Major local retailers are making significant changes to their self-checkout lanes. Target, Walmart and Dollar General are putting new restrictions on self checkouts.
In fact, Dollar General announced that it will be eliminating self-checkout at 300 locations with the highest rate of theft.
Target announced that customers will now be limited to 10 items for self-checkout. With fewer transactions eligible for self-checkout, Target says it will open more traditional checkout lanes.
I went out and spoke with several shoppers about the changes that impact Walmart and Target.
The signs are up at Target reminding shoppers that they must have 10 items or fewer if they’re heading to the self-checkout lanes. Otherwise, you have to go to the regular cashier lines.
“Keep it the way it is. Some people don’t wanna wait in line. We’re old. So, let us checkout and go on about our business, rather than to limit to how many things that you can checkout,” Leola told us.
“Being someone who uses self-checkout, what does that mean to you?” I asked Cortez.
“In a way, it’s kind of fair. I get it. We got the checkout lanes where people have more than 10 items to go ahead and do their shopping. It gives the people that come in just really coming in there to get what they need and get out, ya know, time what they need to do,” he said.
Then, you have people like Anita, who avoid self-checkout lanes at all costs.
“I just don’t like ’em because when you have coupons and you have other discounts. I never know when they’re going to come up. So, I always use the regular checkouts,” she said.
“Will there be a concern for you that more people now will be using the regular lanes because of the limits on self-checkout?” I asked her.
“No,” she said. “And I think job security is important, so I always use the regular lane.”
Walmart is changing its checkout policy as well. During peak hours, it may be necessary to have an annual Walmart membership to use certain self-checkout lanes.
Both Target and Walmart say that the changes may vary during different times of the day, depending on how busy the store is.
To accommodate the increased flow of customers headed to regular cashier lanes, both companies have announced that they will increase staff at those lanes as needed.
“It don’t seem like that’s going to work though. because when it’s busy is when you wanna use it and get out. You don’t wanna wait down the aisle,” Beverely said.
Some, like Al, reiterate a desire for the for the self-checkout system to be left alone.
“It’s lousy. Lousy,” he said. “I’d probably spend more time up at Meijer.”
The end of the self checkout?
Dollar General, Target and Walmart row back on self-service registers – but it’s not because they care about customer service.
- Retailers have announced sweeping changes to automated registers in stores
- Dollar General has removed them, while Target has capped the number of items
- Experts say theft is the main issue prompting restrictions on self checkout.
They were introduced as a way to reduce lines, increase efficiency in stores, and reduce staffing numbers. They became very popular during the Covid-19 pandemic.
But is the self checkout falling out of favor with big-name retailers?
In recent weeks, Dollar General, Target, and Walmart have all announced significant changes to automated registers in stores across the US.
Experts say the rollback is linked, mostly, to fears around theft – as it is much easier for customers to shoplift items at the self checkout rather than a checkout with a cashier.
Retailers assert that they are aiming to enhance the shopping experience for customers by imposing limits on self checkout, making the process quicker and easier.
Last week, Dollar General announced it was pulling self checkout stands entirely from 300 of its stores with the highest level of shoplifting and mis-scanning items.
In 9,000 other locations it said it is converting some of its self checkout registers to regular cashier checkouts, and limiting self checkout purchases to five items or less in a further 4,500 stores.
The company said the changes would help reduce ‘shrink’. This is the retail industry jargon for merchandise losses caused by theft, damaged items, and administrative errors.
We believe these actions have the potential to have a material and positive impact on shrinkage, Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos said on a call with analysts Thursday.
According to a study of retailers in the US, UK and other European countries, stores that had self checkouts had a loss rate of about 4 percent more than the industry average.
‘Most of the rollback of self-checkouts is due to retailer concerns over theft,’ Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, told.
‘Theft rates at self-checkouts are reasonably high both because of deliberate actions and accidental mistakes. Forcing more customers to used manned checkouts resolves a lot of these issues and saves retailers money.’
Self-checkout lanes are also more vulnerable to customer errors when scanning or weighing items.
Some produce, such as fruit, meat, and freshly baked goods, do not have barcodes and need to be manually entered into the system. Customers can either intentionally or accidentally key in a cheaper product code, creating losses for stores.
A study last year by personal finance website LendingTree found that 15% of self-checkout users admitted intentionally stealing from a machine.
This figure rose to 31 percent when analyzing Gen Z shoppers, and 21 percent for millennials.
Instead of completely cutting down on self-checkout lanes, Target announced last week that it would limit the number of items shoppers can buy at the automated registers.
Following a trial in select stores across the US, Target has moved to ‘express self checkout’ at most of its 2,000 stores, meaning customers can only buy 10 items or fewer.
The company stated that it will be opening more staffed cash registers in new locations.
‘Checking out is one of the most important moments of the Target run, and we know that a fast, easy experience – whether at self-checkout or the lanes staffed by our friendly team members – is critical to getting guests on their way quickly,’ the company said in a statement.
Customers have long complained about snaking lines in store and long wait times to get help at a self checkout station if there is a technical glitch or an item needs to be approved by a staff member.
Walmart, meanwhile, was forced to clarify after social media users claimed it had limited its self checkout lines only to those who have a Walmart+ membership – effectively forcing people to pay $98 a year to be able to use the service.
The company said that stores generally have self checkout available for both the general public and Walmart+ members.
But some locations may choose to temporarily limit the automated registers based on customer flow, meaning there are times the only self checkout lines open are those reserved for Walmart+ members.
But this is down to the discretion of store managers, and is not a company directive, Walmart said.
Despite these changes, retail expert Neil Saunders thinks it is unlikely that self-checkout lanes will disappear entirely – although there will be a lot more restrictions around their use.
He added: ‘Of course, the key thing is to ensure there are enough manned registers open to compensate. If retailers don’t do this, they will cause longer lines and wait times, which will annoy customers.
