A WALMART customer claimed that his store abandoned a major change to its self-checkout lanes after customers were forced to wait in line for over half an hour.
The customer posted on X his horrific experience in response to a post denigrating self-checkout lanes.
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“Self-service checkouts must be abolished,” said X’s original post.
“Nobody wants them and they’re impersonal and not much faster… I’ve never met anyone who prefers them and I worked in a supermarket.
“What is your opinion?”
The Walmart customer responded with three paragraphs detailing why they support self-checkout lanes.
“My local Walmart did it this way. They usually had 16 to 20 self-checkout lanes and 1 to 3 manned lanes open at the same time,” the customer explained.
“They have closed all self-service checkouts and increased the number of manned checkouts to 6 to 10, depending on customer traffic.
“The total checkout time increased from 5-7 minutes to my average of 37 minutes.
“I’ve also seen an increase in arguments at the checkout about how many items are in the shopping cart and a significantly higher rate of full shopping carts being abandoned,” the shopper explained.
“They abandoned the change and reopened the self-service checkouts after about six months.”
Other grocery shoppers supported Walmart customers’ calls for self-checkouts.
“If I may express an opposing opinion to ‘nobody likes her’. I do because I’m really not a fan of talking to people…at all,” another X user replied.
“So these cash registers give me the opportunity to do that. If they introduced cash registers without speaking, that would be fine, but they haven’t done that. I wish I could find a mute hairdresser.”
Due to the increasing number of shoplifting incidents, retailers have recently started moving away from the use of self-checkout systems.
According to a study by Capital One Shopping, retailers are estimated to lose $121.6 billion due to theft in 2023.
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.
By 2026, this figure is expected to rise to $150 billion.
As a means of combating theft, retailers such as Walmart, Target and Dollar General have implemented stricter security measures, such as checking receipts, locking away items or, in extreme cases, eliminating self-checkout lanes altogether.
According to Retail Insider, Walmart confirmed earlier this year that it would remove self-checkout lanes in Shrewsbury, Missouri, and Cleveland, Ohio.
“We believe the changes will enhance the in-store shopping experience and give our associates the opportunity to provide more personalized and efficient service,” a Walmart spokesperson said.
Dollar General announced it would increase the number of employees at checkouts, claiming this would help improve the customer experience.
“While self-checkout has added convenience to our customers in some stores, it does not diminish the importance of having a friendly, helpful associate there to greet customers and assist them with the checkout process,” said Todd Vasos, Dollar General CEO, during a December quarterly earnings call.
