In Porter Ranch, Calif, I was at Walmart and checked out at 4:10pm and they had the self check out lanes closed. I noticed a few people were still processing their items but the lanes had a tape across the entrance.
They had a 20 items or less lane opened and about 4 other lanes open which normally they have fewer to force you to use the self check out. The lanes only had a few people each.
Maybe they are tired of the shoplifting?....
Yeah. I’m sure they did this for a better shopping experience for customers and not so they didn’t have to pay for cashier salaries/sarc
We live in a very small town and other than gas stations, A lumber yard, A farm store, and local pharmacies and specialty shops, we have a Dollar General, A Family Dollar, and a regional grocery chain store. I rarely shop at the Dollar General, because they’re higher than the Family Dollar or grocery store, neither of which has self checkout. The Dollar General does, and the rare times I shop there, I use it because it’s quicker. I don’t think Family Dollar uses them. Ours is a great little store, and the clerks and manager have all been there for at least 9 years.
I'm sure theft is much easier with self checkout
But retailers say they are also trying to provide a better shopping experience for customers by imposing limits on self checkout, making the process quicker and easier.
One of my pet peeves is being stuck behind slow people in self-checkout.
Costco has introduced self checkouts. However, to leave the store, you have to show your sales receipt to a checker who matches the count on the receipt to the count of items in the cart. It’s hard to beat that system, unless one hides lifted items in their coat with deep pockets. However, items at Costco are mostly large bulky items; which are hard to hide in a coat.
Self checkouts prove cashiers do not need to be trained.
Just like our country, self-checkout requires having a moral population. Otherwise it’s a new iteration of the same old problems.
On recent trips to Walmart, I have had to wait in line of two or three customers waiting for an opening at a self check out. The problem is as noted, some have lots of items that slows down the process.
However with many self check stations, the process without doubt speeds the throughput
Stevie Wonder could see that one coming.
It doesn’t help that many times a customer will bring a shopping cart with a gazillion items in it to the self checkout lane then spend nearly 30 minutes scanning it all. Those scan and go machines were installed so folks with just a few items could scan and go in just a few moments. Instead you have to wait because people misuse them, and they don’t care how they are inconveniencing other shoppers.
Interesting but my local Walmart Neighborhood just remodelled the check out area roughly tripling the self-check out stations. I have noticed an increase in walmart staff in the self check out area.
It’s what happens when you have MBA’s running a company rather than someone who know f—k all about retail.
My local Target is awful. The self checkout is all by hand scanners with no place to sack your items.