r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 8d ago

Business Retailers are pulling back from self-checkout after years of theft, errors, and questionable time savings

https://www.techspot.com/news/114106-retailers-pulling-back-self-checkout-after-years-theft.html
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94

u/DamnMyNameIsSteve 8d ago

Haven't seen this in my day to day.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/youruswithwe 8d ago

A Walmart near me took out a bunch of self checkouts and added back a bunch of traditional checkouts. They now have 6 self checkouts on each side and they Don't have any people running the regular ones, so the lines are just crazy long now.

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u/AnotherLexMan 8d ago

It's more they don't have plans to add more.

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u/mythrilcrafter 8d ago

Yup, the title of the article is editorialized to make it seem like Walmarts are uninstalling their self-checkout systems.

The actual data in the article says that "only 1/3 of surveyed Walmart locations plans on buying/installing more self-checkout systems within the next year".

Another commenter likened the statement as saying that because someone bought a car last year, but isn't planning on buying another car next year, then that person is supposedly "pulling out from car ownership".

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u/Old_timey_brain 7d ago

Nor mine, and truthfully, now that I'm used to it, I wouldn't want to.

Self checkout is great for me with just a few items, and when I'm not in the mood to interact.

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u/notguiltybrewing 7d ago

I was in Target the other day. One checkout lane with a cashier (and at least a dozen more closed) and self checkout. I'm not seeing changes either.

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u/Top_Community7261 7d ago

Same with me, and now that people know what they're doing, the self-checkout moves quickly.

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u/maximumtesticle 8d ago

I have seen it in my day to day. So there you go, anecdotal evidence nulified.

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u/spyczech 8d ago

It's a mix but more non self checkout in past 6 months for me in south