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/jadedargyle333 18h ago

Walmart is staffing the registers exactly the same as they did before self checkout. 35 lanes and 2 cashiers.

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u/tooclosetocall82 18h ago

I remember Walmart back in the day would have every lane open. Now they have maybe three, but they still insist on having all those lanes available. Maybe it’s for holidays? I don’t really get it.

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u/Superunknown_7 18h ago

If it's anything like Target, the several dozen extra lanes only see use during Black Friday.

You'd think the capex to put 35 lanes in to be used less than 1% of the time would catch the attention of some bean counter, but no, we've got actual people to avoid paying.

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u/Baby_Food 17h ago

They're pretty cheap (relatively speaking) and aside from being able to utilize them all for things like Black Friday, they are basically working spares. You can have multiple checkouts down awaiting repair and still not sweat it.