Self-checkout offered an enticing prospect: consumers could bypass lengthy lineups by scanning and bagging their own purchases, employees might be relieved of repetitive duties, and stores could save labour expenses.
Since the introduction of self-checkout, all of the following has also occurred: personnel needing to stand by and watch over both people and machines, customers complaining about cumbersome equipment that spits out inexplicable error codes, and shops dealing with theft.
“It used to be easy to go to the grocery store, but now it’s difficult,” Fairfax, Virginia resident Cindy Whittington, 66, said. “You’re spending extra. You’re exerting more effort to pay for their store’s goods. And checking it out has become a chore. There should be a 5% discount for me.
An industry body called FMI surveyed merchants and found that in 2021, self-checkout accounted for 30% of transactions—nearly twice as many as in 2018. And self-checkout is available at 96% of the stores polled.
However, with the important holiday shopping season approaching, technology is now coming under scrutiny. While some merchants are fully withdrawing, others are placing new limits.
Walmart eliminated self-checkout kiosks from three of its Albuquerque, New Mexico locations this past autumn as part of a location-by-location strategy, but overall, more items are being added than being taken away. In a few select shops throughout the country, Target is now restricting the amount of products that customers may scan to 10 in an effort to shorten wait times.
In response to consumer outcry, British grocery chain Booths has been eliminating self-checkout at most of its locations over the past 18 months. Wegmans, a supermarket company, withdrew its self-checkout app a year ago, claiming “losses” that allowed customers to scan and bag things as they were shopping. In its stores, self-checkout registers are still available, though.
Tested at supermarkets for the first time in the late 1980s, self-checkout gained popularity 20 years ago. But three years ago, grocery stores increased it even further in response to the severe labour shortages brought on by the epidemic.
Although exact estimates of the number of cashiers replaced by self-checkout are unknown, the Bureau of Labour Statistics claims that technology advancements like online sales and self-checkout have been the primary cause of the decline in the number of cashier positions. The number of individuals employed as cashiers is estimated by the Labour Department to be around 1.2 million, down from 1.4 million in 2019. The BLS anticipates that over the next ten years, this number will decline by an additional 10%.
“Stores will likely expand this if Americans are willing to do so and show interest because they want to slash that labour cost,” stated Christopher Andrews, author of The Overworked Consumer: Self-Checkouts, Supermarkets, and the Do-It-Yourself Economy and associate professor and chair of sociology at Drew University. “We are at an inflection point.” However, they are only seeing negative right now. They are witnessing irate clients. Costs are going up, and there is shoplifting.
Theft is a real problem. According to Andrews, even law-abiding folks are tempted to be dishonest by technology that requires buyers to perform their own scanning and punch in product amounts. It’s simple to just scan every other item or enter codes to find a less expensive item. Additionally, sincere errors made by customers might result in losses for retailers.
Because of theft, John Catsimatidis, chairman and CEO of Red Apple Group, which owns the grocery chains Gristedes and D’Agostino in New York City, stated he is not interested in self-checkout.
He remarked, “Anyone who does that might as well hit your head over with a pipe.”
However, self-checkout is here to stay, particularly in light of the ongoing manpower deficit. And a great many people adore it.
The 65-year-old Ellen Wulfhorst claimed that utilising self-checkout reminds her of her early years spent playing with a toy register.
Wulfhorst remarked, “There’s something silly and enjoyable about it.” “I love it when I slide the product across the reader and hear the beep. It gives one a particular sense of contentment.
Self-checkout eases the shopping experience for South Salem, New York resident Robin Wissmann Doherty, who needs a walker due to a progressing neurological condition.
The 67-year-old stated that she enjoys shopping at Stop & Shop because of its “scan and go” technology, which enables her to use a gadget to scan her products while she is in the store and subsequently total her purchase. She has the option of paying at a staffed register or a kiosk.
“People with disabilities can use the laser gun,” she said.
According to Stew Leonard Jr., president and CEO of the grocery chain Stew Leonard’s, which has locations in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, 25% of its patrons utilise self-service. Within the following few years, that percentage may reach 50%. Although he is in a “holding pattern” and is considering reducing the amount of things to be scanned, he pointed out that one-third of the registers are unattended.
To keep an eye on customers, retailers have begun installing cameras or sensors at kiosks.
For instance, most Kroger locations now have artificial intelligence installed, which sends out notifications when anything is wrong. For instance, the system will indicate an error on the screen and ask the user to self-correct if they are unable to correctly scan a certain item. To draw the attention of employees, a light above the self-checkout area blinks if consumers are unable to fix the problem on their own.
Greater advancements in technology have been made.
More than 70 Amazon-owned businesses and more than 100 other retailers, including airports, provide “just walkout technology.” With the use of smart cameras and the Amazon app on their phones, customers can check in and go without having to complete the checkout process. As part of a widespread deployment at its locations, Japanese apparel retailer Uniqlo uses RFID chips implanted in price tags to operate a self-checkout system at its Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan. At self-service stations, customers pay and deposit their purchases in bins without having to scan their products.
Yet, the boredom simply takes on a different shape for those employees who were meant to be freed from the tedious duty of ringing up consumers.
Working six self-service stations at once at Giant Food in Clinton, Maryland, Bernadette Christian,59, said that customers have gotten angrier since the outbreak and that she is frightened to confront or assist them.
“Being cashiers would be a lot safer and easier for us in today’s world,” the woman said.
