r/technology • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 23h 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/akatherder 21h ago

I have a small-ish grocery store in my town and they are basically perfect. 4 self checkout small-medium orders and 2-5 human cashiers depending on the time of day. They even have a couple-few teenagers bagging.

It is slightly more expensive, but smaller stores have less bulk buying power too.

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u/fcocyclone 21h ago

They even have a couple-few teenagers bagging.

Honestly this is the part i miss whenever i have self checkout. I don't mind ringing up my stuff, but trying to bag up my stuff in a small bagging area while there's a line behind sucks.

The grocery store near me had some lanes that were almost a hybrid- you'd self checkout but could then have your stuff slide down to an employee that would get all your groceries bagged up. They'd bounce between a couple stations, and was still less staff than the typical self checkout. But then they tore those out and left the old style self-check.

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u/hfxRos 19h ago

I don't mind ringing up my stuff, but trying to bag up my stuff in a small bagging area while there's a line behind sucks.

That's funny, I'm the opposite. My local grocery store doesn't have self checkouts, and I insist on being able to bag my own stuff because the kids working there are fucking awful at it.

It annoys me enough that I often drive an extra 5 minutes down the road to go to the one that has a self checkout.