A WALMART customer reprimanded another customer for skipping the line due to a self-checkout restriction.
Lauren shared a TikTok about the situation in June, saying she went to Walmart to pick up some things for dinner and the store was busy “as usual.”
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Due to the number of people in the store, the self-checkout was limited to customers with 10 or fewer items.
However, Lauren had 14 items and had to wait in the regular line for about seven or eight minutes until it was almost her turn.
“I was the next person who can go and put my stuff on the conveyor belt, and this guy comes up to me and says, ‘Hey, can I go in before you?'” she said in the four-minute video.
It’s common for a person with a lot of items in their cart to give way to someone with only one or two items, Lauren said, but that’s not the case.
“This guy comes up to me with an armful of shit and says something like, ‘Can I go ahead?'”
She said the man wanted to use the self-checkout but had 11 items in his cart and went to the regular line.
Lauren and the man argued back and forth until, according to her, the man decided to simply let her go first without permission.
When the man tried to pay for his purchases, his card was declined several times and a loud argument with the cashier ensued before he put some purchases back.
After that, Lauren said, his payment for $17 worth of products finally arrived.
“Why do people behave like this? If you’re someone who thinks it’s OK to behave like this, then I’m here to tell you it’s not f***ing OK to behave like this,” she said.
“That’s my rant. Thanks for listening.”
The video was viewed over 300,000 times and received over 2,000 comments from people harshly criticizing the man’s behavior and saying what they would have done in Lauren’s situation.
“I would have paid for his stuff… and then taken it home,” one person wrote.
“This video showed me how confrontational I really am,” wrote another person.
“It would have turned out completely differently!”
A third person shared their thoughts, saying that after working in customer experience, they realized that “most people think they are the main character in this life we all share and that their wants and needs are the only thing that matters.”
Latest changes to self-checkout
Retailers are developing their self-checkout strategies to shorten checkout times and reduce theft.
Walmart customers were shocked when self-checkout lanes at several locations were made available only to Walmart+ members.
Other customers reported that the self-checkout lanes were closed at certain times and more cashiers were offered instead.
While customers feared that shoplifting was the reason for the changes, a Walmart spokesperson said store managers were simply experimenting with ways to improve checkout performance.
One bizarre experiment involved an RFID-supported self-checkout kiosk that was intended to eliminate the hotly contested receipt check.
However, this test run was discontinued.
At Target, the number of items at self-checkout lanes is limited.
Last fall, the brand tested new express self-checkout lanes with a maximum of 10 items in 200 stores to increase convenience.
Starting in March 2024, this policy will be expanded to 2,000 stores in the United States.
Customers have also noticed that their local Walmart stores are limiting the number of customers at self-checkout lanes to 15 items or less.
“That’s so damn true!” was one response. “I’m always amazed by that claim.”
Walmart has made several changes to its self-checkout lanes. At some locations, use is restricted to Walmart+ members, among other things.
Several major retailers have reconsidered their strategies around self-checkouts and are now limiting, among other things, the number of items that customers are allowed to bring to the checkout.
This has caused many customers to boycott Walmart in favor of other businesses.
The US newspaper Sun has Walmart for a comment.
