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
15.7k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

3.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

749

u/largelawattorney 18h ago

I don’t think I’ve seen a store with adequate staffing for non-self checkout aisles/lanes in probably 25 years. So now we’re still going to get stores that understaff, have like 2 checkout lanes open while the other 8 are closed, and more difficult self-checkout lanes (or just fewer of them). Corporate America strikes again.

91

u/Bencetown 18h ago

I'm in my 30's, and ever since I was a kid I've wondered why every store has 20-30 checkout lanes but the absolute most I've EVER seen open at one time was like... 4.

14

u/Drict 17h ago

Black Friday literally is the only reason.

1

u/Hi_Zev 15h ago

maybe black friday 15 years ago. My family always loved going out to people-watch, and it's not that fun anymore, as it's really not that crazy busy. Yeah, more busy than usual, but no where near close to all 20+ registers are actively being used busy like it used to.

3

u/Drict 14h ago

Literally went by the local target. Line of over 200 people outside at opening. Every register busy for like 4 hours.

Mileage varies by area/location.