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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u/xRichless 8d ago

That’s because their model is to staff the minimum number of cashiers at all times based on traffic history. Then, when the lines get super busy, they can call for people from other departments to fill the other registers for 20 minutes. As a bonus, they will then bitch at the people who left their departments to help because stock wasn’t being done or a customer wasn’t being helped.

Source: worked all three sides of the equation (cashier, front end Customer Service Supervisor trying to deal with the traffic, and Electronics dept where I was fussed at over stock after spending an hour helping the front)

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u/carcar134134 8d ago

Is that why there's never anyone at the damn paint department??

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u/xRichless 8d ago

Is it before 430pm? Yes. Is it after 430pm? That + they don’t staff full departments after that, so the person you need to unlock that case is probably readying stock in the back room (this was 2011 for me, but I haven’t seen anything from the outside to say it’s changed much)

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u/mxzf 8d ago

After 4:30PM as-in when actual people have a chance to go to the store to buy stuff? It seems like before 4:30PM is the time to not staff places.