A local retail chain grocery store is remodeling their stores. Lots of front-end work. Went from 10 human registers and 4 self scans to 5 human registers and 8 self scans.
They only staff 2 cashiers on weekends and one on weekdays except for dinner rush hours when a 2nd is on.
My local Home Depot runs on self-scan only, except for one cashier in the contractor area and one floater to open a register on a as-needed basis.
The lone hold-out in my town was Sprouts (small chain of local grocery stores like Whole Foods, only smaller, but very very popular). There were always long lines inside b/c not enough registers open.
I needed something there the other day and dreaded going in b/c the lines take about 10-20 minutes.
Good news! They just installed six new self-service check-outs so I was able to get out of there in about 1/2 the usual time.
I can also pack my groceries far better than they can and everything is organized how I like it. I’m sick of surly clerks.
I think soon everything will go to self-service just as it did for gas stations. I don’t know of a single gas station in Southern California where you can get service to pump gas. I’ve never seen one.