WALMART has told an angry customer that the company will investigate a complaint about waiting in line after he abandoned his shopping cart.
And another customer said he refuses to use the self-checkout lanes because he is tired of swiping his card.
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“I had a terrible experience at Walmart in Weaverville, NC today,” one shopper complained on X/Twitter on August 18.
“There were only a few self-service checkouts in operation, and this resulted in queues extending into the upper aisles.
“I left my shopping cart full of groceries and left. Absolutely ridiculous.”
Walmart has contacted the buyer and indicated that it agrees to investigate the matter.
The US Sun has asked the retailer for comment on the complaint.
Walmart has also contacted a disgruntled shopper in Nashville, Tennessee.
“The lines at Walmart are ridiculous!!!!” the mother wrote on X. “They literally only have two cashiers! The lines at the self-checkout are actual lines. It’s so annoying.”
Her rant caught the eye of Walmart’s help page, where she was asked to “DM us, we want to know more about this.”
LOSE MONEY
But the shift to self-checkout technologies “has not delivered on its promise,” warns Christopher Andrews, associate professor and chair of sociology at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
In January, he told BBC News that retailers had introduced self-checkout lanes to reduce labor costs.
“The stores saw this as the next frontier… but they realized that people need help with this, otherwise they’ll steal things.”
“Eventually they realized they weren’t saving money, they were losing money.”
The broadcaster’s investigation found that customers in the US are still stuck in queues despite hopes that they would leave stores more quickly.
In addition, customers still need “store employees to help them troubleshoot kiosks or check their ID for age-restricted items,” it said.
“Stores must continue to have employees on site to help them and maintain the machines.”
Jobs instead of profits
In addition, some buyers simply want to speak to a real person and are afraid of job losses because people are replaced by machines.
“I want to know that my money is helping to give someone a job. I’ll stand in line at checkout any time rather than at the checkout counter,” said one person in a Reddit discussion about Walmart.
“(I) am not helping Walmart cut its workforce and increase its profits.”
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.
However, one shopper predicted the final end of the retailer’s self-checkout departments.
“Walmart is taking some away and making massive changes to them. I’d be surprised if they’re still around in this form in five years,” they added on Reddit.
THEFT
A Walmart customer said he avoided the self-checkout option due to safety concerns.
“I don’t go to the checkout line because I want to interact with it – I go because my local Walmart has had a lot of issues with card numbers being stolen at the self-checkout lines,” the Reddit user said.
“Sometimes you can swipe your card and then before you leave the store someone tries to use it!
“This has been discussed several times in our local groups. It is always the self-service checkout where this happens. Given this, I don’t want to risk having my card information read! So I go to the employee.”
Walmart has also come under criticism for its recent decision to limit the number of self-checkout counters in some stores to 15 items or less.
But Target introduced a policy of selling no more than 10 items in March of this year, and customers weren’t impressed either.
