Self-checkout Is Here To Stay

December 18, 2023 1:42 pm

NEW YORK (AP) — The promise of self-checkout has meant that customers can avoid long lines by scanning and bagging their own items, workers can be freed of doing those monotonous tasks themselves and retailers can save on labor costs. But it has also meant customers griping about clunky technology, workers having to stand around and monitor both humans and machines, and retailers contending with theft. Now, self-checkout faces a reckoning of sorts just as retailers are in the midst of their busiest time of the year. This past fall, Walmart removed self-checkout kiosks in three stores in Albuquerque, New Mexico. To reduce wait times, Target is now limiting the number of items to 10 that shoppers can scan in a handful of stores nationwide.