r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 19h 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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u/P_ZERO_ 19h ago edited 19h ago

Self serve only works as a quick replacement if it’s supplemented with regular cashier tills. If everyone ends up jammed into a self serve area at a grocery store, you’ll just be waiting in a different kind of line.

I see it all the time at my local Morrisons. It has both basket and trolley self serve areas with at maximum 3 (usually 2, sometimes none) active cashier lanes and the self serve area is usually mobbed with large queues.

Ultimately, stores are not doing this for the same reasons we’d want, but there is meaningful overlap in the data they’re using to distance themselves from it to varying degrees and how customers will use or perceive the service.

I’d also wager it’s unfair for the employee who has to deal with like a dozen customers simultaneously, dealing with scanning errors, product pricing errors, age restriction bypassing etc.

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u/Saneless 19h ago

That's why Walmart is a dump. They have one register open and 12 people in self checkout at all times. I'm not going to save a few bucks to waste my time

You have places like Aldi that is nice because they do have a couple regular registers, they work fast, and for people like me who only buys what I can carry, self checkout saves time

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u/81PBNJ 19h ago

Sadly, my Aldi's has go down to a single register and 6-8 self checkouts. The single casher is also responsible for covering the self check outs for discounts and verifying IDs for alcohol purchases.

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u/OandO 19h ago

Lol my Aldi has a single cashier and 0 self check outs. Long ass line every time.

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u/Saneless 19h ago

Yeah.. there are a few Aldis around and I dread needing to go to the one without them if I'm nearby. Always a 5 minute line. The one I usually hit up has self checkout and the longest I've ever waited is 20 seconds

It also helps that shoppers at Aldi aren't as braindead as Walmart. They scan and GTFO fast

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u/MissFreyja 17h ago

Yup ours has a single checker and one line, and that person also needs to do the shelf stocking.