Shoppers who prefer self-checkouts will be disappointed as giant retailers, such as Walmart, Target, Five Below and Dollar General, start to phase out self-service lanes from their stores. This is an attempt to avoid shrinkage, or stolen merchandise. In 2022, Target lost over $200 million dollars because of shrinkage.
Walmart has already removed the self-checkout lanes from two stores this year: one in Shrewsbury, Mo and one in Cleveland, Oh. Three locations in Albuquerque, Nm. faced similar renovations last year. A Walmart spokesperson said, in email to CBS MoneyWatch, “”We believe the change will improve the in-store shopping experience and give our associates the chance to provide more personalized and efficient service.”
According to a report done by the Business Inside, this is not the first time that Walmart has attempted to limit shrink. They armed their self-checkout observers with a handheld device that tracked customers’ purchases. However, these employees are not properly trained to handle theft situations, especially when the person becomes hostile. Limiting self-checkouts could be Walmart’s new way of protecting their employees, while also protecting their profits.
In March 2024, Target announced that their self-checkouts will be limited to customers with ten or less items. They said that they will be opening more human-staffed lines to accommodate customers, a common complaint Target shoppers have had for years. Target’s press release claims that this is because of the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which customers preferred contactless options due to health and safety concerns.
Also, in March 2024, Five Below reported that they too were limited self-checkouts. All 1,500 locations will be transitioning to employee-assisted checkouts. At locations where shrink levels are high, there will be receipt checking, more security guards and extra employees on the floor.
At Dollar General, they are removing self-checkouts from the top 300 stores that report the most shrinkage.Approximately 4,500 other locations’ self-checkouts will be limited to five items or less. According to Fox Business, Dollar General is already working on converting over 9,000 stores from self-checkouts to ‘assisted self-checkout’ options.
The loss of self-checkouts makes one question tech giant Amazon’s Go stores, which have no cashiers at all. In fact, the stores don’t even have registers. Customers download the Amazon Go app, scan their app at a reader when they enter the store, shop, leave and then their Amazon carts are charged accordingly. Amazon uses AI and camera sensors, so that customers can simply pick up their item without needing to scan it.
Only the future can tell if stores will continue removing self-checkouts, which limit convenience, or if Amazon’s cashierless stores, which destroys jobs, will become our new shopping norm.
