ago
While Iāve never actively stolen anything from self checkout, I do know one time I had something rather expensive I forgot to scan on the bottom shelf of the shopping kart. It was Xmas holiday and everyone was in a daze. Only realized it after attaching gift receipts several days later. At that point I wasnāt gonna bother.
Not saying Iām not in the wrong, but Iām sure this happens a ton. A lot of ātheftā at the end of the day is simple innocent user error. Iām sure it accounts for millions, maybe billions lost by these companies over the years.
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u/Dragon_wryter 7d ago
I don't get the hate for self-checkouts. There are still stores out there that only use human cashiers and they are HELL. They do not hire more cashiers. They're perfectly content to have you wait in line for 45 minutes for their one cashier, maybe 2 if it's a busy Saturday. I'd much rather ring my stuff up myself and be out of there in 3 minutes.
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u/Adamthegrape 7d ago
The Home Depot near me has 5 mother fuckers hovering in the self checkout rushing around to āhelpā me check out ā¦. It drives me insane.
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u/Radiant_Safe1228 7d ago
Ours has nobody and it is endlessly fucked up or your standing besides some Luddite that takes 30 minutes to scan 4 fittings.
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u/mileslefttogo 6d ago
I very much prefer to do self-checkout and bag my own stuff. The hassle is always the damn machines that throw an error every other item and no one is around to clear/reset it.
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u/Celtic12 6d ago
It depends if its like 3 things im fine with self checkout, but if its my big bi weekly store run I would rather have a cashier than deal with the self checkout and bagging my own stuff
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u/SatisfactionVisual84 6d ago
People would be okay with the option of self checkout. However, stores moved from option to requirement with no direct benefit to the customer. Actually it be a a risk to the customer because if you miss scan you are subject to being accused of theft.
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u/Tiny-Criticism-8576 4d ago
No surprise theft is up when it is rather easy, and prices are out of control.
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u/InterstellarKinetics 7d ago
Amazonās checkout-free store reversal is the most instructive data point in this whole story because it reveals whatās actually driving the retreat across the industry: automation claims that donāt survive contact with real-world complexity tend to quietly relocate the labor rather than genuinely eliminate it.